Beshear's Talking Point Malfunction

Steve Beshear's comments about the SCHIP bill tonight suggest he may not fully understand the legislative process.

Beshear's previous casino constitutional amendment blooper ("I'm gonna pass it") seems, well, perfectly constitutional compared to tonight's statement.

When asked if he would have voted to override the veto of the Congressional Democratic plan to expand SCHIP with funding from a $1 a pack cigarette tax, Beshear answered that he would have voted for the bill and the tax though he is against the tax, and that he thinks the United States should surrender in Iraq as soon as possible:

"I would have voted to override it. I don't like the funding mechanism they have in terms of raising the cigarette tax, but I'm gonna tell you something. We could fund this program if we just saved a few million dollars from Iraq instead of spending it over there on a war we're never going to win."

Real Emergency Ends, So End The Fake One

Governor Kathleen Blanco's term in office can now safely draw to a close since Republican Bobby Jindal has been elected in Louisiana.

So while our friends to the south are closing the books on part of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Governor Fletcher should take the opportunity to call an end to the ongoing state of emergency in Kentucky he called in the aftermath of that same hurricane.

It was that state of emergency called in 2005 that triggered Kentucky's bad (and since-repealed) price-gouging law under which Attorney General Greg Stumbo has sued Marathon Oil for $89 million.

The lawsuit is ongoing, but shouldn't be. Same goes for Kentucky's 2005 Hurricane Katrina state of emergency declaration.

Another Failure To Communicate

On the federal level, we have replaced welfare with alphabet soup. It would be a joke if it weren't true. At some point we are going to see expanding entitlement programs as a bad thing that gets in the way instead of something that, if we just did a little more, might just start to work:

...child care assistance, EITC, Food Stamps, housing assistance (Section 8 and public housing), Medicaid/SCHIP and TANF. While helpful for those who receive them, they find more needs to be done to ensure that hard work pays.

While these programs "for the poor" or "the children" are the purview of Democrats, all too often Republicans push corporate welfare.

Back in Kentucky, I'm guessing the Fletcher administration soon will announce the first recipient of Kentucky's "energy plan." The announcement will be the biggest yawner of an uneventful campaign.

That will be, sadly, the result of just another failure to communicate.

Jack Conway's Thinking Problem

I read the story about Attorney General candidate Jack Conway's "bush league" non-apology apology this morning and have to admit I kind of feel sorry for him.

As a pro-abortion politician bending over backwards to find a point of attack against his pro-life opponent Rep. Stan Lee, Conway showed that his reach definitely exceeds his grasp.

Then when he got caught he couldn't quite swing the mea culpa.

Conway, in an interview, said he's not faulting Lee for defending Jones. And he said it's not his intent to drag Hufnagel into the race.

"I didn't mean to cause them any additional consternation," Conway said. "If I have, I apologize. I just think it's important to point out the hypocrisy."

Conway may as well have said, "I shouldn't have attacked Stan Lee for representing a victim in a horrible tragedy and I'm sorry I got caught, but my political advisers tell me to keep saying the word 'hypocrisy' when talking about a Christian so 'hypocrisy.'"

Speaking of the h-word, it was a sight watching Conway try to get people worked up about an unborn child while displaying a vampire-in-the-sunlight's duck-and-cover maneuver away from the word "child."

"He is taking the position that ... who lost his 8-month-old viable fetus -- should not be compensated for the loss of love and affection for that 8-month-old fetus," said Conway, 38.

I've seen the polls and I have read the campaign finance numbers. Conway may well win this race, but if this dust-up is any indication, he has been pushed into the big leagues too soon.

Coach Pitino Gives Richie Farmer A Hand

The sports news guys in Lexington may be interested to know Rick Pitino will be in town tonight for a Richie Farmer fundraiser.

Mayor Abramson's $16.5 Million

Some folks in Louisville want to run a $40 million a year tax increase through on the ballot November 6 in order to raise $23.5 million to spend on the city's public library system. As part of the deal, they also want to remove library operations from local government oversight.

Many voters were falling for the idea of paying more money if the library system needed it. But this is quickly turning into a sordid mess as more facts are uncovered about what is really going on.

A good question to ask is "Why does Mayor Jerry Abramson need a $40 million tax increase to give the libraries $23.5 million and what is he doing with the extra $16.5 million?"

Mayor Abramson ran last year on funding the libraries without any tax increases. The big-taxers are very well funded for this fight. Spread the word to stop them.

Mitt Romney Keeps Endorsing HillaryCare

Mitt Romney spoke to the Club for Growth yesterday and positively mentioned the Fair Tax, which is good. Then he started on healthcare, which turned bad when he repeated the questionable statistic that there are fourty seven million people without health insurance, suggesting that we might do the same thing in America he did in Massachusetts.

"We have to see fundamental reform of healthcare overall ... Fourty seven million people without insurance means the cost of fourty seven million people is being borne by everybody else. That can't happen. You gotta get everybody in the system paying their own fair share."

No. We can afford to pay for those who can't pay for themselves if we would only let the market reduce the costs for those of us paying our own way.

Further, Romney often tries to separate himself from some of the worst parts of the Massachusetts health mess by blaming it on his Democratic legislature.

Hello? What is going to be different in Washington D.C.? I sure don't want to elect a Republican president who signs socialized medicine and then goes out and claims it isn't his fault.

