Depends on your definition of success

The Lexington Herald Leader can be so funny sometimes.

Take today's editorial as an example. In it, the editors claim "real progress" in a national education report showing Kentucky's high school graduation rate was 71.6% in 2005.

Now all we need to do, they claim, is throw more money at the education bureaucrats who got us to this point. One minor problem with this is those same Kentucky bureaucrats just told us a week ago our graduation rate for 2005 was 82.86%.

In a sane world, the mainstream media would be all over this illusory 11%. But no, the best answer we get from our constitutionally-protected watchdogs is a whitewash, a guilt-trip, and some revisionist history:

"No one in Kentucky has an excuse to rest on laurels, especially when the state is eliminating and underfunding reforms that have worked."

Clearly, these people can't be trusted to address how much we are going to have to dumb-down the CATS tests over the next five years to come anywhere close to mandated proficiency goals.

Mainstream media waking up to transparency

The idea of making the government show us the public checkbook is catching fire.

WHAS Louisville reporter Mark Hebert has a post up this evening about Governor Steve Beshear trying to catch up to Secretary of State Trey Grayson on the transparency initiative promoted heavily by the Bluegrass Institute.

What's funny is this part:

"Spokesman Dick Brown says the internet records transparency initiative has been in the works for some time and will fulfill a campaign promise made by Beshear."

That would be somewhat easier to believe if we didn't have two House bills (HB 105 and HB 769) earlier this year that could have gotten a huge boost with a kind word from the governor back then. Nevertheless, it is good that he seems to be getting on board now. Hope he doesn't spend too long studying it.

A small step forward on a Friday

Governor Steve Beshear deserves encouragement for announcing today a task force to study putting government expenditures online.

Not that we really need to study it too much.

Someone tell Beshear he isn't going to melt if he takes a look at a state with a Republican governor like Mark Sanford of South Carolina about how to get the job done.

Did I mention the press conference coming up Monday about this very issue?

Good driver? Responsible? Here's how you're screwed in Kentucky

We may have done well earlier this year to beat back the legislative effort to make the car insurance companies treat everyone like bad credit risks, but it looks like we are going to get nailed with higher costs anyway.

Governor Steve Beshear announced with great fanfare today a giveaway of $3.2 million from the taxpayers to Safe Auto Insurance Company, an insurer for people with poor credit ratings and bad driving records.

That's because we expanded the taxpayer giveaway market in the 2008 session to include include more service providers.

So if you can't get regular insurance, your guys just got a boost. If you have good credit and a clean driving record, you and your insurer just provided the boost.

How to hide an orgy

A spending orgy is pretty easy to hide in a state government with no transparency. It helps when your mainstream media writes stories upside down like this:

The main sentence in the story is this one: "With one month left in the fiscal year, the General Fund has received $7.8 billion, up 1.2 percent from the same 11-month period a year earlier."

In other words, we have more money than ever before. The problem is not that we need more revenue. We need less spending.

Bluegrass Institute update

The cowards who hacked up the Bluegrass Institute over the weekend will soon see their dirty work reversed.

The Bluegrass Policy Blog may be up as soon as tonight.

The Institute's work on increasing government transparency continues with preparations for a Trey Grayson press conference on Monday.

Chandler compares paying unions to fighting in Iraq

The biggest problem with Rep. Ben Chandler's school spending bill has been it's requirement that union wages be paid on building projects in states which, unlike Kentucky, have learned a lesson on government waste and stopped requiring prevailing (union) wages on such projects.

Chandler made matters worse yesterday with his over-the-top anti-war rhetoric when he said:

"We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq; surely we can invest less than $7 billion in the future of our children, and the future of our country."

Mayor Jim Newberry's dirty lawyer trick

You haven't heard anything in the mainstream media about the filthy, rotten behavior of the city of Lexington in their handling of the many scandals at the Fayette County Detention Center. When the media wakes up to this one you will hear about it, though.

Attorneys at Wyatt, Tarrant, and Combs have tried to get United States Army Staff Sgt. Delmar White removed as a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against the city for some illegal pay practices. They base their request on the fact that White hasn't been answering their letters or returning their phone calls in the discovery process.

A highly decorated Marine and National Guardsman, White died Sept. 2, 2007 in combat in Bagdad.

Newberry will lose this request and, hopefully, White's estate will be well compensated by the taxpayers of Lexington, who shouldn't forget Newberry's disgusting tactics in his next election.

Kentucky caught fudging graduation numbers

The new “Graduation Counts 2008” report from Education Week has been issued less than a week after the Kentucky Department of education released its own “Nonacademic Data Report” for Kentucky’s public schools. The new Education Week data exposes some very disturbing holes in what we are being told about the performance of our schools.

For example, the Graduation Counts Web articles include a special Kentucky section that shows us how well Kentucky’s education leaders disseminate high school graduation rates.

The state report claims statewide high school graduation rate for Kentucky’s Class of 2005 was 82.86 percent. Education Week’s Kentucky section has a sort of “lie meter” on Page 7 that shows the real rate was much lower – over 11 points lower – at just 71.5 percent. Nationally, Kentucky ranks below the median in 29th place among the 50 states.

There is more interesting information from Ed Week.

