Who are the others, Mayor Newberry?

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry gave the city council Thursday night details about the Little Abu Ghraib action at the Fayette County Detention Center. One part of his statement deserves further scrutiny.

According to the Lexington Herald Leader, "He said the problems seemed to be contained to the third shift at the jail."

That's interesting. Can't imagine who or where he got that from. He should tell us how he knows this, or at least who the other criminals are.

Not that someone who is being sued for abusing a whistleblower will understand this, but in the interest of public safety, Mayor Newberry really should spill the beans about who else on third shift is involved, and here is why:

From the United States Department of Justice:

"The first count of the indictment alleges that the five defendants conspired with each other and with other unindicted individuals to assault inmates without justification, and to cover up their conduct by filing false reports and charges."

So Newberry says he knew what was going on at the jail all this time, yet he left the five indictees on the city payroll. Now we find out that he has the remaining unindicted co-conspirators "contained" on third shift. The public needs to know, Mayor. Who are they and when will you be placing them on leave with pay?

You've got a funny way of cooperating there, Mayor Jim Newberry

Just got the following statement from civil Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry in my email. His statement needs a little clarification:

"While the alleged violations occurred in 2006, prior to our administration taking office, we have over the past 17 months proactively implemented various measures to help ensure a safe and secure facility for both our employees and the inmates."

Right. You also have proactively tried several times to fire whistleblower John Vest and have fought him vigorously in his civil suit against the city. How has that made anyone safer? No, I'm completely serious. How does abusing a whistleblower make anyone safer anywhere?

"In 2007, we installed video cameras in the intake area, one site of alleged criminal activity, and have completely restructured staff in intake."

And you left Director Ron Bishop and Deputy Director Don Leach in place to continue the same policies that caused the problem. Wonder why?

"We have been aware of the ongoing investigation at the jail and will continue to fully cooperate. Sgt. John McQueen, Corrections Officer Clarence McCoy, Sgt. Anthony Estep and Lt. Kristen Lafoe are employed by the Division of Community Corrections. Scott Tyree is a former corrections officer who has transferred to the Division of Water & Air Quality. The employees will be suspended with pay, effective immediately, pending further investigation."

How have you cooperated with the investigation? Name one way. Who did you speak to and what did you say? And it is very interesting that Scott Tyree was allowed to transfer out of the jail while whistleblower John Vest was put on the street. The taxpayers of Lexington will be paying the upcoming civil judgement to Mr. Vest (who never got the benefit of an investigation) for years to come and you could have avoided the whole thing. "Aware?" Care to rephrase that, Mayor Newberry?

INDICTMENTS!

The United States District Court in Covington this afternoon handed down indictments in the Fayette County Detention Center inmate abuse scandal. Indicted were: John McQueen, Clarence McCoy, Kristine Lafoe, Scott Tyree, and Anthony Estep.

Charges include conspiracy, falsification of records, and obstruction of justice.

Now is when the fun starts because the heat is on Mayor Jim Newberry, who gets to see his role shift from mayor to defendant in the civil case which just got a serious boost. And what about former Mayor Teresa Isaac and FCDC director Ron Bishop, who both said two years ago there was nothing to this and that whistleblower Cpl. John Vest was lying about the whole thing?

Stay tuned to Kentucky Progress as the prosecution phase begins and the investigation continues. The behind the scenes scrambling right now is hilarious and suggests Newberry and friends really convinced themselves this thing was going to dry up and blow away. Newberry didn't even know that any of these indictments were about to hit until someone in his office read it here this afternoon. His efforts to separate himself will only make him look more foolish than he already looks.

Don't just stand there, Jim, fire somebody!

Pins and needles

The federal grand jury considering the two year investigation of the Fayette County Detention Center inmate abuse scandal is working at this very minute and may be doling out some indictments at any time.

We aren't solving the pension crisis

We have been down this road before. Every time the projected growth of a government program is trimmed even the slightest amount, the "stakeholders" clinging to that government program scream bloody murder that people will die in the streets because of the cut.

The same thing is happening in reverse with Kentucky's public employee fringe benefits crisis, now $27 billion in an ever-deepening hole.

House Dems are talking now in terms of "saving" $500 million a year and "fully funding" the programs by 2025.

Don't be fooled. All they have agreed to do is "cut" the growth rate of the $27 billion hole that needs so desperately to be filled up. They aren't really cutting anything or saving anything, unless you really want to get excited about the possibility that in a few years things won't be quite as horrible as they will be if we do absolutely nothing.

The teachers union giving their stamp of approval to this agreement should have been a dead giveaway.

No, state government websites weren't hacked

If you need to go on the legislature's websites this morning, you may be in for a little wait. Or it may be a long wait. No one knows for sure.

It seems BellSouth is having some technical problems. Just a quick taste of the technical problems state government is going to have waiting for 2025 when Speaker Jody Richards says the public pension systems will be fully funded.

No education in the second kick of Draud's mule

Education Commissioner Jon Draud could have avoided his whole tearful "I have sinned" moment today if only he had supported putting the education department's checkbook on the internet.

Bruce Lunsford knocks himself off message

Bruce Lunsford got a baptism by fire today when he forgot where he was, tried to cover it up, and then tried to blame it on Republicans.

First, he went to Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond:

Then, he got his story straight:

And then, after the Republican Party of Kentucky had a field day with the slip-up, Lunsford campaign spokeswoman Allison Haley tried to blame the whole thing on Republicans when she told the Lexington Herald Leader "their time would be better spent trying to address the energy crisis."

That's just it, though. While the Lunsford campaign thinks botching a photo-op at a gas station is going to change something, Republicans in Congress have been prevented by "environmental" zealots from expanding energy exploration.

Another thing: as fun as Lunsford's misstatements are, some of the things he has said on purpose have been even better. Like this and this.

