Pike’s Peak

Republican leaders in the 31st Senate District have selected their candidate. Charles Phillip Wheeler, Jr., a 40 year old Pikeville attorney will be seeking to replace Ray Jones in the Senate, following Jones’ election as the new Pike County Judge-Executive.

Little seems to be known about Wheeler. He is an attorney with the Kirk Law Firm, where he works with newly elected State Representative Ashley Tackett-Laferty, the Democrat who now holds Greg Stumbo’s old seat. He also touts his grandfather’s service in the General Assembly and that he holds a degree in German, spending time teaching in Germany. (We suspect there will be a forthcoming campaign contribution from Matth Toebben.)

Most interesting is his connection to T.J. Litafik, who our Pike County sources tell us orchestrated the nomination. You might have heard Litafik’s name recently as he is the spokesman for the gubernatorial campaign of Robert Goforth.

Who exactly is Litafik? He’s been on the periphery of Republican politics for sometime now, but it’s not where his roots lie. Litafik, a Pikeville native as well, began his political activism within the now-defunct Reform Party, as an acolyte of Pat Buchanan. Following the Buchanan campaign, he served as campaign manager for Gatewood Galbraith’s campaign for Congress as a member of the Reform Party. (Although, we suspect no one could have ever “managed” Gatewood.)

After that, Litafik jumped all over the map politically, having worked for Wayne T. Rutherford, the long-serving Democrat Judge-Executive of Pike County, and running a lackluster campaign for Pikeville mayor himself. He worked in a variety of offices in the Bevin Administration, including as special assistant to Boards and Commissions. He was abruptly, and inexplicably, let go by Bevin, but sources tell us it may have been a case of him adding to the #MeToo movement in Frankfort.

We at ITC are curious as to whether Robert Stivers and the Senate caucus have been, or will be, working with Litafik in this election. We are pretty sure Matt Bevin will not be involved, considering the connection to the Goforth campaign. Will there be a rift in GOP politics in the East?