While the national spread between graduation rates for boys and girls is 7.5 points in favor of the ladies, here in Kentucky the spread is notably higher at 9.8 points. Why is KERA less successful with boys than girls?

Hispanics in Kentucky also do much more poorly than the national average with a graduation rate disparity of 49.4 percent versus 57.8 percent.

Kentucky’s whites also graduate at a rate 5.2 points below the national average of 77.6 percent.

Only Kentucky’s blacks do slightly better than their national counterparts, but their graduation rate of just 58.2 percent is hardly a testament to KERA.

Not surprisingly, you won’t find these minority graduation rates in the state’s Nonacademic Data Report. You have to go to more honest sources like Education Week if you want that information. Here in Kentucky, our educators prefer to continue using data that has been officially audited and found unreliable, which is how Kentucky comes up with an inflated 82.86 graduation rate in the first place.

Bluegrass Institute education analyst Richard Innes wrote this post.

A step in the right direction

Senate President David Williams has suspended the Capitol Annex renovation that has gotten so much press recently.

In a letter to the LRC, Williams said "...I have determined to indefinitely suspend further renovation of the second floor of the Annex..."

Great. Now, let's get rid of pension and health benefits for part-time government workers.

McCain and Obama still together on transparency

If you have missed the government transparency movement sweeping America because you live in the corrupt little backwater of a state we lovingly call Kentucky, you won't want to miss this:

"The fact that even in a presidential election year the two main contenders Sens. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain can set aside their differences to co-sponsor this bill, is testament to the importance of the issue."

Go here for the rest of the story. While most Kentucky politicians have slept through it, Secretary of State Trey Grayson has been moving full-steam-ahead for taxpayers' right to know.

Bluegrass Institute update

Looks like the Bluegrass Institute's main website and blog should be back up tomorrow. The organization's most popular site Kentucky Votes remains unhacked by the sorry malcontents who couldn't fight on the merits, so they paid some hacker to temporarily quiet the opposition.

Ageism is ugly

Martin Luther King Jr. must be rolling over in his grave to see the media this morning yammering about Senator Barack Obama's "historic" effort based not on the content of his character, but the color of his skin.

I'm still waiting for the fawning reports of Sen. John McCain for being the oldest nominee of a major party ever. Or the first Vietnam POW nominee of a major party. Or the first sitting U.S. Senator who supports tax cuts to be the nominee of a major party in half a century (not counting Bob Dole, but he was just an old white guy).

More legal troubles for Lexington jail

The union representing employees of the Fayette County Detention Center has filed a grievance against jail administration, CWA local 3372 President Mike Garkovich confirmed today. Multiple jail employees who did not wish to be quoted for fear of retribution said the source of the grievance was a sexual harassment complaint filed by Corporal D. Zirbes against Deputy Director Don Leach.

If you are keeping score at home, mismanagement of the jail has resulted, so far, in a two year-long federal investigation, a class action lawsuit, and multiple civil suits. Keep up the great work, guys.

BlogHillary screams "it's not over"

If you really want to see how angry the Hillary Mafia is, you need to read her blog. They are accusing the Associated Press of trying to sway the superdelegates in favor of Barack Obama. Given that AP continues to report she is dropping out tonight hours after she said it's not true, though, it kind of looks like she has a point.

Trey Grayson speaks

Secretary of State Trey Grayson will make a major policy announcement to the monthly meeting of the Center-Right Coalition on Monday, June 9 at 10 AM in Frankfort. As a result, this meeting will be open to the media and the public is invited.

If you want to come, call me on my cell phone (the number is at the top of this page.)

Is Kentucky about to import economic disaster?

Stateline.org points out Kentucky may face a struggle with yet another entitlement burden if unemployment increases much.

Pamela Prah reports Kentucky is among a group of states with underfunded unemployment insurance trust funds.

"States that are also well below the recommended level with only about six months of money in their reserves are: Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin."

Given Kentucky's troublesome tendency to import poverty-stricken residents from other states, what might be even more disconcerting is that neighbors to the north Michigan and Ohio (and to the west, Missouri) are even closer to insolvency in their unemployment trust funds than we are. Should they decide to scale back on this or other entitlements to weather the storm, Kentucky may be forced to act.

Of course we did have a couple of bills in the last General Assembly (HB 190 and HB 221) that could have started us in that direction.

When you think pension scandal, think JR Gray

While Frankfort officials talk about how to tweak the public employee fringe benefit program to delay Kentucky's inevitable fiscal calamity, don't expect many legislators to say anything about former legislator and newly-minted Labor Secretary JR Gray.

Thanks to a provision in HB 299 from 2005, Gray will get a ridiculous pension boost as his time in the legislature is converted to benefit him as if he were Labor Secretary for the last quarter century.

Nice scam if you can slip it past taxpayers.

Over her dead body, perhaps?

Many people are counting out Hillary Clinton in her bid for the presidency and it is being widely reported that she is ready to quit.

She just sent out the following campaign email this afternoon. Looks like she is not quite ready to bow out gracefully.

Or could it be she is just trying to squeeze a few dollars out of her most rabid supporters to pay her back some of the millions she loaned her campaign?

