Friday, December 23, 2005

Indiana Doesn't Need Right To Work Like We Do

Interesting article in the Louisville CJ today about Indiana's Governor Daniels saying that he wasn't going to push for Right To Work legislation despite his belief that having it would have prevented the loss of a major employer.

Colgate is pulling out of Indiana and Daniels said last week that if state law didn't allow unions to force membership on all companies they control, the state may have been able to save the 475 jobs they are going to lose when Colgate leaves for a Right To Work state.

Indiana has a larger and more diverse workforce and Governor Daniels may be right when he says the state can progress without fighting for Right To Work.

But Kentucky has seen a faster loss of jobs with union affiliation than Indiana has. And the main thing about Right To Work is that it is about freedom. Under RTW, unions don't have a stranglehold on all employees in union shops. If an individual wants to opt out of union membership under RTW, he may do so. The political battle on this is worth fighting in Kentucky. As it gets ramped up, watch for rhetoric like this from the last sentence of the CJ story:
Edwards said there is not enough support in Indiana to impose a right-to-work law.

When the union thugs take to calling freedom an imposition, they clearly have gotten a little big for their britches.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Kentucky Supreme Court: Stephenson Not Eligible


The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that Dana Seum Stephenson can't serve in the Senate.

There will wind up being a special election and Rep. Perry Clark (D-Louisville) will wind up representing the 37th Senate district.

Senate President David Williams says he is going to wait until the ruling is final in twenty days before announcing what he will do next.

He will probably announce a special election and Perry Clark will probably win it. Democrats will have fun with this and their fun is made double because they don't have to talk about what a disaster Virginia Woodward would have been.

Will Big Unions Stick Together Versus Kentucky?

It was a pleasant surprise to see the Louisville Courier Journal print a fair article on Rep. Stan Lee's Right to Work bill. The last line of the story, though, provided an unexpected belly laugh just in time for Christmas. Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky AFL-CIO, is trying to throw a bone to the teachers' union for help against this commonsense legislation.

From the CJ story:
He argues better funding of education would allow Kentucky workers to better compete internationally.

It's a nice try to bring another powerful lobby into his fight, but it won't work. Not only will the teachers' union back away from the trade unions on this, big education will be protecting their own pockets rather than sticking with their union brothers on the prevailing wage on education construction projects bill filed by Rep. Jim DeCesare.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Central Kentucky Initiative: Disband LFUCG

Three decades ago, Lexington activists organized an effort to create the Lexington-Fayette County Urban County Government with the slogan "The Urge to Merge."

After three years of Mayor Teresa Isaac's relentless pursuit of a liberal agenda, now is the time to purge the merger. Lexington should go back to a regular city government and Fayette county should go back to a regular county government. That way, the power of the Mayor's office will be diminished in favor of the people of Fayette county. Centralized power is something our nation's founders wanted to limit.

For the good of all Kentuckians, we should seek the same.

The political environment in Louisville probably isn't as conducive to such a change, as they just recently merged their city and county governments. But people in Lexington, especially those who want to stop the endless water condemnation fight, should be ready to take back their own voices by rolling back their merged government.

Atlanta Paper: KY Merit "Scandal" A Dead Issue

The gallons of ink spilled over the Kentucky merit hiring issue seems to have just about run dry. Have you noticed that the newspaper stories have slowed to a trickle? Wonder why?

Well, the answer is simple. While the abuse of the merit system was wrong and has been wrong every time it was done in the last fourty years, the abuse that may have occurred in the Fletcher administration is little more than a hiccup in the grand scheme of things. If not for mishandling of the fallout by the Administration itself, really, this would have been cleared up and dispatched a long time ago.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution sent a reporter to Frankfort to find out what all the fuss was about and his story appeared in today's paper.