Some Rumors Are More Fun Than Others

There is some internet chatter about Treasurer Jonathan Miller that I hope isn't true. We hear this kind of stuff way too often and I wouldn't wish it on anyone's family.

But the one I just got from a Democratic friend is that Miller may have spent Treasurer's office money to pay Mark Nickolas to run his blog.

Now that would be fun.

Here Comes Mr. Conservative

The leader of the Club for Growth is coming to Kentucky next week.

No Liberal Scheme Left Behind

Reps. Ben Chandler and John Yarmuth both voted this afternoon to override President Bush's veto of the Dems' rapid SCHIP expansion.

Fortunately, though, they failed.

Courier Journal's Hate Speech

The Louisville Courier-Journal's vitriolic partisanship is nothing new. But it is interesting how amateurish today's installment is:

Every time you hear Republicans brag about being the party of fiscal restraint and family values, remember what they really mean: They'll lavish money on the machinery of war but won't do what's necessary to make sure that hard-pressed American families can meet basic needs like health care and shelter.

This stuff would be barely passable as a diary entry on a liberal blog. And this is supposed to convince us that only evil people don't want to buy houses for poor people?

Steve Beshear's Kentucky Circa 2050

Casinos have been fixing all the problems in New Jersey for fourty years. Today, half the people who live there want to move out of the state.

My favorite line from the story:

"Where do all the funds go from all the other taxable sources — the casino, the lottery, the tolls?" Cella asked. "Nobody seems to know, and yet we have a Legislature that's talking about raising taxes all the time."

McConnell's Macaca Moment?

Good grief. This is the kind of nonsense that happens to Republicans who don't stick to correct principles.

If we were arguing against the worthiness of the SCHIP program itself, the issue of one boy's eligibility and some effort to dig into his background would never come up.

You have to read the entire Courier-Journal story to see Sen. McConnell wasn't lying about anything, but if all the senator's statements were about the program's counterproductivity this stupid stuff would never be an issue.

Kentucky's Health Insurance Success

Kentucky has one of the best individual/family health insurance markets in the country. Limited mandates have a lot to do with this, as does the fact more states are edging toward HillaryCare-type setups a lot faster than we are.

Electing Steve Beshear governor would be a near-certain way to screw this up.

Check it out for yourself:

Bloodhound Alert: In Search Of Hillary Clinton

No, Hillary Clinton isn't missing. But her Ivy League-acquired math skills appear to be failing her so badly, we should probably get the dogs out anyway.

If she keeps leading in the polls, we will need them soon enough.

She's campaigning on restoring fiscal responsibility to Washington D.C. and yet champions a $100 billion health insurance program and a new $20 billion retirement entitlement. And now she is denying that Social Security has any kind of problem. That line worked well enough when her party was in the minority, just trying to stop a president they don't like from fixing a daunting problem.

But Hillary seems to be stuck on last year's talking point. At the same time, she is ignoring the slightly more distant past in which her own husband outlined the very real crisis in Social Security almost a decade ago.

The long-standing intellectual slipperiness we have come to expect from politicians named Clinton suggests we are going to need some serious help tracking Hillary down on anything that matters.

Taxing The Sinner, Not The Sin

Steve Beshear has backed off his support for the Democrats' SCHIP expansion since Governor Fletcher called him on the $1 a pack cigarette tax in that bill.

Beshear should have to explain what tax he wants to go up to pay for the entitlement.

Could this be a precursor for the failure of casino gambling in the legislature next year?

Help Mitch Ditch Democrat Internet Tax

Sen. Mitch McConnell is circulating a petition to permanently ban taxation of internet access fees.

Cut Government Waste, Send Politicians Home

Kentucky can put two constitutional amendments on the ballot in any year. Next year, we need to repeal the Treasurer's office and eliminate even-year "long sessions" of the General Assembly.

The gubernatorial candidates should be asked their position on this.

Debate

Governor Fletcher just hinted that some energy projects will be announced soon. I'm assuming he is talking about coal-to-liquid fuel projects.

Mayor Isaac Knew And When She Knew It

An outside consultant to the LFUCG told then-Mayor Teresa Isaac about abuse in the Fayette County Detention Center several months before she went on television a year ago and said no such abuse occurred.

Kentucky's Healthy Health Insurance Market?

I'm working on an analysis of the health insurance markets in the states. I'll post my findings on The Bluegrass Policy Blog when I'm finished, but after looking at plans in all fifty states I have to say Kentucky is a lot closer to the top than I thought they would be.

Grayson Goes Up

"Build 48 More Casinos, Governor"

New Jersey's Governor Jon Corzine has a problem for which Kentucky's Steve Beshear would have a quick answer.

New Jersey has a $3 billion hole in its budget. Corzine has avoided the problem as long as possible with other types of flimflammery:

One challenge will be to replace $1.9 billion in "one-shot" cash that will be gone after the current budget year. The administration this year tapped a $940 million surplus to help balance the books. The current budget also used $650 million stashed away from last year to pay for rebates. And Corzine won't be able to duplicate about $340 million in raids he made on funds dedicated to specific programs like disability insurance.

