We Need Anti-Gambling Forces To Fight For More

Pastor Jeff Fugate of Clays Mill Road Baptist Church can draw a crowd. He has gotten engaged in the casino gambling debate and is putting together a rally at the Capitol for March 5.

It would be very helpful if, while they are up there, the anti-casino folks put a word in for getting welfare recipients off drugs and for putting the state government's checkbook on the internet so taxpayers can see where their money is going. Or at least to make legislators negotiate the budget out in the open like honest people.

Chamber of Commerce Supports Welfare Bill

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce put up their legislative update tonight, listing their support of HB 592. They don't specify which tax increase they want to pay for this added spending.

If nothing else, someone should add a measure to disqualify drug abusers from getting existing welfare benefits or this new garbage.

Midpoint of General Assembly Frustrating For All

Watching the Kentucky legislature stumble and bumble through the first half of its 2008 session underscores the simple truth that it's much easier to kill a bad bill than to successfully promote a good one.

The most-read bill on Kentucky Votes is Senator Ernesto Scorsone's effort to give illegal aliens drivers licenses.

At the same time, we can't even get a lawmaker to file a bill to get rid of Certificate of Need laws that drive up health care costs and the bill to force state officials to quit hiding the checkbook from ordinary taxpayers can't get a hearing.

I guess the good news for the weekend is the bill to deal the death blow to the economy won't get anywhere either.

Presidential Debate In Frankfort Next Week

C-SPAN is expected to come to Frankfort March 1 for a debate between the Libertarian candidates for President of the United States.

Go here for details, here for registration, and here for a full agenda of what is the Libertarian Party of Kentucky convention. They have a couple of pretty good guest speakers.

As Inspiring As Thin Air

For a very clear picture of just how substantial the Democratic presidential primary is, watch this:

Can Everybody Hear Me?

I will be on Lexington radio this afternoon at 1 pm talking about the state legislature. Tune in to 590 AM or www.wvlkam.com if you can, call in to 859-253-5959 if you want to, and sign up for daily updates on Kentucky Votes because it's just the right thing to do.

How Can They Kill CATS If They Can't Do This?

The House of Representatives showed yesterday they probably aren't ready to take education issues seriously when they killed a commonsense amendment that would have prevented the teachers union from loading up buses during the school day and marching on Frankfort. Or from otherwise abusing public funds or resources in the workplace for political purposes.

Nice job, guys. Like we can really afford this nonsense now.

More Welfare Payments We Can't Afford

Okay, Kentucky is supposed to be in a tight state budget situation, right?

Then why in the world are we even discussing a bill to increase transfer payments by creating two state programs extending federal welfare programs?

Who gets the tax increase to pay for this mess?

Counting Casino Campers

Multiple reports from the Capitol this afternoon have 51 House Democrats ready to vote for a casino amendment and 5 House Republicans set to join them.

That's closer than I thought it would be, but still no soap. They need 60 votes to pass it out to the Senate where the counting is much easier.

Sexton: Leave Destruction Of Schools To Us

Bob Sexton, a Kentucky education expert, worries that amateurs may be trying to mess up the state's public schools by changing the testing program.

"Changes in the accountability system we know from experience can be extremely disruptive to teaching and learning," said Bob Sexton, president of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, a school-advocacy group based in Lexington.

He should know. He was a big part of the crowd who gave us last year's extremely disruptive testing experience.

CATS has already been destroyed, Mr. Sexton. An outside test that the Kentucky Department of Education can't manipulate is our best opportunity for real assessment now.

Making Consumers Pay For Not Being Builders

House Bill 565 subsidizes home builders who have a new property that sits completed but unsold for more than a year.

The property tax break the builders get from this bill comes at the expense of other taxpayers. Those of us who don't build houses on spec probably avoid that line of work to avoid the market risk, don't you think?

I know it is a common practice by now, but this effort to pick winners and losers in the marketplace is not something we need to do.

Senate Smokes Out Educrats

Senate Bill 1, filed today, would do away with the worst part of the Kentucky Department of Education's reign of terror, the CATS testing program.

