When Democrats Promise To Protect Consumers From Evil Insurance Companies, Grab Your Wallet

I expect someone in the Kentucky legislature to glom on to the idea of sticking insurance companies with potential liability for paying triple the amount of a claim the company denies "unreasonably or negligently." This scheme was signed into law last month in Washington state and is much more political ploy than it is consumer protection.

In fact, costs incurred under this law will just be passed on to policyholders as higher cost of doing business. That means higher premiums.

And of course the lawyers will get paid more. Consumers will lose.

If Kentucky really wanted to lead on consumer protection in insurance, we would eliminate regulation of what specific items policies should cover and charge company officers criminally when they violate the promises made in their policies. Requiring violations to be proven as either "unreasonable" or "negligent" just provides loopholes for bad actors to escape through.

Scott White Auditions For Dale Emmons' Job

Scott White is a very nice, smart guy. He is also a Ben Chandler liberal whose column in the Lexington Herald Leader unintentionally shows why we aren't just about to change the line in "My Old Kentucky Home" into something like "'tis summer, the proletarian revolutionaries are gay."

Kentucky's Democrats took a big leap to the left in the primary elections, especially with the nominations of Steve Beshear, Daniel Mongiardo, and Jack Conway. All three have been dogged by reputations as being a little left in their loafers. Kentucky is not ready to sanctify that.

Or this:

The best and brightest Kentucky Democrats, sparkling with ideas and energy, appear ready for the moment: the gubernatorial ticket of former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear and state Sen. Dan Mongiardo, auditor Crit Luallen, attorney general candidate Jack Conway, new party chairman Jonathan Miller and vice chairwoman Jennifer Moore, and mayors Jerry Abramson of Louisville and Jim Newberry of Lexington.

It is exciting to be a Kentuckian committed to good, open government, to recognize that perhaps this time, we won't let the opportunity pass.

Yes, the real winners on May 22 are those Kentuckians whose deep commitment to progressive policies in education, environment, health care, the elderly, energy, criminal justice and economic development will move to the forefront. We will see the kind of idea-driven agenda we deserve, championed by talented leaders whose commitment to the public welfare trumps political ambition.

Going into November, Kentuckians will be presented a unified slate of candidates bursting with promise and determination -- men and women of keen intellect, unquestioned integrity and loyalty to the traditions and principles of the Democratic Party.

Urging Kentucky Republicans To Stand For Something: Issue #2 Certificate of Need

A lot of people assume the governor's race will be settled on issues which neither candidate holds a clear advantage, namely corruption, casino gambling or maybe tax and spending issues.

Given that, free market voters in both parties should pressure their nominee to explain why Kentucky needs to keep its outdated certificate of need laws.

Certificate of need regulation inhibits competition in health care beyond all reason. Governor Fletcher's administration claims on the Cabinet for Health and Family Services website, absurdly:

The purpose of Kentucky's Certificate of Need process is to prevent the proliferation of health care facilities, health services and major medical equipment which increases the cost of quality health care in the commonwealth.

"Proliferation" is used here to mean competition. "Increases the cost" is something more competition does not do.

One of the candidates would pick up a lot of active supporters by championing repeal of certificate of need. Or at least by pulling such ridiculous crap off the state website.

This Should End The Governor's Race

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Steve Beshear's health plan makes Brereton Jones' 1994 craziness look like a mere flesh wound.

RPK Chairman: Skippy Should Quit

New Republican Party of Kentucky Chairman Steve Robertson was right today when he told the Courier-Journal that if he tried to keep his state job "it would be front page, above the fold" news. This after hardly a peep by the MSM when Jonathan Miller kept his position as Treasurer while also taking over as chair of the Democratic party.

Robertson is right. Jonathan "Skippy" Miller should run the Democratic Party or waste taxpayer dollars in the anachronistic Treasurer's office, but not both.

Big Milk Pricing Meets Big Oil Pricing

As a parent of four kids -- or really three kids and one milk-guzzling 6'3" monster -- I'm pretty sensitive to rising milk prices.

Help me, I'm being gouged!