Government transparency steps up big in Kentucky

Secretary of State Trey Grayson will speak next Monday morning to the Center-Right Coalition in Frankfort. Grayson recently announced publicly his efforts to make spending in his office transparent to taxpayers and has agreed to encourage other officials to do the same (facebook account required to read this link).

A lifetime of preparation

Very funny video of a young Hillary Clinton:

Shortening the "oil shortage"

Newt Gingrich has nearly 300,000 signatures on a petition to require Congress to let us go get our own oil.

Much barking, no biting on fringe benefit reform

If you were just reading editorial headlines Sunday, you might think Kentucky was ready to demand action from Frankfort on the $26 billion public pension disaster. The Louisville Courier Journal bellowed "Pension reform, now" and the Paducah Sun screamed, simply, "NOW." The Lexington Herald Leader said "Light a fire under legislature," but they were talking about raising taxes.

We are never going to get anywhere on fixing the mess caused by decades of overpaying our government employees at the rate we are going.

The Sun said "Beshear is less likely than his ineffective predecessor to let the legislature dictate the terms of a special session. Something tells us he’s going to finally bring about long-overdue pension reform."

Their optimism is misplaced. We need to join 12-step recovering addicts by first admitting that we have been overpaying public employees for a long time. Otherwise, cutting benefits slightly today probably just means they will go back up later. That's just kicking the can down the road.

Now that more people are starting to pay attention to this, we need to shift the discussion to consideration of phasing out pensions for legislators. Eliminating this conflict of interest might help lawmakers keep clear heads about driving us out of the benefits ditch and inspire them to stay out.

Allowing legislators to take executive branch jobs and pick up a huge pension boost should be an easy mistake to reverse. Repealing the expensive part of HB 299 from 2005 would show significant good will.

Color me skeptical.

That didn't take very long

Speaking to Bill Bryant on WKYT's Newsmakers program, U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford wasted no time in playing the class warfare game and redistributing wealth with the best of them:

What he meant to say was "yes"

In an interview on WKYT's Newsmakers program in Lexington, Bill Bryant got an earful when he asked U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford if he supports a universal health insurance scheme:

Bluegrass Institute hacked, sites down for days

If you can't beat them, hack them.

That's seems to be the philosophy of whoever hacked the Bluegrass Institute's websites Saturday and stifled much of the organization's public communications until at least Monday.

The Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky's free market think tank, has raised the ire of Frankfort politicians and bureaucrats with its non-partisan advocacy of open and honest government spending practices and public education statistics reporting.

An early Institute victory forced the legislature to post floor votes onto the internet each day the General Assembly is in session. The website that came about as a result, Kentucky Votes, managed to escape the hack which brought down The Bluegrass Institute's main site (www.bipps.org) and the group's blog, Bluegrass Policy Blog (www.bluegrassblog.org).

Current initiatives, which have rankled many, include an effort to place government expenditures on a searchable website, pushing for a serious discussion of public employee fringe benefit reform to avert bankruptcy of state and local governments, creating more meaningful oversight of the Kentucky Department of Education, and reducing corporate taxes across-the-board to bring more jobs to Kentucky.

"Clearly, more than a few people have us in their cross-hairs," said Institute founder and President Chris Derry. "But this temporary setback doesn't slow the need to operate government under correct principles. We shall return and double our efforts."

Is Don Leach the lone gunman or just a patsy?

Fayette County Detention Center Deputy Director Don Leach is currently trying to dig himself out of trouble for a contraband violation in the intake area of the Lexington jail. An internal incident report has been filed and it has been a hot topic of discussion among rank-and-file employees who are watching the jail administration implode under federal investigations and lawsuits.

Does John McCain think you are a conservative?

We've all heard a lot of debate about Sen. John McCain's conservative credentials. And while the certain prospect of a fall campaign against either Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton burnishes McCain's reputation as a bona fide heir of Reagan, I couldn't help noticing McCain has taken to classifying political blogs on his campaign's website. At least one of his classifications was somewhat noteworthy.

Daily Kos is actually featured as a liberal blog and a longer list of conservative blogs hits on several of the biggies like Michelle Malkin, Power Line Blog, and Club for Growth.

But under a list of "Other" Suggested blogs, there is the following (click the image to expand it):

You can go here and check it out for yourself.

Both House and Senate full of it on pension mess

Please, someone try to convince me this latest pension dog-and-pony show is not the biggest pile of manure in a state containing many big piles of manure.

What say you, Bruce Lunsford?

The Intrade prediction market has Kentucky's U.S. Senate race tightening. Last trades at midday have Sen. Mitch McConnell at $65 and challenger Bruce Lunsford at $35.

Sen. McConnell would do well to challenge Lunsford to state his position on the mult-billion dollar Mortgage Bailout Bill.

Got a minute for a little internet activism?

I'm on my way to Frankfort to see the shiny new Senate offices we are buying.

If you have a minute, please join the Facebook group "Where in the world is Kentucky's checkbook?" (It seems you have to join Facebook first, but that's not a bad idea. Great way to keep in touch with people.)

Skippy is hiring

Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary Jonathan Miller is looking for a Chief Information Officer. Lots of huge benefits for the right girl.

Bruce Lunsford doubles up on Mitch McConnell

The prediction market Intrade prices a Bruce Lunsford victory over Mitch McConnell at $38, one week after trading at $17.

