Beshear Gambling Strategy Exposed

Senator Tom Buford said today Governor Steve Beshear invited him to his office and spoke with him about taking a job in the administration.

Buford refused.

Will it be Beshear the Repealer?

House Leadership yesterday quietly assigned a bill that is very important both politically and fiscally to the Appropriations and Revenue Committee.

House Bill 26 would repeal the Limited Liability Entity Tax, also known as the Alternative Minimum Calculation signed into law by Governor Ernie Fletcher and hated by businesses paying the tax.

And if Governor Steve Beshear is really in a repealing and money-saving mood, he should support the effort to shut down the Treasurer's office, too.

Mortgaging Nonsense in Kentucky

The General Assembly has three bills so far attempting to address a problem with mortgage loans. I can't find much in this, this, or this we wouldn't be better off just leaving alone. In fact, it seems to me that if what we really want to do is make things worse, passing these bills would be a pretty good way to start.

We Have To At Least Get This Right

Everything has a price. When we try to use government to escape that universal truth, we invite unintended problems.

Don't imagine we will do anything good by forcing people to pay more for their car insurance because they have good credit.

A Good Way To Have More Spending Money

Now that the General Assembly and Governor are on the same page about cutting spending (ha!), perhaps they really should look at prohibiting the Kentucky Lottery from spending any of its revenue on advertising.

People are going to gamble anyway, right?

Kathy Stein's Inconvenient Sex Talk

Rep. Kathy Stein wants schools to back off just telling kids not to have sex and instead to give them "science-based" contraception instruction.

Providing Educational Opportunities For A Few

House Speaker Jody Richards wasted no time refiling his bill to legalize Kentucky's illegal charter school at Western Kentucky University.

Come on, guys. Wouldn't it be easier to let all of Kentucky have access to the innovative teaching a handful of students are now getting illegally?

All we have to do is make charter schools legal in the state.

From The "It's About Time" Department

Rep. Lonnie Napier filed a bill today to deny state aid or food stamps to adult drug abusers.

Mayor Newberry, At Least Take His Car Keys

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry may be content to watch the Fayette County Detention Center melt down under federal investigations and civil lawsuits. But if he is not going to do anything substantial, he should at least park FCDC Director (and Louisville resident) Ron Bishop's city car and let him take care of his own transportation like the employees who don't break the law do.

Did I mention Director Ron Bishop didn't complete ANY of his required 2007 training and then tried to cover it up?

Defining Education Reform For 21st Century

Kentucky's education establishment went ballistic yesterday over the mere suggestion they might have to take less money in the next budget to deliver their mediocre results.

The need to change the way we discuss education reform is not unrelated to the many problems in overcrowded county jails throughout the state.

Bureaucrats may be satisfied with papering over Kentucky's dropout problem, but yesterday's high school graduates -- in large numbers -- are today sleeping on the floor in county jails.

With the current push among the education crowd to shift more resources toward early childhood education, we have what amounts to a crass diversion from real problems in favor of spending on a new program several years removed from accountability.

New laws to force students to stay in school against their will are just the opposite side of the same coin.

We can't afford these games any longer.

Middle school is where we are losing our kids. When they give up in middle school, they too often start using drugs and drop out of high school. These are the people filling up our jails.

We don't need more tax money for teachers unions and bureaucrats nearly as much as we need to concentrate our efforts where they benefit kids more than the bureaucrats.

The People Want To Vote On Cutting Spending

Shutting down the state Treasurer's office as a rest area for politicians is a good thing to be thinking about the night before the 2008 General Assembly starts up.

SurveyUSA Calls Kentucky For Huckabee

...but they left off Fred Thompson and John Edwards from their polling.

Owensboro Gets State Pension Disaster

The levy has broken on the state employee benefits plans and some people are starting to really pay attention.

I'll be impressed, though, when I see pressure to cut back on the healthy slab of pork lawmakers cut for some of their pals back in 2005.

Update: Ashland gets it, too. Keep them coming!

Volunteering For Less

Tennessee may be about to lower part of their state merit scholarship standard to ease up on some of their failing students. They might want to notice, though, Kentucky requires even less of their students than Tennessee is talking about dropping to and gets almost an identical failure rate.

Kentucky policymakers should pay attention to this. It would make a lot of sense to pursue raising the minimum GPA for our college students to keep their KEES awards. As we pursue the lofty goal of doubling our number of college graduates, anything we can do to prevent dumbing-down has to be considered. We might even accidentally incentivize a little less drinking and drug use on campus.

Courier Journal Attacks Steve Beshear

... for not wanting to raise taxes.

Prioritizing our spending is the way out of this. Government transparency is the first step to recovery.

Someone Needs To Wake Up Jim Newberry

Surely it has been too cold for Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry to putter around on golf courses. Perhaps he has been hanging out at bowling alleys or at some of Lexington's "gentleman's clubs" while the city's jail is collapsing under corrupt leadership.

Will someone please, please wake up Mayor Jim Newberry.

We caught Director Ron Bishop earlier this week scrubbing his name off the 2007 FCDC training roster after failing to complete any of the required training.

Well, now the detention center employees union is working on a case to exempt its members who didn't complete their training from any kind of reprimand. The entire basis of their case is that the director didn't get his training, so they can't be punished since he won't be. Sounds like a fine way to risk the safety of the community all in the name of covering Ron Bishop's behind.

Are you getting any of this, Mayor Newberry?

Let's Sell All Our School Buses

We have a state budget crisis, escalating gas prices, and too many parents who aren't involved enough in their childrens' education.

Let's sell off all the school buses and use half the savings to give teachers huge raises. In exchange for the raises, teachers will have to give up tenure and allow their defined benefit pension plan to be converted to defined contribution.

Can Beshear Walk His Talk?

Governor Beshear is saying some good things about spending cuts right now.

The real challenge will be for him to let us help keep him honest with spending transparency. And then he gets to really do something about the state employee benefits disaster.

Presidential Google Search Fun

We all say stupid things sometimes, but Mike Huckabee's mouth will ultimately run him out of his big race.

For just one example, try googling "Huckabee Satan" for an interesting theological discussion.

Jody Richards' Come To Jesus Meeting

I was a guest on the Leland Conway Show this morning, telling Leland about the government transparency movement.

Leland said he will have House Speaker Jody Richards on the program next Tuesday at 10:15 and will ask him about this. There's your heads up, Mr. Speaker.

The Senate needs to get to work on this as well.