Only one way to take away Jon Draud's fancy car

Education Commissioner Jon Draud has announced his study group on educational assessment. That's the CATS test Senate Republicans tried unsuccessfully to get rid of earlier this year. Draud is the arrogant SOB you are paying $220,000 to drive around in a luxurious car you bought for him. Your elected representatives voted to fatten his pension (HB 470). And this morning, you bought him a tankful of gas.

Blog readers may remember that we got rid of the last creep who came in here to blow smoke at us in the name of our children. I don't see how anyone can take Draud seriously to really address education issues at a time in which doing so couldn't be more important.

Do you?

Pucker factor Thursday

This will drive the hater bureaucrats in Lexington crazy, but I'm hearing a lot of chatter around the Fayette County Detention Center about the first round of federal indictments coming down this Thursday.

After so many false alarms, I'm not exactly holding my breath. But after two years of investigation, getting the prosecution phase of this saga going would provide a welcome pressure release for the good guys. And an even more welcome punch to the gut of those who have lied, obstructed, and intimidated their way through life for way too long.

The pusillanimous FCDC Deputy Director Don Leach may have buried the latest sexual harassment complaint, but several employees who claim to have suffered his bullying for years are encouraged that the questioning of his various activities by officials seems rather precise.

Skippy can't dance

Gov. Steve Beshear may have missed the irony of putting the same guy who ran the KAPT program into the ground in charge of his study group for public employee pension reform.

But as the General Assembly moves toward to a special session for the purpose of putting a Band-Aid on the bloody mess, the possibility exists Jonathan Miller and Beshear could become accidental heroes for fiscal sanity.

The closer we get to insolvency of the fringe benefits systems, the more discretionary spending will get crowded out in favor of piles of cash for employees and retirees. Heck of a way to instill discipline, but with these guys it's surely our only shot.

Will Obama mess up KY's pension reform party?

The mainstream media is pretty excited to see the General Assembly, the teachers union, and other "stakeholders" join hands over their latest plan to tweak our way out of the $26 billion public employee fringe benefit disaster.

The reason for all the hand-holding and singing is that Frankfort is counting on President Barack Obama to implement a federal universal health insurance plan, thereby removing the states' responsibilities for employee health coverage. Since most of the actual problem with the "pension" mess is the opulent health insurance benefits given to public employees, we continue to celebrate official inaction.

Maybe President Obama will make corruption illegal in our public school systems so we won't have to worry about that, either.

Anti-smoking Nazis ride north

County officials in Kenton, Campbell, and Boone counties are trying to spring public smoking bans on the people of their counties simultaneously this summer without much public discussion.

More evidence of tax dollars working to fool you

If you have kids in public schools in Kentucky, expect to see more nonsense over the next six years relating to school "testing" than you have ever seen in your life.

Here is why.

Help us rebuild Bluegrass Institute

The hacker who took down the Bluegrass Institute, it turns out, did a heck of a job.

After several false alarms that had us believing our sites might be coming back up at any moment, it is now clear that the old sites won't be up for at least another week, if at all.

So I have rebuilt the Institute's blog on my own. Please take a minute to check it out, leave a comment, and tell a friend.

We are working furiously to build a much stronger web presence and we will succeed to better pursue free-market policies and making Kentucky into the kind of place free people can live together more peacefully and prosperously. Thank you.

Can't keep a good blog down

The Bluegrass Institute is making the most of a hacker attack to revamp it's entire web presence, but this afternoon the public policy group's blog is up with new content.

Readers of the Bluegrass Policy Blog will find the comments section much, much easier to use than it used to be. Check it out.

And as always, arguments from every side are greatly encouraged. Thanks.

Update: a blog poll on the new site brings up the question of how far we want transparency to go. Should government transparency include posting welfare payments to individuals on the internet for everyone to see?

Hey Mayor Jerry, at least do a silly task force!

This really shouldn't be about politics.

Jefferson County Republican Party Chairman Brad Cummings said today Louisville should put it's spending information on the internet. The gesture is well-timed, but it is amazing that Mayor Jerry Abramson, a Democrat, should even have to be prodded a little bit, much less harassed by a local political figure, to do the right thing:

“The people of Louisville Metro deserve to see how their tax dollars are being spent through an online database that can be accessed through Google or any other search engine” Cummings said. “Secretary Trey Grayson has shown great leadership on this very important issue with Governor Steve Beshear recently proving to be a willing student of Trey’s vision. Our Mayor should sign up for the same class while seats are available.”

Page One has more.

Franklin County jail Sex Tax passes

Franklin County taxpayers get to dole out 4% pay increases for county employees next year, thanks to a Fiscal Court budget vote on Friday.

And the budget includes a levy similar to the old Spanish-American War tax which will pay off the rest of a $5million court settlement awarded to five women. They sued after being victimized sexually by a former Franklin County jailer.

Anyone care to guess whether the Franklin County Sex Tax will be repealed after paying off the court settlement?

A great idea from across the aisle

Lexington blogger Ralph Long (he ran against Rep. Stan Lee in 2004) has a great idea for making state government more transparent. He says we should make public all expenditures on state credit cards. That's a good one.

Ralph also got a little rough with fellow Democrats Gov. Steve Beshear and Rep. Mike Cherry for coming late to the government transparency party.

"Let’s give Steve Beshear credit for being able to steal a good idea... this is such a great idea, I think it is, then why did it die in the legislature and who killed it? I don’t know why this died, other than most of our legislators wouldn't know a good idea if it bit them in the ass, but the guy that killed this puppy was Mike Cherry."

Ralph is starting to sound like a right-wing blogger.

If we had lower taxes we might have more of this

While the state's major political parties were meeting this weekend, Walmart was actually doing some good.