A Great Opportunity For Governor Fletcher

The number that jumps out from the page is 17%. That is the number that the Louisville CJ's Bluegrass Poll says represents Kentucky registered voters who say they think they will vote for Governor Fletcher in 2007.

My first thought was to look for problems with the methodology of the poll. My only possible problem is with the question that generated the 17% answer. Here it is:

In 2007, voters will decide whether to re-elect Ernie Fletcher as governor of Kentucky. As you feel today, do you think you will vote to re-elect Ernie Fletcher, or will you consider voting for someone else, or do you think you will vote to replace Fletcher?

Nevertheless, as far as any poll more than two years out from election day (and more importantly one that doesn't list even one possible opponent) could have meaning, this one does. But the number that holds the most meaning is 44%. That is the job approval rating for Governor Fletcher. At what is likely the low point of the merit hiring debacle, that is not a bad number. The Impeachment Six group of legislators and their favorite lefty blogger will, I think, continue to ride the Beat Ernie Now train right off their own cliff.

The opportunity for Governor Fletcher is to tighten up his organization for a productive 2006 legislative session. If he and the Senate can line up needed reforms and if the loudest detractors stay loud (a pretty safe bet!) he may find Kentucky's voters ready to send a majority of Republican State Representatives to Frankfort to drown out the bickering.

This opportunity is a fragile one and if it is mishandled it could cut the opposite direction quickly and decisively. I suggest taking on the Business Forum On Kentucky Education recommendations immediately and then quickly and publicly addressing the Medicaid situation. Tough and easily demagogued moves are required there. Engage the public on the important issues and, please, don't mention the Attorney General by name in regard to the merit investigation ever again.

The radio shows and newspaper columns are a great idea. I hope using these vehicles to address real issues will prove beneficial to the entire state.

Ky Native Links Katrina With War

Sure it was a dumb question. And it will probably lead some on the left to detour from blaming Republicans for the actual hurricane itself to claiming to have yet another excuse for surrendering to the terrorists. But this morning when ABC's Diane Sawyer asked President Bush about continuing to spend money on the war in Iraq when there are so many people suffering here, she veered dangerously close to this.

Straighten up, Diane. You are supposed to be on our side.

Senate Race Headed To Supreme Court

Dana Seum Stephenson will have her case heard before the Kentucky Supreme Court.

She beat Democrat Virginia Woodward last year, but a lawsuit has prevented her from taking office so far.

Another Liberal Myth Debunked

Most educational establishment folks can't talk about their work without bitterly lamenting the "unfunded mandate" foisted upon them by President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act.

Next time you hear that talking point, you can ignore it. The man who is in a better position than anyone else in the state to know about it says there is no such unfunded mandate.

Kentucky's Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit was asked yesterday at the Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee meeting about this common criticism by opponents of the President.

In front of reporters, Wilhoit said there is no such condition in Kentucky schools. You won't see that in the mainstream media, though.

Merit Probe Far From Over; Time To Do Real Work

Governor Fletcher has issued pardons, but I can't imagine he hopes this will do much more than kick off the 2006 elections early and with a bang. This action does create a little breathing room to get some things done, though. How about some real tax reform? How about some health insurance reform? Here I mean for the individual and group markets. Grab the bully pulpit, Governor. Quickly.

Take a look at the Kentucky Democrats' "Family Agenda." Two points jumped out at me as good things to say, though a skeptic might say they had their chance. The first is a promise: "We will support reductions in the regulations, red tape, and some mandates that hamper (health insurance reform). If they really understand how well this would work, seriously, then why are they just now getting around to a more market-friendly approach to health insurance? If they had only listened to the Republicans saying this is 1994 we could have avoided more than a decade in the insurance wilderness.

The second is an attack on Tax Modernization that I couldn't agree with more. It has been a disaster for small business and clearly has to be changed. But again, the Dems all voted for it too.

So the Democrats seem to have punted on yet another opportunity to rise above the partisan tussle. And this is why, when the dust settles, Governor Fletcher should be able to gain re-election. I just hope he and his administration take full advantage of the next legislative session to advance conservatism and further strengthen the state.