Meanwhile, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley gave us a preview of what Year Three in the Beshear administration would look like:

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) on Monday plans to call a special session of the General Assembly with the hope of securing quick action on his plan to close a $1.7 billion budget shortfall by raising several taxes and legalizing slot-machine gambling, his office said yesterday.

Jail Birds Singing

I'm working this morning on what might be a major break in the prisoner abuse scandal at the Lexington jail.

There are currently more than half a billion dollars worth of lawsuits against the taxpayers of Lexington directly related to the actions of a few people at the facility.

It is about to get much worse.

Stay tuned...

Leading Meteorologist Predicts Global Cooling

Just as Al Gore was being handed his Nobel Peace prize for stirring environmentalists' wildest fantasies, another leading scientist, Dr. William Gray, explained part of what is happening:

"It bothers me that my fellow scientists are not speaking out against something they know is wrong," he said. "But they also know that they'd never get any grants if they spoke out. I don't care about grants."

My favorite part, though, was this:

But Dr Gray, whose annual forecasts of the number of tropical storms and hurricanes are widely publicised, said a natural cycle of ocean water temperatures - related to the amount of salt in ocean water - was responsible for the global warming that he acknowledges has taken place.

However, he said, that same cycle meant a period of cooling would begin soon and last for several years.

"We'll look back on all of this in 10 or 15 years and realise how foolish it was," Dr Gray said.

Sure hope Gore's prize winning junk science runs its course that soon, if not sooner.

Pimping A National Conservative Blog

Erick Erickson is a Macon, Georgia attorney who publishes RedState.com. If you are looking for some perspective on how conservatives might wrest control of the Republican party from the political class, you will find it there.

Exhibit A:

The GOP has ceased to be a party of ideas. We have John Boehner playing to keep Jerry Lewis on the Appropriations Committee, despite his FBI investigation. He's added to the Appropriations Committee Ken Calvert, also under investigation.

We have Mitch McConnell and the GOP in the Senate caving on earmarks reform, funding bridges to no where, and backing down on judges. We have the White House doing cutesy policy maneuvers, kissing up to China for trade, and reminding people "We gave you John Roberts and Sam Alito and the stem cell veto so suck it up" whenever we point out that they're drifting leftward.

Another Reason To Not Trust Frankfort's "Big Ed"

Remember the mess caused by state officials trying to cram the scandalous Barbara Erwin down our throats as education commissioner?

Her crime spree is catching up to her in Illinois.

Raehl, who also sparked the earlier investigation this year, said she believes Gaffney tried to use his power as a public official to get extra sick days for former Superintendent Barbara Erwin so she could become vested in the state pension system.

Raehl cites an undated memo bearing Gaffney's signature along with a note to district officials, saying the board agreed to credit Erwin with 340 sick days as part of a contract agreement in 2004, when actually Erwin's sick day allotment was not approved and did not start accumulating until 2005.

"There was an attempt to get (Erwin) vested by Jim (Gaffney)," Raehl said. "It was a misuse and an attempted misuse of public funds."

Nice to see a little ranting and raving might have helped stop at least one Frankfort headache.

Kentucky's Real Constitutional Amendment of 2008

Casino gambling won't be on the ballot next year in Kentucky because it won't get past Sen. David Williams. It probably won't even get past Speaker Jody Richards.

But cutting government waste begins with shutting down the Treasurer's office.

What Part Of "Education Bureaucrats In Frankfort Are Screwing Up Our State" Don't You Understand?

It doesn't have to be this way.

Hot Ticket Next Thursday

The Keeneland Entertainment Center in Lexington will be the setting for next week's Interim Joint Appropriations and Revenue Committee meeting next week.

UK President Lee Todd will update members on the University of Kentucky's Top 20 Business Plan and Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry and World Equestrian Games 2010 President Jack Kelly will speak about the progress of the World Equestrian Games.

The meeting is set to start at 10:30.

Now This Is Tough

The Tax Foundation released its 2008 State Business Tax Climate Index yesterday, which shows Kentucky ranked #36 in the nation and our corporate tax index ranked #39.

Unfortunately, in 2004 Kentucky was ranked #30 overall with a corporate tax index of #22.

Readers may wonder why I would point something like this out when I am a Republican. My only answer to that is I support Republicans generally, but conservatives specifically. Not raising corporate taxes would be a great way to keep our state competitive for economic development.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Didn't "Save" America

Page One Kentucky had this video and comments that this is devastating for Ernie Fletcher. I'm not so sure it was.

What do you think?

Score One For Stan Lee

At the U.S. Supreme Court, no less.

Same-Sex Contribution Flap Is Sad

Liberal bloggers are red-hot mad because the Fletcher campaign dug up a Beshear contribution in which a man claimed his spouse is another man.

With so many more important issues that we could and should be discussing, it would be nice if we could just ignore this dust-up.

But, of course, we can't just ignore it. I wish the Fletcher campaign hadn't put this out as a press release. Whisper it to a blogger or two, maybe, but not an official campaign press release.

Sheesh...

They Won't Take Our Cell Phones Away Like This

Talking on a cell phone in the car is not a right Kentuckians will let slip away easily.

Especially not with a bill like this one.

Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Will Fletcher Lose To This Bozo?

The Beshear campaign is mailing out unsolicited "Support the troops, end the war" protest yard signs with requested Beshear/Mongiardo yard signs.

