Day Late and a Dollar Short

The saying “better late than never” doesn’t apply here.

I received the following Commonwealth News Center Updates via email on June 23.

Media advisory
URL : http://kentucky.gov/Newsroom/finance/etransparency.htm
Date : Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Issued By : Finance and Administration Cabinet
Summary : The Kentucky eTransparency Task Force to hold its first meeting

Governor Beshear Issues Call for Special Legislative Session to Address Pension Reform
URL : http://kentucky.gov/Newsroom/governor/20080617special.htm
Date : Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Issued By : Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office
Summary : Governor Steve Beshear today issued the call for a special session of the General Assembly to convene on Monday, June 23, 2008, to act on the state's public pension crisis.

Chief of Staff Jim Cauley Announces Decision to Leave Post in Beshear Administration
URL : http://kentucky.gov/Newsroom/governor/20080618cos.htm
Date : Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Issued By : Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office
Summary : Governor Steve Beshear today announced the decision of Chief of Staff James Cauley to resign in order to pursue his own political consulting business.

And this one on June 24th:

eTransparency Task Force holds inaugural meeting
URL : http://kentucky.gov/Newsroom/finance/etransparency.htm
Date : Thursday, June 19, 2008
Issued By : Finance and Administration Cabinet
Summary : Gov. Beshear's vision for making public information more available, accessible discussed

Now I know email is not perfect, but a 5 or 6 day lag?

I don’t know if this time lag is intentional or just blazing incompetence but it is another example of how this administration appears to be clueless when dealing with the public appearance of doing the right thing.

I do know that all four of the items were things that I have commented on in this blog.

Steve and Jane's Big Adventure

How much will this little junket cost?

What do the taxpayers of Kentucky get from Steve and Jane’s vacation?

Gov. Steve Beshear and Economic Development Cabinet Secretary John Hindman will depart Sunday for an economic development trip to Japan. The trip will mark the first visit by Gov. Beshear to Japan as Governor. Joining the Governor and Sec. Hindman will be First Lady Jane Beshear who is Secretary of the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation, Governor’s Executive Cabinet Secretary Larry Hayes, Commissioner J.R. Wilhite, of the Department for New Business Development, and Commissioner George Burgess, of the Department for Existing Business Development. Joining the delegation is Alston Kerr. Ms Kerr is Chair of the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation and Vice President of the Board of Directors of the World Games 2010 Foundation, Inc.

In Japan, the Governor will work to establish relationships with businesses considering new investments in Kentucky, and to continue to strengthen relationships with firms that are operating and growing in the Commonwealth.

Working to establish relationships?

Puhleeze.

Force or Farce?

Let’s give Steve Beshear credit for being able to steal a good idea even if it comes from a Right Wing Nut state legislator.

Citing the need for state government to exercise openness in how it conducts business, Gov. Steve Beshear today signed an executive order creating an eTransparency Task Force. Under the executive order, the group will bring recommendations to the governor on the creation and implementation of a “one-stop” information access tool that will include, among other things, providing information about state expenditures and state programs.

Does the following sound familiar?

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 42 to require the Finance and Administration Cabinet to create a searchable Web site to provide certain information on the expenditure of state funds; provide that the new sections shall be known as the "Taxpayer Transparency Act of 2008."

Two questions:

If this is such a great idea, I think it is, then why did it die in the legislature and who killed it? I don’t know why this died, other than most of our legislators would know a good idea if it bit them in the ass, but the guy that killed this puppy was Mike Cherry.

Cherry is the Democratic Legislator from Princeton, Kentucky and the chairman of the House State Government Committee where this bill died.

So once again the General Assembly fumbles the ball.

But I’m not so sure the Task Force will do much more than steam around in the fog and accomplish nothing.

Remember, the idea here is to recommend how to make state records accessible on the Internet. Now, this sort of thing is an unnatural act for most politicians and bureaucrats.

Take a look at the membership of the Task Force.

Chair – Secretary of Finance and Administration Cabinet, Jonathan Miller;
Vice Chairs – The Honorable Todd Hollenbach, Jr., State Treasurer, and The Honorable Crit Luallen, Auditor of Public Accounts;
The Honorable Jack Conway, Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, or his designee;
The Honorable Richie Farmer, Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, or his designee;
The Honorable Trey Grayson, Secretary of State, or his designee;
The State Controller or designee;
The State Budget Director or designee;
The State Librarian or designee;
The Executive Director of the Kentucky Broadcasters Association or designee;
The Executive Director of the Kentucky Press Association or designee;
The Commissioner of the Commonwealth Office of Technology;
The Executive Director of the Office of Legal Services for Finance and Technology, Finance and Administration Cabinet;
The President of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce;
The Executive Director of the Kentucky Association of State Employees;
The Executive Director of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth; and
The Executive Director of Common Cause of Kentucky.

So, we start with 6 politicians that, to put it kindly, are pretty computer challenged.

