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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Ruby Laffoon |
| Address |
Madisonville, Kentucky , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
January 15, 1869
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| Died | March 01, 1941
(72 years)
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| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | RBH
Aug 17, 2015 11:33pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Ruby Laffoon (January 15, 1869 – March 1, 1941) was the 43rd Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1931 to 1935. He was introduced to politics by his uncle, U. S. Representative Polk Laffoon. After developing a mixed record of political victories and defeats at the county and state levels, he was chosen as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in 1931. His nomination was by a convention, not a primary, and he was the only Kentucky gubernatorial candidate so chosen after 1903. In the general election, he defeated Republican William B. Harrison by what was then the largest margin of victory in Kentucky gubernatorial history.
Dubbed "the terrible Turk from Madisonville", Laffoon was confronted with the economic realities of the Great Depression. His solution to raising revenue was enactment of the state's first sales tax. The issue dominated his term in office and split the Democratic party, including his own administration. His lieutenant governor, A. B. "Happy" Chandler, led the fight against the tax in the legislature. After the tax was defeated in two regular and one special legislative session, Laffoon formed a bipartisan alliance to get the tax passed in a special session in 1934.
Laffoon's feud with Lieutenant Governor Chandler spilled over into the 1935 gubernatorial race. Laffoon supported political boss Tom Rhea to succeed him as governor, and convinced the Democrats to hold a nominating convention, which greatly improved his chances of hand-picking his successor. While Laffoon was on a visit to Washington, D. C., Chandler was left as acting governor under the provisions of the Kentucky Constitution. Chandler issued a call for a special legislative session to consider a mandatory primary election bill. Laffoon rushed back to the state to invalidate the call, but the Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld it as constitutional, and the primary law was passed. Chandler defeated Rhea in the primary, and went on to succeed Laffoon as governor. Following his term in office, Laffoon returned to his native Madisonville, where he died of a stroke in 1941. Among his gubernatorial legacies was appointing a record number of Kentucky colonels, most notably including Harland Sanders, who used the title "Colonel" when he opened his chain of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants.
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