Poll stirs controversy in Supreme Court race Roach camp is accused of smearing Noble with innuendoes By Brandon Ortiz, Lexington Herald-Leader, August 17, 2006 The high-profile election for Central Kentucky's state Supreme Court seat is almost three months away, but the two candidates are already fighting over a poll. Fayette Circuit Judge Mary Noble's campaign accused Justice John Roach yesterday of conducting a "push poll," a controversial campaign tactic intended to sway undecided voters through mass phone calls releasing inflammatory information. Roach's campaign said it merely conducted a run-of-the-mill poll. Noble campaign manager Dea Riley forwarded an e-mail to reporters yesterday from a woman who responded to a phone call Sunday night. The woman described the call and listed several questions, which two Central Kentucky political consultants considered standard fare for polls. But it also asked the woman's opinion on some of Noble's "attributes," including that she is "married with no children," "soft on crime" and "feels that judges can create laws if the legislature has failed to act." Riley said the campaign received at least 20 calls from angry voters in Fayette, Franklin and Madison counties. Some said Noble "was practically blatantly called a lesbian and had no children," Riley said. Noble has been married for 38 years but is unable to have children, Riley said. "It says a lot about the status of the Supreme Court of Kentucky right now," she said. "This is a win-at-all-costs mentality." When contacted by a reporter yesterday, Roach's campaign manager, Cary Black, initially refused to comment. He later said the campaign "conducted a standard statistically valid poll (that) asked a variety of standard questions about the public record of each of the candidates and several issues that has been part of the recent public discourse in Kentucky." Black declined to release the survey or disclose the firm conducting it. Political consultants Phil Osborne and Dale Emmons said the e-mail description forwarded to reporters did not meet the classic definition of a push poll. Both said they are not working for either candidate. "Personally I'm not alarmed by what I saw with John Roach's poll," said Emmons, who says he is supporting Noble. "While it is not biased, it certainly appears to be written to help John Roach win a campaign." In a push poll, a telemarketer disseminates negative, and sometimes false, information under the guise of conducting a reputable poll. Push polls are used to persuade voters rather than gather information. They are typically short and conducted late in the campaign, Osborne said. "To me it seems like an effort to see if she has negatives they can exploit," said Osborne, of Preston-Osborne in Lexington. "... It's not necessary to run a push poll in August. You run a push poll in October." Both Emmons and Osborne agreed that if the call insinuated Noble is a lesbian it would qualify as a push poll. Riley yesterday could not immediately provide names of respondents who said the call made insinuations about Noble. One Lexington man who answered the poll, Ralph C. Brown, said it lasted nearly 20 minutes. He said the questions were clearly slanted in Roach's favor. Brown said he was asked if the fact that Noble does not have children would cause him to have a less favorable opinion of her. "There is no doubt this is a push poll," said Brown, a retired administrator for the University of Kentucky business college. Another question asked about issues that could appear before the Supreme Court, including the University of Louisville's controversial decision to extend health benefits to the domestic partners of employees. The voters said the callers refused to identify themselves, according to Riley. Riley said the questions were clearly inappropriate and violate judicial canons on campaign speech. Black was not available yesterday afternoon for further comment. The e-mail Riley forwarded to reporters was sent to her by Emmons, who received it from a woman he knows, he said. Emmons works in Richmond and mostly consults Democrats. Emmons said he forwarded the e-mail so Noble's campaign would know about Roach's polling.