The Governor's Mansion sits on a bluff just to the west and above the Kentucky River. This is a view of the Governor's Mansion and grounds from atop the Capitol Dome. I have to say I am in awe of the number of ways the Fletcher administration can come up with bad press.
From Sunday’s Herald Leader:
“FRANKFORT - Under a blue Kentucky sky, birds sing from the boughs of the oaks and magnolias on the Capitol lawn. People walk their dogs. Joggers pass by.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher finishes a day at the office, but instead of walking through the idyllic scene across the street to the Governor's Mansion, he gets into a Lincoln Town Car to be chauffeured to his door…..
Former Gov. Julian Carroll, who served from 1974 to 1979, said he used to walk to work
"For goodness' sakes, it's only 500 feet or less," he said”
The Fletcher apologists will claim a need for security or perhaps the tried and true excuse that every governor does this or maybe even the Herald Leader is out to get Ernie.
I agree there probably is a grain of truth to all three excuses, but only a grain.
We also should be glad Ernie only knows how to fly an airplane; otherwise he would probably be flying a helicopter from the Capitol to the Mansion.
But wait, the last governor to regularly use a helicopter to commute to work was John Y. Brown. And Brereton Jones crashed that helicopter in 1992.
So I guess Ernie is stuck with a custom Lincoln to cover the dangerous 500 feet from this office to the mansion.