It seems that new Asian demand for American milk is a major factor in milkflation. Higher corn prices -- corn feeds cows, cows make milk -- serve to make matters worse. The latter, of course, is due mainly to the government scheme to encourage ethanol production in hopes of saving us from Big Oil.

Now all we need is a zillion dollar federal program to work on developing a program to run our cars on milk. Or should that be a zillion dollar federal program to figure out a way to cover our breakfast cereals with petroleum?

Steal This Idea, Please, Representative Lee

Liberal politician Jack Conway(D-Louisville) is proposing various kinds of new legal activism in hopes they will somehow get him elected Attorney General. He likely has hundreds of extremist comrades waiting anxiously on the sidelines to staff the AG's office and carry out his agenda.

Rep. Stan Lee(R-Lexington) would do very well to propose eliminating all but a half dozen or so of the hundreds of employee positions currently in the Attorney General's office. The county attorneys could perform the necessary functions now performed by AG staff and the activism could be handled by interest groups not on the state payroll. Attorney General Lee could oversee their activities and assist them when they ask for help.

Thanks to Rep. Lonnie Napier(R-Lancaster) for suggesting this.

Stan Lee Thumps Greg Stumbo; Conway Next

Attorney General Greg Stumbo really had no choice but to admit that domestic partner benefits at public universities are unconstitutional as he did today.

Someone please put a microphone in front of Jack Conway as soon as possible.

Fiscal Dilemma: Near Left Versus Far Left

Peggy Noonan really lays into President Bush this morning for the way his administration is selling its approach to immigration reform.

Bush has been fortunate to survive his mistakes to some extent because of the much larger warts on the faces of his opponents. It's a little tough to stay mad at him with Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Al Gore, and friends barking at the door.

By the same token, Governor Ernie Fletcher gets a pass for raising taxes and spending from a lot of people because of the rampaging horde led by Steve Beshear, Jonathan Miller, Daniel Mongiardo, Ernesto Scorsone, and Kathy Stein.

Treasurer/Chairman Skippy, Call Your "Office"

Jonathan "Skippy" Miller was so busy performing the duties of his State Treasurer job that earlier this year he decided to run for governor. When that didn't work out, he was given the position of chairman at the Democratic Party of Kentucky.

Good thing he is term-limited out of office at the end of this year. Otherwise, he might hit the presidential tour with Dennis Kucinich while we pay him his six-figure allowance.

Jim Waters at the Bluegrass Institute has picked up on the effort to shut down the Treasurer's office.

We need legislators to file and co-sponsor a bill for the necessary constitutional amendment.

Does Jack Conway Think He Can Ignore Every Law?

Liberal Attorney General candidate Jack Conway is going to have to explain whether or not he supports the current occupant of that office Greg Stumbo in his unconstitutional OAG opinion that casinos can be legalized without a constitutional amendment.

We know he is a big supporter of boyfriend benefits at taxpayer expense, another unconstitutional state action, but he needs to come clean on this one too.

Another Shot At The Wrong Target

Rep. Tanya Pullin wants to expand need-based financial aid for college students --something there really isn't a shortage of -- and top it off with a freeze on tuition increases at state schools.

The program is called the "Kentucky Postsecondary Education Covenant Award."

Today's trick question: name one example of government price-fixing that has worked without creating unintended consequences worse than the underlying problem.

The part of the bill that subtracts any other aid or scholarships from the "Covenant Award" also accomplishes exactly the wrong thing. We should encourage students who take the initiative to pile up scholarship awards in excess of "costs of education." This program punishes those who would do so by reducing the need-based award, requiring them to spend more time scrambling around at some part-time job rather than sticking to the books.

As an example, my son just got another $1000 scholarship that he qualified for because of many hours of past work at school and in the community. Filling out the application took less than half an hour. Not a bad return for past work he was going to do anyway and half an hour at the keyboard. This program would tell a student with means and a solid school record to go for the scholarship, which might subsidize his living expenses and would certainly be more efficient than spending many hours flipping burgers. A less affluent student with the same record might feel compelled to skip the scholarships, take the "Covenant Award," and flip burgers for additional funds.

