Comer: Heiner is the 'Laettner' of Ky. politics

Gubernatorial candidate James Comer said that the mother of Marilyn Thomas, who has accused him of physically and mentally abusing her, was not telling the truth when she said he called her home early one morning some 25 years ago and threatened the young woman.

During a debate of GOP gubernatorial hopefuls on Kentucky Sports Radio, Comer denied all allegations in the story saying, "That's dirty politics at its worst."

Specifically, he said that the comments from Mary Rose Thomas, an 83-year-old former nun, were inaccurate. She told the Courier-Journal that when she picked up the call "I couldn't understand everything he was saying, but he said something about your daughter's going to be killed. ... It was something like that."

But Comer said he never made any such call.

"Her mother said there was a phone call late at night, it came from me. That's just not true," Comer said on the debate.

A former roommate of Thomas also said she believed Thomas was being abused at the time and recounted Comer bringing Thomas back to the dormitory at Western Kentucky University after she went to an abortion clinic in Louisville.

During the debate, Comer also said he plans to sue The Courier-Journal for publishing the story and blamed his rival Hal Heiner for the fact that the allegations came forward to begin with, telling host Matt Jones that that Heiner is the "Christian Laettner" of Kentucky politics. Jones' show focuses on University of Kentucky Athletics and Laettner is a former Duke University basketball player known for playing dirty.

The two other Republican gubernatorial candidates, Matt Bevin and Will T. Scott, also participated in the debate and talked about efforts in job creation and prison reform.

Each of the candidates professed their dislike for kynect, promising to dismantle the state's health benefit exchange. Heiner, however, in an exchange with Bevin, said he was "not willing to kick 330,000 people off health care, like your knee-jerk position."

In a more light-hearted moment, each candidate was asked which basketball coach he would hire if the choice were between Louisville's Rick Pitino and Kentucky's John Calipari.

Heiner and Bevin opted for Pitino, Scott and Comer for Calipari.