Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Russ Meyer gives million dollars to cronies, taxpayers get a small hole in the ground

State Rep. Russ Meyer's ten year old scheme to hand massive Democrat donor Clay Corman more than a million dollars for a vacant hole in the ground in Nicholasville deserves a closer look.

"Everyone knows about government waste and corruption but too many people don't do anything to stop it," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Russ Meyer has had ten years to set this right and he's still hiding in that little hole."

Monday, August 01, 2016

Russ Meyer wasted taxpayer money buying a hole in the ground and overpaying friends to fill it in

Embattled incumbent Democrat State Representative Russ Meyer of Nicholasville already faces a stiff challenge by Republican Rob Gullette thanks to Meyer's bad votes this year against Gov. Matt Bevin's repair of the ObamaCare disaster, but then there is a little matter of a hole in the ground on Main Street.

Meyer was the Mayor of Nicholasville from 2007 to 2014. In early 2007, Meyer conspired with some friends for the city to purchase lots 717 and 719 North Main Street at a quick $177,000 profit for one of the conspirators, supposedly to construct a new city hall. Meyer then broke state law KRS 424.260 by contracting for construction services in the amount of $37,025.66 and circumventing the competitive bidding process by splitting the work up into two invoices sent on the same day from the same address.

Nine years later, the lots still sit empty.

"ObamaCare fans like Russ Meyer have generally demonstrated little to no respect for taxpayers' hard-earned money," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "The Meyer's Mugging on Main Street episode here should at the very least result in him being run out of office."

Friday, July 29, 2016

Bevin stops ObamaCare insurer's bait-and-switch

At first glance, Kentucky ObamaCare insurer CareSource's approved rate increase looks odd. Better known as a Medicaid managed care coverage provider but also selling on the exchange, CareSource requested a large 20.55% rate increase request for individual ObamaCare customers but their rate is going up a staggering 29.3%.

This is a great move by Gov. Matt Bevin in the aftermath of the Kentucky Health Cooperative disaster.

Bevin spokesman Doug Hogan explained that an administration actuarial review showed CareSource's rate request "would be insufficient" to pay claims and "would ultimately lead to a harmful scenario for consumers."

Former Governor Steve Beshear could have saved customers, medical providers and taxpayers money and a lot of trouble if he had taken such care at any point before Kentucky Health Cooperative's managers took the money from their bloated salaries and bonuses and ran, leaving the rest of us holding the bag when their shell game failed.

"I guess there aren't any decent Obamacrat actuaries out there or maybe Gov. Beshear was more interested in seeing his friends at the cooperative load up on market share they couldn't maintain so they all got paid bonuses before the music stopped," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Gov. Bevin deserves credit for stopping CareSource from playing the same game.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Will Kentucky lose game of 'Medicaid chicken?' That's a question for Trump and Clinton

ObamaCare cheerleaders in the media keep talking about Gov. Matt Bevin's attempt to renegotiate Kentucky's abysmal Medicaid expansion deal into a somewhat less abysmal deal, but they continue to leave out the most important point. Gov. Bevin's claim that he might unilaterally withdraw from Medicaid expansion is not supported by federal or state law or relevant case law, but federal officials don't want to make that clear because they are still trying to suck other states in by letting them believe there is an escape hatch.

There isn't.

Medicaid is a federal/state partnership for government-run healthcare in which the federal government pays most of the bills and retains total control of how the program is run. When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that ObamaCare was simply a tax instead of an unconstitutional usurpation of individual and state rights by the federal government according to the plain language of the Tenth Amendment, it slightly trimmed back the usurpation by deeming the Medicaid expansion to be each state's choice rather than a requirement as previously stated in the "Affordable Care Act."

Some states blindly jumped in to the Medicaid expansion without asking any questions. Gov. Steve Beshear abused state law to add Kentucky to that number. Others negotiated slightly less horrible deals and accepted expansion, claiming falsely to have an ability to withdraw from the expansion later if it proved too expensive.

Obama and Hillary Clinton want to keep pushing holdout states to take the Medicaid expansion by keeping alive the falsehood that states have an ability to escape it later on if they choose. Kentucky would be the first to test this if Gov. Bevin's reform proposal is rejected and he then follows through on his threat to then reverse Kentucky's entrance into expansion. The feds' interest in suckering the holdout states may well inspire them to accept at least most of Bevin's requested reforms.

If, instead, they decide to fight, Bevin could drop excess Medicaid recipients and wait for the feds to sue. Presumably, a President Trump would not fight us and President Clinton would. (Good question to ask both of them.) President Clinton would win the lawsuit, but if Trump is POTUS and there is no lawsuit, Kentucky will win big by joining the states opting out of ObamaCare.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Louisville Rep. files state sovereignty bill

State Representative Kevin Bratcher has filed a bill which would tell the federal government where to stick unconstitutional mandates against state governments which exceed federal authority. The bill, filed as a joint resolution, could be an effective election issue for Republicans seeking a majority in the state House of Representatives.