A McConnell victory remains priced at $80.

Shock: new Kentucky ed numbers don't add up

Kentucky's education bureaucracy has an amazing ability to make schoolchildren disappear and then magically reappear when they are needed to calculate funding.

Take, for example, the following press release that was printed without question by the Lexington Herald Leader.

In the news story, we see a Kentucky graduation rate of 83%, a drop out rate of 3%, and a retention rate of 3%. Add that up and think about it just a little.

And, by all means, don't take my word for it. Ask Crit Luallen.

Now is a great time to talk about this

Sen. John McCain should promise to run for just one term as President.

Of course, doing so really puts the spotlight on who he picks for Veep.

Please, don't let it be Mike Huckabee.


Is getting someone who is conservative on both fiscal and social issues too much to ask?

Vote for me to elect the other guy?

Interesting post on Peach Pundit from the Libertarian Party convention provides an unusual approach to getting a presidential nomination:

Gravel has a hit piece on Barr up around the convention this morning. It reads, “Do you really think we will win the White House? If we run Bob Barr, he will take votes away from McCain, then Obama or Clinton will be president for 8 years with a Democratic Congress. If we run Mike Gravel, he will take votes away from the Democrat and McCain will be president for 4 years with a Democrat Congress. Mike Gravel is our only smart choice!”

If the candidates' best line this year is going to be "waste your vote on me," enthusiasm for the Libertarian Party must be pretty low. Perhaps not as bad as the Greenies, but probably pretty low.

Locking and loading for President Obama

I think it is pretty funny to see Hillary Clinton get creamed for not suggesting someone shoot Barack Obama so she can get the Democratic presidential nomination.

That said, it's interesting that, with Obama leading in national polls, a Missouri car dealership is offering gas coupons or handgun coupons to people who buy a car.

Most people are choosing to exercise their Second Amendment rights, by accepting the guns rather than the gas. Barack can't be happy about that.

Too bad car dealers can't offer properly regulated health insurance as an incentive. If Barry wins in November, people in the flyover states may be looking for some of that.

Conservative Edge coming back to life

If you have gotten out of the habit of checking out The Conservative Edge, now is a good time to go back.

And while you are at it, head over to Real Clear Politics and vote for Leland Conway's "I am not a racist" essay.

Who likes buying cars and gas for bureaucrats?

Glad to see Kentucky Education Commissioner Jon Draud catch a little grief for his fancy taxpayer-provided car. It's pretty hard to see how pimping his ride is going to help educate any children out of poverty here.

Of course, rewarding government employees for less than stellar results in Kentucky is hardly unprecedented. Take, for instance, the administrators at the Fayette County Detention Center who are zipping around at taxpayer expense.

I think we just found some missing state money

Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Corman appears to have serious problems with the Kentucky State Police related to financial irregularities in his office.

Picking a bad decade to expand Medicaid

Remember when Kentucky figured out we overspent on Medicaid and needed more money to fill in the gap?

Ohio is now finding the same thing.

"State Budget Director J. Pari Sabety told legislators yesterday that the budget needs another $344 million ($122 million in state funds) to cover increased Medicaid costs because 66,000 more people than expected are using the state-federal health-insurance program for the poor and elderly."

And some folks want to sign everyone up for government health insurance. Sheesh...

Kentucky, circa 2020?

French bureaucrats are having a meltdown over public employee pension reform, a subject Kentucky politicians are striving mightily to ignore here.

A government employee revolt has to be considered inevitable in Kentucky, given what we are seeing in France and our limited ability to tax ourselves out of a Bluegrass version of the same mess here.

What are you waiting for, Monsieur Beshear?

If we don't teach our kids, people will forget

Kentucky educators are now busily putting together a curriculum on the Holocaust, as state law requires them to do.

And may we never forget the horrors perpetrated on innocent human beings in the name of an ideology.

While we are at it, though, perhaps we should remember even worse atrocities committed in the name of a much larger ideology: communism.

Kentucky legislators should start to work immediately on a bill for the 2009 General Assembly requiring schools to teach children about the millions of lives destroyed by communist leaders.

This little piggy ate subsidies...

After watching Republicans get creamed in elections and, subsequently, going to CPAC this year for the first time in his presidency, George W. Bush found the will to veto The Farm Bill.

The override is coming, but it was a worthy effort.

Health insurance changes headed your way

In comparing Sen. Barack Obama's health care plan against Sen. John McCain's health care plan, it may be helpful to consider whether someone would want to be a New Yorker buying health insurance in Kentucky or a Kentuckian buying health insurance in New York.

Read this.

Yet, she can't

Sen. Hillary Clinton can't shake the image that, even after winning Kentucky's battle last night, she is going to lose the war against Sen. Barack Obama.

Providing a sure sign Hillary is doomed, Mark Hebert reports Governor Steve Beshear is set to cast his superdelegate vote for her.

What is Steve Beshear hiding now?

Just learned this morning California is about to set up a website listing every government expenditure. Gov. Steve Beshear knows he is going to get himself sued on some of his executive orders, but instituting government transparency would merely make him look like he took one of his campaign promises seriously.

Why would he not want us to know what is happening to our money once we send it to Frankfort?

