KyKurmudgeon

Is Steve Beshear sitting on his lead?

I ask that question because today is an anniversary of sorts. Two years ago today, Gov. Ernie Fletcher held his Pardonin' Pep Rally in the Capitol Rotunda, to celebrate issuing a blanket amnesty that covered all his friends and aides who got caught up in the BlackBerry Jam hiring investigation.

Apparently, Beshear is going to let this anniversary go by without reminding Kentuckians of the pardon, just as he let last Friday go by without reminding Kentuckians that, one year earlier, Fletcher cut the deal with Attorney General Greg Stumbo to get the indictments against him dropped. As part of that deal, Fletcher signed an agreed order that "acknowledges that the evidence strongly indicates wrongdoing by his administration" and "accepts responsibility for (the wrongful acts) as head of the executive branch of government.

If I were a candidate running against Ernie Fletcher, I wouldn't let such anniversaries go by without calling the public's attention to them and the record they reflect.

Ethics complaint against Williams dismissed

Reading the Legislative Ethics Commission's nine-page order dismissing a complaint against Senate President David Williams, a cynic might come to the conclusion that it is a classic case of someone taking the hit for their boss.

According to the order, Williams and others decided sometime prior to May 9 to hold a fund-raiser for the Senate Republican Caucus. Williams signed the letter inviting 237 people, including 66 registered lobbyists, to what might be called a pre-fund-raiser luncheon in Louisville May 23. Williams was the scheduled speaker at that luncheon.

At that luncheon, according to the order, forms were handed out that "were not appropriate for state legislative fund-raising purposes." The forms, which the order says were adapted from a U.S. senator's fund-raising forms, told contributors to make checks payable to the "Republican Party of Kentucky Senate Trust and Senate Republican Caucus Committee." The problem with handing such a form out to lobbyists is that state law bars lobbyists from contributing to caucus committees, and bars lawmakers from soliciting lobbyists to raise money on behalf of such committees.

Although the commission's order note that "the distribution of this form, coupled with some of the remarks made by Senator Williams, led some of the lobbyists in attendance to conclude that they were being asked to raise funds," it added, "There was credible testimony that Senator Williams did not specifically ask lobbyists to do so."

As to the inappropriate forms themselves, the commission concluded that they were adapted by a member of Senate Republican leadership staff without direction from Williams and that Williams did not see the forms until he arrived late at the luncheon. (That's the conclusion that might give pause to a cynic who knows to what great lengths Williams goes to control everything in the Senate.)

Although the complaint was dismissed, commission Chairman George Troutman made a point of saying the complaint against Williams, which was filed by Richard Beliles of Common Cause of Kentucky,  was not a frivolous one. "On the face of this," Troutman said, I can see why the complaint came about. ... I can see looking at the evidence how somebody could view this as a problem. ... This was very sloppily handled."

Anthony Wilhoit, executive director of the commission, had a different description: "This is more like Keystone Kops than Sopranos."

Energy session leftovers

1. No major piece of legislation passes the General Assembly without a corresponding major display of speechifying. On Friday, the flowery oratory occurred on the Senate floor, where an hour was devoted to several speeches lauding the energy incentives bill and one speech opposing it. All of the speakers were male members, which prompted one female to ask some men seated in a nearby room where the speeches could be hear over a sound system, "What's with the testosterone of the mouth?"

2. As soon as the bill won final passage, the debate over who gets credit (or blame, if you're environmentally aware) began. Several members of the Senate claimed the idea originated in that chamber. House leaders gave credit to Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, the sponsor of an energy bill that passed the lower chamber in this year's regular session. Even Gov. Ernie Fletcher tried to get the spotlight turned his way with a claim tracing the roots of the legislation back some energy forums held three years ago. While there was some validity to the claims from the House and Senate, since both sides contributed ideas and language to the final package, Fletcher's contribution largely consisted of manufacturing an atmosphere of supposed crisis as an excuse for calling a special session that he hoped would make him look like the leader he hasn't been for the last three years.

Flight 5191's ongoing tragedy

Note: I spent Friday in Frankfort, where the General Assembly was finishing up the special session. As a result, I did not see the page proofs for Sunday's Opinions-Ideas section, which I would normally see on Friday afternoon. If I had seen those proofs, I would have asked that the reference to "widows" in the main headline of my column (which appears below) be changed because the crash of Comair Flight 5191 produced widowers as well as widows. That is why I used the word "spouses" throughout the text of the column.

-ldk

Sunday's column:

A needless, senseless, avoidable tragedy hit Central Kentucky one year ago Monday when Comair Flight 5191 crashed while trying to take off from the wrong runway at Blue Grass Airport.