"Bratcher's resolution states clearly the General Assembly's demand to the federal government to take its proper place as a limited agent of the states with specific, limited powers spelled out in the Constitution," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Hillary Clinton Democrats in Frankfort will hate this and they should be asked that on the record as often as possible between now and November."

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Let's get rid of Baby Beshear

Watching a craven Andy Beshear recklessly and repeatedly attack Gov. Matt Bevin with state tax dollars from the Attorney General's office for no better reasons than that his father shook down the Democrat donor class to buy him the office and because he can is getting pretty old. He needs to be impeached.

The one sticking point is Republicans must take a majority in this November's elections and then have the courage to follow through on the impeachment process.

The Kentucky Constitution Sections 66 to 68 governs how the process would work and it is not much different than the federal process, which you may remember being applied to Hillary Clinton's husband when he violated Paula Jones' civil rights.

One likely question in the process is the Constitution specifies that impeachment can result from "any misdemeanors in office." While Beshear may well be guilty of any number of crimes, what's interesting is that case law is overwhelming in affirming the Senate's ability to define terms and make its own rules for an impeachment process. In any event, neither prior nor subsequent court conviction for any crime is necessary for a constitutional officer to be impeached by the House and convicted and removed from office by the Senate. If the legislature wants him removed, they can do it.

Clearing this bad actor out of the Attorney General's office to be replaced with a more serious public servant is a very worthwhile pursuit worth campaigning for this fall.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Bevin to Obama: Beshear wrong about Medicaid

Governor Matt Bevin's formal request to federal authorities to rein in Kentucky's failed Medicaid expansion contains a one line critique of the lawless Beshear Administration that will make Frankfort ObamaCare cheerleaders in the media mad when they read it.

"The reality is that Medicaid expansion does not pay for itself as envisioned by the prior administration," Bevin's Section 1115 Demonstration Waiver Application says, "and the Commonwealth of Kentucky cannot afford the cost of the Medicaid expansion program without this demonstration waiver."

Bevin Administration officials will present their requested changes Wednesday in Frankfort to the Interim Joint Committee on Health and Welfare at 10am in room 129 of the Capitol Annex.

"Beshear abused Kentucky law KRS 205.520(3) to justify jumping into ObamaCare Medicaid, but the statute's admonition to take advantage of all available federal health funds would better have been followed by avoiding the expansion altogether because it was such an obvious trap to sink the state deeper into debt," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "We're trapped now and Gov. Bevin's attempt here is our best option, ObamaCare cheerleaders be damned."

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Fayette County "Boys of Color" program misguided

Fayette County Schools has received a $600,000 charitable grant to start a doomed program which deserves immediate awareness so its inevitable failure may not be a total waste.

With overheated fanfare, Fayette Superintendent Manny Caulk announced the start of another attempt to reduce racial education achievement gaps, telling the Lexington Herald Leader "today we stand before our community to say we will no longer allow a child's demography to determine his destiny."

Caulk emphasized starting a volunteer reading program for elementary students, tutoring and leadership training in middle schools and drop-out prevention and college/career readiness in high schools. No one should be surprised to see the $600,000 won't last long funding these not-so-revolutionary ideas.

Twenty four years ago, when I was starting my career in Atlanta, I was also volunteering with ninth grade students in two area high schools. One day, I asked each group separately how many of them expected to one day play professional sports. In the poor, black, inner city group, about half the boys raised their hands. In the middle class, suburban, all-white-except-one-kid group, every hand pointed at one black kid sitting quietly in his desk. His hand was not raised, but a few years later he played some minor league baseball before starting a ten year career in the NFL. He was not a star and you wouldn't likely recognize his name, but he made it. None of the others did.

I appreciate any emphasis on lifting up young people, particularly any from disadvantaged circumstances, but participants in this "Boys of Color" scheme will become pawns in a political game to roll a $600,000 one time grant into a permanent spending spree for services of which most should have already been provided.

Mr. Caulk calls the $600,000 grant a "game changer," but he needs to demonstrate quickly that he isn't just playing the same old game. That won't happen. Education is a real pathway to success, but waiting around for government to give it to you is a sucker's game. If you want to help a young black child to succeed, teach him this:

Humana just made things worse here and Matt Bevin can do something about it now

Humana has withdrawn its request to raise ObamaCare premiums 33.7% next year and Gov. Matt Bevin should use the move as a reason to start pushing for repeal of Kentucky's certificate of need laws.

