KyKurmudgeon

Happy Ho-Ho!

I'm outta here until Jan. 2, and it would have to be something very important to rouse me from my long winter's nap.

Governor, the voters are waiting

On Nov. 10, 1981, then-Attorney General Steve Beshear issued an opinion (OAG 81-388) regarding the calling of a special election to fill vacant seat in the state House of Representatives. The opinion said in part:

"Thus, because of the urgency for filling the vacancy in question so that the residents of the 75th Legislative District will be properly represented at the earliest possible time following the beginning of the session on January 5, it is suggested that the Writ of Election be issued on January 1st and hand delivered rather than mailed to the sheriff."

A special election can't be held until at least 35 days after the writ is issued. The election must also occur on a Tuesday. The 30th Senate District seat became vacant when Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo was inaugurated on Dec. 11. If Gov. Steve Beshear had issued a writ that day, the election could have been held on Jan. 15, just one week after the General Assembly goes into session. If Beshear issued the writ today (or any day between and Dec. 25, the election could be held Jan. 29.

Beshear acted quickly to issue a writ when state Rep. J.R. Gray resigned to join his administration. But the writ in Mongiardo's district seems to have been put on hold - a hold that has already cost 30th District residents two weeks of representation in the next legislative session.

What happened to the sense of "urgency for filling the vacancy in question so that the residents ... will be represented at the earliest proper time"?

The return of Greg Stumbo

Much of the talk around the Capitol today has been about Attorney General Greg Stumbo's decision to run for his old House of Representatives seat, which came open when state Rep. Brandon Spencer abruptly resigned yesterday (perhaps to take a job in Gov. Steve Beshear's administration?).

Anyone who has followed Stumbo's career knows he wouldn't be satisfied just being a member of the House. He would want to be in the center of the action. So, there has been some speculation today about what coalitions he could form to help him win a power struggle that would return him to a House leadership position.

However, that could happen without a power struggle if a vacancy suddenly developed in leadership. How could such a vacancy occur? Maybe one of the current leaders might also like a job in the Beshear administration. Beshear has said he would have a cabinet-level secretary for energy independence. Who among House leadership has an energy background? Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins.

Will things break that way? Maybe, maybe not. But that's one scenario that could put Stumbo back in his old job (and in position to lead the expanded gambling effort) without a power struggle.

Pre-holiday quickies

1. One of the major accomplishments attributed to former Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration by even his critics was reform of the Medicaid system, a change that he claimed saved Kentucky taxpayers $120 million. Turns out, though, that proof of the savings couldn't be found in an audit of the system by state Auditor Crit Luallen's office. Maybe the savings were real. Or maybe the claim of $120 million in savings was just a different form of Medicaid "fraud."

2. I think Gov. Steve Beshear may be making a mistake by not personally addressing the personnel issues Finance Cabinet Secretary Jonathan Miller had when he was state treasurer.

Horne's potential and Osborne's dilemma

Sunday's column:

FRANKFORT — This and that before taking a long holiday break:

When retired Marine Lt. Col. Andrew Horne announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate last week, one liberal blog gushingly described him as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “worst nightmare.”

I think I’ll wait a bit before joining that chorus.

Horne, who lost to John Yarmuth in last year’s Democratic primary for the 3rd District congressional seat, has potential. But that’s all it is at the moment. Just potential.

He remains relatively unknown outside Jefferson County. Plus, there’s the money issue. Can Horne rock the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s world enough that it will respond with a national effort to match the $10 million (and counting) McConnell has raised?

Still, Horne has a couple of assets that suggest he could become a bit of a nightmare for McConnell with the right amount of money and a slicker campaign style than he displayed last year.

First, he has no record in public office that McConnell can sift through to find the ammo for his famous attack ads. Former Gov. Paul Patton recently told the Herald-Leader’s Ryan Alessi, “Bluntly, a person without an extensive record might be the best candidate (for Democrats). Then, the race would be on McConnell.”

I agree.

Second, Horne has a credibility on the Iraq war that no other potential Democratic candidate, or even McConnell, can match. He’s been there, done that, still has the T-shirt. The others can’t say that.