Once again, anything that looks like a cover-up is far worse than most "scandals." But now that the General Assembly is ready to go back into session, perhaps we can get on to some more important things. And just as President Bush's approval ratings have shot up as he has publicly addressed the most important issue to most Americans, Fletcher's will do the same to the extent that he publicly works to improve the most important issue in Kentucky: education.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Some Democrat Nonsense May Be Okay

The rabid left is starting to talk up the idea of impeaching President Bush. While I'm not inclined to argue much with a Democrat suicide strategy of trying to remove a wartime President for trying to help us win a war they don't like, I'm actually starting to warm up to the idea quite a bit.

President Cheney kind of has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

And don't forget VP Rice for good measure.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Kentucky Election Law Needs Change

Did you know most states have laws to allow political parties to replace their nominee on a ballot if he or she drops out?

Kentucky isn't one of them and that needs to change.

My reasoning goes like this: we are a two party state now (with a vibrant and growing independent population, but that's another story) and if one candidate must drop out, that disenfranchises a large segment of the voting population.

We should fix this soon.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Will Georgia's Sex Offenders Move To Kentucky?

An article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution today discusses some proposed legislation in Georgia that could have an impact on Kentucky and other states that refuse to get tough with sex offenders.

One proposed law would prohibit sex offenders from working within 1000 feet of any place that children congregate. Should this pass (and I think it should) it would cause a mass exodus of sex offenders from the state. Think about it: how do you make sure that you are working 1000 feet away from children? What if a day care center moves in down the street or your employer moves to a building near a school? So the real question is where will these people move when Georgia passes this law, to Tennessee? What happens then?

People who commit sex crimes (especially those against children) should enjoy very minimal freedoms when they are released from prison. At the very least, Kentucky should make laws to establish our state as a place that is extraordinarily inhospitable to these people. If we don't, we may just inherit them as they flee other states who have strengthened their laws.

Some limp-wristed radio host in Lexington got a little whiny back in the summer when I suggested we decriminalize harassment of convicted sex offenders. But when other states start rolling their perverts downhill, we need to make sure that we aren't at the bottom of that hill.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Teachers' Union Weeps, Wails, Gnashes Teeth

As a public school graduate and parent of four young public school students, I would love to see a school voucher system to give people the choice of where to spend the tax dollars dedicated to their child's education.

This would only benefit the sincerely motivated public schools and, more importantly, the students. The schools would have competition, so they would have to survive without the crutch of a government mandated position at the top of the marketplace. The benefit to the children is surely too obvious to need mentioning.

Given this set of circumstances, I find it completely hilarious that the National Education Association issued this press release about a U.S. Senate effort to revive a voucher bill.
The school choice movement is just getting warmed up. And politicians of both parties should know that the status quo mentality will carry a heavy cost for you when school choicers get mobilized.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Liberal KY Group Wants $1.8 Billion Tax Hike

Just in time for the Kentucky General Assembly session to start up, a Kentucky organization is calling for a special kind of tax reform. The Kentucky Economic Justice Alliance wants $1.8 Billion each year in tax increases.

One specific proposal is to increase property taxes by nearly two and half times. Further, the group wants to raise personal and corporate taxes but doesn't say how much.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

What Are They Doing Now?

I might as well beat Mark Nickolas to the punch and give the Fletcher Administration a hard time for sending out a big announcement email trumpeting in capital letters that the state has taken out an advertisement in Forbes Magazine.

This does nothing for the image. Neither does the awkwardly worded announcement with a grammatical error in the first sentence. You will see it soon enough.

Sheesh!

Just Exactly What We Are Doing Here

A very funny New York Times Magazine article talks about why they think conservative blogs are more effective than liberal blogs. (You may have to sign up to read the article, but it is free.)

The writer concludes, predictably, that conservative blogs thrive because of the conservative-dominated media that appeals to supporters' emotions and doesn't mind lying to promote an agenda. Liberal blogs, he writes, spend more time examining all sides of an issue and arguing the nuances with other liberals.

While the article is laughably slanted for a publication whose writers manage to keep a straight face when they recoil in horror from charges of bias, it does make one good point. Liberal bloggers are generally less effective when it counts than conservative bloggers.