The withdrawal is related to Humana's pending merger with Aetna, whose 5.6% individual market rate hike for 2017 has already been approved. That's bad news for Aetna's ObamaCare members because those former Humana members whose health costs necessitated a $33.7% increase now want to join up with them or one of the other companies with a relatively healthier insured base.

And that means higher costs for everyone.

Underlying dramatically increasing health insurance premiums, of course, are similarly rising healthcare costs and they have been made worse by Kentucky's burdensome regulatory impact on the industry, specifically its certificate of need statutes, or CON. CON keeps prices artificially high by limiting competition between healthcare providers. Gov. Bevin should take to his bully pulpit to encourage legislators to get government out of the way on this key issue. Resistant legislative incumbents deserve to be replaced.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Bevin deserves kudos for latest ObamaCare move

Former Gov. Steve Beshear and Frankfort House Democrats made a huge mess of the rule of law attempting repeatedly the last few years to cram ObamaCare down our throats. Gov. Matt Bevin just quietly took a big step to clear up what could have been real chaos on that front as part of keeping his campaign promise to shut down Kentucky's state-run ObamaCare exchange.

Beshear's cartoonish repeated attempts to create "Kynect" with illegal and illegally reissued executive orders which were never ratified by the legislature and House Democrats' repeated attempts to ratify them anyway left Gov. Bevin entering July unable to shut down the illegal exchange immediately while negotiating with Obama officials to shut it down soon and no legal construct for keeping it going another day. So Bevin issued a carefully worded executive order creating "Kynect" long enough to shut it down with as little disruption as possible.

"Gov. Bevin deserves a ton of credit for walking behind Frankfort Democrats with a big pooper scooper to clean up this ObamaCare stuff," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "It's telling that after hyperventilating over every lie, bogus statistic and illegal Beshear ObamaCare move for years now, Kentucky's media is almost completely ignoring this responsible move by Bevin."

Friday, July 08, 2016

Bevin should make medical marijuana tax free

As Kentucky moves closer to legalizing marijuana for medical use, tax policy deserves special consideration in treatment of the plant and Kentucky can lead the way nationally by leaving all elements of production and distribution untaxed. At issue is the fact that federal designation of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug allows the Internal Revenue Service to prohibit the use of any deductions of business expenses for products deemed illegal by federal law.

This policy has the effect of heavily increasing federal taxation on marijuana even in medical marijuana states, which costs are then passed along to patients.

"Kentuckians increasingly see past anti-marijuana scare tactics and Gov. Bevin's campaign pledge to support medical use of the plant provides solid proof of that," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Excessive federal taxation, at least while it lasts, should be met with a completely tax-free status of marijuana in the Commonwealth to help both our providers and consumers."

Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Kynect "insurance" enrollment dropped in Gov. Steve Beshear's last year in office

Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear continues fumbling around the state in support of the ObamaCare debacle, but soon to be released statistics will show even constituents drawing federal subsidies to purchase jacked-up health policies in the last year dropped them here about as quickly as in any other state.

"Premiums are skyrocketing, doctors are quitting and people are suffering while politicians and their media-based pets who crammed this garbage down our throats illegally pretend everything will be fine if we throw a few more billion dollars at the problem," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Gov. Bevin should stop collecting the illegally transferred Kentucky Access tax and shut down Kynect right away."

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Rand Paul can aid Matt Bevin Medicaid negotiations

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has threatened to reverse expanded Medicaid here if federal officials reject his proposed reforms, but federal law does not allow him to follow through on his threat. The interesting wrinkle is the feds don't want to call his bluff now because they are still trying to trap more Republican governors like those in Arizona, Florida and Ohio in the Medicaid expansion roach motel.

That is, "you can check in, but you can't check out."

Senator Rand Paul should file a bill to explicitly give states the right to reverse acceptance of Medicaid expansion and start campaigning for this right away. Such a bill would pass the House and Senate and force Obama and Hillary Clinton to either confirm the trap ObamaCare puts states in or to reverse it.

Either way, freedom is advanced.

"The more people learn about ObamaCare, the more they understand the disaster it is," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Obama and Hillary need to decide if they want to go down fighting for power most Americans won't want them to keep."

Donald Trump has me on the wrong fundraising list

Hey, I got an email from Donald Trump just now.

Today is a big fundraising deadline for the presidential race, so the generic email request for money I got is not a surprise. But I would like to state publicly why I won't respond positively to this one.

"With your help today," the email reads, "we can turn our great country around and Make American Great Again. We can secure our borders, create jobs and keep our families safe."

Making America Great Again is an effective campaign slogan for lots of people, as is leading with policy proposals to attack illegal immigration, spur economic activity and pursue a strong national defense, especially since Hillary Clinton's campaign appears focused on raising taxes, matching small dollar campaign contributions with tax dollars, abortion and "strengthening regulation of 'puppy mills.'"