Anyone know a good First Amendment lawyer?

Fayette County Detention Center bagman Sgt. John McQueen is looking like the fall guy for Dr. Don Leach this morning.

Please place all angry anonymous responses below. And if you want to sue me for libel, you know where to find me.

63rd House primary shocker

Will Terwort appears to be about to beat Rep. Alecia Webb-Edgington in tomorrow's Republican primary.

Will you beat Mitch McConnell and not get paid?

If you really think Greg Fischer or Bruce Lunsford is going to beat Sen. Mitch McConnell in November, you might want to look at Intrade.com.

A more Democratic Senate might get you free government healthcare, or nationalized oil companies (free gas, anyone?), or whatever.

But at a last trade of $17 for a contract on "any Dem beats Mitch," the prediction market presents an excellent opportunity for you (if you really believe!) to put someone else's money in your mouth.

Kentucky's rigid political spoils system too costly

Tennessee is pushing for government spending transparency and Ohio is pushing for an end to back-slapping double-dippers.

Kentucky would do well to pursue both (or even just one) of these initiatives. But all we get is hot air.

Each day with no positive action is another day in which we draw closer to disaster.

What kind of Republican gets KEA's endorsement?

A little action in Kentucky's Sixth

Congressional candidate Tony McCurdy appeared on the Leland Conway Show in Lexington this morning and announced his support for the FairTax.

Skippy on the stump

Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary Jonathan Miller today endorsed Barack Obama for President and railed against gas prices to a huge crowd of adoring fans who really wish he had been elected governor.

The Obama campaign provided the podium. And the crowd. And the videographer.

Trousers ablaze

Congressman Ben Chandler promised the citizens of Kentucky's Sixth district in 2004 he would never vote for a tax increase if they honored him by sending him to Congress.

Today he broke his promise for the fifth time in the current session.

Does Senator Barack Obama condone such blatant chicanery?

Louisville Metro Council race heats up

See if you can spot any problems with this mailer in the ongoing battle between Jon Ackerson and Ellen Reitmeyer:

Playing Fayette Jail Twister

The federal grand jury investigating the Fayette County Detention Center has extended its term one month into June, fueling speculation one or more targets in the inmate beatings scandal has provided new information necessitating a delay in the proceedings.

Also getting some interesting details in about the city's investigation into possible embezzlement at FCDC.

Will Hillary out-Nader Nader?

The Drudge Report suggests this morning Sen. Hillary Clinton could shift to an independent run for POTUS after she sees the handwriting on the Democratic Party wall.

Apparently, 29% of Democrats want her to go indy after Sen. Barack Obama clinches their party's nomination.

Why we can't all just get along

Recent polling suggests widespread disgust with Kentucky's legislature, much of it for good reason.

But the real problem is the finding that, despite our rapidly expanding entitlement spending, bonded indebtedness, and unfunded fringe benefits, 58% of Kentuckians don't think state government is spending enough money.

Black Wednesday open thread

I'm not expecting any official announcements tomorrow regarding the federal investigation into the Fayette County Detention Center.

So if you know anything, please put it in the comments section below.

Busy morning

House Speaker Jody Richards had to fend off two Legislative Ethics Commission complaints this morning in Frankfort.

He was successful at shutting down one of them.

The Republican Party of Kentucky filed a complaint against Richards, Rep. Joni Jenkins, and Rep. Tim Firkins. That complaint was dismissed.

A complaint by Amy Mischler was heard and found worthy of further discussion at the Commission's next meeting in June. Mischler's complaint is against Richards, Rep. Greg Stumbo, and Rep. Kathy Stein.

RINO hunter bags a sign stealer

Louisville metro council candidate Ellen Reitmeyer was caught by police this morning stealing signs from opponent Jon Ackerson.

Thanks for the tip, Corley Everett.

Changing your underwear times two

Yeah, you're just going to have to read this.

Obama runs home to blow up local governments

The Obama campaign has just announced cancellation of tomorrow's campaign event in Lexington so he can go back to Washington D.C. to force unionization of fire fighters and police officers nationwide and stop contributions to the strategic petroleum reserve so politicians can claim to be doing something about gas prices.

Hebert: Beshear should apologize

WHAS reporter Mark Hebert suggests Governor Steve Beshear should apologize for urging Vice President Dick Cheney to assassinate President George W. Bush.

Might be a good opportunity to poll the Democratic presidential candidates to see if Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama condone the actions of this undecided superdelegate.

Also, if disgraced former Governor Paul "Beshear should have shot David Williams" Patton had been able to keep his pistol in his pocket five years ago, Congressman Ben Chandler would now be a disgraced former Governor himself.

Chandler: bomb North Carolina and Virginia

Rep. Ben Chandler has 142 co-sponsors on his bill requiring the expansion of prevailing wage laws to states like North Carolina and Virginia that currently save millions of dollars by not saddling their school building projects with added prevailing wage costs.

Technical difficulties on Bluegrass Blog

The Bluegrass Policy Blog is off-line right now and we are working on getting it back up.

If you go to the site now, it looks like you are back in 2006. Should be fixed pretty soon.

Deck chairs

Kentucky's two largest newspapers can't agree on which candidate should lose to Senator Mitch McConnell in November.