The CATS program has been terrible because it has wasted millions of dollars without providing the information teachers need to actually help students. CATS has served primarily to make the education establishment look good.

This bill will save lots of money and increase accountability for the bureaucrats who wield way too much power in Frankfort. This is a great move by Senate President David Williams and one to which the House will have little legitimate resistance.

One point from the Lexington Herald Leader coverage speaks volumes about where we are with Big Education in this state. The Senate leaders did not discuss the bill with Education Commissioner Jon Draud.

Skippy Miller Act Of 2008

Tomorrow at noon the Senate State and Local Government committee will advance SB 14, a bill to disband the state Treasurer's office in honor of former Treasurer Jonathan "Skippy" Miller.

Miller's shrewd use of the office for eight years propelled the effort to prevent future politicians from using it in a similar manner.

Kentucky Can't Tax, Can't Afford Junkies

Did you know Kentucky is one of twenty one states which unconstitutionally taxes possession of illegal drugs?

Since our Attorney General isn't going to be spending any of his time harassing the Governor, he should urge the legislature to pull this off the books before the courts make us do it.

Then we can save some money by encouraging welfare recipients to get off drugs or risk being made to get off welfare.

Finally, Some Meaningful Action In Frankfort

This afternoon, the Senate is expected to pass HB 18. The bill has been amended to include the provisions of SB 3, which would end the common practice of legislators going on strike each election year during the first month of the General Assembly. It would also make Kentucky a Super Tuesday state in presidential primaries.

Now the Senate needs to amend the House Finance and Administration Cabinet reorganization bill to include government expenditure transparency.

Time To Decide If Kentucky Is A Sanctuary State

Indiana advanced an illegal immigration bill today similar to the HB 304 House Judiciary Chair Kathy Stein is bottling up.

If Indiana runs off their illegal aliens and Kentucky does nothing, are we prepared to accept them all? It's not like they will be moving north, where it is colder.

Lexington Jail Still On Double-Secret Probation

Just when you thought the madness at the Fayette County Detention Center couldn't get any worse, a jail employee pursuing sexual harassment charges against Captain Dwight Hall has received a death threat via telephone while at work.

Upon investigation, it was determined the phone call also originated from within the facility.

This is part of what the caller said:

"Shut your mouth you stupid whore or else you are going to pay."

Former Mayor Teresa Isaac and Mayor Jim Newberry are being sued for their roles in covering up scandals in the jail.

Not Just For Jody Richards

A bill to expand the charter school concept in Kentucky beyond the one illegal program Speaker Jody Richards slipped into the 2006 budget should be introduced this week.

Charter schools function like public schools except they don't have to operate under the same bureaucracy as regular public schools. Further, they face real accountability and can be shut down if they don't produce substantial results.

Kentucky is one of only four states whose education bureaucracy has persisted in denying school choice to parents. Also, the bill will show how charter schools can be run for much less money than the one in Speaker Richards' district.

Identifying The Problem, Ignoring Solutions

Louisville Courier Journal columnist Jill Johnson Keeney complained today about, of all things, the structure of state government in Kentucky:

This is a terrible system we have in Kentucky, where a governor takes office in December and less than a month later is expected to have a staff assembled, a budget prepared, and be ready with proposals for correcting major problems and advancing the state.

A little digging might have helped her find three possible answers to this question:

Limiting the scope of legislative sessions, for example, is the subject of two bills filed by Senate Republicans and one filed by a House Republican.

The bills are here, here, and here.

Without any better ideas, the nattering nabobs should really take a closer look at some of the proposed solutions already out there.

Kentucky's Least Accountable Department

If we were serious about cutting waste, fraud, and abuse in Frankfort, we couldn't find a better place to start than the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE).

Just the latest example of their handiwork is another screw-up affecting the disastrous CATS testing:

This means that Kentucky students (some as young as 9-years old) will be asked to do one thing...but will be assessed on something else - some secret rubric. How is a student to know which questions have a secret rubric, and which do not? What are the ethics of penalizing students for following instructions?

Kentucky School News and Commentary has the whole story.

Have to wonder how much longer we can afford the luxury of not paying much attention to our education bureaucrats.