Kicking Frankfort's can down the road

While Kentucky plays around with lesser issues, California is at least looking at what we should be looking at: unfunded public pension liabilities.

Kentucky is in the hole $30 billion on our pension obligations, but continues to play funding games rather than seriously cutting state government to be able to afford massive retirement bills when they come due.

When Kentucky's retirement system actuarial reports come out later this fall, renewed interest in this mess should motivate proper action, but probably won't.

In California today, a vote is expected to allow their retirement system to continue to pretend that there is no problem. Kentucky has done the same thing -- a process called "smoothing," which involves spreading current financial losses over future years -- in each of our last two legislative sessions. This allows the problem to get bigger, costing taxpayers more. From a legislator's perspective it is okay, though, because they are future taxpayers.

To his credit, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gets it:


All the legislators in Frankfort know that this pension time bomb is our biggest problem.

Upping the bogus casino headline ante

The Lexington Herald Leader's misleading $700 million casino headline hadn't even cycled off their web site's front page Wednesday evening and they went and added another, $1.3 billion, one.



Nice job, guys. How many billions will you be up to tomorrow? Make mine a red Ferrari.

Kentucky Tea Party today

I'm headed to Frankfort to speak on the Capitol steps at noon.

Frankfort's corporate manipulation plan advances

The most shocking, offensive thing about the language of the corporate welfare bill in the 2009 special session of the General Assembly is that it is not widely viewed as shocking and offensive.



In other words, if this bill passes and you have a business in Kentucky, decisions of "the authority" to grant welfare to you or your competitors will be of "paramount importance." Can't imagine Frankfort messing that up, can you?

Herald Leader's accuracy streak ends fast

It's pretty odd that in the same week in which we have seen decent reporting and opinion from the Lexington Herald Leader on House Democrats' casino scheming, we would see what is easily one of the worst, most misleading headlines of the year:



At least the story explains the plan really only involves spending "up to $700 million," despite the headline's ridiculous claim that it would "provide" it. That's the worst of journalism and a perfect example of why the paper's circulation keeps declining.

But the best part comes deep in the story with the following passage:



Don't know who wrote the bad headline, but this one is on the reporter and editors. Couldn't they find anyone to explain the joke? I thought everyone knew that it took seventeen years for the legislature to finally keep that promise. Maybe Rep. Flood doesn't know that since she was in California back when the lottery was fraudulently sold to taxpayers as a funding source for education. But the newspaper folks should know.

By the way, the Courier Journal did it right:

... from our cold, dead hands

The Internal Revenue Service this afternoon backed off plans to tax employer-provided cell phones at 25%, under the assumption that one-fourth of the usage of such phones was personal and, therefore, taxable.

Now if we can only get people as stirred up about private property rights, civil liberties, private contracts, currency manipulation, wealth redistribution, and public debt as they are about their cell phones, we will really be getting someplace.

Walking into the eye of the storm

I'm on my way to Frankfort to speak in the Capitol Rotunda at noon about Gov. Beshear's casino gambling proposal.

Beshear has already mishandled the issue enough to kill it for this special session and to put it at long odds for the 2010 session beginning in January.

What a mess...

Bunning second wind?

Sen. Jim Bunning just said his second quarter fundraising is going better than his first quarter fundraising but that he wouldn't say more about it until July 15 when campaign finance filing is made publicly available.

Might Kentucky sell itself to Tennessee?

Michigan doesn't have to worry about overspending its treasury for a little while longer after Vice President Joe Biden's $2 billion handshake on Friday.



This is a very bad plan, of course, but that won't stop anyone. California will be next and Illinois can't be far behind them. Rather than inspire Frankfort to really cut back on its own insatiable appetite, this action will only generate worse ideas. In this insane time, who would really be surprised to see us join up with another state to reach a similar "too big to fail" status?

Dems in disarray on socialized medicine

In his latest fundraising appeal, Howard Dean can't decide if he should be attacking Democrats or Republicans for not playing along with the government takeover of medicine in America plan.



He should probably be attacking both, which really clarifies what his problem is. Notice that Dean points out the latest "Republican" tactic, which has been primarily championed by U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat.

And supporters of socialized medicine in Kentucky should be yelling at Rep. Ben Chandler, who has clearly staked out positions on both sides of the issue in Washington D.C.

And while you are yelling, check out Ben's new fiscal responsibility web site.

Wasting time and money in Frankfort

The Kentucky House budget committee will meet Tuesday in the Capitol Annex at 1 pm to discuss casinos.

That will be right after the anti-casino rally in the Capitol's Rotunda, which starts at noon. Casino supporters in the state simply haven't done enough to answer the concerns of open-minded opponents and they will hear about it tomorrow.

It probably doesn't matter, though. The same cast of characters will be back next year with a somewhat different pitch. Figuring out a way to do what they want without creating more wasteful, less accountable government should be the top priority.

But it won't be.

What about our cultural heritage of not spending our state government into oblivion?

Send a letter to Gov. Steve Beshear complaining about wasteful government spending and the casino gambling scheme and you will receive a form letter printed on very handsome stationary at your own expense.

Another thing Chandler, Yarmuth didn't read

When Spendocrats in Washington D.C. rushed to pass the stimulus bill without actually knowing what it said, they missed an opportunity to find out if it jived with other entitlement programs.

Newsflash: it didn't.

"That's kind of a black hole..."

Rep. Bill Farmer discussed Kentucky's overspending problem and how the federal "stimulus" money not only doesn't help, but reinforces Frankfort's bad behavior:



Farmer spoke Saturday morning in Lexington at Hilton Suites for the Fayette County GOP June breakfast.

Freedom movement won't die

WLAP radio's Leland Conway spells it out.

Live Blog Trey Grayson

Beginning his speech to the monthly Fayette GOP breakfast, Sec. of State Trey Grayson spoke in favor of Rep. Bill Farmer's tax reform proposal.

Good stump speech for someone starting a high-profile statewide campaign -- biographical, engaging, funny.

Said his Secretary of State office budget is ten percent lower than than when he entered office, despite many innovations. Said he has used cross-training to allow employees to work a four-day week without losing productivity. Spoke about clashing with and defeating then-Attorney General Greg Stumbo in a voter fraud case. Spoke about Attorney General Jack Conway dragging his feet on his AG opinion on gambling expansion.