Some interesting choices for Veep

Help pick a VP candidate for John McCain, single-elimination tournament-style.

Courier Journal catches Obama fever

It's not unusual to see Louisville Courier Journal writers get light-headed and sniffly in support of a Democratic party presidential nominee, but when they start convulsing, their eyes roll back in their heads and white foam starts gathering at the corner of their mouths, it's a little hard to ignore.

Especially for someone who had friends who lost their businesses after Kentucky tried in 1994 what is essentially Barack Obama's healthcare plan, it is a little much to see the CJ proclaim, unattributed to anyone, that it would "cut the medical cost for all families."

You can read the whole plan here, but if you know anything about healthcare finance you will probably want to do it on an empty stomach.

Beshear earning his first lawsuit

When you get a letter from an attorney that says "Hopefully, we can work together to resolve this within the law and without unnecessary legal expense," you should know you are about to get sued.

Governor Steve Beshear is about to get sued.

The letter is from Senate President David Williams. It should be clear to the Governor, after he reads this, that he won't be in court arguing about stopping the clock or if ten days really means eleven days. This will be a lawsuit Governor Ernie Fletcher already fought and lost about gubernatorial spending authority.

Bipartisan discussion on Kentucky pension reform

House Speaker Jody Richards went off his meds before he wrote a letter to the editor of the Danville Advocate Messenger:

Today, Senator Dick Roeding responds by setting the record straight some and then finishes off Richards by agreeing with House Democrats who called Richards a liar:

I'm glad we have everyone, save our MIA Governor Steve Beshear, talking about our fiscal future and I'm glad we have all agreed Jody Richards is full of it. But we need more than just political points on public employee benefit reform. Kentucky needs to get our political class off the gravy train now, before we bankrupt the state.

Mitch McConnell is a Club for Growth guy

The Club for Growth put out its Congressional Scorecard last night and it is good news for Senator Mitch McConnell. McConnell actually edged out Senator Jim Bunning, 84% to 82%. On the House side Rep. Geoff Davis and Rep. Ron Lewis managed to get 85%, followed by Rep. Hal Rogers, who turned in a 68%, and Rep. Ed Whitfield, who got a 58%.

Rep. Ben Chandler scored a Sen. Barack Obama-like 7% by voting for tax increases, bloated spending bills, the Death Tax, and bills to expand the power and reach of the federal government into citizens' lives. Rep. John Yarmuth earned a 1%.

Oh, did I mention Rep. Chandler is now really, really close to Sen. Barack Obama?

(Thanks to Mark Hebert for pointing out the video)

Kentucky watches while Ohio walks into the light

State government officials in Kentucky are wasting our time talking about being fiscally responsible until they start putting government expenditures online so citizens can keep track of what is going on with our money.

Now even Ohio is ahead of us on this.

How big an anchor will Barack Obama be in KY?

Rep. John Yarmuth took a poll back in February, but has not said anything publicly about his results. Now that Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama is headed for a crushing defeat in KY-3, it's hard to imagine Yarmuth would have any current numbers to brag about either.

"Whip me, beat me, make me use bad grammar!"

Rep. Susan Westrom is so upset at House Speaker Jody Richards, she can't even speak correctly:

"As a legislator representing a Republican district, should I be replaced
this fall by Mike Farmer, I can assure you he be (sic) as ineffective as I
feel I have been this session."

Richards, in turn, called Rob Wilkey a liar:

"I can only assume that this email was written out of frustration and in haste without appropriate attention to accuracy," Richards said.

And this came, of course, after Wilkey's email attack on Richards culminated in his own grammatical malfunction:

"I hope our members think long and hard about re-election (sic) some members of this leadership group," Wilkey wrote.

Ron Bishop shows his hand

Fayette County Detention Center Sgt. John McQueen is on administrative leave with pay, which means Director Ron Bishop is still hoping the federal investigation into inmate abuse at the Lexington jail will just go away.

Kentucky Progress fans inside the facility have been calling May 14 "Black Wednesday," speculating that the first inmate abuse indictments will come down that day.

Gun grabbers freak alert: McCain won't die in KY

When the National Rifle Association convention comes to Louisville next week, concealed carry permit holders will refrain from assassinating GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

Let the seething begin.

Some people are lying about the economy

Here's what I don't understand: Al Gore and friends have spent the last decade campaigning for higher gasoline prices. Thanks to their ability to inhibit domestic oil exploration, they have succeeded in getting us higher gas prices.

They should be happy and proud, right?

Well, no. Instead, they are trying to divert attention from this happy circumstance by overstating the economic slowdown and blaming Republicans. The following conversation took place today:

"The fracas started after Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D., Texas), said lawmakers needed to move aggressively to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. “We’re not in a recession,” she said on the House floor. “We’re moving toward a 1929 Depression.”

Rep. Pete Sessions (R., Texas) took umbrage at her characterization of the economy: “My Gosh! Let’s at least tell the American public the truth… Let’s not make things worse than they already are. Let’s not lie to the American public.”

Lee, who was sitting down at that point, rushed back to the podium.

“Are you calling me a liar?” she yelled. Shouting erupted in the room.

“It is not a true statement,” Sessions yelled back."