One pretty funny thing: take a look at how this always-goofy leftist site goes from trying to make hay out of the merit system debacle for Democrats to infighting about racism and their own stereotypes of rampant Appalachian incest. It is beyond hilarious.

On Gas Prices And Income Taxes

You are probably getting several emails urging a citizen revolt against higher gas prices.

You know the routine: if we all boycott the same company or all swear off gasoline for one day, the oil companies will get the message. What these would-be Crusaders are missing is that we can run our gas guzzlers on fumes all week and blow the whole thing walking to the grocery store and spending $100 on food. In short, we can all cut up our Chevron cards in protest if we want to. The shippers who bring the goods we buy will not participate. The statement is muted as soon as we buy an apple.

It isn't a giant leap from the realization that gasoline consumption plays a role in the availability (and the price) of everything from Cheerios to chaise lounges to the screaming need for federal income tax reform.

It stands to reason that three dollars a gallon for gas -- which now seems inevitable and imminent -- will not only eat into your take home pay, but will take a bite out of shippers' and truckers' bottom lines as well. So if your kiwis come from Chile, you can probably expect the price of them to be headed north as well.

Did it ever occur to you that when your favorite plumber's growing business puts him in a higher tax bracket, the same dynamic applies? And that is for a service, which isn't taxed directly at the retail level.

A "flat tax" doesn't begin to address the issue of income taxes passed along from providers to consumers. Only the Fair Tax does that. Congress goes back into session in one week and tax reform will be on the agenda. Done properly, this reform could have an enormously positive impact on the U.S. economy.

Every Economics 101 textbook refers to a "multiplier effect" that ripples through an economy as the result of certain actions. Just as gasoline price increases reverberate through layers of providers and get passed along to consumers, nearly one-third of the price of all goods and services flows back to the federal government to pay income tax liabilities incurred by those same providers. The difference is that we can actually have a meaningful impact on income taxes.

We need the Fair Tax now. If you want to affect change, join this Crusade (with apologies to our Islamo-fascist readers, of course.)

Smacked Down: Miller Tastes Defeat On KAPT

The KAPT board decided Thursday to abandon Treasurer Jonathan Miller and his lawsuit over $13.7 million he wants to take from the General Fund to prop up the KAPT program. This move was widely expected.

Instead of supporting Miller's money grab, the board resolved to "work vigorously with the General Assembly to pass legislation that will ensure that all currently held KAPT contracts will be honored when an unfunded liability arises." Contrary to Miller's wishes, this language echoes the sentiments expressed by members of the General Assembly.

In fact, the language of yesterday's resolution was very similar to that of a March 18, 2005 letter sent out by Senate President David Williams to KAPT contract holders which stated "The Kentucky Senate intends to live up to our commitment to the KAPT families."

Miller struck a defiant posture nonetheless, claiming unconvincingly that not only was the board's decision "a symbolic victory" for him, but that President Williams "reversed course and has announced that he supports the rights of KAPT families."

Miller's reputation for petulance is well-deserved. He slipped into name-calling mode in an email to contract holders, labeling Williams "formerly KAPT's most ardent foe."

The only person to ever suggest that the General Assembly wanted to harm contract holders' investments has been Jonathan Miller. Without provocation, Miller has attacked repeatedly the members of the State Senate for seeking to put a cap on Miller's unsustainable scheme. When the Democratic House members became convinced of the necessity for action to stem the tide, he attacked them too.

No one can know how Miller's lawsuit will turn out other than to waste more taxpayer dollars.

Every politician knows the hack's version of the sucker punch. It's called the straw man: accuse your opponent of saying something he didn't say, then attack him for saying it. This is Miller's favorite trick. He does it twice in the same paragraph of his statement on government email to contract holders. He said KAPT families were "attacked as undeserving rich people" and that legislators wanted to "shut down KAPT and force refunds (without interest)." The only person to make these claims has been Miller himself.

And he wants you to elect him Auditor of Public Accounts in 2007. Given his New Liberal Math techniques, I don't think we can afford much more of Mr. Miller.