Spoke in opposition to socialized medicine, calling the "public option" ruse a first step in that direction.

"Universal coverage is not necessarily a bad thing, but universal government coverage is a bad thing."

Spoke against the "cap and trade tax."

He also said "I think in our state we would welcome a nuclear power plant."

"I'm looking very seriously at this (U.S. Senate) race and I think next month will be a pivotal month in that decision."

Said that the key to economic growth in Kentucky involved straightening out the tax code and improving education.

Rep. Bill Farmer jumped in here and spoke about the waste of money in the school systems, mentioning the Kentucky Department of Education "black hole" caused by the problems with the MUNIS accounting system.

Beshear wilts and it isn't even hot yet

Has Gov. Steve Beshear caved in and cancelled his Special Session Waste party at taxpayer expense originally set for Monday June 15? It looks that way, since the afternoon party isn't on his schedule released late Friday. It says he will be "in office" all afternoon.



Now get in there, redo the phony budget, and shut down the session. Or, as Sen. Damon Thayer suggested, repeal prevailing wage and then leave.

Dan and Jack sizzle, fizzle, and tax

Page One reports on a campaign appearance by U.S. Senate candidate Daniel Mongiardo. Apparently, Mongiardo forgot he was supposed to run to the left to win the Democratic party's nomination:


There's no way to know if Mongiardo seriously opposes cap and tax legislation, but he surely wouldn't be allowed to oppose it as a freshman Senator in Pres. Barack Obama's Washington D.C.

Wonder what Jack Conway has to say about these important issues? Jack?

If Massachusetts can get this right...

In a search for examples of good government, Massachusetts is not usually going to provide much guidance. But one provision in a public employee pension reform bill their legislature passed unanimously Thursday could help Kentucky.

What they did was repeal a big pension enhancement for former legislators. Kentucky currently allows former legislators who go to work in a higher paying government job to switch their pension credit for time in the General Assembly so they get benefits as if they were in the higher paying job all along.

We're already $30 billion in the hole on Kentucky's public pensions. This would be a good place to stop digging.

Feds tell Kentucky to pass charter school law

Heading into a special session originally called to balance the budget, but that has quickly turned into a big mess with a wide variety of issues lacking consensus, Gov. Steve Beshear may be missing a signal from federal officials about another key topic.

Earlier this week, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said:

"States that do not have public charter laws or put artificial caps on the growth of charter schools will jeopardize their applications under the [$4.35 billion] Race to the Top Fund."

Kentucky's Senate Education Committee Chairman Ken Winters, a long-time school-choice advocate, expressed hope that strong federal support may help break resistance to such improvements in Frankfort.

"I think we are getting more momentum on this," Winters said.

House Education Committee Chairman Carl Rollins wasn't enthusiastic, but nevertheless suggested the time for real discussion of the issue may be at hand.

"I'm not a fan of charter schools, but it's worth a look and the money might make it worth a second look," Rollins said.

The expanded opportunities available to charter school students are currently only available to only a precious few:

Socialized medicine death spiral

The Radical Left is taking aim at moderates who aren't ready to destroy the Democratic Party over President Obama's health insurance reform. This is a good thing.



Obama and a minority of Congressional radicals really think wiping out the private sector with a taxpayer subsidized "public option" is the way to lower healthcare costs. Wow. That just doesn't make any sense at all. The ironic thing is that if they would just set aside their hatred for capitalism long enough to restore some free market principles to the healthcare marketplace, they would get the lower costs they say they want.

My parties will be better

In a tribute to his own tone-deafness, Gov. Steve Beshear is going to throw a big party at the Mansion for his friends next Monday, the first day of his wasteful special session. The party is set to start as soon as the legislature adjourns for the day.

You probably aren't invited. But if it's any consolation, you get to pick up the tab.

That's okay, Governor. I'd rather come up to the Rotunda the following day (Tuesday) at noon for a taxpayer rally with my friends. And then I'll be back Wednesday at noon on the Capitol steps with more friends interested in providing a contrast to the continued waste, fraud, and abuse. Anyone who thinks the same way is welcome to join in.

Enjoy your party while it lasts, Governor.

KY Road plan: more "spend, ready, aim!"

The Kentucky Club for Growth hits a trifecta in catching state government, Lexington, and the Herald Leader goofing on taxpayers again:

"Has either the state or the city actually analyzed the costs involved? No."

"So here's a $200,000 budget item that will balloon into more spending as these additional costs are encountered, all for a project the residents of the road frankly do not want."

"Not to mention $800,000 in state transportation funds that could also serve a better purpose."

You can read the rest here.

Our politicians are going to come back after us for a Road Fund "deficit" of $80 million in the current fiscal year. They should have to answer for this waste way before that happens.

Exactly!

The Louisville Courier Journal sums up nicely what is wrong with runaway government spending, if only unintentionally, in an editorial about local budget cuts.



Indeed, if we placed the same standard on all bureaucracies -- utilize fewer resources to get the same or even better results -- we would continue cutting, wouldn't we? Right-sizing government is something the big-government types will fight to the death for that very reason.

The only number that matters

As Frankfort politicians often do, they have been throwing budget deficit/shortfall/overspending figures around enough to make our heads spin. Of course, that's the idea. When they are finished and before the next election, we are just supposed to remember how nice and smart they look on television.

The truth is that you only need to know one number to understand Kentucky's overspending problem. It's $1,508,494,000. That's the one-point-five billion dollars in new bonded debt our representatives authorized for themselves in the current budget bill.

Too much government costs us too much money. It's going to be very difficult to "reform" much of anything until we come to grips with that simple fact.

Hoover warns of failed special session

Kentucky's House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover isn't crazy about the idea of going back to Frankfort for a June session of the legislature without properly planning their $60,000 a day activity.

Hoover said: "This is my thirteenth year (in the General Assembly.) We've had several special sessions. And the good special sessions are where we have at least a working agreement coming into the special session."




I like the part about spending cuts and no more tax increases, but it would be better if we could target the cuts toward waste instead of the across-the-board variety, leaving all the same players in place to come back next year for a bigger piece of the pie.

