Hogan announces candidacy;
for Ky. Attorney General
Four term Lawrence County Attorney files to seek Republican nomination for state’s top law enforcement post…
(official press release)
FRANKFORT- Declaring that “Kentuckians deserve an attorney general with real experience who stands on his own two feet,” Lawrence County Attorney Michael T. Hogan today announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Kentucky Attorney General. Hogan officially filed his candidacy this morning with the Office of Secretary of State at the State Capitol.
Hogan, 46, was re-elected in November to a fourth consecutive term as Lawrence County Attorney. He said that he decided to become a candidate for attorney general during the past holiday season after extensive discussions with family and friends.
“There are much easier things to do than run for political office, especially in all 120 counties, but I have never been one not to do something simply because it is challenging,” Hogan said.
Hogan said his primary motivation in running for Kentucky’s top law enforcement post was to insure that “Kentuckians have an attorney general that is not beholden to the powerful special interests who seek to hold our state back at the cost of what is right for all our people.”
“For far too long, the attorney general’s office has been merely a stepping stone and a stopping off point for those with gubernatorial ambitions. The people of Kentucky have suffered because of the focus on politics that has consumed the office for generations,” Hogan said.
Hogan said that because of his service as a county attorney he would be very mindful that the attorney general, as chairman of the Kentucky Prosecutors Advisory Council, had a very important role in working with and assisting Kentucky’s commonwealth’s attorneys and county attorneys.
“I know the real issues and the real problems because I deal with them on a daily basis as a local prosecutor—and that’s what makes me different from any other candidate yet announced in this race,” said Hogan.
“I will be a strong advocate to support our commonwealth’s attorneys and county attorneys and to defend their budgets as well as lobby for their needs in the general assembly,” he said.
“I know what it’s like to prosecute criminals and to try cases in front a jury. My background is not one of silk stocking law firms and accolades from national legal publications but of the halls of the Lawrence County Courthouse and the satisfaction that comes from being the best small town attorney and local elected official that I know how to be. The only way I got to be attorney was because of the good Lord, a great mother and the G.I. Bill,” said Hogan.
Hogan is a graduate of Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law and holds a bachelor’s degree in police administration from Eastern Kentucky University. He is also a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves. In addition to serving as Lawrence County Attorney since 2003, Hogan maintains a private law practice as senior partner in the firm of Hogan, Derifield and Perdue in Louisa. Hogan has also served as an assistant county attorney as well as a public defender.
Hogan and his wife, Joy, reside in Louisa and are the parents of three children.
Hogan said that between now and the May 19, 2015 Republican primary that he planned to visit each of Kentucky’s 120 counties to connect with voters as well as local officials.
“Mine will not be a campaign waged behind a desk in Louisville or Lexington dialing for dollars and letting television ads and direct mail make my introductions for me,” Hogan said. “I will be in every corner of the Commonwealth on the Main Streets of our county seats and amongst the real people of our state.”
