Planes Versus Trains: Newberry Botches The Odds

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry told the Lexington Herald Leader he is sending Vice Mayor Jim Gray on a government trip to Colorado on a different airplane as a protection for Lexington taxpayers in case Newberry's plane goes down.

After looking at the preliminary list of trip attendees, Newberry noticed that 13 of the 15 Urban County Council members were going, Newberry said. “It struck me as though we needed to make some kind of arrangements for local government to continue in the unlikely event that something happened to the airplane.”

It is amazing Newberry would show such attention to detail to protect against something that won't happen, yet can't even work up a comment about a the sure-thing taxpayer nightmare of paying for the lawsuits springing up as a result of horrible mismanagement of the Fayette County Detention Center.

Wishing this train weren't coming down the track won't make it go away, Mayor Newberry.

School Choice Isn't About Shutting Down Schools

If we expanded school choice options in Kentucky -- an idea that makes liberal activists sputter and foam at the mouth any time it is mentioned -- we would make public schools better.

Kentucky schools are run by administrators who can choose to focus on educating students or on promoting a social agenda. Currently, that choice is mostly a matter of conscience for county superintendents. Some make the right choice and some don't, but their paychecks clear the bank either way.

If parents had the option to remove their money from the school district they live in, more school districts would be motivated to hire superintendents who are serious about educating kids. School choice is the surest way to accomplish this and the time is right for a statewide debate on the issue.

Campaigns Cut Off Noses, Spite Faces

Governor Fletcher's campaign has scored a lot of points going after Anne Northup on school prayer.

Today, though, they may have gone too far.

A mailer that hit mailboxes this afternoon has a picture of Northup gleefully shovelling dirt next to a bold sentence stating "Anne Northup said an amendment to give our children the right to pray in school was 'Extreme.'"

The ad is effective. At first, I thought it was pretty funny. But while it probably helps wipe out Northup in the primary, it kills Fletcher in the general. Louisville Republicans especially will take this personally and sit on their hands in the fall.

The only candidate who can take advantage of the current environment and win in the fall against a certain-to-be weak Democratic nominee is Billy Harper.

Watch Harper's ads over the next week. It will be some of the best stuff you have ever seen.

I Like Billy Harper's Idea Of Road Privatization

Four years ago, I had hopes Ernie Fletcher would become the best fiscally conservative governor in America. Today, though, it's South Carolina's Mark Sanford who is best.

Recorded Phone Message I Got Last Night

More cutting edge campaigning to improve the lives of real Kentuckians:

Hello this is Anne Northup and I am running for governor as a Republican. In recent days, you may have received another phone message saying that I am against school prayer. That is simply not true. I have voted fourteen times to allow school prayer. As a mother of six children, I know the importance of faith in our society including prayer in our schools. I was frankly disturbed that Ernie Fletcher asked Congressman Bob Barr to attack me on this issue. I think you should know a little bit more about Bob Barr. He has left the Republican party. He has announced that he voted against George Bush in 2004. He has appeared at events with Al Gore and now he supports such extreme positions as legalizing drugs. Believe me, I would never ask anyone so radical to support my campaign or speak for me. Election day is just a week away.

Mayor Newberry Has No Comment; Actions Speak

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry still won't talk about the abuse of power, official misconduct lawsuit filed against him Friday by federal whistleblower John Vest.

But today his administration delayed the illegal termination hearing for Vest it had originally scheduled for later this month.

Calling All Bruce Lunsford Opponents!

Opponents of Bruce Lunsford's gubernatorial campaign may have missed the story over the weekend about Lunsford staffer Teresa Isaac getting sued for slander, abuse of power, violation of Kentucky's Whistleblower Act and official misconduct relating to her demonstrably false statements to the media and her subsequent actions relating to last year's FBI raid of the Lexington jail.

Illinois Dems Reject Kentucky-like Tax Increase

A gross receipts tax on businesses, like Kentucky's Alternative Minimum Calculation, was unanimously rejected by Illinois' House of Representatives last week.

The idea behind their increase was to finance socialized medicine.

The Wall Street Journal has the story. This should be a big blow to the Hillarycare folks. Too bad Kentucky couldn't have pulled together to fight against the idea that taxing businesses more doesn't really hurt anyone.

I'm Voting For Billy Harper For Governor

Call it a protest vote if you want. I'm voting for Billy Harper.