Hoover spoke Wednesday at the June meeting of the Women Republicans of Central Kentucky in Lexington.

We have lights and cameras, but no Skippy

Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary Jonathan Miller should be eager to weigh in on Gov. Steve Beshear's scheduled butt-kicking on casino gambling coming up next week, shouldn't he?

Lexington official lies under oath

Corporal John Vest's federal whistleblower lawsuit in the Lexington jail inmate abuse scandal took an interesting turn last week when FCDC Director Ron Bishop declared in his sworn testimony that he was "paralyzed" by the FBI investigation into the jail and determined not to find out anything or ask any questions about any wrongdoing that may have occurred.

The following conversation between Vest's attorney Bill Jacobs and Bishop will certainly be contradicted by other witnesses in court:

Jacobs: Did you ever learn that some of your officers went to Mr. Vest's wife's
workplace and intimidated her?
Bishop: No.
Jacobs: You never learned that? Did FBI instruct anybody at your place
to not do that, if you know?
Bishop: I'm not aware of any instructions.
Jacobs: Did you ever learn that McQueen chased Mr. Vest around New Circle Road?
Bishop: No, I'm not aware of that.
Jacobs: Never heard about it?
Bishop: No.
Jacobs: Did you, or anybody at your direction, ask officers after they went to the FBI, Department of Justice, or the Grand Jury, what was asked of them or what they said?
Bishop: No.
Jacobs: You never did that?
Bishop: No.
Jacobs: No to all of those?
Bishop: No to all of those.
Jacobs: Do you know if anybody did ask them what they were asked by the FBI?
Bishop: I'm not aware of anyone who did that.
Jacobs: Did you instruct your staff that you were supervising not to ask those questions?
Bishop: Yes.
Jacobs: Who did you tell?
Bishop: Jim Kammer, Todd Eades, Mary Hester, and the Majors, Majors Hill, Korb, White.

This easy to disprove lie will prove particularly ill-timed given that defendants are now cooperating with prosecutors.

No time for more stupid Frankfort budget tricks

Stateline.org reports Kentucky's corporate tax receipts are growing faster than those of any other state in the nation.



Where would they get such a silly idea? From the National Association of State Budget Officers. And where did they get their information? Gov. Steve Beshear.

There is nothing to this. Beshear is just using the fake revenue projections in order to show a higher "shortfall" next year.

Go here for the Stateline story and here for the NASBO report.

Jack Conway still mum on casinos

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission today voted in a resolution to express support for Gov. Steve Beshear's baby step to full-blown casinos in Kentucky. Attorney General Jack Conway's father is on the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Does this mean we now know where Senate candidate Jack Conway stands on casinos?

Biden sees no economic critics

Speaking today on a media conference call, Vice President Joe Biden dodged several questions about the Administration's bogus claims of saving or creating millions of American jobs.

"No one is out there saying our administration has come up with a phony way of measuring jobs," Biden said.

Right. No one but Harvard economist Greg Mankiw. UC Berkeley economist Brad DeLong and Princeton economist Paul Krugman (both huge Obama fans, except when they criticize him for not being Left enough) have been strangely silent on the subject:

When is a blog not a blog?

Why would Gov. Steve Beshear say he is starting a blog and then not allow comments on it?




And I'm a big UK basketball fan, too. But Gov. Beshear would do well to mix in to his inner circle some people who might help free Frankfort from its losing ways.

Casino gambling not even a top five issue

Casino gambling is getting all the attention in Frankfort right now, but we have much bigger fish to fry.

Kentucky's unemployment benefits deficit of over $207 million is getting bigger every week. This isn't a smoke-and-mirrors "shortfall" game. This money will have to be paid back to the federal government in the next state budget.

Continuing to throw up across-the-board spending cuts as Gov. Steve Beshear does won't solve the persistent problems in jobless benefits, Medicaid, or public employee benefits.

Eliminating programs that don't work and improving spending accountability provide opportunities we can't continue to ignore. We should begin with stopping corporate welfare, repealing prevailing wage, ending certificate of need, and move quickly toward justifying every dollar of K-12 education spending. We are also still waiting for Gov. Steve Beshear's promised spending efficiency study, transparency web site, and a serious approach to the $30 billion public employee benefits underfunding.

Governor?

Karl Marx would love this

Ford Motor Company is about to pay the price for not bowing, scraping and begging to Obama.

ObamaCare weekend sales pitch

Put your boots on before venturing into Pres. Barack Obama's latest HopeyCam. Or just skip it; I picked out the highlights right here.

Obama said:

"We must attack the root causes of skyrocketing healthcare costs. Some of these costs are the result of unwarranted profiteering that has no place in our healthcare system."

Given government's huge role in healthcare pricing in America, I'd like to see him point out what "unwarranted profiteering" he is talking about. If he means health insurers, he might urge Congress to allow people to buy health insurance across state lines before he kills off all the health insurers and forces us onto Medicare. Otherwise much of the variation in costs is caused by state certificate of need laws.

And then he started in on how he is going to "pay for" his big plans:

"We must develop a plan that doesn't add to our budget deficit. My budget included a historic downpayment on reform and we'll work with Congress to fully cover the costs through rigorous spending reductions and appropriate additional revenues."

We've already seen how Obama does "rigorous spending reductions." And if you have seen any of his energy plans, you already have a good idea about how appropriate his "additional revenues" are going to be.

Here is the video if you want to see for yourself:

KY GOP needs Virginia's guts on schools

Kentucky could take a lesson from Virginia GOP gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell, who is pushing hard for school choice freedoms in his state. From his campaign web site:

"Speaking about Virginia’s educational challenges, McDonnell said, "Our goal in Virginia must be to ensure equal opportunity for a quality education. But for thousands of students in the Commonwealth these opportunities are inadequate - limited by the zip code in which they live, or limited by decisions of local school systems. We will not tolerate failing or underperforming schools in a McDonnell administration."

"I agree with President Obama: we need more charter schools in America. That need is particularly pressing in Virginia, where we currently only have four charter schools, one of the lowest numbers in the country."

Kentucky Democrats have been hesitant to cross the KEA on public charters. Our Republicans have nothing to lose and much to gain.