More Media

I will be on the Kruser and Krew radio program (590 AM WVLK) in Lexington this afternoon at 2 pm talking about pre-filed bill for the 2008 General Assembly.

You can listen online and you can call in on 859-253-5959.

Here Comes The Crisis

The actual "first Baby Boomer" will sign up for Social Security on Monday.

Ignoring the impending collapse of our nation's entitlement programs will then get a bit tougher.

Conservatives Of The Commonwealth, Unite!

The Kentucky Club for Growth will host a fundraiser Wednesday, October 24 with special guest Pat Toomey in Erlanger.

Toomey is the former Pennsylvania congressman who nearly toppled Sen. Arlen Specter in the 2004 GOP primary. He now heads the national Club for Growth.

The Club for Growth supports fiscally conservative candidates for public office.

Interested? Call 859-261-2582 for details.

How About Some Conservative Policies?

Never too early to start talking about tax cuts.

Google Search Follies

Noticed last week a google search for "Greg Stumbo Senate" brought up this Kentucky Progress post that speculated Stumbo was about to drop his bid to run against Sen. Mitch McConnell.

But now the top post for the same search brings up Stumbo's exploratory committee.

If he is sending money to Google, he must be serious...

Media Appearance

I will be on the Leland Conway show at 9:35 tomorrow morning on Lexington's WLAP 630 AM talking about the price-gouging lawsuit against Marathon Oil.

You can listen here.

"Big Ed" Fights Back Against School Choice

Caleb Brown skewers the Kentucky Department of Education for being difficult about fulfilling their legal responsibilities to our children.

If Lying To Taxpayers Were Football, U of L Would Be Back In Top 25

The University of Louisville claims that extending health insurance benefits to employees' roommates won't cost taxpayers any money because they make the roommate pay the premium.

We pledge that there will be no taxpayer dollars used for it," said university spokesman John Drees, who said employees were informed of the new plan Monday.

Despite the pledge though, the program is begging to become a magnet for sick, uninsurable people who would be delighted to wait a year and then pay premiums into the state-supported schools self insurance health plan.

After all, excessive losses to the plan simply get picked up by the taxpayers.

If you want more of state universities' gaming the system at your expense, Jack Conway is your man for Attorney General.

Bluegrass Policy Blog Goes Viral!

How about a link to a link of linked story on a national magazine's blog from little old me?

Hillary Clinton, Super Soaker

The John Edwards presidential campaign surely knows how to recognize pandering from personal experience. Nonetheless, they earn the Line of the Day Award for noting that Hillary Clinton punted her "$5000 for every baby" plan today:

"Apparently, new polling data seems to have pressured the Clinton campaign to throw out the baby bond with the bathwater," said Edwards spokesman Chris Kofinis.

Hillary has instead jumped into the deep "there is no crisis" Social Security waters, with a plan now to increase the death tax and fund an income-based federal match for a new retirement entitlement.

As for the retirement accounts, Clinton said during a campaign stop in small-town central Iowa, "They will begin to bring down this inequality that is eating away at our social contract." She said, "This is a major commitment to how I believe we can begin to right the balance again."

Her campaign said that for every $7 million estate that gets taxed, at least 5,000 families would receive the matching funds.

Clinton said she wants to create "American Retirement Accounts" in which each family could put up to $5,000 annually in a 401(k) plan. The federal government would provide a tax cut to match the first $1,000 for any household that brings in less than $60,000 a year and 50 percent of the first $1,000 for those that make $60,000-$100,000.

Of course, the devil will be in the details but like with her government health insurance scheme, there should be enough bath water getting dumped out to soak us all.

Kentucky, Caught In The Dark Ages

Red State blog shines a light on some of the education weirdness in the Bluegrass state.

Louisville Columnist Discounts Fletcher's Chances

John David Dyche may get attacked for detailing his version of the failures of the Fletcher campaign in today's Courier Journal. And he may get attacked for listing what he calls achievements of the Fletcher administration.

But it is hard to argue with his bottom-line analysis:

So, does Ernie Fletcher stand a chance? Perhaps the prevalence of the question provides its answer. Beshear is a big government liberal Kentuckians would ordinarily reject, but these are not ordinary times. Fletcher's best hope now may be a big mistake of the kind his foe is unlikely to make.

But mistakes do happen. For example, this pundit, ever prone to optimistically overestimating the rational self-interest of Republican voters, predicted they would prefer Anne Northup to Fletcher in the GOP primary.

The Fletcher campaign probably will turn in the final days of the campaign to promoting actions of the past four years or laying out a vision for the next four years. The public has a greater need for the latter, but the campaign probably will have to focus on the former.

The major untold story of the campaign is the severe damage the Fletcher campaign inflicted on itself recruiting over the summer against GOP House members who supported Northup in the primary. Seeking retribution has its place in politics, but that place is usually only after the general election.

Huckabee Cancels Danville

GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has cancelled a planned trip to Centre College in Danville on Wednesday.

His campaign said he will come to Danville in November.

Bluegrass Institute Invokes Mark Twain In Going After School Bureaucrat

It's almost automatic: say something stupid in the newspaper and it will get blogged. And if you say something stupid about Kentucky schools, the Bluegrass Institute will blog about you.

The New Farmer's Almanac?