Five of the remaining eleven members are state bureaucrats, of which only one the Commissioner of the Commonwealth Office of Technology hopefully will know what the issues are surrounding the task force’s job. Of course his job reports directly to the Chairman of the Task Force, which always fosters an open public discussion of issues.

Two members are from the main stream media. Notice they left the bloggers out, it must be a typo. While the media types may be tech savvy they are usually averse to actually working to get a story so we can’t expect a lot of effort here.

That leaves us with a business representative, I’m sure they will want all the contracts and spending records opened to public inspection.

The union representative and a couple of liberal human rights groups finish out the make-up of the Task-Force.

Oh, one final thing, eight of the appointees don’t ever have to show up. They can just designate whoever is in the office and not doing anything to go to the meetings, that is what is usually meant by “designee”.

This is a great idea, but I don’t see much chance of it working.

Clueless in Tokyo

WTF

He can’t pay for essential state services but he can go to Japan on a junket?

Gov. Steve Beshear and Economic Development Cabinet Secretary John Hindman will depart Sunday for an economic development trip to Japan. The trip will mark the first visit by Gov. Beshear to Japan as Governor.

And there aren’t any details. The link goes to another press release.

How many ways can I say clueless?

Bully From Burkesville

One great thing about the court system in this country is that any idiot can file a law suit.

Senate President David Williams sued Gov. Steve Beshear Friday, claiming the governor's veto of a $3.8 billion state highway spending plan is unconstitutional.

This is grand standing, and an exercise in money wasting, by David Williams. The bully from Burkesville just doesn’t like it when someone shoves back.

All Williams will accomplish here is to keep his name in the news and waste a few more of our tax dollars.

And the guys in the General Assembly wonder why no one loves them.

Serving the Pork

Let’s take a minute to look at how politicians pass out the pork.

Here is a press release from the Governor’s office.

Gov. and Mrs. Steve Beshear today launched Kentucky’s Adventure Tourism initiative in Knott County. This plan opens more areas of the state as tourist destinations for biking, hiking, camping, boating, fishing, hunting, off-roading and horseback riding.

“Here in Kentucky we can offer wilderness, with the Daniel Boone National Forest, the Cumberland Mountains, the Red River Gorge and a set of lakes and rivers unmatched by any other state,” said Gov. Beshear.

Kentucky’s Adventure Tourism initiative allows the state to enter into agreements with private property owners for the public use of land for outdoor activities without fear of facing liability issues.

This all sounds good right, more tourism, more money for economically distressed county, good public relations for the Governor and maybe a few bucks for private property owners.

But I’m not sure how this really works. You see, this program looks to be a legacy from the Fletcher administration. The Kentucky Flex-E Grant Program for implementation of the comprehensive Adventure Tourism Plan for economically distressed ARC Counties has been around since fiscal year 2006.

The money is administered by GOLD (Governor’s Office for Local Development) these are the waiters in the pork passing process.

According to the application guidelines the only entities eligible to apply for Kentucky Flex-E Grants are:

• Local units of government (including special districts, area development districts (ADDs), school districts) and post secondary education institutions in or serving distressed Appalachian Kentucky counties.

• Non-profit organizations and citizen groups located in or serving distressed counties which have an on-going mission and an established, administrative organization that supports pursuit of the mission.

I don’t see the local property owners being involved unless they are part of the local political power structure, like say the Knott County Fiscal Court.

I don’t know if the Adventure Tourism Park System, in Knott County, is involved in this little pork passing exercise? But it looks like it could be.

We Make Things Happen Corporation, in partnership with Summit Engineering, Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon and Economic Research Associates have been commissioned by Knott County Fiscal Court to assist in developing an Adventure Tourism Park System made up of a series of trails throughout the county.

Now I know it is probably only coincidence that folks that work for Summit Engineering, according to the Registry of Election Finance, have donated $86,800.00 to various political candidates, including Steve Beshear.

And I’m sure that by spending money with one company that as most of it’s’ offices in Tennessee and Alabama and another company with it’s' office in Los Angeles that those bucks will be churning through the economy.

And who could possibly question spending money with a Mom and Pop operation in Bowling Green whose references include Frankfort bureaucrats?

Doesn’t this whole thing just smell a little funny? Talk about a piece of government accounting that looks like it needs a financial audit.

Score One for the Guv

From: Patrick, Sue (CPE)
To: Patrick, Sue (CPE)
Sent: Tue Apr 29 16:33:13 2008
Subject: CPE PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION


COUNCIL ON POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Release Date: April 29, 2008

Contact: Sue Patrick

Phone: 502-573-1555 ext. 308



Note to media—There will be no further comment today from President Cowgill.



STATEMENT OF BRAD COWGILL, PRESIDENT

KENTUCKY COUNCIL ON POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION

Today I announce my resignation as president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. I do this for one reason: in the foreseeable future, it would be necessary to devote excessive time and effort to unproductive activities, denying me the satisfaction of fruitful work.