Nevertheless, the campaign I want to support would seek to restore greatness by getting government out of commerce and out of education and out of the wealth redistribution business. Donald Trump will get plenty of votes and lots of campaign contributions being slightly better than Hillary Clinton. But I'm not investing a dime in slightly better than Hillary Clinton.

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Democrat state employees don't hate Matt Bevin

A political sea change appears underway in Frankfort which could be very bad news for Kentucky Democrat operatives accustomed to ruling the roost.

It seems the largest voting block in Franklin County, Democrat state employees, appreciates Gov. Matt Bevin's keen interest in reversing the Gov. Steve Beshear policy of using public pension money to pay off political cronies. They also like the competence of Bevin political appointees, which represents another dramatic shift from the prior administration.

This could prove to be very bad news for the eager but inept Attorney General Andy "Baby" Beshear and we should know that pretty soon.

"The person to watch is Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "The last time he ruled on a governor's reorganization powers, he had no problem ignoring the law for ObamaCare to benefit a Democrat governor because his own Franklin County constituents were pro-ObamaCare. I think his constituents want Gov. Bevin treated fairly on KRS 12.028 in the University of Louisville Board of Trustees case which would involve Judge Shepherd following a law he abused the last time it came in front of him. If Gov. Bevin wins his U of L case in Franklin Circuit Court, things start to look very bad for Democrat operatives Baby Beshear and Greg Stumbo."

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Jack Conway sides with Bevin against Andy Beshear

Nine months ago, Attorney General Jack Conway urged Gov. Steve Beshear to reorganize the University of Louisville Board of Trustees, suggesting an "executive reorganization under KRS 12.028." (OAG 15-015) Current Attorney General Andy "Baby" Beshear is now suing Gov. Matt Bevin for reorganizing the University of Louisville Board of Trustees through an executive reorganization under KRS 12.028.

You couldn't make this stuff up.

"One must wonder if Gov. Beshear would have twisted so many arms raising money for Baby Beshear if Baby sued him for doing the same thing for which he is now suing Gov. Bevin," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "These guys are such a clown show. Expecting Stumbo and friends to stage a sit-in any day now to demand Bevin stop cleaning up pension corruption."

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Tell Hal Rogers to drop REAL ID fetish

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee will take up Homeland Security funding Wednesday, which would include continuing to pour money into a national identification and tracking program called REAL ID. Committee Chairman Hal Rogers should heed the call of Kentuckians to end the charade and drop further funding for REAL ID.

"Big government types claim forcing Americans to carry a federal ID card will somehow make us safer but they are never specific about how it accomplishes that because it doesn't," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Hal Rogers needs to get on the right side of this or explain in detail why he won't."

Monday, June 13, 2016

DEA may reschedule medical marijuana in July

Federal drug warriors at the DEA are being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century as Congress warms to the idea of allowing Veterans Administration doctors to prescribe marijuana for their patients.

"Marijuana has been deemed a 'Schedule 1' drug by the feds, meaning that it has no medicinal value and only hurts people but we know that isn't true and already half of states have enacted medical marijuana laws to reflect reality," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "They could keep it illegal but call it 'Schedule 2,' allowing medical research for things like epilepsy and multiple sclerosis where we have seen benefits and the DEA has already conceded they may do that this summer."

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Hillary Clinton wants to party like it's 2010

Hillary Clinton has spelled out on her campaign website plans to reboot ObamaCare which may explain why the left-wing establishment media has been so quiet recently about the mess that health reform has become.

She wants to pretend that it's 2010 all over again by resetting and expanding federal bribes to states to entice them all to accept Medicaid expansion. She wants to spend billions of dollars to paper over two of the most visible problems with ObamaCare: high premiums and unaffordable deductibles. She wants to increase by $500 million a year marketing expenses to advertise ObamaCare at everyone, expand coverage subsidies to everyone regardless of immigration status and restart the public option "cooperatives" back to the beginning with more money.

"Now we know why the mainstream media has gone suddenly deaf and dumb to all things ObamaCare," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Hillary Clinton's big idea for healthcare is to start all over with much more money and more federal control as if no one has learned anything from the massive failures of the last six years of ObamaCare experience."

Tuesday, June 07, 2016

Bevin and McConnell at odds over ObamaCare

Gov. Matt Bevin got kudos in a Forbes Magazine article today for shutting down Kynect and seeking to limit ObamaCare's damage to the best of his ability while the Associated Press reports Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn't want to withhold ObamaCare funds from Obamacrats across the country.