In an embarrassing primary food fight between Anne Northup and Ernie Fletcher, "supporting the winner" just doesn't cut it this time.

Harper offers a consistent conservatism and no-nonsense style Kentucky could use if we are to escape backwater status. And with Democrats likely to nominate a baggage-laden politician, Republicans would do well to represent themselves with someone not encumbered with evidence of questionable judgement.

Harper's support of KERA is a little tough to forgive, but that is overwhelmed by his continuing involvement in education and his current solutions, which involve more than just spending more money and would likely reverse a lot of KERA's damage while placing us on a course for substantial gains.

Economic development is something everyone talks about, but really belongs in the hands of someone who can move it along with more than just subsidies.

Pulling the state out of debt will require someone with a solid mandate. Listen closely to Harper. It isn't immediately apparent, but he is the type of leader who can inspire people to look beyond partisanship and toward the vision of the little guy from Paducah who said and meant "and I mean NO!"

One Question For Kentucky Treasurer Candidates

As unhelpful as the MSM discussion of the gubernatorial race has been, it has been worse. Instead of arguing about who would set up which new program and how or who is tired of campaigning and just wants to shut down the office, we should ask the candidates to take a look at one thing the office really controls: unclaimed property.

The question: How much is the unclaimed property fund worth?

The first candidate with the correct answer (zero) and a good explanation for why this is so (we already spent it all) might deserve a vote.

This is the "fund" that is supposed to back up the money-losing KAPT program Jonathan Miller keeps yammering about. Retiring Miller won't be a complete victory until we retire some of his lies about this silly thing.

The Cover-Up Will Be The Story On This One, Too

If you blinked, you missed the Herald-Leader's coverage of the FBI investigation of the Fayette county jail and the successful cover-up (so far) by two Lexington mayors.

Two things to think about: Mayor Teresa Isaac almost immediately dismissed the entire FBI investigation as nothing to worry about. It is now mid-May and I haven't heard anything about the FBI concluding their investigation yet. Have you? If she knew something eight months ago that the FBI still hasn't figured out, wouldn't that be news now? And Mayor Jim Newberry has had ample opportunity to clear up this mess one way or another -- or at least address it publicly -- and all he can do is a "no comment" through his spokeswoman?

There is a lot more to this story. I wonder why the Herald-Leader seems so incurious about it.

Lexington's Own Abu Ghraib Scandal

The Lexington Herald Leader is picking up on the Jim Newberry/Teresa Isaac cover-up at the Fayette County jail story tomorrow.

The really amazing thing about this story is that Jim Newberry knew about Isaac's cover-up before his election. Seems like it would have been pretty easy for him to separate himself from the mess before he took office, but instead he jumped right into the middle of it. Now he is being sued for abusing his position as mayor and will probably be prosecuted as well.

I thought this guy was supposed to be smart.

Good News! Fletcher, Stumbo Agree You Are A Hurricane Katrina Victim

I'm getting pretty tired of the role reversals in politics giving us "conservative" politicians who eagerly embrace a liberal mind-set. Yesterday, Ernie Fletcher joined hands with Greg Stumbo and proclaimed that all Kentuckians are hurricane victims under a state of emergency from a 2005 Gulf Coast storm and we are going to stay victims for the forseeable future.

When Greg Stumbo's Deputy Attorney General Pierce Whites attacked Marathon Oil under Kentucky's poorly conceived price gouging law saying "there is no constitutional right to price gouge," he was taking a position that might help Stumbo in the upcoming Democratic primary.

Populism traditionally seeks to deny the laws of economics and promote vagueness in favor government power in the name of "doing something."

What's disappointing is how Ernie Fletcher played along in response to Marathon Oil's lawsuit seeking to improve or remove Kentucky's price gouging law. Kentucky has been in a state of emergency since Fletcher declared one on August 30, 2005.

The lawsuit asks the court to void Fletcher's emergency declaration or set a time limit on it.

Fletcher interpreted that as an attack on the powers of his office.

"The fact of the matter is the executive order stands and it has the full force of law, and we'll be defending that aspect of the suit," Fletcher said.

What's even more disappointing is that neither of Fletcher's primary opponents are going to call him on this. The electorate has moved so far left that the smart political money rests firmly on the side of calling ourselves victims and suing our largest service providers for providing services.