I was drawn to this position by my desire to make a meaningful contribution in aligning the Commonwealth's always-limited resources to our statewide postsecondary education goals.



During my eight month tenure, there has arisen within the Council a consensus agenda that focuses on affordability, performance funding, accountability and the state's Double the Numbers educational attainment goal. The Council determined from my track record here that my experience and qualifications would be a good match with its long-term agenda.



I am not aware of any dissimilarity between the Council's postsecondary education agenda and that of Governor Beshear. Iin the last two weeks, he has shown a determined interest in the Council's presidency, contending that the organization must duplicate last year's search and must exclude me from it.



I have no desire to wage a battle with the Governor over this matter.
It would unduly harm Kentucky's postsecondary education reform efforts, and the positive momentum that has been achieved to this point.



It has been a great pleasure to have had the opportunity to work over the past eight months with a deeply committed staff and outstanding board members. The Council's work is nationally respected and should be a source of great pride to the Commonwealth.



The effective date of my resignation will be worked out with the Council to provide a seamless transition to new leadership.





Sue Patrick, APR
Director of Communications
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education

1024 Capital Center Drive, Suite 320
Frankfort, KY 40601
502-573-1555, ext. 308

Free Food, Kentucky Style

Let’s talk about stupid for a moment.

Who wants to stand out in the cold and rain for bad food? According to the Herald-Leader, probably about 12,000 people need a free meal.

But there is no such thing as a free lunch or in this case a free breakfast. And guess who gets to pay for it, --- you do.

Serving hours are from 7 to 11 a.m. with about 70 workers from the Kentucky Department of Parks serving more than 2,000 pounds of country ham, 15,000 biscuits and servings of cheese grits, 25,000 scrambled eggs, and 1,200 pounds of sausage.

Now I don’t know how much this little party costs, but looking around the Internet you can get some idea.

Workers from the Kentucky Department of Parks, let’s say they are paid at the mid-point of a grade 10. Food and Dietetic workers pay grades run from grade 6 to grade 16. The mid-point hourly rate for a grade 10 employee is $16.355.

So let’s assume a couple of hours to setup and a couple more to clean up and we have 70 people working 8 hours at $16.355 or $9,158.50 for staff.

Then there is the cost of the breakfast fixin’s:

Kentucky Country Ham, 2,000 pounds at $4.89 a pound would be $9,780.00.

Beaten Biscuits, 15,000 at $3.25 a dozen would be $4,062.50.

Cheese Grits (had to go to Hartford CT to find a link), bulk price 18 servings for $14.95 so let’s call the price of grits at $6,000.00. The price would be less than half the retail price in Hartford,

Eggs, 25,000 at $2.17 a dozen would be $4,520.83.

Sausage, 1,200 lbs at $6.25 per pound would be $7,492.50.

So now we have a projected cost of $41,014.33.

I didn’t figure in the time to setup the tents, or clean up the streets or anything else and we are knocking on the door of $50,000.00.

The only thing more stupid than standing in the rain for cold eggs is spending this amount of money, or any amount of money, for this little show.

I know this is chump change in the state government budget, buy surely to God when you are cutting social programs, don’t you think Steve Beshear could find something better to do with $50,000.00?

Moral Values and Neurotoxins

Yesterday, I got an email from Jonathan Miller. Well actually I got two emails from Miller’s group the Compassionate Community. I guess the spam software belched, and yes, I did sign up for the group.

The email was hyping Kentucky’s First Lady Jane Beshear and her project of the Green Team and began with this:

Happy Earth Day!

I'm pleased to tell you that in celebration of the holiday, First Lady Jane Beshear just announced her vision to make the Governor's Mansion and all Kentucky homes more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

The email concludes with a link to a Facebook page:

So, please join us by signing up for the Green Team at greenteam.ky.gov and/or join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15267901982.

I know that a lot of the First Ladies have pet projects. The projects allow the First Lady to do “good work” and get good media attention. Usually the projects are more about projecting image that actually accomplishing anything.

I still remember Martha Wilkinson (Wally the Weasel’s wife) poster. Martha, dressed in a 1940’s WAC outfit, was trying to get volunteers for her GED Army.

So a couple of questions:

First, did Miller use this opportunity to touch base with supporters? I don’t understand the use of the Compassionate Community to promote a state government website. Isn’t the standard press release enough? Does the linking of government supported activities and a personal website promoting a book give anyone else heartburn?

Greetings and welcome to The Compassionate Community, where we believe public policy should reflect the fundamental moral value of compassion for others.
On this site, you can:
Order copies of the book (Now in paperback!);

Second, the Facebook page for the Green Team has Jonathan Miller as the creator. Does the Secretary of Finance really have the time to sit around and create a Facebook page? Let’s hope some staffer did the work and just put Miller’s name on the page.

Third, did anyone actually do any research before they put the Green Team web page on the Internet?

One of the tips from the First Lady was to:

Replace regular incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (cfl)

CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of CO2 a year.