The "culture of corruption" campaign slogan is effective, for now, on the lefty blogosphere. But when it comes to shedding light on issues that matter to people and not just preaching to the choir, the liberal blogs come up short.

Can the conservative blogs spank the liberals in 2006 like they did in 2004? No one knows. But little of a structural nature seems to have changed since then, except that the mainstream media pays a lot more attention to the blogs. There are many interesting subtexts to this story that I don't want to get into publicly now, but this will be a huge story one year from now.

Democrat Dreams in 2005; Lib Nightmare in 2006?

Watching activist Democrats feel their oats these days with their "GOP culture of corruption" chorus isn't much fun, but it seems to me most likely that their revelry won't last and may already be over. As the merit hiring investigation is about to get some national attention (more on that later), one has to wonder if it has run out of shock value for anyone but the most easily shocked Democrat partisan.

In the real world, inflation numbers out this morning show an actual decrease in November's general price level. That news comes as the media reporting of our nation's economic solid growth of the Bush years stays gagged and bound in the closet. That strategy may continue, but I wouldn't count on it attracting any cross-over votes for Dems next year. The class warfare card won't carry the day in our upwardly-mobile nation.

That leaves out-of-power spinmeisters to rail against the U.S. trade deficit. Seriously, though, I would like to see anyone make a solid case for what is wrong with running trade deficits. Seems to me that with so many foreign entities willing to trade their goods for our little printed pieces of paper, we should feel great pride in our ability to produce wealth and to inspire confidence throughout the world for such transactions. And while Congressman Chandler has made the rounds painting a picture of a U.S. Treasury Bond collapse brought on by hostile Chinese dumping, no credible people see that happening or --even if it did -- having the desired effect.

Running against the "horrible" economic policies of the Bush administration can only hold Democrats' hopes during an election season if the media decides keeping the lid on GDP statistics is more important to them than trying to recover some of their severely damaged credibility. Another Dan Rather incident in 2006 would be a tsunami-like catastrophe for the MSM. They may risk it if their influence continues to dwindle toward niche levels.

Emboldened by their extremists, Democrats seem intent on pushing for socialized medicine and a policy of appeasement for terrorists. Railing against health care costs is easily the better political move, but no amount of reasoning will keep the anti-war movement from crippling what is left of the Democratic Party.

Republican bad actors remain the GOP's Achilles heel, but the national and state Democrats run the risk of blowing their advantage in the Commonwealth's county courthouses. Democrats taking out their own grassroots support at a time that Republicans have handed them so many political opportunities would be extremely difficult for Democrats to overcome for a long time.

The current environment may help Democrats ward off a crushing defeat in 2006, though. That is certainly the conventional wisdom. But their ideas and tactics grow ever closer to running out of steam. Six weeks remain for good GOP candidates to come forward for next year's elections.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Education War, Day Two

Rep. David Floyd (R-Bardstown) fired the shot that could well be remembered as the first one in the battle to bring true reform to Kentucky education with his bill (HB 999) mentioned here yesterday.

Today from his office in Bardstown, Rep. Floyd said that his purpose for filing the bill was indeed to start the conversation about how we should finance our public education system. He also explained that he intends to revise the language in the bill that would mandate 62% of the state budget to go to education costs. The revision will simply add "no more than" prior to the number 62%, setting a ceiling on the portion of the budget that can be eaten up by Big Education. This is a good thing and will allow us to get off the bi-annual demands for more and more tax money for schools. That way, we can turn our focus to changing our approach to education rather than fighting about whether to throw more and more money at it.

In the current budget, the state spends 60.6% of its entire budget on education expenses.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Education War of 2006 Starts

Looks like we might be going back to the voting booth on another constitutional amendment. HB 999, pre-filed today, would call for a vote to decide if spending on education should be mandated at 62% of the state budget.

If nothing else, this will get people talking about education. It is a subject too many Kentuckians have given up on.