Fashion designers are predicting there will be no more winters:

"The fashion system must adapt to the reality that there is no strong difference between summer and winter any more… You can't have everyone showing four times a year to present the same thing. People are not prepared to invest in these clothes that, from one season to the other, use the same fabrics at the same weight."

Source: Drudge

Kentucky Already Losing $500 Million A Year To State-Sponsored Gambling

Gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear keeps talking about bringing in $500 million a year with casino gambling.

A chart in today's New York Times about state lotteries falling short of expectations suggests the surest way to inject $500 million back into the economy would be to get rid of the Kentucky Lottery.

($742 million in sales minus $204 million in profits equals $538 million in losses last year alone.)

GOP, Dems Missing Point Of SCHIP Failure

The Lexington Herald Leader's editorial page has a funny idea of what constitutes failure of a government entitlement:

In Kentucky, 50,000 children eligible for the Children's Health Insurance Program (KCHIP) are not covered.

Resisting dependence of government programs used to be considered a good thing.

Of course their idea of a solution to this "problem" is spending more money pushing people who don't want it to take the government entitlement.

The vetoed bill provides incentives for states to enroll the poorest of the poor, kids who are eligible but not in Medicaid.

Republicans will wind up caving in on this and dramatically expanding SCHIP. This is a shame, because we should be making the case for scrapping the whole thing.

What Beshear Knew

From the "secret report" page 34 of this section:

During the period May 5 - June 14, 1993, Beshear had general knowledge that work was being done on behalf of Bank of Louisville with respect to the Bond Powers. Neither Beshear, nor any other Stites & Harbison attorney, informed or disclosed to the Rehabilitator that Stites & Harbison was undertaking this effort on behalf, and for the benefit, of the Bank of Louisville. The failure to disclose this conduct contravened the commitment in the Engagement Letter not to represent Bank of Louisville in "that transaction," and, in addition, violated Stites & Harbison's commitment to disclose conflicts discovered or arising after the date of the Engagement Letter.

McConnell Spanks Chandler, Yarmuth For Bad SCHIP Expansion Bill

Sen. Mitch McConnell's criticism of the Democrats' failed SCHIP expansion is on point and highlights who Kentucky's two liberal Congressmen side with when Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants them to go against the interests of Kentucky taxpayers and poor children:

In my home state of Kentucky, the Democrats’ vetoed bill would provide less coverage for kids’ health care in 2008 than our Kids First plan. Kentuckians would pay $600 million more in new taxes than they would receive in new benefits under the Democrats’ plan — a $600 million wealth transfer from Kentucky to states like New York and New Jersey. Kentuckians don’t want the money they’ve targeted for poor children going to adults and middle class families who live in other states and can afford insurance on their own.

Subsidizing Success

The Fletcher campaign is touting the I-CARE health insurance subsidy program as one of the major successes of the administration.

I wish they would stop.

Tomorrow Is D-Day For Beshear's Legal Scandal

The Conservative Edge has the latest on Steve Beshear's shoddy legal work on the Kentucky Central debacle.

We Might Want To File This Away For Gov. Beshear

Michigan has wrecked itself with profligate unions and tax-raising politicians.

The Americans for Tax Reform has the scoop and the effort to fight back.

Romney's Charade Is Over

One thing is clear from the presidential campaign finance reports: Mitt Romney is wasting his money and our time.

Shameless Self-Promotion

I just got my first post up on The Bluegrass Policy Blog, which will be a regular, full-time gig.

Please check it out if you will and leave a comment if you want. Links will be greatly appreciated.

Market Solution Saves Kentucky Health Dollars

Walmart's wildly successful $4 prescription drug program has been great for Kentucky consumers, who have saved more per capita than consumers in all but four states.

We are waiting around for Hillary Clinton to come to our rescue when we should really be getting government out of the way.

State Politicians Mugging Marathon Oil

Attorney General Greg Stumbo will be making a big deal out of a federal court ruling that his unconstitutional "price gouging" lawsuit can proceed in state court in Frankfort, which is right where he wants it.

Marathon Oil knew their only chance for a fair hearing would have been in federal court.

The old price gouging law Stumbo sued under is unconstitutional and everyone knows it. That is why it was repealed in the 2007 General Assembly.

I would suggest that our gubernatorial candidates should weigh in on this disgrace, but unfortunately they will both side with Stumbo.

My New Responsibilities

At some point Thursday morning I will take over publishing the Bluegrass Institute's blog. The purpose of that blog is discussion of state public policy.

It is listed as one of my links to the right and you can go here to check it out.

I will keep this site updated with unique posts; same as always.

Here Is A Real Issue For Candidates

Haven't heard anything from the gubernatorial candidates about the president's veto of the SCHIP expansion/tax increase bill this morning.

Might be interesting to see where they come down on this one.

Herald-Leader's Proof-Free Higher Ed Editorial

This morning's editorial about higher education started off badly:

Kentucky's low-income families must now devote almost a quarter of their incomes to pay for a community or technical college education, even with financial aid.

This is patently absurd and I would love to see them try to attach any legitimate numbers to this.

Of course, they are extolling the wisdom of freezing tuition costs and -- worse -- the proliferation of need-based financial aid.

To Kentucky's credit, the state has also been increasing need-based financial aid at a higher rate than the region or nation.

But even with the increased financial aid figured in, the sticker shock will price many Kentuckians out of an education.