As we remember the 49 souls lost early that August morning, let us also remember the ongoing injustice visited on their survivors by Kentucky case law that seemingly contradicts some fairly clear statutory language and by the callous indifference displayed by the Republican-controlled state Senate earlier this year.

Kentucky is one of four states that does not allow surviving spouses to sue for loss of consortium (companionship) in cases of accidental or wrongful death.

If Flight 5191 had crashed in any one of the 46 other states, the spouses of its victims could seek recompense for losing the companionship of their partners, in addition to any other claims they might make for actual expenses and loss of future earning power.

Not in Kentucky, though.

A surviving child can sue for loss of consortium in the death of a parent in Kentucky. A surviving parent can sue for loss of consortium in the death of a child. And oddly enough, a spouse can sue for loss of consortium if the accident victim is injured but survives.

But Kentucky courts have ruled that a surviving spouse can’t claim loss of consortium, a finding that defies logic and equal treatment under the law given the fact that children and parents can make such claims.

It also seems to conflict with KRS 411.145, which says in part, “Either a wife or husband may recover damages against a third person for loss of consortium, resulting from a negligent or wrongful act of such third person.”

In this year’s regular General Assembly session, some spouses of Flight 5191 victims led an effort to correct what they rightly considered to be a wrongheaded court decision.

They found sympathy and overwhelming support in the House of Representatives, which passed legislation clarifying surviving spouses’ right to claim loss of consortium by a 93-7 vote.

In the Senate, though, these Flight 5191 spouses were greeted with insulting and mean-spirited suggestions that they were trying to turn the deaths of their loved ones into the equivalent of hitting the lottery.

During that same legislative session, the Republican-led Senate made a big to-do of portraying itself as the defender of the sanctity of marriage on the subject of health benefits for the domestic partners of employees at the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky.

But given a chance to honor the sanctity of marriages torn apart when Flight 5191 crashed or the sanctity of the marriages destroyed by recent mine disasters, the Senate instead tried to portray the surviving victims of tragedies (and yes, they are victims, too) as being motivated by greed.

During a Capitol Rotunda press conference at the time, Sarah King Fortney, who joined with Kathy Ryan as the main voices of the effort to change the law on consortium, eloquently described the Senate Republicans’ double standard and the impact it had on her and other Flight 5191 spouses.

“In the chamber behind me,” she said, “our elected representatives are debating the definition of marriage. They’re publicly stating their opinion that marriage is the bedrock of society and defending the sanctity of marriage to further their own political agenda.

“How can they, on the one hand, glorify marriage as our most sacred institution while simultaneously denouncing the emotions on which that foundation is built. That is the height of hypocrisy. ...

“I am a widow. I am a single parent. I’m an advocate for anyone suffering because they were robbed of their spouse due to ineptitude and/or negligence.

“Should that ever happen to you or your family, should you ever be forced into that corner, should you ever feel the pain that I’ve felt, I can only hope you won’t be subjected to the same slap in the face from our government that I have.”

Yes, a tragedy occurred a year ago Monday. But the travesty of justice it brought to our attention is an ongoing tragedy in its own right.

'Comprehensive' energy bill and other rants

For a variety of reasons, including an overnight trip to Western Kentucky, I have been a bit remiss in blogging this week. So, let's do some catching up:

1. Although its legislative apologists in both chambers of the General Assembly have gone on at length trying to spin the bill the Senate is expected to give final passage to tomorrow as a "comprehensive" statement of energy policy rather than a sellout to coal, House Bill 1 falls far short of the mark set by their lofty statements. While there are some minor hat-tips to real energy policy in this bill, it is first, last and always a seven-course banquet for coal. Everyone else gets table scraps. A truly comprehensive bill would encourage small businesses and individual Kentuckians to go "green" both in their business facilities and residences and in their transportation. A truly comprehensive bill also would do far more than this one does to address the issue of carbon capture and sequestration. While there are some decent aspects to this bill, it is mostly just another handout to large, wealthy corporations. From that perspective, it may qualify for the "comprehensive" label because it opens wide the door to the state treasury.

2. Former Transportation Cabinet official Dan Druen and four other former members of Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration still face charges lodged by the Executive Branch Ethics Commission for offenses related to the BlackBerry Jam hiring scandal. Druen told the Herald-Leader in December, "Everything I did was pursuant to a directive from my supervisors, top to bottom, including the governor, in advancement of the very initiative that carried his name." Despite that public assertion by a person who remains charged with violating state ethics laws, the commission voted in June to drop an investigation of possible ethical violations by Fletcher. A former commission member who left after that vote says it was a partisan decision by a panel dominated by Fletcher appointees. Gee, you think? More important, do you think this particular commission has any credibility left?