Of course this would be a great idea if there wasn’t that pesky neurotoxin problem:

….the bulbs contain small amounts of mercury, a neurotoxin, and the companies and federal government haven't come up with effective ways to get Americans to recycle them.

I guess the thing that bothers me about this little project isn’t the cause; I’ve been accused of being a liberal tree hugger myself.

What bothers me is the amount of time and effort put forth by Miller and staff on a public relations exercise and the linking of a personal promotion website to a Kentucky government project.

Don’t they have anything else to do?

Doesn’t anyone ever think about how things might look before they do these things?

The Next Budget Battle

Steve Beshear has left himself a way out of the budget mess.

A day after legislators approved a lean state budget; Gov. Steve Beshear said he might veto specific spending items, but not the entire measure. He also warned of a possible special lawmaking session to raise taxes.

David Williams also has a way to save face from this fiasco.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said it's the governor's responsibility to call a special session if revenue figures fall 5 percent below current projections. The budget bill spells out that shortfalls of less than 5 percent can be addressed by the governor without legislative approval.

Well I can pretty well tell you that the Bush administration will continue to drive the economy into the crapper and Kentucky will follow. Revenue will fall 5% or more below current projections.

So what should Steve Beshear do now?

First, take a red pen to every pork barrel project in the budget.

Second, take a few months to lay the ground work for a special session dealing with tax increases. Twist a few arms, pass out a few goodies, kiss and make nice, or kick butt whatever it takes to get the ducks lined up.

Third, help Greg Stumbo become Speaker of the House. Given recent performance Jody Richards should pass the gavel to someone that might have a clue on how to manage caucus. This one act will improve state government immeasurably. On the well documented in the media personal side, Greg Stumbo is a train wreck, but never underestimate his political skills.

Fourth, actually know exactly what you want out of the session before you start and make sure everyone else knows what the game plan too. People can be convinced raising taxes is necessary, but not if it’s just to pour money into a black hole.

Take the issue to the public and show them graphically what an underfunded state government really means to them personally.

Dear Mr. Sloth

I received this comment on a previous post, so consider this a follow-up.

Rightwing Ground Sloth has left a new comment on your post "No More Mr. Nice Guy <http://www.ralphlong.com/2008/04/no-more-mr-nice-guy.html> ":

Ralph...you really should try and explain how tax increases ends up benefiting the economy. I'd love to read about that. It seems to me that Tennessee is doing reasonably well and they have no income tax at all.

I'm no finance guy. Don't even play one on TV. But it seems to me that if you raise taxes then prices go up as well. Those companies you are taxing are going to offset that tax on the backs of the very people you are trying to help. Raise income taxes on those people in Kentucky that pay taxes would only serve to make them tighten up even more than they already are with gas prices where they are. When they tighten up on their spending the sales tax receipts plummet. Again, I'm no finance guy, but that just doesn't make sense to me.

While those state employees toil away for nothing(compared to their private sector peers) and look into next year at their proposed 1% raise you are suggesting we raise their taxes so they end up LOSING money with that raise? They are already losing money to the 2.7% inflation rate! They have been going backwards for the past several years anyway...you tax hike won't help that.

So...splain yerself...please.

So here is the ‘splainin’:

Dear Mr. Sloth,

First, Tennessee does have an income tax:

The individual income tax is imposed only on individuals and other entities receiving interest from bonds and notes and dividends from stock.

Second, Tennessee’s primary source of revenue is the sales tax:

Generally, the state's sales and use tax rate is 7 percent.

Food is taxed at 5.5 percent, but candy, dietary supplements and prepared food are taxed at the increased 7 percent rate.

Local sales taxes also are collected and those rates vary from 1.5 percent to 2.75 percent.

When it comes to soaking the poor Tennessee is one the best states in the country.

From Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States. “

When all Tennessee taxes are totaled up, the 2003 study found that:

The state and local tax rate on the best off one percent of Tennessee families—with average incomes of $828,000—is 3.3% before accounting for the tax savings from federal itemized deductions. After the federal offset, the effective tax rate is a mere 3.0%.

The average tax rate on families in the middle of the income distribution—those earning between $24,000 and $38,000—is 8.8%. After the federal offset, the rate is 8.7%, nearly three times the effective rate the richest pay.

But the tax rate on the poorest Tennessee families—those earning less than $14,000—is the highest of all. At 11.7% it is nearly four times the effective rate of the wealthiest Tennesseans.

By comparison Kentucky Sales and Use Tax are imposed at the rate of 6% of gross receipts or purchase price. There are no local sales and use taxes in Kentucky.

Kentucky does not tax food.

….food and food ingredients means substances, whether in liquid, concentrated, solid, frozen, dried, or dehydrated form, that are sold for ingestion or chewing by humans and are consumed for their taste or nutritional value. Excluded from the exempt food and food ingredients are the subcategories of (a) alcoholic beverages, (b) tobacco, (c) candy, (d) dietary supplements, (e) soft drinks, and (f) prepared food.

