This Is Probably Going To Be Quote Of The Day

Senate Bill 3 just got voted out of the State and Local Government Committee with amendments to add Kentucky to Super Tuesday in presidential primary elections and to remove the emergency clause so its provisions wouldn't take effect this year. Speaking for the bill, Senate President David Williams said:

"The main thing is that we have more transparency and accountability in the process."

Couldn't agree more. But if we really want transparency, we also need government expenditure transparency.

Steve Beshear Keeps A Campaign Promise

And it is going to cost you a bundle.

Ron Bishop Thinks He Isn't Going To Jail

FCDC Director Ron Bishop and his storm troopers in the Lexington jail think they have found their fall guys and are immune from criminal prosecution.

Well, they should think again. Ask your attorney down there on Main Street to explain this to you, fellas.

From Lexington-Fayette County Ordinance Number 255-94,1,12-13-94:

Sec. 25-29. Reprisals against persons disclosing violations prohibited.
(1) No officer or employee shall subject to reprisal, or directly or indirectly use, or threaten to use, any official authority or influence, in any manner whatsoever, which tends to discourage, restrain, depress, dissuade, deter, prevent, interfere with, coerce, or discriminate against any officer or employee who in good faith reports, discloses, divulges, or otherwise brings to the attention of the ethics commission, any law enforcement agency or its employees, or any other appropriate body or authority, anyfacts or information relative to an actual or suspected violation of any law, statute, executive order, administrative regulation, mandate, rule, or ordinance of the United States, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, or the urban county government, or any facts or information relative to actual or suspected mismanagement, waste, fraud, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety. No officer or employee shall be required to give notice prior to making such a report, disclosure, or divulgence.
(2) No officer or employee shall subject to reprisal or discriminate against, or use any official authority or influence to cause reprisal or discrimination by others against, any person who supports, aids, or substantiates any officer or employee who makes public any wrongdoing set forth in subsection (1) of this section.

Penalties for violation include a fine and up to one year in jail.

Beshear Hints At Cutting Pension Benefits

In an advance copy of Governor Steve Beshear's budget address, he says he will offer a state employee pension reform proposal "in the coming weeks."

"What we can do now is address the increasing costs. These programs are not sustainable at current levels," Beshear said.

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

Sounds like Rep. Fred Nesler just filed the cigarette tax bill to save us all.

10:00 pm Update: No, it was a false alarm. Stay tuned for tax increases though.

Jason Mays Versus United Auto Workers

Looks like the hottest ideological battle in central Kentucky among the 2008 state House races will be between pro-union Rep. Charlie Hoffman and former Georgetown College assistant basketball coach Jason Mays.

With non-union Toyota the economic engine of the district, a strong campaign against Majority Caucus Chairman Hoffman could get interesting.

And with Hoffman filing bills like this, Mays should be able to get a lot of help.

Busted, Now Pay Up

Governor Steve Beshear got caught breaking a campaign promise not to misuse state aircraft and now he is saying he will pay for it.

Is the check in the mail, Governor?

Maybe we should require the Executive Branch to set up a website to help us keep track of their expenditures of state money for political or personal purposes.

You know, like illegal raises for girlfriends and such.

Larry, Moe, and Curly Can't Find The Microphone

Harassment by top officials at the Fayette County Detention Center against some employees who have testified in the wage and hours class action lawsuit may be about to unleash a fresh batch of lawsuits.

Watch yourself, Mr. Kammer.

(And a personal note to Bishop, Leach, and Kammer: watching you guys try to figure out where I am getting my information is hilarious! Keep trying if you want, but you will NEVER figure it out until I am ready for you to figure it out. Fun stuff...)

Thieneman Versus Northup Day One

Congressional candidate Chris Thieneman said today he is against slipping earmarks into legislative bills.

Closing Libraries In Casino-Rich Illinois

Evanston, on Chicago's North Shore, should be close enough to the economic development opportunites brought by casinos that they would be swimming in cash by now.

Alas, it isn't so. They are negotiating instead how to get by on a combination of property tax increases and spending cuts, which include closing two public libraries.

Governor Steve Beshear is expected to lay out part of his plan tomorrow night to make Kentucky a rich casino state like Illinois.

One other interesting proposed cut I found was this one:

Carroll said she hopes to save $300,000 by dropping a contract with a health insurance brokerage firm and having the city negotiate health coverage contracts directly.

Why on earth is a city the size of Pikeville paying anyone $300,000 to help them pick out health insurance plans?

This is why I think a good solid fiscal crisis would be a great thing for Kentucky. Getting all the various interest groups to stop ravaging the taxpayers and to, instead, start in on each other is not only more fun than watching demolition derby, it is the only way we are going to get things out in the open and start cutting out the real waste.