Putting a real governor on Frankfort

The Wall Street Journal's Paris and Berlin writers quote themselves this weekend spreading the silly idea that their countries should be jettisoning "unchecked capitalism" during recession. Europeans are, instead, showing impatience for the problem that is actually occurring: unchecked socialism.



Meanwhile, Frankfort's fixers are coming together starting June 15 in special session purportedly to "nurture" business growth. Instead, the beneficiary is most likely to be big government.

Lunchtime citizen demonstrations Tuesday (6/16) in the Rotunda and Wednesday (6/17) on the Capitol front steps will seek to check our unchecked overspending and government growth.

Mitch McConnell involved in primary again

Just pulled this comment off a message board for purposes of discussion:

"I received the same email from the Trey Grayson campaign."

"I had also read that Trey Grayson was a Bill Clinton delegate, and that does give me pause, but maybe that was a "youthful indiscretion". Clinton smoked but didn't inhale. Maybe Grayson was a Clinton delegate but didn't vote for Clinton. :-)"

"I have a more current issue with Trey Grayson."

"I think what's happening is Senator Mitch McConnell was twisting arms back in the Fall to get Republicans to vote for the TARP-1 bailout and while he was successful in that effort (and we still elected him!), Senator Jim Bunning went on TV and called the TARP-1 bailout what it was... SOCIALISM. That made McConnell mad, so McConnell has withdrawn the Republican Party of Kentucky support and the funds that Bunning needs to run have dried up. McConnell is forcing Bunning out of the Senate because he wouldn't fall in line and vote for the Republican flavor of Big Government socialism, and now McConnell has anointed Trey Grayson as his hand picked replacement for Bunning. Reading between the lines, I think that means that Trey Grayson is almost certainly going to vote the way McConnell tells him to, even if that means voting for socialist bailouts like TARP-1. Most Kentuckians did not want the socialist bailout. 93% of calls to Chandler's office opposed the TARP-1 bailout, but Mitch McConnell and Diane Feinstein convinced their parties to vote contrary to the will of their constituents. Mitch McConnell received $163,300 from commercial banks, including $17,500 from Goldman Sachs."

"I'm working on a radical new concept and in the words of Trey Grayson, I'd like your advice. Instead of party politicians telling us who we'll vote for, would anyone else like to overthrow the oligarchy and vote for the candidates who represent US for a change?"

"I hope my opinion on Trey Grayson is based on principle and I'm not just being petty, but I'm going to be against anyone who is picked by Mitch McConnell. I don't think party bosses should pick our candidates. I think we should pick our candidates."

How will Sen. McConnell's actions impact your vote in the 2010 U.S. Senate GOP primary?

Where's our saving and creating?

Looks like big government economic voodoo is working out just about the same as it always does -- increasing dependency on politicians.

Fight for economic sanity is upon us

U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy on Friday afternoon was passing around a copy of a socialized medicine bill he has worked up that will force all employers to provide health insurance for their employees, force insurance companies to accept all applicants, and wreck our economy like nothing else the Beltway types have ever cooked up.

Prove me wrong.

Distancing myself from Obama Motors

When I needed to buy a car recently, I went to my local Toyota dealership. Amid the auto bailout mania, the last thing I wanted was a Government Motors car.

I was surprised to find myself settling in on a used Saturn. I remember thinking, though, that when GM imploded another car company would come along and rescue the strong brand from its dying parent.

Enter, today, Penske, which is purchasing Saturn from GM.

It was funny just now watching Penske execs on ABC News talk about how they could run the company at a profit. That's something GM could never do, despite the face that Polk Research reports that 80% of the company's cars since its 1990 founding are still on the road.

The Penske guys said that among the main reasons they could make it work was the absence of GM's legacy labor costs. They didn't mention a word about alleged "atrocious marketing and production decisions."

Beshear's economic development lip service

In announcing today that he was expanding his special session call to include expansion of corporate welfare programs, Gov. Steve Beshear said he values existing Kentucky businesses:

"Our existing businesses are some of our most precious resources," Gov. Beshear said. "We must nurture them and help them, particularly when they’re looking to reinvest. We cannot continue to watch other states pirate them away."

We are never going to dramatically improve Kentucky's economic situation continuing to play this same game of taxing everyone too much and rebating money to a few companies. All Beshear wants to do is double down on the same losing hand.

Shutting down Kentucky's "Economic Development" Cabinet should be a top priority for anyone who calls Kentucky home.

Rand Paul gets a boost

Not that this is a surprise, but Dr. Rand Paul's exploratory committee got a noteworthy shot in the arm today:

Dragging it out of Jack Conway

Attorney General Jack Conway has been able to slink along quietly while the rest of Frankfort wrestles over what to do about horse racing in Kentucky.

Conway is sitting on two requests for an AG opinion about expanded gambling at horse tracks. Rep. Jody Richards asked in May if slots at the tracks need a constitutional amendment. Sen. Damon Thayer asked in April if instant racing machines were permissible under current law.

Conway, a candidate for U.S. Senate, may be hesitant to take a position that damages his political aspirations in a tough primary contest.

So we are left with Gov. Steve Beshear's slots bill, Sen. David Williams' proposal that deserves credit as an interesting alternative, and the strong likelihood neither will pass in this month's special session.

Williams pointed out today that for slots at the tracks to generate $60 million for higher purses, more than $4.6 billion would have to be poured into the slot machines. By comparison, about $470 million is bet on horse racing at the tracks in Kentucky each year, about $489 million is bet in charitable gaming, about $778 million is bet on the Kentucky Lottery, and about $500 million is bet by Kentuckians at casinos in Indiana and Illinois.

Seems like a pretty safe bet that we don't have the money to gamble $4.6 billion in racetrack slot machines.

Sen. Thayer's idea may be worth a look, though. Instant racing machines allow users to place bets on video of one of 50,000 archived horse races given limited information about the horses in each particular race. This wouldn't open the door for out-of-state casino operators and just might provide the revenue the tracks need.

It seems to have worked well in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

In any event, someone needs to light a fire under Jack Conway. If he gives a thumbs up to instant racing, Kentucky tracks could start installing them right away and lawmakers could get back to work on the budget.