So if you want to talk about being poor and paying taxes then I’d rather be in Kentucky.

Third, there is no legislation to “raise income taxes on those people in Kentucky”.

Fourth, the sales tax increases that were killed by the state Senate were on:

Commercial janitorial services, including carpet, upholstery, and window cleaning; armored car services; security services; Chartered air flight services if a pilot is furnished, including hot air balloon flights; and Commercial linen services, excluding: Commercial uniform services; and Commercial linen services provided to hospitals and nursing homes.

Now I realize that those taxes will impose a burden on individuals needing to have their hot air balloon cleaned before the armored car arrives with their money, but I can live with that.

Fifth, considering the real costs of smoking, everyone would be better off if it went away. The arguments made by the Tobacco Apologistas just don’t hold up.

Once again let’s look at the real costs of smoking.

Annual health care costs in Kentucky directly caused by smoking - $1.50 billion

Portion covered by the state Medicaid program - $487 million

Residents' state & federal tax burden from smoking-caused government expenditures - $602 per household

Smoking-caused productivity losses in Kentucky - $2.13 billion

If there is one single answer to "how tax increases ends up benefiting the economy" then just add up the billions of dollars that would be added to the Kentucky economy if tobacco went away.

Yes, a tax on smoking is a regressive tax; it will impact the poor more than the rich. And yes, I know you can’t legislate morality or health. But you can sure tax stupid behavior. I see this tax as much a social policy as a revenue generation device. The tax makes good long term health policy and good long term fiscal policy.

Sixth, successive governors and legislatures over the last four decades have systematically stripped financial rewards from state employees. I have repeatedly said the common way to balance the budget is to do it on the backs of state employees.

If we had a sane tax policy, then state workers could be paid amounts comparable to the private sector. The plantation mentality, (guess who the slaves are), used by a long line of Kentucky politicians culminating in David Williams will continue to prevail as long as sound bites like “No New Taxes” resonate with the voters.

For state workers there are two alternatives, either shut up and take it or unionize. If you don’t like the idea of a union look at the teachers. As a group the legislators and the Governor are a hell of a lot more scared of what the KEA is going to do than what state workers are going to do.

Please feel free to use these talking points when discussing the issues with other sloths.

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Legislators don’t like the budget.

Hours after weary House and Senate budget negotiators finished a patchwork $19 billion spending plan, other lawmakers began blasting it for what they considered fatal deficiencies: education and health program cuts, paltry teacher raises, and few projects.

The wave of frustration that crested suddenly Tuesday -- especially among House Democrats -- now puts in jeopardy the prospect of passing the two-year state budget, which legislative leaders had hoped to do Wednesday.

The Governor doesn’t like the budget.

“However, I can say I’m disappointed that the proposed budget does not include any plan for additional, recurring revenue so desperately needed by Kentucky.

“As you recall I proposed not one but two plans for recurring revenue -- namely expanded gaming and an increase in the state’s low cigarette tax -- in an effort to move the state forward in the areas of education, health care, public safety and economic development.

Brereton Jones thinks Beshear screwed up handling expanded gambling.

Former Gov. Brereton Jones, who was instrumental in persuading Steve Beshear to run for governor, is criticizing Beshear's handling of a constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling in Kentucky.

Beshear was "in the perfect position of getting it done and he did not," Jones said Tuesday in an interview. He is chairman of the Kentucky Equine Education Project, which pushed casinos.

I think Casinos are a bad idea, but Jones is right, Beshear just didn’t get it done.

So what can Governor Steve Beshear do? Here are a few suggestions.

First, if that mass of Jell-O, the General Assembly, actually passes the budget the Governor should veto it. If the legislature doesn’t pass a budget we move to step two.

Second, the Governor should call the legislature into special session after the May primary election. He should privately threaten to keep calling them into session until the November election unless they pass a reasonable budget. This keeps legislators with contested campaigns from raising money, a real motivator to get something done.

Third, hand Jody Richards and Harry Moberly the budget bill with tax increases and projects. Tell them they can change commas but they can’t change the substance of the bill. Make it clear that if they screw this up then Governor will not be pleased.

Fourth, take David Williams to the wood shed, something long overdue, and hang every painful program cut back on his head. Give Williams a diplomatic way out but make it clear that you, as Governor, will make his life a living hell in every possible way unless he cooperates. Believe me a Governor can do this even to David Williams.

Fifth, drag every waffling member of the legislature, Democrat and Republican, into a one on one session with the Governor and his staff and make it damn clear that screwing with the Governor on this will make their life incredibly unpleasant. Tell then what they are getting, what it’s going to cost them and what they need to say in public.

Sixth, take the message of what government cut backs mean to every citizen to the public forum. The Governor has the bully pulpit. He should use it. The mainstream media is lazy. He can supply them with an endless amount of information on why his plan is good and why David Williams and his toadies are evil.

Bottom line Steve Beshear needs to grow a pair and quit being Mr. Nice Guy.