Yes, Sheila Jackson Lee, you are a liar. Rep. Ben Chandler and Rep. John Yarmuth should have to explain whether or not they condone her histrionics.

Is Obama stealing Indiana?

It wouldn't surprise me if by Wednesday morning, there are charges of voting "irregularities" in the Indiana Democratic primary.

If it happens, the focus will be on Michael Jackson's hometown.

Wouldn't that be fun?

UPDATE: and here it is.

Trey Grayson responds

I put up a post on the Bluegrass Policy Blog this morning urging Secretary of State Trey Grayson to get on board with the transparency movement by posting his office's expenditures online.

Trey has responded by sending me a copy of an email dated May 2, 2008 in which he described his efforts to Rep. Jim DeCesare to do just that "even without legislation."

Guess this fits someplace between timing being everything and great minds thinking alike. Expecting the House Dems and the Governor to lead on an important issue like this will mean nothing more than a long, disappointing wait. By the way, did I mention Grayson will be our speaker at the Bluegrass Institute's June meeting in Frankfort?

Press one for John McCain...

Seeing that Senator John McCain has a Spanish language website presents an opportunity for blanket amnesty opponents to remind people that their opposition has nothing to do with skin color and everything to do with real welfare reform.

Have at it...

Governor from poor state wants you to vote Obama

Just noticed a press release from the Obama campaign saying that former Mississippi Governor Ray Mabus will be campaigning today and tomorrow across Kentucky for Obama.

Two things: I guess Brereton Jones was too busy battling off banking regulators. And maybe Obama thinks Kentuckians won't know the difference between an old politician from our own poor, Southern state and one from another poor, Southern state.

Did Stu Silberman cheat, or did he lie?

As the discussion about Peggy Petrelli continues to slowly fill in some of the blanks, it's becoming apparent Fayette County Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman either had to know there was cheating going on or he just made the whole thing up to get rid of a principal he didn't like.

Also, there's interesting insight here. And much more here.

How can you tell a teachers' union official is lying?

Yep, you guessed it. Here's proof.

Another conflict for Kentucky Department of Ed

The Kentucky Department of Education can't be impartial in the retaliation of Stu Silberman against former Booker T. Washington Academy principal Peggy Petrelli. Putting KDE in the position to decide if Fayette County Public Schools should write a big check to someone who has been defamed (Petrelli) or not would only make sense in the corrupt educational backwaters of Kentucky.

And, of course, there is no sense expecting any help from Governor Steve Beshear.

Petrelli's best option is probably to leave the state. That is Kentucky's loss.

Tick tock, tick tock: FCDC update

Internal affairs will hand a hot potato to Fayette County Detention Center Director Ron Bishop on Tuesday. That's when he gets the use of force report on Sgt. John McQueen and has to decide whether to suspend, fire, or reinstate him.

If Bishop fires McQueen, likely a key target of the prisoner abuse scandal, that would open up a can of worms at this late date in the investigation. Why open a hole in the stone wall at this point?

Suspending or reinstating McQueen puts him back in a position to hurt inmates way too soon.

So which way will Director Bishop go on this? He won't say. Fayette County Public Safety Commissioner Tim Bennett and Mayor Jim Newberry are playing dumb too.

Can Obama give Rev. Wright to Hillary Clinton?

Hollywood actor Ben McKenzie wrapped up a two-day tour of Kentucky colleges today. I caught up with him at Transylvania University in Lexington. Speaking on behalf of Senator Barack Obama, McKenzie tried, amazingly, to attach the words of Obama's pastor of two decades to Senator Hillary Clinton.

And then there is Obama's plan to get all of our troops out of Iraq in sixteen months unless, of course, it can't be done that fast. Oh, and then he wants to leave a few troops there to "minimize terrorism."

A couple of bright spots in Kentucky's future

Watching actor Ben McKenzie bumble through his campaign appearance today on behalf of Senator Barack Obama was a pretty painful hour. On the bright side, I got to meet some outstanding young people at Transylvania University.

Amanda Moore is a Montgomery High School student attending her first political event. She was diplomatic in describing Mr. McKenzie, calling him "informative but not thorough." Her grasp of the issues shows a wisdom I'm sure she doesn't even realize she has.

Fine young lady.

Daniel Rison is a Transy student from Mount Sterling and the host of a campus radio program. He came to the event to see if he might be persuaded to support Obama rather than his preferred candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton.

He said the presentation didn't change his mind. He said "the further along we get in the process, the more I think I made the right decision. Unfortunately, it seems that may be a lost cause."

Daniel hopes Kentucky policymakers don't lose sight of the opportunities presented by the upcoming World Equestrian Games in 2010.

Looks like a major scandal in Congress

A New York television station has a report on about half of its Congressional delegation taking part in a car leasing program that pays all auto expenses (including gas) with taxpayer money.

This could be just like the House banking scandal a few years back. It will be interesting to see which Kentucky members are playing this game.

And its not a partisan thing with me at all. Anyone in the Kentucky delegation driving around in a car we are paying for deserves all the hell he gets.

It's a pandering thing, you wouldn't understand

In the following video, Congressman Ben Chandler invokes the names of Happy Chandler, Jackie Robinson, God, and even baseball itself to spin the political calculation behind his endorsement of presidential candidate Barack Obama.