And Horne’s on-line video announcement Thursday contained a perfect slogan for stressing that difference in a race against McConnell: “Mitch McConnell carries George Bush’s water on Iraq; I carried a rifle in Iraq.”

Andrew Horne as Mitch McConnell’s “worst nightmare”? No, not yet. A project with potential? Maybe.

                                       * * *

In what might be seen as an attempt to set the tone for his administration, Gov. Steve Beshear dropped in at the outset of Friday’s Executive Branch Ethics Commission meeting.

In his brief appearance, he told the commission members how important their job was and stressed his commitment to running an ethical administration.

Long after Beshear left the meeting, commission members got around to issuing advisory opinions on three of his appointees: Environmental and Public Protection Secretary Robert Vance, Personnel Secretary Nikki Jackson and Communications Director Phil Osborne.

In each instance, the commission concluded that the Beshear appointee could take the job, but with certain conditions for avoiding conflicts of interest. For Vance and Jackson, compliance with those conditions should not be overly difficult. But the conditions outlined for Osborne made me wonder if he could be effective as communications director even before he opted not to take the job.

Osborne is sole owner of Preston-Osborne, a public relations firm with numerous clients that do business with the state or have an interest in public policy issues. He planned to take a leave of absence and accept no salary or dividends from the company while on the state payroll. But he would have continued to own it.

And that would have proved problematic for him in light of Friday’s opinion, which said in part: “The commission believes the potential employee should have no involvement (discussions, decisions, actions, recommendations) as part of his official duty in any matters pertaining to his firm, any clients of his firm, or any firms that compete with his firm.”

One of Preston-Osborne’s clients is the Kentucky Equine Education Project, which supports expanded gambling – as does Beshear – and whose members in the racing industry stand to benefit if it passes.

As communications director, Osborne’s role would have included crafting the message for the Beshear administration. A key portion of that message, at least over the next few months, will involve expanded gambling.

Clearly, the opinion left Osborne facing an unacceptable dilemma. He couldn’t be involved in crafting the message for Topic A on the governor’s agenda while his firm retained KEEP as a client, which meant his effectiveness in his job would have been greatly diminished.

Ultimately, Beshear and Osborne got this one right, but not without a bit of messiness.

Close that door!

Gov. Steve Beshear told reporters today his administration would not be using the hidden door to a conference room on the first floor of the Capitol that was installed early in Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration. He referred to the door as being symbolic of a government that is not open to the public. "We plan on closing that door and accessing that room through the hall."

No decision has been made on whether the door is taken out and replaced with a wall or whether it is simply locked. But "the end result is we won't be using that door."

Beshear also members of his Executive Cabinet at their swearing-in ceremony, "This may be the happiest day we have."

I suspect he's right.

Inauguration thoughts

First, let me say that my laptop decided to take yesterday off, at least in regard to providing me Internet access. Otherwise, I would  have posted some of these thoughts yesterday. Don't know what the problem was, but our tech people seem to have it worked out now.

My memory isn't the greatest in my advancing years, but it struck me that the turnout for this year's inaugural parade was somewhat smaller that it was four years ago. Of course, the Democrats weren't out of power for 32 years the way the Republicans were. So, the R's had a lot more pent-up thirst for celebration in 2003 than D's did this year. In this town, D's have become so used to inaugurating one of their own that they now think of it almost as a right.

I thought the speeches delivered by Gov. Steve Beshear and Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo were pretty standard stuff and short on inspiration. Mongiardo is an example of the American Dream fulfilled, and his speech reflected that. Beshear spoke of his vision for Kentucky's future and the challenges that lie ahead. He made the obligatory plea for bipartisanship. (We'll see how that goes.) And he promised his administration would adhere to ethical standards. (We'll see how that one goes, too.) But neither speech contained the kind of memorable phrases that grab you immediately and stick with you. Just standard stuff.

I found it interesting that Beshear, addressing Frankfort and Franklin County residents at a late afternoon reception in the Kentucky History Center, said, "We're looking forward to spending the next four years in this community." Knowing how the political winds shifted during the last four years, it's probably a good thing that he's not taking re-election for granted.

Watching the Grand March on TV from home last night, I gave my vote for the "Dancing With the Governors" award to Paul and Judi Patton. They rock! Well, actually, I guess I should say: They glide!