Political Will

I continue to be amazed at the general incompetence of the General Assembly and the Governor when it comes to putting together a budget.

This one sentence from Pol Watchers sums up the problem.

No new taxes were included in the budget, lawmakers said. About $85 million in savings would be assumed from government efficiencies created by not filling state jobs that open up later this year after an expected wave of retirements.

Here’s the problem, you have to believe that experienced state employees making $85 million during the budget cycle, are totally worthless. You have to believe that the state will be better off without them.

Now I will allow in some cases that’s true. But the truth is if that many people and their institutional memory go out the door then a lot of things government does will be done badly or not at all.

The mantra of shrink the government only works if you are willing to put up with shrinking the services government provides. Now it’s obvious the politicians are willing to balance the budget on the backs of state workers, teachers and the poor. There is nothing new in that formula.

The need to act like lemmings and follow Grover Norquist makes passing a tax of any sort nearly impossible.

Our honorable leaders have also refused to do any of the heavy legislative lifting on major issues. They seem to have a need to engage in pissing contests like the one between David Williams and Harry Moberly and one between Damon Thayer and Mike Cherry rather than do any real work.

Take for example their inability to address the mess at Kentucky Retirement Systems.

Decisions on how to restructure the state employees' underfunded pension plans could depend on how much money the state budget can put into them.

House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, said Monday evening that the budget being hammered out now has little in the way of new revenue, leaving pension plan negotiators in the dark and far apart.

The longer they put off doing something the bigger the mess gets. The same goes for Medicaid funding and true comprehensive tax reform.

Every legislator and the Governor know what the problems are, and what the solutions are, but they lack the political will to do their jobs.

There is an answer. A Governor that could actually lead and manage a thoughtful legislative agenda would go a long way to solve the problems but that’s at least four years away.

A complete change in the leadership of the House and the Senate would be good too. Every year these guys prove that if they were all in giant paper bag they would try to walk out the closed end. Again I don’t see this happening anytime soon.

Striving for Mediocrity

The Herald-Leader has pretty well summed up the Steve Beshear administration so far.

A year ago, amid a competitive Democratic primary for governor, Steve Beshear told a crowd of Hopkins County Democrats that he planned to be the second native of the county to become Kentucky's governor.

It was a bold declaration.

On Saturday night, amid a competitive Democratic primary for president, Beshear had the chance to make another strong political statement in front of his home crowd by endorsing in that race.

Instead, Beshear, who grew up in Dawson Springs, reiterated that he hasn't "quite made up my mind."

I originally thought the Beshear administration would be a care taker administration. But, so far Beshear’s actions and appointments have struggled to reach mediocre.

With the notable exception of pushing for casino’s, a train wreck of political incompetence, this administration has basically done nothing but give a bunch of Frankfort old timers jobs.

Beshear has dropped the ball a bunch of times. His coming late to the idea of raising the tobacco tax and his less than inspiring endorsement of restoring voting rights to former felons are but two examples.

So it’s no surprise his is taking the least politically dangerous route when it comes to supporting a presidential candidate.

If Steve Beshear wanted to make a bold move, or if he could just do math, he would follow Danny Briscoe’s advice.

Briscoe suggested that Beshear should back Obama regardless of how the Kentucky primary turns out because Obama mathematically looks to be the nominee with his lead in delegates.

"In Kentucky, clearly Clinton is going to win 2 to 1, but if the governor steps forward and says he's for Obama in a white, Southern state, that puts him in a position to be remembered by Barack Obama for a long time" if Obama wins the White House, Briscoe said.

Good News, Bad News

This Herald-Leader story sums up the good news and the bad news about the Casino Gambling Amendment.

There will be no casinos in Kentucky anytime soon.

Gov. Steve Beshear conceded on Thursday that his plan to solve the state's budget woes with tax revenue from casino gambling has no chance of passage in the legislative session that ends April 15, killing casinos until at least 2010.

Good News – the bill is dead in this session.

Bad News – We get to do this all over again in 2010. The General Assembly will continue to hope for pain free way of raising revenue. When I say pain free, I mean to pain free in the sense that they won’t have to explain why they raised taxes.

Our honorable leaders will now have another way of avoiding, for years, any meaningful revamping of the taxes in the Commonwealth.

Of course the fun part of this is waiting to see how Brereton Jones and the needy horse farmers will screw up lobbying the legislature next time.

Wet Noodle Anyone?

Steve Beshear steps up one more time for Brereton Jones and his coalition of needy horse farm owners.

House Democratic leaders have two days to whip up support for a casino amendment or go bust.

Gov. Steve Beshear met with House Democrats for less than 10 minutes Monday afternoon after launching his "final push" to get legislation to expand gambling on the November ballot….

The Rev. Nancy Jo Kemper, executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches, compared the rally to "whipping a dead horse with a wet noodle."

You know I really can’t think of anything to add to Rev. Kemper’s comment, it says it all.

Kentucky v. Bloggers

One last comment, one more than it’s probably worth, on Steve Beshear allowing access to blog sites.