Jim Newberry And Teresa Isaac Were Sued Today; Violated State Whistleblower Act

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry and his predecessor Teresa Isaac were sued today for violating Kentucky's Whistleblower Act. The suit was filed by John Vest, the FBI informant in the Fayette County Detention Center prisoner abuse scandal.

The filing describes how Vest approached the Federal Bureau of Investigation early in 2006 to report abuse of prisoners by FCDC employees. The filing states the FBI instructed Vest to covertly collect information for a federal criminal investigation and that he documented "numerous instances of the unauthorized use of force against Detention Center inmates by other Government employees in violation of Kentucky and Federal criminal laws."

The evidence provided by Vest brought dozens of FBI agents to Lexington in October 2006 to raid the Detention Center and seize evidence. After then-Mayor Isaac stated she had personally viewed the hundreds of hours of video and other kinds of evidence in a one-night cram session, she stated no evidence of wrongdoing existed. She and FCDC Director Ronald Bishop stated to the media that Vest was lying to the FBI.

The suit alleges Vest's efforts to seek Whistleblower protection were, at various times, ignored or met with hostility. Jail officials refused Vest's transfer requests to a safe work environment and, in February of this year, sought to terminate Vest's employment. Mayor Newberry, despite his knowledge of Vest's whistleblower status, signed off on it.

The suit alleges Isaac and Newberry are both guilty of official misconduct in the first and second degree, abuse of power, civil rights violations and that Isaac is guilty of slander. Vest requested a jury trial and awarding of compensatory and punitive damages.

Newberry is the current mayor of Lexington and Isaac works for Bruce Lunsford's campaign for governor.

Marathon Oil Sues Fletcher And Stumbo

Ernie Fletcher and Greg Stumbo find themselves on the same side of a legal struggle today. Both have been named as defendants by Marathon Oil in a federal lawsuit.

The suit attacks Kentucky's price gouging law on three fronts. First, it says the law unconstitutionally affords the Attorney General power to attack businesses and write his own standards on the fly. Second, Marathon claims Governor Fletcher's August 31, 2005 Executive Order 2005-943 putting the gouging law into effect failed to specify the length of time the price-fixing regulation would be in effect in violation of Section 2 of the Kentucky Constitution. Third, the suit states that the price gouging law violates the U.S. Constitution's Commmerce Clause and unfairly inhibits competition.

The suit claims the Governor's issuance of Executive Order 2005-943 declaring a state of emergency was illegally applied in 2005 and has never been terminated. The suit also claims Stumbo lied when he said Speedway violated the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act and includes a transcript of Stumbo's August 8, 2006 press conference as evidence.

The suit asks for the law to be declared unconstitutional and for the defendants to be ordered to pay costs, attorney fees, and "all other relief to which the plaintiffs may be entitled."

I'll Take "Four-Letter Acronyms For Bad Education Policy" For $100, Alex

Can't help but think that if Billy Harper had steered clear of promoting his role in forming the Kentucky Education Reform Act at the beginning of his campaign's advertising last year, the GOP race might look different that it does right now.

Kentucky Sued, Lunsford/Stumbo Should Pay

The MSM isn't reporting that Marathon Oil yesterday filed a federal lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Kentucky because of Attorney General Greg Stumbo's political stunt.

There are serious constitutional issues with Kentucky's price gouging law and Stumbo knows it. The Lumbo campaign should be made to pay the state's legal expenses.

KERA And The Governor's Race

It's Day Two of the "KERA is Good" tour at the Courier Journal.

They are trying to bash Governor Fletcher for saying he wouldn't have voted for KERA and that Anne Northup was wrong when she did vote for it.

The Fletcher campaign may have some trouble capitalizing on this if word gets out about the multiple resume "typos" of his new Education Commissioner appointee.

Greg Stumbo's Political Witch Hunt Against Big Oil

Attorney General Greg Stumbo has started suing oil companies for rising gas prices. This will satisfy a large part of the electorate, but Kentucky's stupid price-gouging law will eventually get a serious test in court.

With any luck, it will fail in the court of law. Price fixing laws are bad enough. Price gouging laws tie the concept of government control to emotional natural disasters and public emergencies to create an artificial price level that "feels right" to the politician who happens to be in charge at the time.

Unfortunately, good economics is usually bad politics. We desperately need to realize that when politicians "just do something" to fix a problem, they too often make is worse. Gas prices are a perfect example of this.

What This Race Should Really Be About

The GOP gubernatorial primary has gotten personal. What issues do you wish the candidates would address?