No excuse to mess with the doctrine of my castle

The gun control crowd is trying to make poster boys out of Tadarvis Gardner and Andreas Lobsiger in Lexington.

It won't stick.

The lesson of this sad tale is to not go banging on someone's door early in the morning. Someone in his own home shouldn't have to open the door to determine he is in danger. Senate Bill 38 from 2006 was created to ensure safety of people in their own homes. In this case, it did what it was supposed to do.

How long before Beshear taxes Big Macs?

Since Governor Steve Beshear got his last big idea from Atlantic City, it is reasonable to guess that his next one may come from there as well.

That's right, New Jersey wants to tax fast food to save hospitals. Rather than cut spending or change policies that keep costs artificially high, Kentucky may be headed in the same direction soon.

Chandler/Obama on gas prices

Or is it Obama/Chandler?

Kentucky Right to Life endorsements

The Kentucky Right to Life endorsements are out.

And here is an interesting video:

Who will bite Leach first?

The Fayette County Detention Center's mail-order Doctor Don Leach is the subject of a new City of Lexington investigation into his "consulting" activities. At issue is Leach's alleged use of city property in his personal business and whether the city or the feds will press charges against him simultaneously or if one or the other will wait.

What happens when a Dem stays in D.C. too long

WKYT's Bill Bryant is suggesting Congressman Ben Chandler is going to endorse Barack Obama for President today in Louisville.

PageOne has details. Stay tuned here for the YouTube video.

Does anybody really know what time it is?

According to the Kentucky Constitution, the General Assembly had to adjourn by midnight on April 15. They did not do so.

According to the Kentucky Constitution, Governor Steve Beshear has ten days from adjournment to veto bills. In the case of HB 79 today he either did or did not do this on time.

Can't help thinking that if lawmakers didn't sit on their hands the first month of the session, this probably wouldn't be an issue.

Jack Conway gripes and swipes; Goettl responds

Attorney General Jack Conway never complains when he gets his customary kid-glove treatment from the mainstream media. But as soon as a less-than-glowing description emerges, the claws come out:

But while I appreciate the attention to the issue, I am disappointed that neither I nor my office was contacted to respond to false allegations contained in the article.

It quotes Jessamine County Attorney Brian Goettl, the owner and operator of a conservative blog, who implies that the reduction in prosecutors' budgets was due, in part, to my lack of attention to this matter with legislators.

You may read Conway's entire whinefest here.

What appears below is Goettl's response to Conway, which the Herald-Leader now refuses to print:

In response to AG Conway’s recent guest opinion in the April 28th, 2008 Lexington Herald-Leader, let me provide your readers with some facts regarding the budget process, and why I vocalized my criticism of General Conway. On March 11th, Assistant Attorney General Janet Graham sent out the following e-mail:

Hi folks, we have representatives from the County Attorneys Association and the Commonwealth's Attorneys Association up here in Frankfort today advocating on your behalf for your budget. We have been meeting with members of the Senate to stress our budget concerns. The uniform message that is coming back to us is that we need to get a meeting with Senator Williams and Senator Stivers. If any of you believe that you can assist us in getting these meetings, please give me a call at (502) 696-5641.

The e-mail was entitled “Help with the budget please”. After receiving the e-mail, I arranged for a meeting with Senator Stivers and Senator Borders through my association with Becky Harrelson, chief of staff to Senate President David Williams. Ms. Graham acknowledged as much with the following e-mail:

Thank everyone for all of your help on this - we now have a meeting with Senator Stivers regarding the budget, so all of your calls and emails certainly helped. Much praise should be directed to Jessamine County Attorney Brian Goettl for his efforts to get us this meeting. If you see him, give him a big pat on the back.

General Conway did not attend that meeting. I, along with Mke Foster, Janet Graham, Chirs Cohron and members of the PAC budget staff did attend. In a subsequent PAC meeting, General Conway implied that he did not have much sway with Senate Republicans.

I suggested that a public relations campaign be conducted in much the same manner as the Department of Public Advocacy had done concering their budget. The prosecutors present at that meeting were in unanimous agreement with my suggestion.

As a result, General Conway did say that he would assign his deputy press secretary to that task, but asked Commonwealth Attorney Chris Cohron to work with the deputy press secretary, instead of himself. My opinion is that there would have been a better press response if General Conway had held a press conference and spoken directly to the press about the budget situation.

Considering that prosecutors did not receive any media coverage about the budget short fall following that PAC meeting, until after the budget had been set, I feel that I was right.

There is no doubt that General Conway did a great job with the budget when dealing with House Democrats. As well, his PAC budget people and Assistant Attorney General Janet Graham did an outstanding job throughout the entire process.

And, the reality is, General Conway may not have had much sway with Senate Republicans. But, he failed to take advantage of the few opportunities he did have with the Senate. I criticized him for that failure. His implications otherwise are false.

Sincerely,

Brian T. Goettl

Jessamine County Attorney

Fayette Jail story just got harder to ignore

Fayette County Detention Center Sgt. John McQueen has been placed on administrative leave for his role in the prisoner beatings scandal at the facility.

McQueen came under increased scrutiny after questioning last week by FBI agents.