Williams calls Beshear out on slots

Just two hours after Gov. Steve Beshear had a press conference to claim that video lottery terminals will save the horse industry and provide revenue to the state, Senate President David Williams called another press conference to say that they won't.

Williams offered an alternative plan that would place a 10% surcharge on lottery tickets, establish a 1.5% tax on out-of-state wagering at Kentucky tracks -- which currently goes untaxed -- and other measures to supplement horse racing purses to better allow the Kentucky horse industry to compete with other states without expanding gambling.

Williams said about 30% of the money he is proposing for purse supplements would come directly from the General Fund, comparing the move to tax increment financing of about $18 million a year.

Williams said he hoped that Gov. Beshear would put his proposal on the special session call and suggested that if he didn't, nothing would come out of the session.

Are those jobs saved or created?

State Budget Director Mary Lassiter just told the Joint Budget Committee that Kentucky is going to bring in an extra $18.5 million in FY 2010 by hiring more staff in the Revenue Department.

Plumbing Newberry's information black hole

Current and former Lexington jail employees will be surprised to learn that Mayor Jim Newberry's administration apparently hasn't been keeping any of their complaints filed against certain members of jail administration:



It is also possible this is just another Newberry stall tactic, in hopes that the CWA will just go away. What say you, Mayor Jim Newberry?

His primary opponent former Mayor Teresa Isaac could start asking questions about this kind of thing, but, really, she won't.

Trey Grayson in Lexington

Secretary of State Trey Grayson will have a fundraiser for his federal campaign exploratory committee on Tuesday evening, June 30, at Mike Scanlon's Fleetwood Vintage Car Garage, 540 E. 2nd Street in Lexington.

Want to go? Call 859-757-4349.

Confronting the nonsense in Frankfort

There will be a June 17 state Capitol Tea party, noon to 1 pm.

The overspending and the overtaxing continue to weaken our fiscal situation and damage our competitiveness. And now Gov. Beshear's best idea is throw millions of our dollars at a car racetrack.

Another event has already been scheduled for the Capitol on July 4 from noon to 2 pm and in Lexington the same day at 3:30 pm.

Kentucky budget needs your input

The Wall Street Journal has it right. State budgets, including Kentucky's, will probably get worse before they get better.



Kentuckians are as bad as anyone else about hating pork unless it is their own. We can buy a little time for weaning ourselves off pork if we can get serious immediately about government spending transparency. When we can all see exactly where each public dollar is going, we can agree in larger numbers about where to cut.

Rep. Jim DeCesare had been a leader on spending transparency, but as a member of the minority party in the House he hasn't been able to force the issue. Sen. Damon Thayer is working on a transparency bill for the 2010 General Assembly. That should be key to getting a handle on where the money is going. Secretary of State Trey Grayson has already put his reputation on the line to champion spending transparency. His rapidly increasing profile can help a lot.

Our education budget deserves more than the lip service it has gotten for years. Unaccountable bureaucrats have shown no willingness to self-regulate with our money. Tell your friends and neighbors that now is the time to force school districts and the Kentucky Department of Education to post all their expenditures to the internet in real time.

We may get some temporary budget cuts in the upcoming special session. But in order to keep falling back into this same trap we need a fully-informed discussion about fiscal priorities and we can't do that until we have spending data readily available to everyone.

"Couldn't have been the unions and CAFE!"

The Courier Journal editorial page blamed General Motors' failure on "atrocious marketing and production decisions." Yeah, that's what did it.



I wonder if they consider the GM dealer's ad on their website an example of "atrocious marketing."

Kentucky state sovereignty resolution filed

Rep. Stan Lee filed HCR 10 on Tuesday, which would claim state sovereignty for Kentucky under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution if it passes both chambers of the General Assembly in 2010.

The resolution states the U.S. government must stop any mandates beyond its constitutional purview and repeal and stop passing any laws that require the states to act under threat of penalty or loss of federal funding.

This resolution would be taken more seriously if Kentucky weren't so heavily dependent on federal funding, but maybe that is the idea.

What, no pro-Obama rallies in Frankfort?

As talk about a General Assembly special session the week of June 15 picks up, plans for small government rallies in Frankfort are coming together as well.

The Family Foundation will hold a "Stand for the Constitution" rally on Tuesday, June 16th at noon in the Capitol Rotunda. The We Surround Them group is working on details for another rally on Wednesday at the Capitol.

Can't wait to see if any big government, spread the wealth, soak the "rich" rallies sponsored by the other side materialize.

Dumbing down America 46 states at a time

While busily trying to scare Kentuckians into making government bigger and more expensive out in front of everyone, Gov. Steve Beshear has quietly also signed onto a pact with 45 other state governors for national educational standards.

The Washington Post has the story and the quote of the day:
Margaret Spellings, who was education secretary under President George W. Bush, said in a recent interview that she supports states coming together to raise the bar for students. But she worries that the effort could distract attention from students who are failing today.

"We have a speedometer, and it says we're going too slow," Spellings said. "Should we get a more precise speedometer? Sure. But the most important thing is speeding up."

The rest of the article is here.

Notably absent from this pact were Texas, Missouri, South Carolina, and Alaska. I think making the case for adding "shut down the U.S. Department of Education" in the 2012 GOP platform just got a real boost.

Kentucky has no business messing around with this nonsense when we have supposedly been doing it on our own for the last twenty years. The last thing we need is more blue ribbon commissions and study groups from the same people who have been drawing pay checks for twenty years doing the same things with limited results and even less accountability.

That's what Kentucky's 2009 Senate Bill 1 was all about.

Taking the fight to Georgetown tonight!

I'm going to Scott County tonight at 7:00 for the Freedom Rally there at the Courthouse. Here is some good advice for the grassroots movement from National Review Online.

"If the Tea Party movement wishes to stand for something concrete, and sensibly avoid being co-opted by the Republican party, it might consider embracing Reagan’s Economic Bill of Rights."

Read the whole article here.

The battle to come...

Last night, Illinois taxpayers caught a break when legislators failed to pass a massive tax increase. Now the fun part starts and Kentuckians would do well to pay attention.