"ObamaCare is taxing and spending now solely because congressional Republicans allow it to persist and there is simply no good reason for it," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Gov. Bevin deserves credit for keeping his campaign promise and Sen. McConnell deserves to have language from the United States Constitution Article 1, section 9, clause 7 tatooed backwards across his forehead so he can see it in his bathroom mirror every day."

Friday, June 03, 2016

Jessamine County Attorney fires back at judge who attacked Matt Bevin in open court

Jessamine County Attorney Brian Goettl filed a complaint against Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd today for calling a proper and legal executive order by Gov. Matt Bevin "like a neutron bomb."

"The language chosen by Judge Shepherd more closely resembles the remarks of a partisan, political operative yammering on incessantly on the 24/7 cable news cycle than a respected member of the bench," Goettl said in his complaint filed with the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission, which Goettl asked to issue a public reprimand of Judge Shepherd.

In his complaint, Goettl compared Shepherd's actions to those of former Attorney General Greg Stumbo in his attacks against former Governor Ernie Fletcher.

"Judge Shepherd's remarks seem to fit that political strategy, whether he intended them to or not, in that they fed the Democratic narrative and the news cycle of a news organization whose editors openly oppose Governor Bevin."

The Lexington Herald Leader published an Associated Press article about Shepherd's remarks under the headline: "Judge: Bevin's executive order is like a 'neutron bomb'."

"The Frankfort spin machine runs like this all the time," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "The difference this time is Jessamine's County Attorney Brian Goettl is protecting the public and the rule of law better than this rogue judge and these leftist reporters who didn't see any bombs going off when Gov. Beshear abused his executive order authority four times to saddle us all with his ObamaCare mess."

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Steve Beshear too stupid for even Associated Press

After news came out about Kentucky Obamacare health premiums shooting even higher in 2017 as federal reform continues to fail, former Gov. Steve Beshear sent a statement to the Associated Press claiming rates are going up because Gov. Matt Bevin is shutting down Kynect.

No one fell for it.

Associated Press reporter Adam Beam called up the largest remaining ObamaCare insurer -- Anthem -- and they told him the same thing they reported in their 22.9% rate increase filing, that rates are going up because Obamacrat claims of "bending the cost curve downward" continue to be false and that shutting Kynect has nothing to do with it.

"When even loyal Frankfort reporters stop short of carrying ObamaCare water, it's clear things have gone completely crazy," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Steve Beshear belongs in jail for going around the Kentucky General Assembly to illegally force us into ObamaCare and he deserves a strait jacket for his increasingly bizarre displays."

ObamaCare crushes Kentuckians again in 2017

Health insurance premium rate increase requests are in for 2017 and it's more bad news for ObamaCare supporters and their victims. The average rate increase for Kentucky's three largest insurers is set to be 25.7%, according to the Kentucky Department of Insurance.

Anthem, by far the largest remaining ObamaCare insurer, has filed a 22.9% rate increase and Humana filed 33.7%. CareSource filed 20.55%.

"Whether they admit it or not, everyone recognizes now that Kentucky politician Steve Beshear illegally forced Kentucky into ObamaCare and this latest evidence confirms yet again we should have fought it every step of the way," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Shutting down Kynect, as Gov. Bevin has promised to do, and repealing certificate of need, which he has not yet addressed, start the long process of fixing what politicians have destroyed in Kentucky healthcare."

Friday, May 13, 2016

Matt Bevin gives Steve Beshear the runs

Gov. Matt Bevin not only put Obama and the leftist open bathroom patrol in their proper place amid the latest craze to force your children onto display for every pervert turning public restrooms into a trans-gendered political petting zoo, he implicitly welcomed former Gov. Steve Beshear to the controversy.

"Under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the federal government has no authority to interfere in local school districts' bathroom policies," Bevin said. "The President is not promoting unity. In fact, he is doing quite the opposite."

"Obama's insane predilection for expanding government's jurisdiction and Steve Beshear's habit of routinely hounding Gov. Bevin's moves create the perfect storm for Beshear to be made to weigh in on this," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "On the issue of exposing your children for political points at their most vulnerable moments, is the Commonwealth's highest ranking leftist a Kentuckian or a Democrat?"

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Kentucky defeats REAL ID unfunded mandate

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has vetoed state implementation of the federal REAL ID Act, which would have forced all Kentuckians to get a federal standard drivers license giving the government enhanced tracking abilities of individuals.

"Big government types insist that Kentuckians won't be able to board an airplane without a federal identification, but we called their bluff and exposed their lie," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "This is a good day for Kentuckians to have a governor who will listen to them."

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

America's largest individual health insurer dumps Kynect; media cheerleaders stunned into silence

United Healthcare, the nation's largest individual health insurer, made public the news they are pulling out of Kentucky ObamaCare in 2017 and the breathless media followers of all things health reform over the last six years have nothing to say about it.