Stan Lee Sponsors Good Business Bill for 2006

Rep. Stan Lee (R-Lexington) pre-filed a Right To Work bill in Frankfort yesterday. This would simply prohibit unions from forcing membership or support on individuals as a condition of employment. It's a good bill for a "conservative" Democrat to steal and push through the House.

Chandler: We Must Destroy Embryos To Beat China

Rep. Ben Chandler spoke to the Richmond Chamber of Commerce and his two topics were how strong China is getting and how terrible George Bush has been.

Most of his comments were nothing new, but one jumped out as odd. Chandler said "As the current administration turns its back on promising scientific research, China is working very hard to develop the know-how to develop and exploit new technologies."

Looks like the left is getting their talking points mixed up. Is China really going to toss us in the dustbin of history on the strength of their embryonic stem cell research?

Calling Howard Dean: Class Warfare Hits China

If any circumstance ever called for a good Dean Scream(Mandarin version), this would have to be it. A very strange Associated Press story today from Shanghai explains how growing income "inequality" will "likely undermine social stability" in China very soon.

What? In Communist China? You mean just as their experiment with capitalism is starting to work, they start getting all DNC-squishy on us? This story is actually a perfect example of why people on the left and right don't see eye to eye. We just keep score differently. Conservatives don't generally view equalization of outcomes as the role of government and liberals see unequal outcomes as their clarion call.

A priceless nugget: "reforms have also largely ended cradle-to-grave social support, forcing Chinese to pay far more for health care, education and other basic services. Millions have also slipped into poverty after being laid off from moribund state enterprises and rural incomes have largely stagnated as wealth fails to trickle down into the countryside."

Sounds like circumstances would improve in China if they gave up on their economic reforms and went back to "cradle-to-grave social support." Nice touch throwing in the "trickle down" part there at the end. What is the world coming to when peaceful agrarian reformers go for Reaganomics?

One might think that the next thing we would hear from the AP is how the explosive economic growth in China is causing homelessness. It probably won't happen, but it does raise an interesting question: if a man goes homeless in Shanghai but no Republicans are there to blame, does the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities still get to write a weepy research report?

I found the original article from China Daily.

And from straight-faced Chinese economic planners, some good quotes that Sen. John Kerry would never see the humor in:

"The government's top priority is to make those farmers still in poverty earn more," the team concludes in a report. "

(And if that doesn't work, Beijing will just shoot them.)

"He said incomes of laid-off workers are decreasing while the wallets of private business owners have been fattening at incredible rates."

(Imagine getting less money for not working. Expanded Unemployment Benefits, anyone? Let's send a delegation and teach them how!)

Democrats Taking Ho Chi Minh Trail To Lose Iraq

Read all about it in the Washington Post.

Update: Looks like John Edwards wants the joint next.

Meanwhile, Evan Bayh is having a bad trip. He thinks he is Jimmy Carter.

Gary Hart says Dems aren't trying hard enough to sabotage the war.

Even if We Don't Build It, They Will Come

... so connect U.S. 27 in Jessamine county to Interstate 75 to improve traffic flow and save lives.

Liberal Freakout Over A Rock

Just like a bunch of naked people in a field trying to save the world, the folks over at Ben Chandler's blog are going bananas and making a spectacle of themselves.

Mark Nickolas, Chandler's mad-as-hell campaign manager, is inconsolable over what he wants to believe is a Fletcher administration sleight to his man's grandfather. And he wants you to be just as worked up as he is.

Don't be fooled.

Nickolas reports, with Congressman Chandler as his only source, that the "petty and dishonest" Fletcher administration is planning to remove a historical marker honoring the late Happy Chandler from its current location in Corydon, Kentucky.

Have you ever seen this thing? It is about four tons of rock. It is huge and less than ten feet from the road. And the truth is the Transportation Cabinet is looking into moving the marker to a place where people can more safely look at it, not getting rid of it. The city park and the school system remain possible new custodians, but my money is on scrapping the whole idea and leaving it where it is.

Still distraught over the election loss of their man John Kerry, the folks at Bluegrass Report are perhaps letting their disappointment get the best of them.