It can come as no surprise that those who lobbied loudest for tax increases to avoid cutting fat in Illinois state government will have no interest now in cutting fat.

We should expect no less a tantrum by our Kentucky taxers. Frankfort can't raise taxes this summer and they don't have the votes for slot machines. A lot of fat remains in state government, but they will have kids sitting three to a desk in schools before they admit it.

Get ready. This is going to be nasty.

More people need to see this

Watch these people keep straight faces talking about how socialized medicine will save $350 billion a year by putting everyone on Medicare!

Associated Press' balanced coverage shortfall

The mainstream media is clinging hard to the spin that Kentucky has a billion dollar "shortfall." Conveniently overlooked in stories like this is that the 2010 budget is $867 million higher than the 2009 budget.

I thought Gov. Beshear said he was making government smaller.



This AP story completely glosses over the other side of the "shortfall" theme in only one very inadequate sentence:

"Senate President David Williams, a Burkesville Republican, disputes the figure and said the shortfall is a smaller percentage."

That's pathetic underreporting of a story with at least two sides.

One interesting note, though. If you read to the end of the article, you get a quote from Western Kentucky University's Dr. Brian Strow, the BB&T Chair for the Study of Capitalism:

"Lawmakers should consider "meaningful economic reform" that would create more jobs and reduce the budget, Strow said."

Amen to that.

Dr. Strow is also a member of Dr. Rand Paul's Economic Council of Advisors.

Having their fiscal irresponsibility and eating it, too

Isn't it funny that so many of those Kentuckians who believe the spent Social Security Trust Fund IOU's equal real money and nothing to worry about now insist that the only way to look at next year's state budget projection is to compare that figure to fiscal year 2008's overspending and hit the panic button?

History is on our side

Grab your wallet: Legislature convenes June 15

This afternoon, Gov. Steve Beshear called the General Assembly into special session beginning June 15.

His statement included the following:

"Our priorities will be holding the line on taxes for working families already struggling to make ends meet; maintaining investments in our school children; preserving commitments to the health care needs of our most vulnerable and the safety of our people."

Do we need to ask what Beshear's definition of "working families" is? Also, if we had a functioning mechanism for tracking school expenditures, it's likely we would conclude that "maintaining investments" isn't necessary. And if government made fewer commitments to "health care needs," health coverage would be more affordable for all of us.

I seem to remember Senate President David Williams saying something about the battle to end all battles over taxes and spending. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

"Only 3.35 million fake jobs to go!"

ABC News has broken through the ignorance barrier to openly question Pres. Barack Obama's silly job-saving/creating claims.



Who will be next? And will we remember those who helped bring this upon us?

Don't Know Jack

Attorney General Jack Conway wants to be a United States Senator, but doesn't seem to have any specific positions on the issues. How about Obama, Jack? Bailouts: for or against? Thirty billion more for General Motors? Tax increases? Medicare/Social Security? Anything?

Nope.

Courier-Journal botches American Flag story

A Texas woman's Memorial Day observation in the workplace took an odd turn in the last few days involving Louisville-based Kindred Healthcare. The Louisville Courier Journal, however, seems far more interested in parroting Kindred's press release than in covering the real story.

Last week, Debbie McLucas hung a 3' x 5' American flag in shared office space in a Kindred-owned hospital in Mansfield, Texas. She arrived at work Friday to find that a co-worker had taken the flag down. Apparently, the co-worker found the flag offensive. McLucas told CBS News in Dallas she appealed to supervisors at the hospital, but said they told her the flag would have to stay down because of complaints they had received.

Kindred issued a press release yesterday contradicting McLucas' story:

"This issue was simply a dispute between two employees who shared a small workspace, one of whom removed the flag because of its size. It’s important to note that hospital management was not involved in the decision to remove the flag."

And the CJ swallowed the press release unquestioningly:

The fact is that Kindred management may not have been involved in the flag removal, but we don't know that. One of the key players, McLucas, in fact said management told her "patients' families and visitors" had complained as well and that the flag would have to come down.

Sounds like there is much more to this story than the Courier Journal would have its readers believe. We've come to expect anti-American bias from the paper's editorial page, but have to point it out when it continues to show up on the news pages.

A strange way to observe Memorial Day

Last November, Fayette County Detention Center Officer Luke Valdez, a fifteen-month veteran of the jail, wrote two internal emails with specific criticisms of jail policies and suggestions for improvement.

Yesterday, fresh off six months of National Guard training, Valdez, 23, was suspended from the jail without pay for three weeks as retaliation for sending the emails.

Disciplinary forms given to Valdez cited him for insubordination, misconduct, inefficiency, and malicious behavior. The only action described on the forms was sending the emails.

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry should explain why he keeps FCDC Director Ron Bishop around despite his repeated personnel screw-ups.

This isn't the first time the city of Lexington has failed to show even minimal respect for someone who served our country.

Don't show this to Obama

Turns out the surest way to cut electricity usage is to shrink the economy.

Almost time for a real fiscal discussion

The House Budget Committee will hold a hearing on Rep. Bill Farmer's tax reform bill on June 4 at 1:00 pm in room 129 of the Capitol Annex.

The bill would repeal state income taxes, expand the sales tax to include services, and lower the sales tax rate to 5.5%.

Expect House Dems to try to expand the sales tax but back up on the idea of repealing the income tax.

When Massachusetts says it's too much money...

Kentucky's corporate welfare cabal entered the state in a contest with several states and dozens of private entities for a piece of a $2.4 billion federal lithium battery research "investment."

As usual, we are giving away the farm.

Just ask big-spending (and, by most measures, wealthy) Massachusetts:

"Kentucky is promising $110 million in aid and a 1,550-acre site, in Glendale, that it assembled in an unsuccessful effort to land a Hyundai plant several years ago."

""We're not in that financial league," said Ian Bowles, the Massachusetts secretary of energy and environmental affairs. But Mr. Bowles said Massachusetts has a chance of landing federal funding because it has several in-state battery makers such as Boston Power Co."

This passage came from The Wall Street Journal.

Waking up sleepy Frankfort

The most important state government meeting in months has been scheduled for two weeks from today.

