Attorney Brandon Coan not only won more votes today than the other six candidates, but he also spent less per vote than all but two of his rivals. Coan’s expenditures averaged $18 per vote. The difference was especially stark against the $63 by the No. 2 vote-getter, philanthropist Stephen Reily.
Boulevard’s figures are based on the most recent campaign war chest totals, as of two weeks ago, from this Courier-Journal story. Reilly’s campaign budget had already set a record for a Louisville Metro Council race — even for one as highly sought as this. Here’s the breakdown:
Boulevard occasionally examines estates and estate planning by high-profile Louisville residents.
Ten years ago, former Courier-Journal Publisher Barry Bingham Jr.died of respiratory failure, less than two months after signing his last will and testament. He was 72 years old. The 13-page document’s preamble suggests a very religious man:
Bingham
“In the name of God, amen! I, G. Barry Bingham Jr., a resident of Jefferson County, Ky., in perfect health and memory, God be praised, hereby revoke all wills and codicils heretofore made by men, and do make and ordain this my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following; that is to say, first, I commend my soul into the hands of God, my creator, hoping and assuredly believing through the only merits of Jesus Christ, my Savior, to be made partaker of life everlasting, and my body to the earth whereof it is made.”
Thereafter, though, it’s all business and few other insights into a man at the center of one of the greatest family business dramas in Louisville history. The will provides no special bequests to anyone by name, perhaps instead leaving that to his widow, Edie.
Bingham’s will was recorded with the county clerk 10 days after he died April 3, 2006. It didn’t value his overall estate, including only a few financial details: His half-interest in the family’s storied Melcombe seat in Glenview was worth $2 million. And a separate list of personal property totaled another $2.2 million — including, interestingly, gold South African Krugerrand coins then worth $852,000.
If Boulevard was eating lunch at Wiltshire in the Highlands, we’d opt for a natural chipotle turkey sandwich with Broadbent pepper bacon, Kenny’s pepper jack, avocado aioli and greens, on cumin buttermilk white: $10.50.
Where: 901 Barret Ave., 502-581-8561. When: Tuesday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Closed Mondays.
Kentucky regulators publish a laundry list of requirements to get a license to practice dentistry. At the top: Applicants must read, speak, and write English at least at the ninth-grade level. (The regulations don’t say anything about understanding patients’ garbled answers to questions asked during exams.) License applicants also must pass a nationwide criminal background check through the FBI or the Kentucky State Police. Would that have tripped up evil Dr. Christian Szell? More on that in a moment.
And they’re subject to discipline by the 10-member Board of Dentistry. It hasn’t dinged any this year, and only disciplined one in all of 2015. But in 2010, the board went after 72 dentists — far and away more than any other year. The board’s records don’t say why.
Nationwide, dentistry is one of the more segregated occupations. African-Americans hold 11.7% of all occupations nationwide, but are just 2.9% of dentists, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, for last year. They are just 3.6% of all dental hygienists, and 9.6% of dental assistants. (At the other extreme, they’re overrepresented among barbers, holding 40.7% of all.) Boulevard is trying to find comparable figures for Kentucky and for Louisville.
Scared of dentists? You’re not alone; up to 10% of U.S. adults are so afraid, they avoid dental care at all costs. Laurence Olivier only advanced those fears with his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Dr. Szell, a dentist and fugitive Nazi war criminal who tortures his patient in 1976’s “Marathon Man.” That’s him in the photo, top. Szell ranks as villain No. 34 on the American Film Institute’s “100 Years … 100 Heroes and Villains” list.
Boulevard 