3. I agree with half of what WHAS-TV's Mark Hebert said on his blog about the Kentucky Republican Party doctoring a photo to make Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear look like some casino lounge lizard. Hebert thought the prank was both funny and stupid. I just though it was stupid because it invites retaliation. I doubt that the Beshear campaign would stoop to the depths plumbed by R state Chairman Steve Robertson, but some Beshear supporters might. How would Fletcher like to see pictures circulated that had his head Photoshopped onto a body clad in, say, an orange jumpsuit? Once again, Fletcher's crowd didn't give any thought to possible consequences of their actions.

4. With both gubernatorial candidates now on the air with TV spots, a couple of comments are in order. In future ads, Beshear should leave most of the audio to announcers and get rid of the hand gestures. His voice isn't his best asset, and the gestures look forced. As for Fletcher's "No Casinos" ad, the tag line - "It's a story without a happy ending" - could prove prophetic for him, given his poll numbers.

Fletcher's stagnant numbers

Sunday's column:

For the better part of three months, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear has stayed largely under the public radar.

Sure, he’s attended the few forums that have been held, as well as the Fancy Farm Picnic and related events that weekend. Lately, he also has issued a couple of position papers.

Other than that, though, Beshear has stayed out of sight and has made little news since the May primary, presumably concentrating instead on building an organization and a bankroll for the fall campaign.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher, on the other hand, has been a near constant blip on the radar screen, mainly with his “the sky is falling” insistence on calling a special legislative session to pass an energy bill that one day may allow Mr. Peabody’s coal train to haul the state treasury away.

Oops! I forgot the current “spin” that this trumped-up session isn’t about one company or even just coal, but rather is an opportunity to pass a comprehensive energy measure that, according to House Speaker Jody Richards, is also an “environmental protection bill.”

There is some validity to the “comprehensive” claim, since the bill does have numerous features other than incentives for coal-to-liquid and coal-to-gas plants. But given the current state of those particular technologies, any measure that offers incentives for such plants can’t live up to the “environmental protection” claim.

And despite the spin, Mr. Peabody’s train remains the force driving the coming special session because the only reason to deal with this legislation now, instead of next year, is to influence Peabody Energy’s decision on where it may build a $3 billion coal-to-gas facility.

(Cynic that I am, I believe the may in that last sentence can’t be overemphasized. Even if Peabody announces that Kentucky will be the site if and when it ever builds such a facility, I don’t expect to see the first shovel of dirt turned anytime soon unless there is a sea change in national energy policy.)

Without the expectation that Peabody will make a decision soon, House Democrats would not have agreed to a special session in the middle of a Republican governor’s re-election campaign, a session he hopes will make Kentucky voters forget his record of failed leadership.

Unfortunately for Fletcher, it’s not working out that way, as the poll Preston-Osborne conducted recently for The Lane Report indicated. A plurality of respondents in that poll agreed that the special session Fletcher called last month, with 66 items on the agenda, was “a political ploy.”

Like other recent polls, the Preston-Osborne sampling showed Beshear with a lead, 49 percent to 31 percent in this instance.

And much like the results of a recent SurveyUSA poll, some of the Preston-Osborne findings suggest that Fletcher’s opposition to letting Kentuckians vote on expanded gambling could be as damaging to him as it is helpful.

But the thing that has struck me about all the recent polls is the lack of significant movement in Fletcher’s figures.

Even with that radar screen virtually to himself for three months and even with bringing every power of the governor’s office into play on behalf of his campaign, he hasn’t budged his numbers noticeably.

The latest SurveyUSA poll pitting him against Beshear put his support at 37 percent to Beshear’s 58 percent. A Hasting Wyman’s Southern Political Report poll that found just 41 percent support for Beshear had Fletcher at 38 percent. And there’s that dismal 31 percent in the Preston-Osborne poll.

Fletcher got at least a psychological lift last week when a SurveyUSA poll that didn’t pit the candidates against each other put the incumbent governor’s job approval rating at 40 percent, the first time he has cracked that barrier in more than two-and-a-half years. But that was up just two points from May.

On the down side, his disapproval rating remained at 57 percent.

Such stagnant numbers hovering in or barely out of the 30s suggest to me that Kentuckians have formed their opinion of Fletcher and that there may be precious little he can do to change their minds.

He has a base that seems to be oblivious to his failures and shortcomings, but it’s a relatively small base. And with less than three months to go, it’s showing no real potential for growth.

Catch-up quickies

I'm back, minus one dysfunctional part of my anatomy. So, let's catch up on a few items.

1. Since Gov. Ernie Fletcher and more than two dozen of his aides and friends were indicted by a special grand jury for alleged violations of state personnel laws, can anyone really be surprised to learn that he has routinely ignored the law requiring that members of the Council on Postsecondary Education be equally divided between men and women and to reflect the state's Democratic-Republican voter registration numbers? Of course not.