This means the more ambitious, less affluent students will take their chances without the "Covenant Award," risk applying for scholarships they won't get, and hope to earn enough to cover education expenses plus some extra to live on. The less ambitious students will take the "Covenant Award," work more hours to finance miscellaneous expenses, and will be more likely to flunk out after burning through the state money.

This all leads to higher costs for the kind of students we really should be helping stay in state.

Special Session Needs A Trade-Off

The Governor and the General Assembly should be able to agree on the spending projects they both want to add to a June Special Session. Otherwise, they should hold off on the gimmicky "energy bill" and the no-way-to-win domestic partner issue.

We can do without the energy gimmicks and since Governor Fletcher's own Trustees passed boyfriend benefits -- and House Democrats support them -- that matter now needs to be settled in court.

The fight worth fighting is for Rep. Stan Lee's special needs scholarship bill that could save taxpayers $200 million over the next decade -- offsetting some of the new spending -- and benefit our most vulnerable schoolchildren now.

Urging Kentucky Republicans To Stand For Something: Issue #1 School Choice

Instead of getting bogged down with petty foolishness, it would be great if Kentucky's Republican candidates could coalesce around a single issue to engage voters this fall.

The time grows near which will allow candidates to run and win by advocating school choice.

It won't happen, but Governor Fletcher could make an issue of special needs scholarships. The teachers union isn't going to endorse him anyway and the vouchers will save taxpayers money. And Steve Beshear will have no answer for it except what he gets from union extremists. (Here's a hint: they don't do a very good job of refuting vouchers.)

The one place school choice might realistically show up this year is in the Attorney General's race. GOP nominee Stan Lee sponsored the voucher bill this year and his liberal opponent, Jack Conway, is likely to try to use it against him.

Lee would be well advised to tout school vouchers every day until November.

Explaining "High" Gas Prices In America

The Club for Growth has a hard-to-ignore take on a Gallup poll on the cause of $3 a gallon gas.

The hard fact is blaming oil companies for being greedy causes us to adopt the same muddled thinking we usually get from our left-wing moonbat friends.

Free market fans who abandon their principles as soon as the sticky, black stuff comes out of the ground have to take a good look at increasing demand here and in the developing world. Discounting political instability and intransigence here and abroad also takes a willful blindness unworthy of such a serious discussion.

The best way for you to reduce what you spend on fuel is to use less of it. That is demand. Also, legalizing expanded domestic drilling would help. That is supply.

Unfortunately, this will continue to be a political football as the party out of power blames the party in power or -- in the case of divided government -- they trade blame.

It could well be that the discussion won't get any more rational until one of the oil companies figures out how to run cars on hydrogen. That will happen long before any public-spirited federal agency pulls it off.

Four Dollar Meds: Biggest Loss Leader In History Or A Political Statement?

Wal-Mart is saving consumers hundreds of millions of dollars with its private prescription drug plan.

Did Democrats Toss Election To Rehab Lunsford?

Interesting to note from Ryan Alessi's column that Bruce Lunsford knew he could have forced a run-off -- one he could well have won -- if he had gone after Democratic nominee Steve Beshear's weaknesses on casino gambling and loan-sharking.

The predatory lending stuff is pretty good, but Beshear will have a very difficult time trying to sell specifics on his casino plan to the public.

Hope Lunsford enjoys his improved image among primary voters.

The Pulse Of Lexington

I will be on Leland Conway's radio show at 630 AM or wlap.com this morning at 11:00 talking about how the new media should impact public policy.

A Non-Liberal Professor At University of Kentucky

Here's an interesting podcast featuring John Garen, Economics department chairman at the University of Kentucky.

Jim Newberry Won't Talk About Civil Case, But He Really Should Answer This Criminal Question

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry has refused to answer questions about the lawsuit against him and former Mayor Teresa Isaac for violating the state Whistleblower Act.

But he shouldn't be able to hide from one question about any criminal indictments that may be handed down against officers in the Fayette County Detention Center. You have to understand, as peace officers under the Urban County form of government, indicted peace officers will not be able to work in the detention center.

So, Mayor Newberry, will any criminally indicted officers from the FBI case you won't talk about be placed on leave with or without pay?