"The dominoes are falling hard with the Kentucky Health Cooperative dropping out last year and now United Healthcare, the sickest Kentuckians have been treated like political pawns and now will be forced into even fewer choices and necessarily causing more skyrocketing premiums," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Silence from the media enablers in Frankfort is deafening."

Monday, April 25, 2016

Baby Beshear panics, cries partisanship too soon

It was only a matter of time before Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear would try for a return to the glory days of Greg Stumbo attacking Ernie Fletcher by accusing Gov. Matt Bevin of illegally firing state workers for political reasons.

But now?

Beshear has asked the Democrats who run the Executive Branch Ethics Commission to "investigate" Bevin for politically motivated firings. Baby Beshear would probably have preferred to wait until closer to the election so his baseless charges might still be hanging over Republican heads as people go the polls in November, but Bevin's own investigation of former Gov. Steve Beshear's pay-to-play government stands to mess up the preferred narrative.

"Beshear played his empty hand too soon in a clumsy attempt to distract from his father's misdeeds," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Little Andy's misadventures will be fun to watch."

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Kentucky Republicans unite against REAL ID

Nearly six hundred Republican delegates to Kentucky's GOP state convention this weekend voted almost unanimously to tell Gov. Matt Bevin to veto an ill-considered plan to accept unfunded mandate, national identification personal tracking device called REAL ID.

"This is ObamaCare for TSA agents that goes away if the states stay strong against it," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Accepting REAL ID pleases a few federal bureaucrats, but most Democrats and nearly all Republicans who understand it oppose it."

Monday, April 18, 2016

Steve Beshear's ObamaCare develops a limp

Frankfort Republicans invited former Governor Steve Beshear to appear last week to testify in favor of his illegal and ill-considered ObamaCare actions, but he declined the opportunity.

Beshear has declined also to comment on his unwillingness to go to bat for his signature debacle.

"After four failed executive orders attempting to legally create Kynect, massive health premium increases and an explosion in unsustainable Medicaid costs, the Beshear legacy of failure and mismanagement has been solidified," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "The 2017 General Assembly should pass 'Beshear's Law,' criminalizing future violations of Kentucky's temporary reorganization executive order statute and jailing governors who violate the law in this fashion."

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Lexington Herald Leader owes Bevin apology

Back on March 29, the Lexington Herald Leader went hog wild with Kentucky's latest left-wing cause celebre, blaming Gov. Matt Bevin for early glitches in state online benefits web site Benefind. In an April 11 Senate Health and Welfare Committee hearing, we learned the truth which totally refutes Frankfort Obamacrats' smear tactics, but three days later the central Kentucky newspaper hasn't mustered the first word of clarity on the issue.

"One of the biggest changes (to Benefind) made by the Bevin administration effectively excludes kynectors from helping Medicaid patients," the Herald Leader charged.

That's false. The Bevin administration hasn't changed the Beshear-created Benefind program, an online update intended to improve the application process for some federal benefit programs. Bevin delayed the rollout of Benefind to limit confusion during the ObamaCare open enrollment period, then went ahead with it on February 29 amid a written promise from federal authorities that Benefind was bug-free and ready to go as well as a clear threat that further delays could result in the state being fined more than $300 million.

The only way to know these facts is to have talked to Bevin officials or attended the April 11 committee meeting. A Herald Leader reporter was at the hearing.

Again, the evidence is in writing. From federal officials.

"If (Health and Family Services Cabinet Secretary Vickie) Glisson and her new team hadn't been so distracted by Bevin's irrational demand to dismantle Kynect, could they have done a better job managing Benefind's rollout?" the Herald Leader asked.

Oh. So that's what this is all about: leftist angst over a candidate running for governor against the ObamaCare debacle becoming Governor and keeping his promise to start limiting the damage. And no, management of the Benefind rollout was rushed by federal promises and threats. We know that now. The Herald Leader knows that.

Suck it up and apologize to Gov. Bevin, Herald Leader. And if you wish to continue pretending to have a shred of competency, please rein in the embarrassingly baseless attacks in the future.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Democrats, media suck-ups fail to cast blame of Benefind mess on Bevin Administration

The real news from today's Senate Health and Welfare Comittee meeting in which Democrats and their media pets continued trying to pin the ongoing mess with former Gov. Steve Beshear's government benefits consolidation program called Benefind on Gov. Matt Bevin was that the paper trail clearly shows federal officials claimed the program was ready and the Commonwealth faced threat of significant costs if its launch were delayed further.

"Gov. Bevin did these idiots a favor by not unleashing the Benefind disaster on Kentuckians during the ObamaCare open enrollment like the Obamacrats wanted, but they are so hellbent on attacking him they missed an excellent opportunity to shut up and keep their stupidity hidden for another day," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "They will all pretend evidence against their failed tactic is not readily available because they have so little else to attack with, but this fight is over."