Yes, I am glad that the silly restriction was lifted. But I do wish the Herald-Leader would do its’ homework a little better before publishing things like this.

Reversing a policy set by former Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration, state-owned computers used by executive branch employees can now access blogs. The state had banned access to most blogs, excluding those operated by newspaper and television companies, since June 2006.

"We don't believe it is state government's role to distinguish between which news source is legitimate and which is illegitimate," said Jonathan Miller, secretary of the cabinet. "For the most part, we are leaving an open Internet."

The troubling thing here is Miller’s comment that “we are leaving an open Internet” when in fact they are being more restrictive than Fletcher’s administration.

Like I said I’m glad bloggers aren’t being blocked, but whether this administration is more open on their Internet access policy is arguable.

Beshear Opens State Computers to Internet - Sort Of

Here’s a little more detail on the Governor Steve Beshear administration’s opening up state computers to see blog sites like this one.

Some observations:

Beshear has blocked more categories of web sites than former Governor Ernie Fletcher had blocked.

While pushing for casino’s Beshear has blocked all of the games and gambling categories.

Beshear has blocked the illegal drug category, but neither blocked the tobacco or alcohol categories.

Fletcher didn’t want you watch sports and Beshear doesn’t want you to find a date.

First a list of the things Fletcher and Beshear can agree on should be blocked.

Pornography - Includes Web sites containing the depiction and illustration of sexually explicit activities and erotic content unsuitable to persons under the age of 18.

Erotic / Sex - Includes Web sites containing nude photography and erotic material, as can be found ontelevision or obtained free of charge from magazines. Sexually explicit activities are not listed here. Includes erotic collections of celebrities pictures as well.

Swimwear / Lingerie / Nudity - Includes Web sites containing nudity, but with no sexual references. Includes illustration of swimwear and lingerie as well.

Illegal Activities - Includes activities that violate the Human Rights Charta or are illegal according to German and European law, such as instructions for murder, manuals for sabotage such as bomb building, instructions for illegal activity, child pornography, sodomy, slavery, torture etc.

Computer Crime - Includes Web sites containing information about the illegal manipulation of electronic devices, data networks and password encryption, as well as about credit card misuse and other methods of Internet fraud such as dialer scam.

Hate / Discrimination - Includes Web sites from and about extreme right and left wing groups, sexism, racism, religious hate, suppression of minorities, inequitable boycott calls and holocaust revisionism.

Illegal Software (Cracked) - This category contains Web sites with software cracks, license key lists and illegal license key generators, as well as providers of equivocal P2P content and violations of copyright.

Extreme - Includes Web sites containing questionable content or promoting extremism (e.g. violence, militancy).

Music / Web Radio - Includes Web sites for radio, Web radio, soundfiles (MP3, Wav, etc.), audio- streaming, homepages of musicians and bands, record labels and music vendors.

Anonymous Proxies - Includes Web sites that allow users to anonymously view Web sites.

Spyware / Adware - This category contains Web sites making use of or providing malicious applications violating personal or corporate privacy without user's explicit knowledge or consent. Examples of violations are unsolicited data exchange beyond simple user authentication or validation, unrequested installation of software among others.

Phishing - This category contains Web sites providing information about financial fraud through manipulated Web sites and e-mails, also known as Phishing.

Malicious Web sites - This category contains Web sites with malicious source code, such as self- installing Trojans and viruses that exploit security vulnerabilities in browsers or firewalls.

State Black List - Any particular site they feel like blocking.

Second a list of those categories that Fletcher blocked but Beshear opened.

Politics - This category contains Web sites of political parties and those sites that provide information about a particular political party and different political topics (election, democracy, etc.)

Religion - Includes Web sites with religious content, information about the [five] main religions, and religious communities that have emerged out of these religions.

Sects - This category contains Web sites about sects, cults, occultism, satanism and religious fundamentalism.

Newsgroups / Blogs - This category contains Web sites that enable the sharing of information such as on a bulletin board. Includes Web logs (“blogs”) and guest book servers as well.

Sports - This category contains Web sites about resort sports, fan clubs, events (e.g. Olympic Games, World Championships), sports results, clubs, teams, sporting federations, magazines and fan sites.

Third, those categories those were open under Fletcher and are now blocked by Beshear.

Gambling / Lottery - Includes lottery organizations, casinos, betting agencies and other gambling sites with chances of profit.

Computer Games - Includes Web sites with computer games, of computer game producers, cheat sites, online gaming zones, gaming clans and other gaming sites without chances of profit.

Toys - This category contains information about dolls, modelling, model trains/cars, board games, card games, parlor games as well as other non-educational products and offerings for children.

Chat / Instant Messaging - This category contains Web sites that allow users to communicate and to have a direct exchange of information with another user from place to place. Also listed are chatroom providers and offerings about Instant Messaging.