2. Last week's dust-up between Attorney General Greg Stumbo and Secretary of State Trey Grayson on the subject of voting machines was unnecessarily heated. The two officials could have made their points with less posturing and without throwing words like "reckless" and "do-nothing" at each other. All that said, though, the fact that California has decertified two types of voting machines that are widely used in Kentucky because they were vulnerable to hacking and/or tampering make it imperative that some sort of safeguards be put in place before Kentuckians go to the polls Nov. 6. The public's trust in the integrity of the outcome depends on it.

3. I missed the Fancy Farm Picnic, so it's all the more important that I visit the Kentucky Cookout Tent at the Kentucky State Fair that begins tomorrow and runs through Aug. 26. They serve up some seriously good food there. After pigging out there, I'll check out then entries in the ugly lamp contest, which always leave me wondering what mind-altering substances might have produced some of that creativity. But one staple of past fairs is missing this year. No pig races. Bummer.

Oh, the gall of it

I'm scheduled for a bit of outpatient surgery tomorrow, which will keep me away from the office until at least Monday, Aug. 13, and maybe a day or two longer. The headline above should clue you in on the reason for the surgery. Back sometime next week.

Responsible gaming, responsible talk

Gov. Ernie Fletcher today issued a proclamation declaring this week to be Responsible Gaming Education Week, that said in part, "Responsible gaming is an activity enjoyed by a majority of the citizens of the Commonwealth who participate as a form of voluntary, personal entertainment ... "

Hmm! I wonder if this proclamation means Fletcher will drop all his doomsday rhetoric about expanded gambling and start discussing the issue, well, responsibly out there on the campaign trail.

Nah! Never happen.

Who'll define the gubernatorial campaign?

Sunday's column:

When politicians can’t run on their record, they tend to run against something or someone.

So it is that Gov. Ernie Fletcher wants to make this fall’s gubernatorial election a referendum on casino gambling with a little gay-bashing thrown in for good measure.

As an incumbent who barely won 50 percent of the vote in his party’s primary and whose approval rating hasn’t reached 40 percent for more than two years, Fletcher desperately needs voters to focus on anything but his record if he hopes to have any chance of re-election.

When a governor has been indicted along with more than two dozen of his aides and friends, has issued a blanket pardon covering everyone but himself, has taken advantage of his Fifth Amendment rights in front of a special grand jury and has cut a deal with prosecutors to get the charges against him dropped, the last thing he wants voters to think about is his record.

Such a governor has to keep the spotlight pointed in another direction, which explains why Fletcher recently changed his position on expanded gambling and health benefits for domestic partners of university employees and is trying to make those two issues the focus of the campaign.

It’s an attempt to rally his ultra-right Republican base and appeal to conservative Democrats, particularly in Western Kentucky.

(Indeed, Western Kentucky is the critical area of the state for Fletcher. If he can’t pick up tons of Democratic votes there, his campaign is doomed.

(That’s why an energy bill he virtually ignored during this year’s regular General Assembly session became the state’s most urgent need once the primary was behind him. Its passage could give him a boost in the Western Kentucky coalfields.)

Former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear, who parlayed his support for expanded gambling into a win in the Democratic primary, can’t afford to let the general election become a straight up-and-down vote on casinos and domestic-partner benefits.

Sure, polls generally show that a majority of Kentuckians favor expanded gambling. And health insurance doesn’t stir anti-gay passions the way same-sex marriage did in 2004. Monday’s rather tepid Capitol Rotunda rally against domestic-partner benefits proved that.

But the combination of the two issues poses a danger to Beshear if he lets them define this gubernatorial race.

Beshear needs to make this election a referendum on Fletcher, and not just because of the hiring investigation. For Beshear, it needs to be a referendum on the totality of Fletcher’s record.

On his ineffectiveness in dealing with the legislature.

On his mishandling of changes in the state health-insurance plan, which nearly caused a teachers’ strike.

On his “revenue neutral” tax tinkerization plan that proved to be a tax increase, forcing lawmakers into a “do over” a year later.

On the structurally imbalanced budgets that added more than $4 billion to the state debt during Fletcher’s term.

On the waste, fraud and abuse perpetrated on the state by a governor who campaigned on a promise to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.

On the retreat from education reform at all levels that has occurred on Fletcher’s watch.

On the ineptitude his appointees displayed in bungling the search for a new education commissioner.

Even on the firing of state park workers who dared to have visible tattoos and loose shirttails while mowing grass and cleaning toilets.

If Beshear can keep voters focused on Fletcher’s record of failed leadership while building a positive case that he can do better, he will probably win.

But if he lets Fletcher turn this election into a referendum on expanded gambling and domestic-partner benefits, well, whenever you gamble, there’s always a chance you can lose.