Thursday, April 07, 2016

Frankfort Dems' suicide to be televised Monday

Kentucky's Senate Health and Welfare Committee will hear two ObamaCare bills Monday morning at 10 am in Capitol Annex Room 171 in the most momentous showdown of the 2016 General Assembly.

House Bills 5 and 6 were rushed through the lower chamber last month in a clumsy attempt by Frankfort Democrats to replay a public referendum on ObamaCare.

"The fantasy that half a million worshipful ObamaCare beneficiaries will storm the polls and elect Democrats would have already made Jack Conway Kentucky's governor if it held any water," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "House Bill 5 would keep Kynect open at Kentuckians' expense and House Bill 6 would force us to stick with the most expensive form of Medicaid expansion available. Gov. Bevin was elected on a platform of cleaning up these messes just five months ago and Democrats are determined to lose the next election in November on the same issue. We will let them."

Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Will Kentucky dodge REAL ID bullet?

Every year since the federal REAL ID Act passed in 2005, Americans have been bullied into believing their drivers licenses must be upgraded rather expensively with tracking devices or else residents of negligent states would soon be prohibited from boarding domestic flights.

Until this year, very few Kentuckians fell for it. That seemed to change when state Senate leaders rushed SB 245 through their chamber March 22 in an attempt to sign Kentucky up for the nonsense.

With just one day left in the 2016 General Assembly, it appears cooler heads are about to prevail.

Please contact your state Representative before April 12, the session's last day, and inform him or her that falling for the stupid, obtrusive unfunded federal mandates thinly disguised as a plausible threat in SB 245 need not happen this year or any.

Friday, April 01, 2016

Baby Beshear can't read

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear missed the mark in a failed political attack on Gov. Matt Bevin today in which Beshear attempted to redefine what a state appropriation is.

In a statement to the Louisville Courier Journal, General Beshear got smart alecky in threatening a lawsuit against Gov. Bevin for ordering current year cuts in the state's higher education budget. "In fact, the governor's position would mean the General Assembly merely suggests how the governor might spend money if he so chooses," Beshear told the Courier's Tom Loftus. "A budget passed by the General Assembly is a mandate, not a recommendation."

But Beshear is wrong.

KRS 48.010 defines "appropriation" as "an authorization by the General Assembly to expend a sum of money not in excess of the sum specified." That means spending in excess of projected revenue is prohibited. Spending less is not. He should ask his dad, former Gov. Steve Beshear, who was forced to file an unprecedented six General Fund Reduction Executive Orders and an additional five Road Fund Reduction Executive Orders for overspending available revenues, mostly on Medicaid.

Actually, Baby Beshear, a budget is indeed a recommendation unless you are an overspender.

KRS 48.605(1)(a) gives Gov. Bevin all the authorization he needs to cut spending in the current fiscal year. If his father had ever tried voluntarily restraining his urge to expand government, maybe he would understand.

What the Democrat Industrial Complex is missing in Bevin's higher education cuts move

As they so often do, the Lexington Herald Leader and Louisville Courier Journal failed in their reporting of Gov. Matt Bevin's order to cut state General Fund higher education spending by 4.5% in the current fiscal year. This poor reporting does not serve readers seeking to understand issues underpinning the move and allowed House Speaker Greg Stumbo (D-of course) to claim falsely that Gov. Bevin is violating state law.

The statute related to appropriation reductions is KRS 48.600, which would indeed prohibit Bevin from ordering midyear spending cuts in this instance. But Bevin isn't ordering spending cuts in the sense of an appropriation reduction which that statute governs. He's ordering a revision of the allotment schedule, governed by KRS 48.620, which is within his power.

The difference is an appropriation reduction is deemed necessary in statute in the case of a revenue shortfall and an allotment reduction within an appropriation, which this is, can be authorized by the state budget director pursuant to KRS 48.605(1)(a). The legislature can object to the move, but KRS 48.500 clearly gives the Governor the upper hand in such a dispute.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Jim Gray attacks Rand Paul

Lexington Mayor and U.S. Senate candidate Jim Gray claims Rand Paul and Senate Republicans "are refusing to do their jobs and consider (Obama's) Supreme Court nominee."

Who is Mayor Gray kidding?

Refusing to confirm another Obama appointee is the very least Senator Paul and his colleagues in Washington D.C. can do to serve the interests of their constituents. If Jim Gray can't be bothered to understand the Appointments Clause in the U.S. Constitution, how could Kentuckians expect him to represent any of their individual rights which might be in conflict with his political party's political agenda, such as the Right to Life, the RIght to Bear Arms or the Freedom of Speech?