The average Pell Grant is $2500 and the maximum is $4310. Full-time annual tuition at KCTCS is $2760. A student who graduates high school with a 3.0 GPA and gets a 21 on the ACT will receive $1250 a year in KEES money.

State and institutional grants and private scholarships combine to easily -- easily!! -- cover the total cost of education for needy families.

It's all this focus on need-based aid (and the lack of price sensitivity that goes along with it) that makes it tough for middle-class families to cover the cost of college.

Even a minor shift toward more merit-based financial aid would lower costs and improve educational outcomes for Kentuckians by requiring kids to get serious about school sooner and crowding people out based on lack of preparation rather than lack of ability to demonstrate financial need.

Legal Defense Fund Bill Pre-Filed

Rep. Darryl Owens pre-filed a bill today that, if it had been in place at the beginning of this year, would have required Governor Ernie Fletcher to report all relevant details of his legal defense fund eight times before the November election.

Huckabee Coming To Kentucky

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is coming to Centre College on October 10. The biggest criticism of Huckabee comes from his tax-and-spending days as governor of Arkansas.

RGA Supports Half-Priced Socialism

Hello?

Are there any Republican organizations out there still supporting conservative fiscal policies? I'm just curious.

The Republican Governors Association touts a newspaper editorial cheering on Indiana for expanding state-run socialized medicine. And the part they are most excited about is the Republican governor of that state got it done with a federal matching grant:

The plan will close at least part of Indiana's growing insurance gap. There are about 560,000 adult residents of the state with no health care coverage. Many of these are the working poor. They are people with jobs but not jobs that include health insurance as a benefit. And their income isn't sufficient to allow them to afford insurance on their own.

In his January State of the State Address, Daniels asked the Indiana General Assembly to approve a cigarette tax increase of at least 25 cents a pack. The tax increase grew to 44 cents by the end of the legislative session. That is $206 million a year in revenue.

Pineville Knows Bruce Hendrickson

Before former Pineville Mayor Bruce Hendrickson got demolished in his race for re-election last year, his greatest contribution to his city was either rigging the bid for building the local senior citizen center for family members or failing to apply for coal severance money.

Now the Democratic party wants us to put him in charge of "fixing" our elections.

Time To Get Our $100 Million Back

Learning from others' experiences is always cheaper than waiting around to take the hit yourself. We have a golden opportunity to avoid some serious pain right now.

We learned over the weekend China has backed off their effort to supplement their country's transportation fuel needs with coal. Meanwhile, Kentucky hasn't yet bonded the $100 million HB 1 would borrow and spend on CTL plants here.

We have a chance to cancel the whole thing and keep our money. We should do just that.

Taxing Their Way To Prosperity

Don't laugh at Michigan's financial problems. Their tough votes will be in our future pretty soon as the much-ignored public pension mess in Kentucky gets much harder to ignore.

Our state workers are overpaid and we spend too much on social services. Until we get some people willing to be one-term politicians (by their own choice), we will continue to miss opportunities to deal creatively with our fiscal problems.

Another Great Reason For You To Move To Indiana

Indiana has casinos and soon will add government health insurance for families earning up to 300% of the poverty level.

So if you think out-of-state casinos make good in-state public policy and you don't think you can get by on $62,000 without taxpayer-provided health insurance, maybe you should move north.

Hey, Let's Make Another Law!

The best thing about the Courier-Journal story on bogus campaign contributions is that anyone could have put this one together, but no one did.

The all-too-predictable response will be to make new campaign finance laws. But after we all got caught ignoring law-breaking, let's not lose sight of the fact that the necessary laws already exist.

Too Much Socialism For The Communists

As Kentucky lurches checkbook-first into the world of heavily subsidized "energy production," the world's largest experimenter in coal-to-liquid technology, China, is backing off. This is according to the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission.

Kentucky has already sunk more than $106 million into this stuff that has failed to be self-sufficient any place else.

We should cut our losses there.

No Newt In 2008

Newt Gingrich ended speculation today that he might run for president in 2008.

Over the past few months, Gingrich had stoked speculation he might enter the crowded GOP field. He noted that Republicans, especially conservatives, were unhappy with the candidates already in the race.

Yet he also has spoken positively of all the leading contenders, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Splitting The Difference With Socialism

Thanks to the Club for Growth for pointing out this one:

Honor Among Thieves

I love this one:

A request by Caesars Indiana to dismiss a Tennessee woman's lawsuit claiming that the casino took advantage of her gambling addiction was rejected yesterday by a Harrison County judge.

Circuit Judge H. Lloyd Whitis' ruling in the case of Jenny Kephart could open the door to a trial examining a casino's duty in handling compulsive gamblers.

Given the potential public policy implications of such a lawsuit, can gambling proceeds recipients really afford to have disgruntled gamblers suing to get some of their money back using what amounts to a "temporary insanity" plea?

What's next, nicotine addicts suing the state and federal governments to get their tobacco taxes back? And what would that mean for the "the children" whose government health insurance is funded by those smokers?

Would "the kids" have a lawsuit against the smokers? Maybe "the kids" should start working up a lawsuit against compulsive gamblers.

Californial Dreamin' Makes Sense For Kentucky

Newport Beach, California city council members killed a proposal this week to require a public vote before increasing pension benefits for public employees.