Obviously, more money isn't the answer, but I welcome the discussion. Conservatives have the upper hand here. They just need to play it. What a terrific opportunity.

Right To Work For Kentucky To Get Senate Help

Right to work legislation got a boost today when we confirmed that Sen. Damon Thayer is going to sponsor a Senate version of Rep. Stan Lee's much needed workplace freedom bill.

Sen. Thayer can get it passed and then Rep. Bob Damron can steal Rep. Lee's bill just like he did with the fetal homicide bill last year.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Education Liberals Go Wobbly in Kentucky

What exactly does The Prichard Committee on Academic Excellence do in Kentucky? Since they have been "on" academic excellence since 1983, a cynic might conclude that they haven't been doing very much.

But I wasn't that cynical until I went and looked at their website and found that they seem to be little more than a lobbying group for education bureaucrats to demand more money for "education."

Sometimes they do say good things, like that students should work hard and parents should get involved, but their credibility was dealt a crushing blow today.

In much the same way that war protestors say Arabs can't handle democracy, teacher's union officials were thought to be the only people who could claim with a straight face that school choice wouldn't improve schools in poor Kentucky like it does in nearly all the states that outrank our state in scholastic achievement.

So it was in this spirit that the Bluegrass Institute challenged Pritchard's leader Robert Sexton do debate the merits of school choice.

Mr. Sexton took his opportunity to step up, and he punted it.

Republicans in the General Assembly absolutely must take on education improvement issues in the 2006 session. They can start with getting rid of the discredited CATS testing and then move on to school choice. The Democrats have no bullets left in this gunfight. Now is the time.

Grassroots Tax Reform

Take a look here at the latest discussion of the Fair Tax. The people are picking up where the politicians dropped the ball.

And don't look now, but FairTax supporting candidates are 8-0!

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Clinton Secretary of State Reads Liberal Blogs


Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright can't get it right as Democrats continue to ignore Sen. Harry Reid's good advice to stop talking about the war.

Speaking on the Meet the Press program, Albright repeated the war protestor/liberal blogger/mainstream Democrat talking point that President Bush claimed Iraq was an imminent threat.

For the one millionth time, President Bush told us that if we waited until Iraq was an "imminent threat" it would then be too late.

Republicans have had their problems for the last year or so. But the craziness coming from the loyal opposition on the economy, war, and social/spending/entitlement issues makes it easier for the few bad actors in the GOP to skate by.

Just keep calling Bush a liar, guys. The opportunity that you are throwing away is not only damaging to your party, but also to your country.

You should think about that.

Ken Lucas Opens Mouth, Shoots Self In Foot

Ken Lucas isn't going to run for Congress.

Democrat activists have been, well, active is trying to crank up momentum for a Lucas return to Kentucky's 4th Congressional district. This is coming on the heels of their effort to draft him to run for governor.

The former Congressman's comments about current events seem to be a trial balloon for the Democratic party line. That is unlikely to fly in northern Kentucky, and the next poll will probably convince Mr. Lucas to spend more time with his family.

Some highlights for the "conservative Democrat" file at NRCC headquarters:

"I voted with my commander-in-chief for the war because he said you don't want to see a mushroom cloud over New York or Washington," Lucas said. "It became apparent after the fact that the administration had pretty much made up their mind that they were going; it was just a question of coming up with the rationale."

It's funny that a lot of Democrat poll readers haven't yet figured out the nuances of voter discontent with the war effort. Until they do, they would be well served to take Harry Reid's advice and say nothing at all.

This following quote has special meaning for northern Kentuckians, who deeply understand the value of keeping government close to the people to keep elected officials accountable locally. It seems Lucas is still hot on the idea of consolidating local governments in the name of "efficiency."
"There's a lot of inefficiency in duplication all over Northern Kentucky," he said. "But you have smaller governments who are very protective of their turf. Really, for Northern Kentucky to make some more strides, there needs to be certainly more cooperation and consolidation."