Easy answer: we can't.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Matt Bevin dead wrong about "REAL ID Act"

Gov. Matt Bevin pulled in support from lots of civil libertarians last year by better addressing concerns about government than his opponent did and by remaining silent on goofy, expensive, unfunded "security" mandates which do not make us safer.

Like REAL ID.

The federal unfunded mandate known as REAL ID is a national identification card program mandated by the federal government but mostly ignored by states because it makes no sense. States -- particularly Kentucky -- are not set up to create the massive bureaucracy necessary to put everyone's personal information into a centralized database.

And even if we could, we couldn't afford it. And even if we could afford it, there is no way to demonstrate that it would do anything to keep us safe.

Gov. Bevin has been sucked into repeating the lie that if we don't start implementing REAL ID then Kentuckians won't be able to board an airplane at some point in the future. Right now, the story is that this would happen to all REAL ID-deprived Kentuckians in 2018. Until late last year, the same Department of Homeland Security folks telling us this were saying that we had until December 31, 2015 at which time our outdated drivers licenses wouldn't allow us to fly. Guess what?

The simple fact is that the 2018 deadline will be moved further out sometime next year and they will be telling us we need to sign up for REAL ID quickly or we can't fly in 2020.

Gov. Bevin should stop spreading false information for DHS right away. Some political opponents will criticize him for flip-flopping, but he will be okay if his final position is the right one. We have been through this before.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Frankfort Obamacrats: Medicaid expansion's best days are already behind Kentucky

Kentucky's House Democrats have now completely cast their lots with ObamaCare and the Medicaid expansion just in time for its decline as predicted by the consulting group they paid hundreds of millions of dollars to tell us how great it was going to be.

Deloitte's pre-ObamaCare study predicted an $864 million positive fiscal impact from the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion through 2020, when the impact would immediately turn negative in need of increasingly greater funds, just like Medicaid has consistently performed throughout its history. The current fiscal year was found to be the high water mark, with the fiscal impact predicted to drop $28 million in the fiscal year starting in July and dropping precipitously thereafter.

"Frankfort Democrats blew the last election lying about the impact of ObamaCare and now they have already fallen on their swords for the upcoming election just to protect the rapidly deteriorating status quo," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Former Democrat dismantles Speaker Greg Stumbo

House Speaker Greg Stumbo has a long history of saying ridiculous, patently untrue things in Frankfort. Jaws dropped across the Commonwealth dropped today, though, when Stumbo said ObamaCare premiums have "stabilized" in Kentucky.

But the best part came when former Democrat and current Republican Rep. Jim Gooch called him out on his lie.

Are any media types watching this willing to report the truth here?

"Kentuckians have been crushed by wild premium increases, obscene service failures and official lies under ObamaCare in general and Kynect in our state, but all we can shut down here and right now is Kynect," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "We won't fail to do that."

Stumbo's polyester pension plan passes House

House Speaker Greg Stumbo's HB 1 mandates full funding of the Kentucky teachers retirement system by pretending that money to pay the requirement exists. It doesn't.

"Stumbo's fake teachers retirement bill fits Kentucky like a cheap suit and should fool no one who can do basic math," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Kentucky teachers who aren't blind Democrats should be the angriest people in America after Stumbo has shown he thinks of them only as brainless political pawns."

Monday, March 21, 2016

Beshear ObamaCare is DEAD

Former Governor Steve Beshear's Save Kentucky Healthcare online petition has gained fewer than 150 names from all over the world in the last two weeks. The only people who will miss ObamaCare in Kentucky when its bogus Frankfort bureaucracy is gone is Frankfort Obamacrats.

Beshear, Stumbo, Grimes and all the rest should admit now that the 2015 Kentucky Lie of the Year was a lie and that they are the only ones who stand to lose when Kynect is shut down later this year.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

House Dems "Jack Conway" themselves

In the last week before the 2015 election, outgoing Gov. Steve Beshear gave voice to Frankfort Democrats' belief that 500,000 angry ObamaCare recipients would storm the polls and give Jack Conway the Governor's Mansion.

By now we all know that didn't work out for them.

Frankfort Democrats continue to delude themselves about ObamaCare's efficacy and popularity and just today probably lost their House majority in the upcoming November elections with their overzealous cheerleading.

House Democrats voted for House Bill 5 today, to require state taxpayers to continue funding Steve Beshear's expensive, failed Kynect ObamaCare exchange despite our just electing a new governor on his promise to get rid of it.

"Kentucky's House Democrats can't stop misreading the causes of the ObamaCare disaster or the political fallout from this mess," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Their Republican opponents will do well this fall to remind voters in districts across the state about Obamacrats' continued politicization of the federal takeover of Americans' healthcare."