On June 9, the Education Assessment and Accountability Review Subcommittee will meet at 1:00 pm in room 129 of the Capitol Annex in Frankfort.

Kentucky's mainstream media has a poor record of showing up for these meetings. But since the purpose of this meeting is to discuss implementation of the best education reform in this state in a long time, they will be there for this one.

Twittering Lexington's corruption

Word about Teresa Isaac and Jim Newberry's bad behavior has made it all the way to Louisville.

Can we do this and draw welfare, too?

Has there ever been a U.S. President whose name has been invoked more often than the current one in internet scams and get-rich-quick schemes?



Surely President Obama is trying now to figure out how to count people who respond to this work at home opportunity in the Lexington Herald Leader as part of his "3.5 million jobs saved or created."

Memorial Day out with the family

Working on some big changes for Kentucky Progress, but not today. I'm going to do some serious playing with my sons.

Anything in particular on your mind? Feel free...

The real Voodoo economics

This passage appeared on Sunday's New York Times editorial page:

"Contrary to conventional wisdom, raising taxes may be better than spending cuts because tax increases, especially if they are focused on wealthy taxpayers, have less of a negative impact on consumption. Spending cuts hit consumption hard, depriving the economy of money that would otherwise be spent quickly. They also have the disadvantage — so evident in the cuts proposed by Mr. Schwarzenegger — of falling heavily on the needy."

This still doesn't get us past the fact that if greater government spending stopped or averted economic downturns, then we wouldn't be very likely at all to find ourselves in one now.

Public spending cuts may "hit consumption hard," but when we are talking about borrowed money, it's better to hit it now rather than wait for it to come back and hit us later. Just ask the people who count the beans for Medicare and Social Security.

Putting the money back into private hands, even if they are "wealthy," has a long tradition of working more effectively at promoting general welfare than running it through layer after layer of bureaucratic middlemen. Continuing to pretend otherwise is an increasingly unaffordable luxury.

From the same people who like Obamanomics

It's quite a leap from an old monkey fossil to "proof" of a 47 million year old evolutionary link to humans. Very similar to the logic that has us taking more and more money from the productive economy and giving to the Washington D.C. "fixers" to make everything all better.



In other words, it's a bunch of hooey.

Beshear cares more about unions than poor kids

Kentucky could save hundreds of millions of dollars repealing prevailing wage and we are monkeying around with $4.5 million cuts on programs for underprivileged children?



This is disgraceful.

See you at the Frankfort Freedom Rally

Concerned citizens will gather Saturday, May 23, at Juniper Hill Park (800 Louisville Road) in Frankfort 1pm to 3pm to support public policies to return America to a path toward greater prosperity.

In his book Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One, Dr. Thomas Sowell said the following:

"A student asked his history professor: "Where did slavery come from?"
"You're asking the wrong question," the professor replied. "The real question is: Where did freedom come from?"

Restoring our freedoms won't just happen by itself. It will take massive, coordinated action. And we need more people. Those who criticized the Tea Party movement said that it would never amount to anything. If we quit now, they will be right.

I'm not quitting. Are you?

Ready for your Dan Rather tax?

Don't look now, but some people think it might be terrific to charge you hundreds of dollars a year in "news tax" to subsidize our money-losing mainstream media.



Read the rest here.

Perhaps they think that if Americans are ready to adopt the worst elements of the British healthcare system we surely will fall for this sort of thing, too.

Bunning smacks Obama over Gitmo

Sen. Jim Bunning said the following after the U.S. Senate voted 87-3 to spend another $73 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:

"I am very pleased that we are no longer wasting time to convince our colleagues to fund these wars. We can win these conflicts, and we are winning them, and our fighting men and women deserve to have the resources they need to do so. This bill will help provide them with those resources."

"The Senate stripped funds from the bill that were originally requested by President Obama to close down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and relocate the terrorist prisoners who are being held there -- sending a clear message to the President that these dangerous killers are not to be sent to the United States. It was reckless of President Obama to set an arbitrary timetable for closing the prison camp without first having a plan in place for where these terrorists will be detained next and I believe that removing this funding was in the best interest of the security and safety of the American people."

Calling big government's bluff

There is a widespread belief in Frankfort that Gov. Steve Beshear will call a June 15 special session to raise revenue in the face of Kentucky's growing overspending problem.

The Senate would do very well, in such a case, to pass a resolution allowing the governor to cut spending and to quickly adjourn the session.

Frankfort still treating us like mushrooms

Alabama has become the latest state whose legislature wants its citizens to be able to see how their tax money is being spent.

Kentucky still wants to keep you in the dark.

Wonder what our guys are afraid of?

Beshear governing by silly emotional appeal

Here is Gov. Steve Beshear's latest plea for turning the state over to casino gambling interests:

"I don't want Kentucky to be known as the former horse capital of the world. Too much is at stake - 100,000 jobs, comprised mostly of working families, and $4 billion in economic impact. We must act quickly to ensure that we maintain that investment in our state."

First, it's silly to say Kentucky's horse industry can only survive by being allowed to diversify into a business that is currently illegal in order to subsidize their less profitable main operations. Why can it only be casinos or slot machines? If they just need money, why not license tracks to set up check cashing services? Dry cleaning services are often very profitable. Maybe Churchill Downs could launder a couple of your shirts and clean one of your suits while you watch a few races. Or they could send insurance agents into the grandstand to write a few policies for a new, ongoing revenue stream to beef up purses and improve profitability. Or sell used cars or new electronic equipment.

And who is Gov. Steve Beshear to say the 100,000 jobs and $4 billion economic impact of the horse industry wouldn't be replaced by something even more lucrative if horse racing faded out? Four months into the Obama Administration, I get pretty nervous when I hear a politician say "we must act quickly to maintain..."

I'm as sympathetic as anyone for those who just want to compete on an even playing field with horse tracks in casino states. But trusting Gov. Steve Beshear and House Speaker Greg Stumbo to put together a regulatory structure that won't wind up hurting the state more than it helps is just not something I'm comfortable doing.

I'm open to considering a well-conceived proposal, but I get more skeptical when the sales pitch is as emotional as this one has been.

Still looking for our efficiency study

Attorney General Jack Conway is upset about shysters who organize as "charities" to steal money from unsuspecting Kentuckians, and he should be.