Kentucky and all its municipalities should do what Newport Beach didn't have the courage to do. And we should do it immediately.

If nothing else, by pushing back against the multi-billion dollar sea of red ink our politicians have poured on us with pension goodies for their cronies, we might get to see some serious issues aired out like this:

The Pilot also quoted the head of the city's firefighters union, arguing that the initiative would "be ground zero of a statewide war. … We don't want to go there." Well, a political war is brewing, as government pensions have gotten out of hand and as pension debt has soared. We know why the unions don't want to go there, given that they have the cushiest deal imaginable. But someone is going to have to go there, given that the current situation cannot be sustained without leading to bonds, tax increases or reduction in other government programs.

Writing in the Register's Orange Grove earlier this month, Lincoln Club officials Richard Wagner and David Bahnsen pointed out that San Francisco has had such a pension-vote measure for 100 years, which has resulted in that city having a fully funded pension system that is the model for the nation. San Diego voters approved a similar measure after "a string of pension mismanagement scandals resulted in a $1.3 billion retirement-fund shortfall that nearly caused the city to declare bankruptcy and led to five felony indictments of union, city and pension officials in January 2006."

Better Yesterday Than Never

They probably should have hopped on this wagon over the summer when everyone else was hot on immigration, but the Fletcher administration has engaged on getting tough with illegals.

Good.

College Affordability Challenge

In an email to constituents this morning, Congressman Ben Chandler repeated a bogus "statistic" that 200,000 students don't go to college each year because they can't afford it.

That is complete bunk.

I will personally show anyone struggling with financing a college education how to get it done. Just email me.

And the less money you have, the easier it will be.

Thanks To Bunning And McConnell

Kentucky's U.S. Senators both voted yesterday against the liberal "Middle-Class Kids Need HillaryCare Now" bill.

The bill passed by a veto-proof margin in the Senate, but as long as the House Republicans hold strong, Hillary will not get her way on this one.

Rep. Yonts Incentivizing Crime-Free Students

Rep. Brent Yonts pre-filed a bill yesterday that is worthy of discussion. The bill offers a financial incentive for high school and college to avoid illegal use of drugs and alcohol and other various forms of illegal activity. It also provides some tax deductibility for college tuition costs.

Unfortunately, a discrepancy between the actual bill and the Legislative Research Commission's description of the bill may cause some confusion.

The bill refers to assistance with tuition expenses, but the bill description claims the program will provide scholarships for "up to 100 percent of the total cost of education." This is not correct.

Anyone who has financed a college education knows "tuition" is only a fraction of the "total cost of education," which includes room and board, transportation, books, fees, and -- more frequently these days -- purchase of a computer.

Update On Jody Richards Paycheck Scandal

He's giving himself a huge payday loan, I guess.

Jody Richards keeps telling people he is going to turn in the excess taxpayer money House members received after Democrats surrendered the special session in July.

He still hasn't paid up. Should we check his freezer at home?

Would Governor Beshear Tax Health Benefits?

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is threatening to shut down state government starting Monday if she doesn't get some tax increases, pronto.

Here's one Steve Beshear will like a lot: some Michigan legislators want to start taxing health insurance benefits.

How better to raise money to pay to resuscitate and hospitalize the thousands of Kentucky middle-class surburbanites dying in the streets for lack of government health insurance?

This plan would mesh well with Beshear's welfare for politicians plan and his plan to subsidize the out-of-state casino mafia.

Liberal Has-Beens For Beshear

Let's Destroy All Farming Like We Did Tobacco

A funny thing happened to the tobacco industry that was supposed to die with deregulation and the tobacco buyout.

It is booming and there's no reason to expect other domestic agriculture products would respond differently to getting government out of the way.

Carpet Bombing The Fayette County Jail

The FBI hit the jail in Lexington again today to drop off subpoenas in the ongoing inmate abuse scandal.

The grand jury meets tomorrow.

With $10 Million In The Bank, He Should Be Able To Do Better Than This

Mitch McConnell has a blog.

While We're Talking About Gambling

The Democratic party's candidate for Treasurer Todd Hollenbach actually wants to expand the money-losing KAPT program, which our legislature has mercifully closed to new losses. This drain on taxpayer funds hasn't been explored as Steve Beshear's plan to soak Kentuckians with casino gambling losses has gotten all the attention.

GOP candidate Melinda Wheeler has a much more sensible plan: she promises to shut down the Treasurer's office, which serves currently as an expensive resting place for politicians.

Supporting Republicans Who Act Like Republicans

Kentucky's entire GOP delegation in the U.S. House voted yesterday against expanding government health insurance to more middle-class families.

Good. Much of what ails America can't be fixed without entitlement reform. And that means fewer entitlements for people who are better off without them.

Immigration wouldn't be a problem if everyone were coming here to be productive. Public and private pensions wouldn't be melting down absent the short-sighted greed of union negotiators. Medicare and Social Security are on a collision course with reality. Hillary and her storm troopers march determinedly toward making it worse as soon as possible.

Predictably, Democrats think Hal Rogers, Ed Whitfield, Geoff Davis, and Ron Lewis made a political mistake on this vote. They deserve our thanks and our support for this vote. The only thing that would make it better would be to let the program die off completely. But I suspect we will have to be happy for now with slowing its rapid expansion.