Beshear Can't Even Lead On Dental Exams

A Lexington Herald-Leader story about a bill to require parents to get dental exams for their children exposes yet again Governor Steve Beshear's unwillingness to provide any of the "leadership" he promised before he was elected.

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear is still reviewing the legislation and declined to comment, through a spokesperson.

The bill is less than one sentence long. It requires -- in addition to the pre-existing mandate for immunizations -- the following:

... a dental health certificate from a dentist licensed in any state indicating the health of the child's teeth, jaws, and mouth.

Beshear is really taking his do-nothingism too far. At this rate, I can't wait to see him tackle anything like the public employee benefits disaster. Slots at the tracks, right Steve?

By the way, the story indicates a reporter tried in vain to reach Senate President David Williams for his opinion. That was unneccesary. The same bill died in a Senate committee just last year.

You May Not Know Gordon B. Hinckley Yet...

Gordon B. Hinckley, prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, died tonight.

This just happened so it will be a little slow getting out in the news, but when it does it will stir up discussion again about presidential candidate Mitt Romney's faith.

A lot of people will be surprised by the national media coverage Hinckley's death will receive. He was very media savvy, a great interview, and was highly regarded by national media figures.

At this point in the race, it will be very interesting to see the impact a renewed focus on religion will have.

Make Way For Chris Thieneman

Former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup should resist the temptation to try to get her old seat in Congress back. Republicans already have Chris Thieneman, the man behind the effort to kill the Louisville Library Tax.

There is no way to change the old ways of Congress without new faces.

Norquist: Tax Increase To Smash Savings

Rep. Ben Chandler's favorite tax watchdog has an interesting take on the latest fiscal stimulus package and the coming tax increase that you probably haven't heard.

Senate President Trumps Governor

Internal polling shows Rep. Brandon Smith, a Republican, winning Lieutenant Governor Daniel Mongiardo's old Senate seat on Tuesday, February 5.

This will make Senate President David Williams more powerful than Governor Steve Beshear.

Williams should use his new power to push for government transparency, less welfare for drug abusers, and repeal of bad business taxes.

Republicans in power continue to shirk their fiscally responsible, better government mandates, though. Now is the time to reverse that trend.

Improving Kentucky's Welfare Policy Would Be A Great Way To Salvage Our Culture

Does it really make sense to you that we buy illicit drugs for Kentuckians and ask for nothing in return?

That is exactly what we do every time welfare recipients buy crack or abuse prescription drugs. If we subsidize their housing or their healthcare or food and they direct their limited funds toward illegal drugs, how are we not at the very least complicit in their drug problem?

The General Assembly already has a solution in front of it. The constitutional issues can be dealt with easily.

Another suggestion is requiring anyone who signs up for benefits to consent to random, periodic drug testing when they first request help.

How hard is it to understand that by incentivizing irresponsibility among our most vulnerable citizens that we are damaging ourselves voluntarily?

Tax Cutters In Paradise

Well, not exactly. There are two tax cut bills in Frankfort (here and here) and neither one has much chance of getting past House Budget Chairman Harry Moberly.

While reasonable people can disagree, though, on the value of cutting taxes and making government smaller, how in the world can they shut down the one commonsense bill that would allow taxpayers to know where the money is going?

I'd really like to know.

The Third Word In GED Isn't Diploma

Rep. Frank Rasche has a plan to dramatically reduce the number of high school drop-outs in Kentucky that sounds suspiciously like we are about to be paying people to hand out GEDs in convenience stores.

HB 294, which the House should vote on next week, sets a goal to lower the drop-out rate and the number of adult dropouts dramatically by 2010 mainly by throwing money around.

If we were talking about doing something new (for us) like raising standards in middle schools -- and we're not -- that would be one thing. But this plan is just more of the same feel-good nonsense from the education bureaucracy.

Poultry Alert: Chickens Coming Home To Roost

This morning former Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac is being deposed about her role in the Fayette County Detention Center scandal.

This will be one hot transcript when it becomes available because she will have to come clean about some factual misstatements she made in the news media about this mess.

Current Mayor Jim Newberry gets his turn in two weeks.

Where Are The Taxpayers' Lobbyists?

Today is Day 13 of the legislators' strike in Kentucky. Meanwhile, taxpayers continue to pay them (and their pensions continue to grow) while we all wait for the candidate filing deadline to pass.

And it is apparently too much to ask that one effort to give taxpayers a break receive the consideration it deserves.

House Bill 221, which would simply make people stop spending public money to buy illegal drugs, is exactly the kind of thing we need to be looking at now.

The bill needs a little work, but there is no reason not to move forward on this.

I call this bill the "Make Junkies Move To Other States Act of 2008."