Inaugural quickies

1. Sometime in the last few years, I picked up a campaign-variety button that no hangs on the wall of my cubicle at the Herald-Leader mother ship in Lexington. It reads:

  THE END OF

20 January 2009

   AN ERROR

Of course, 20 January 2009 is the date the next president will be inaugurated.

Each time I've looked at the button lately, I've been reminded that a majority of Kentucky voters decided the sentiment on the button would apply just as nicely to 11 December 2007.

2. Word is a couple of ROTC units from local high schools will be scooping up any messes left in the streets of Frankfort by the record number of equine units in tomorrow's inaugural parade.

Fixing the pension plans

Sunday's column:

FRANKFORT — State auditor Crit Luallen decides not to challenge U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. Outgoing Attorney General Greg Stumbo appears headed in the same direction, perhaps opting instead to take a run at his former seat in the state House (and a leadership role there?).

Governor-elect Steve Beshear fleshes out his staff (and raises new ethics questions in the process), but still fails to persuade his top choice to take over the Health and Family Services Cabinet.

A fellow journalistic curmudgeon, Todd Duvall of The State Journal, passes away. (The next one is for you, my friend.)

Any one of these events from the past week spurs thoughts that could fill this column space.

Today, though, I return to the subject of the state’s public retirement systems and the panel tasked with finding solutions for the $28 billion unfunded liability of the three largest pension plans.

After more than six months of gathering string, this “blue ribbon” commission is facing D-Day, as in Decision Day, on Dec. 18. And if recent meetings of the full panel and some of its subgroups are any indication, it could be a contentious day.

During the recent meetings, some panel members representing public employees and retirees have become increasingly vocal in their opposition to any major alteration of the system. In turn, other panel members have expressed their frustration with the resistance to change.

Even on the subject of issuing pension bonds to help ease the unfunded liability, there is no unanimity. David Jones, former chairman of Humana Inc., calls it “one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard.”

Count me among those who think using one credit card to pay off another is an iffy proposition, particularly since there is no guarantee that the basic premise of such bonding — that the return on investing the proceeds will exceed the interest on the bond payments — will hold true.

New Jersey learned this the hard way when it issued pension bonds in the late 1990s, only to see the stock market tank later.

But in recent years, the Kentucky General Assembly has relied increasingly on debt rather than raising taxes to a level that will fund the state’s needs. So, I’m sure some amount of bonding will figure in any pension fix approved by the legislature.

As to the rest of the fix, well, there are a couple of no-brainers in the lengthy list of recommendations presented to the commission Thursday.

Current rules that allow public employees to qualify for full retirement benefits after 27 years of service (20 years for hazardous duty jobs) are too lenient.

These rules can’t be changed for current employees because the state has an “inviolable contract” with them. But something similar to a “rule of 85” (age and years of service add up to 85) should be adopted for future hires.

But the pension plan’s problems can’t be solved simply by changing the rules for future hires. So, current employees and retirees probably will take some kind of hit, too.

With that inviolable contract in place, there are just a couple of ways that can happen. The most palatable method of having current workers and retirees chip in to help save their pension plans is to ask them to pick up more of the cost of a health insurance plan that is more generous than the inviolable contract requires.

No doubt these and other  changes the commission may recommend will face strong opposition from teachers, state workers and retirees. But legislators need to summon the will to fix the pension plans now, before the unfunded liability worsens.

Just as important, after 15 years of shortchanging some of these plans, lawmakers need to summon the will to fully fund them in future budgets.

In memory of Todd Duvall

At Wednesday evening's visitation for Todd Duvall, Ellen Hellard, a longtime friend of his,  asked other friends for brief descriptions of him that she could use while speaking at his funeral Thursday. The first word that came to my mind was "curmudgeon." (I think of The State Journal's late editorial page editor as the original Kentucky curmudgeon. I just borrowed the title when I started this blog.) After thinking a few moments, I also told Ellen that I thought of Todd as a passionate crusader.

It was only later that another description came to mind. Todd was a man of spirits. We had that in common, too. We both liked our toddies, particularly when we combined them with the company of friends and pleasant conversation.

So, to all of Todd's friends who read this post, please raise a glass to his memory.

CHEERS!