When the left's prediction of death of middle-class kids in the streets fails to materialize, we will have more hard evidence for avoiding socialized medicine once and for all.

That's what liberal critics are afraid of.

1:02 Update: Nicholasville Conservative recommends an article from John Stossel on this subject. It's a good one.

Acting More Like Democrats

DNC Chair Howard Dean is pushing the Democratic party to the left through the organization that survived his run for president. He is raising money for more consistently "progressive" candidates like Donna Edwards who is running against Maryland Congressman Al Wynn, who Dean refers to as a "Bush Democrat."

And yes, I know Democracy for America is officially run by Mad Howard's brother Jim. If Jim were really going too far left for Howard, though, DFA would be shut down immediately.

Is Beshear Playing Dumb Or Is It You?

As Ryan Alessi's latest revelation about Steve Beshear's role in the destruction of Kentucky Central comes to light ...

The court-appointed liquidator of Kentucky Central at one point barred Steve Beshear from doing further work on the case and informed Beshear that his law firm would have to pay for an ethics investigation, documents show.

This comes after Beshear, the Democratic nominee for governor, has repeatedly claimed he didn't recall anything about a secret ethics report by a Cincinnati firm, Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur. And he recently said he wasn't aware his former firm, Stites & Harbison, paid more than $100,000 for it.

... Beshear's previous memory-related comments make a little more sense:

"When I say 'I don't recall,' if later you come up with something that says I was there, that's OK because I'm being up front in saying I don't recall because this is, what, 14 years ago?" he said.

Just don't say you weren't warned.

And, of course, when it comes to policy we always have this:

Beshear Campaign Staff Gains As UAW Strikes

General Motors union employees across the nation walked off the job today in a massive strike larger than any seen in the automobile industry in thirty years. Now they will have more free time to campaign for the Democratic campaigns.

Good thing Beshear and friends haven't succeeded in unionizing Toyota yet.

Jody Richards Agrees To Return Unearned Money

The unearned checks distributed to legislators after the House Democrats surrendered the July special session will be returned today, House Speaker Jody Richards' spokeswoman reported this morning.

2:27 pm UPDATE: Frankfort sources report Speaker Richards will refuse again today to send back the taxpayers' money.

We need to have a little fun with this while we wait for Jody Richards to pay up. Whoever can get closest to the time and date which confirmation goes out that the unearned paychecks are turned back in wins.

Where Are Steve Beshear's Barking Dogs?

Kind of funny to see the Beshear campaign still proudly touting their unsurprising support from former state Rep. Steve Nunn, who was run out of office last year in part because of a hilarious barking dog radio ad that hounded him for supporting a variety of tax increases.

After Beshear's casino gambling plan bites the dust in the legislature again, he and his dogs would have little choice but to try biting us with tax increases as well.

Socialized Medicine Plans Shrink In Sunlight

Maybe we should call California's ArnoldCare and Sen. Clinton's HillaryCare "the Shrinky Dinks."

Hillary couldn't take the heat in the '90's. This time won't be any different.

The claim that no new bureaucracies are created will be challenged. Like Gov. Schwarzenegger, Mrs. Clinton envisions requiring everyone to prove they have health insurance. But she's vague on the details: "At this point, we don't have anything punitive that we have proposed." You can bet she will have some ideas.

Even so, making certain people have insurance is easier said than done. California has had a law mandating that drivers have car insurance since 1970 and has required physical proof of insurance to register a car for a decade. Even so, the Insurance Research Council says 25% of the state's drivers remain uninsured.

• Illegal aliens and their access to health insurance will be controversial. Mrs. Clinton promises health care for all, but is punting on the issue of whether the illegal aliens, who often use emergency room services, will be covered. Ms. Rubiner admits it's a "huge issue," but says "that's one we're going to have to think through a little bit."

"Let The Liberal Editorial Boards Decide!"

Just heard Hillary Clinton describe public financing of political campaigns as her solution to her own campaign finance scandals.

If Steve Beshear wins the governor's race -- and after his casino plan falls flat -- it will be fun next year running against this and other really bad ideas he and Hillary share.

Destroying Business As Fast As They Can

Sen. Barack Obama's idea to save Social Security without paying a political price among the middle class would make HillaryCare look like a bounced check fee.

What he hopes you fail to realize is that employers pay half of Social Security taxes. And taxes on businesses have a funny way of hitting everyone with price increases and job cuts.

Meanwhile, it's a terrible shame Republicans squandered the opportunity to stop spending the annual Social Security surplus while we still have one.

Frankfort's Own Frito Bandito

Jody Richards still has the taxpayers' money he promised to return after the House Democrats surrendered the special session in July. Maybe we should check under his hat.

Reading Past First Paragraph For The Real Story

Which do you think is more newsworthy, that Steve Beshear's law firm paid $100,000 for research into its role in the destruction of Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company, or that the head of the firm's Louisville office now says the report "will be 100% discredited" even though he hasn't seen it and no one in the firm can seem to remember seeing it.

To the Herald-Leader's credit, they did include that interesting quote (albeit near the end of the story) as well as this classic from Beshear:

"When I say 'I don't recall,' if later you come up with something that says I was there, that's OK because I'm being up front in saying I don't recall because this is, what, 14 years ago?" he said.