But when he says "charities and solicitors that mislead Kentuckians about how their donations will be used or who they will benefit will not be tolerated," it's hard not to wonder if Conway isn't just protecting his and Gov. Steve Beshear's turf.

Beshear and Chandler feed us to the unions

Just as Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson did the math on prevailing wage costs in his city and decided to opt out, Congressman Ben Chandler (D-Versailles) is running hard in the other direction.

Chandler's "Green Schools" bill HR 2187 would waste many billions of dollars in environmental upgrades to school facilities across the country. A key feature of the bill would make recipients of the money observe Davis-Bacon union wage requirements even if their home state has been smart enough to toss aside the wasteful mandates.

Kentucky, of course, isn't one of those "smart enough" states, despite our obvious need to cut out spending fat. Thanks, union-supported politicians!

Chandler's bill has passed the House and looks to be championed in the Senate by Iowa big-spender Sen. Tom Harkin.

Welcome back, David Williams

The Louisville Courier Journal has gone back to calling Senate President David Williams silly names on its editorial page:

"Those numbers will require action, unless Mr. Williams and other no-new-revenue drones are content to see services and programs suffer even more than they already have."

I've been as tough on Williams as anyone for his tax-raising activities, but he says he's ready to fight now.

Audit the Fed bill is in federal budget

Sen. Jim Bunning said Senate Democrats so far have not removed his "Audit the Fed" bill from the budget bill which could get a vote this week.

On his weekly conference call this morning, he talked about the importance of the bill:

"It says to the Fed, 'it's time to be held accountable for your actions.'"

Bunning also challenged reporters who repeated questions about his campaign and about his health. Bunning responded to The Lexington Herald Leader's John Stamper, who asked him about releasing his medical records, by saying he was up for any kind of physical challenge the reporter chose and asked him how big he was.

Stamper responded "I wouldn't want to arm wrestle you, Senator."

Bunning also called Sen. Mitch McConnell a "control freak" who "doesn't like anyone who tells him no."

Better talk about this now

A weekend debate between South Carolina's two Republican U.S. Senators, as described in The State newspaper, should begin an important dialogue for Kentucky Republicans:

"Ron Paul is not the leader of this party," (U.S. Sen. Lindsey) Graham said, prompting a few jeers. Some people yelled, "Yes, he is!"

"I’m not going to give this party over to people who can’t win," Graham finished, drawing most of the crowd to its feet.

But U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, who followed Graham, said he’d rather have 30 senators who stand on principle than 60 who have none.

The increasingly-likely primary battle between Dr. Rand Paul and Sec. of State Trey Grayson would open similar divisions in Kentucky that both candidates would do well to start closing right away.

Sitting next to Mica, I feel older and balder

I like the sound of this

In Tennessee, they are setting up Tea Parties for one of their Congressional representatives to remind him that he "works for Tennesseans, not Nancy Pelosi!"



Might a round of these by Kentuckians help focus Congressman Ben Chandler? I think so.

Obamathon for socialized medicine

Call it a tax-me-more fund for Canadian-style health care. Pres. Barack Obama wants you to send in money so he can run commercials to promote a total government takeover of the American health care industry.



Go fish, Mr. President.

Let's make some news

I'll be on Newsmakers Saturday morning at 11 am with Mica Sims talking about where the resistance to bloated government movement goes from here.

Next stop is the Frankfort Freedom Rally next Saturday May 23 at 1 pm at Juniper Hill park.

Food for thought for Appalachia

Add one to the "no comment" brigade

It's worth pointing out that the federal investigation into the Lexington jail inmate abuse scandal still has not been closed.

As the scandal prepares to blow up all over Lexington taxpayers, former Mayor Teresa Isaac and current Mayor Jim Newberry have been conspicuously silent.

I just reached Director Ron Bishop on his LFUCG-issued cell phone to ask if he had a comment about the three guilty pleas issued so far.

"I have no comment, Mr. Adams," he said.

Ronald Reagan on ObamaCare

The politicians are the real story here

Wonder what former Mayor Teresa Isaac has to say about the Fayette jail inmate abuse scandal now that three of the five indicted officers have filed guilty pleas.

Newberry will not comment. We know that. TI should face some tough questions.

Surely the MSM will wake up to this story now.

Birds of a feather...

In 2011, when Gov. Steve Beshear is pretending he never heard of Pres. Barack Obama, remember that just as Obama was breaking his transparency promise, Beshear was cynically doing something very similar.

Begging for a lightning strike, Jennifer?

Funniest news item of the day: Michigan's Governor Jennifer Granholm is going to speak in a church about how great the Obama stimulus plan is for her state.



That would sure get the Tea Party crowd stirred up in Kentucky if Gov. Steve Beshear tried to spread some fiscal hokum from the pulpit. To his credit, Beshear has kept his nonsense out of houses of worship.

And speaking of Tea Parties, I'll be on Bill Bryant's WKYT Newsmakers program with Mica Sims Saturday at 11am talking about what is next for the small-government movement.

A full schedule

I'm in meetings much of today and will host a tax reform forum tonight at 6:30 pm at The Inn on Broadway. Check back for updates.

Fayette jail pucker factor update

Ahead of next month's federal trial in the Fayette County Detention Center inmate abuse trial, sources report three of the five defendants have worked out plea bargains with prosecutors.

This is really bad news for those at the jail who haven't been indicted yet and horrible timing for a couple of politicians (here and here) who really want it all to go away.

Senate race update

I'm headed to Lexington for a meeting of the Women Republicans of Central Kentucky. The speaker today is Secretary of State Trey Grayson.

Check back for updates and, probably, video.

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Here you go:

A little skepticism would go a long way here

As the political effort to ram through a total federal takeover of the healthcare system marches on, Kentucky's big-spenders are using similar tactics to force acceptance of casino gambling.

The up-tempo campaign style is designed to limit careful thinking and the doomsday predictions of billion dollar shortfalls are laid out to shock the electorate into submission.

Cooler heads may want to turn their attention to Maryland, where the plan isn't fairing so well. From Governing Magazine:

Meanwhile, the need for a Kentucky horsing bailout may be overblown. You should read this.