Senate Minority Leader Captured By Space Aliens!

The plausible excuse above might be a good one for Ed Worley (D-Richmond) to try when his latest scandal emerges.

War Strategy Questioning By Chandlers

The story goes like this: Chandler of Kentucky stands on Capitol Hill and attacks the President for pursuing a "diversion" rather than going after America's attackers.

Interesting article about this today in USA Today. But the Chandler isn't Ben, the president isn't Bush, the "diversion" isn't Iraq, and the year isn't 2005. It was Senator A.B. "Happy" Chandler, President Roosevelt, Germany, and 1942.

While we can be grateful that the current president won't succumb to whims of those like the current Chandler, we must be eternally thankful (along with millions of Europeans over the years) that FDR had the good sense to ignore Sen. Chandler when he criticized the move to support our western Allies in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Had we left them to their own devices then, we might well have been rebuffed by PM Tony Blair when we asked for help against terrorists.

In fact, I suspect Blair would have said something like "Hau ab, Yankee!"

The article is here.

Liberals Bite Wrong Dog Over School Spending

The latest media attack on Governor Fletcher (and Republicans in general) has been easy to debunk. This attack attempts to cast Fletcher as uncaring about education.

On Monday, AP reporter Joe Biesk's article in the Lexington Herald Leader reported that Kentucky was found to be last in the nation in per capita spending on education. He reports that Governing magazine's 2005 State and Local Source Book is his source for the figures he quotes, but neglects to point out that the numbers are based on 2002 Census Bureau statistics. The timeliness of the story is appropriate in that Governing magazine just released the report this month, but has nothing to do with the current resident of the Governor's Mansion.

This fact has not stopped liberal pundits from going rabid, and barking that Republicans just don't care about kids.

The hard, cold fact is that a two minute phone call to the Kentucky Department of Education revealed that Kentucky's spending on K-12 education in FY 2006 is 44.1% of General Fund expenditures and that is UP from FY 2002's 41.2%.

We won't lose sleep waiting for David Hawpe, Mark Nickolas, et al to apologize for nipping at Governor Fletcher's heels when they should have in fact been chewing on Paul Patton, but spreading the word on this attempt at spin from the left should provide some perspective on other charges leveled by them.

War Protestors Should Talk To Islamics, Not Bush

Cindy Sheehan's run is not nearly over, but when it is what's left of the Democratic Party will be.

Sen. George Allen has said President Bush should meet with her. I disagree. The conventional wisdom would be that sitting down with her would end her fifteen minutes. There is no chance of that. Either way, this will wind up being the biggest war protest of all time.

Let it run until next year and then campaign against it.

Success in the war is not only good public policy, it is good politics. It would seem that everyone would understand that.

Democrats Show Cards On Immigration: Bluff!

... and the Wall Street Journal nails them on it.

I think we should eliminate the minimum wage and enforce the law against hiring illegals.

Obstructionists Hint At Coming To Reform Table

President Roosevelt knew the value of private investment and the available evidence suggests that he feared Social Security would become the ponzi scheme that it is. But no one can doubt FDR would have been mortified by what passes for talking points from his once-proud party.

"Stopping privatization and dropping partisan demands for private accounts," Rep. Jon Salazar (D-CO) whined in response to President Bush's Saturday Radio Address.

Why are the Dems still talking about this? I thought Social Security reform was as popular as leprosy and that the President's "plan" was dead in the water.

Well, of course it isn't dead. Only Nancy "Social Security has never failed to pay promised benefits" Pelosi's most zealous followers really believe the program is just hunky-dory as it is. Optional private accounts had better not pass, from the partisan Democrat point of view, or the younger generations will be lost to them forever.

This fall is going to be a lot of fun to watch!

Washington's August Recess Portends Success

President Bush continues the battle to save Social Security, while the hapless opposition continues the same nose-into-door jam sleepwalk routine that passes for return fire against Karl Rove in the 21st century.

Of course, the Administration could put both feet in the increasingly crowded pool party celebrating the Fair Tax proposal and wipe out the struggles to avert Social Security's bust in 2041 and Medicare's in 2020 in one big splash.