Illegal Drugs - This category contains Web sites about LSD, heroine, cocaine, pot, dope, amphetamines, stimulant drugs, magic mushrooms, doping drugs and the utilities for drug use (e.g. water pipes).

Dating / Relationships - This category contains Web sites that promote interpersonal relationships, escort services and family-related content as weddings and adoption.

Personal Homepages: This category contains Web sites about and from private individuals. Includes personal homepage servers and other sites with personal contents and activities.

Read But Don't Write

Having been banned by the Commonwealth Office of Technology I was somewhat surprised by the reported lifting of the ban. I don’t think it will make much difference in my readership because the ban had more holes than a block of Swiss cheese.

However, while checking the state servers I ran across this edict from on high, the “Internet and Electronic Mail Acceptable Use Policy”. This was originally written in 1996 but was last updated March 18, 2008.

The last section of the document details what a state employee can’t do on the Internet or in email.

I find it somewhat disturbing that commenting on this blog, or any other blog, is considered the same as visiting pornographic sites, pirating software, committing sexual harassment and a number of other undesirable behaviors.

The prohibited uses are listed below:

Prohibited and Unacceptable Uses: Use of Internet and E-mail resources is a privilege that may be revoked at any time for unacceptable use or inappropriate conduct. Any abuse of acceptable use policies may result in notification of agency management, revocation of access and disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. The following activities are, in general, strictly prohibited. With the proper exception approved, employees may be exempt from these prohibitions during the course of job responsibilities and legitimate state government business.

Violations of the rights of any person or company protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property, including but not limited to, the downloading, installation or distribution of pirated software, digital music and video files.

Engaging in illegal activities or using the Internet or E-mail for any illegal purposes, including initiating or receiving communications that violate any state, federal or local laws and regulations, including KRS 434.840-434.860 (Unlawful Access to a Computer) and KRS 512.020 (Criminal Damage to Property Law). This includes malicious use, spreading of viruses, and hacking. Hacking means gaining or attempting to gain the unauthorized access to any computers, computer networks, databases, data or electronically stored information.

Using the Internet and E-mail for personal business activities in a commercial manner such as buying or selling of commodities or services with a profit motive.

Using resources to actively engage in procuring or transmitting material that is in violation of sexual harassment or hostile workplace laws, whether through language, frequency or size of messages. This includes statements, language, images, E-mail signatures or other materials that are reasonably likely to be perceived as offensive or disparaging of others based on race, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, religious or political beliefs.

Using abusive or objectionable language in either public or private messages.

Knowingly accessing pornographic sites on the Internet and disseminating, soliciting or storing sexually oriented messages or images.

Misrepresenting, obscuring, suppressing, or replacing a user’s identity on the Internet or E-mail. This includes the use of false or misleading subject headers and presentation of information in the distribution of E-mail.

Employees are not permitted to use the E-mail account of another employee without receiving written authorization or delegated permission to do so.

Employees are not permitted to forge E-mail headers to make it appear as though an E-mail came from someone else.

Sending or forwarding chain letters or other pyramid schemes of any type.

Sending or forwarding unsolicited commercial E-mail (spam) including jokes.

Soliciting money for religious or political causes, advocating religious or political opinions and endorsing political candidates.

Making fraudulent offers of products, items, or services originating from any Commonwealth account.

Using official resources to distribute personal information that constitutes an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy as defined in the Kentucky Open Records Act, KRS 61.870.

Online investing, stock trading and auction services such as eBay unless the activity is for Commonwealth business.

Developing or maintaining a personal web page on or from a Commonwealth device.

Use of peer-to-peer (referred to as P2P) networks such as Napster, Kazaa, Gnutella, Grokster, Limewire and similar services.

Any other non-business related activities that will cause congestion, disruption of networks or systems including, but not limited to, Internet games, online gaming, unnecessary Listserve subscriptions and E-mail attachments. Chat rooms and messaging services such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC), I SeeK You (ICQ), AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger and similar Internet-based collaborative services.

Posting on blogs or any other interactive media is strictly prohibited.

Winding Down

Some thoughts on the current legislative session as it winds down.

I don’t know if Governor Steve Beshear was thinking of the good old days when the Governor told the legislature what to do and they did it, or if he was trying to be too much of a nice guy and believing that they would all work together for the benefit of the Commonwealth when he was trying to get his agenda through the legislature.

Maybe a little of both, but this administration has been pretty inept at getting anything done during this legislative session.

Beshear has been consumed with pushing gambling down the throats of the citizens of this state. Let’s be honest there has been no great out cry for “Give Us Casinos” from the citizens of this state. The whole issue is being driven by a small number of horse farmers and casino owners trying to make a buck.

Any meaningful legislation like House Bill 70 to restore voting rights to felons that have served their time has taken a back seat to gambling. Beshear says he supports this legislation, I believe he does, but both restoring voting rights and legalizing gambling require a constitutional amendment.

Steve Beshear is not about to confuse the voters with two amendments on the same ballot, and casinos take precedence.

But the lack of meaningful legislation can’t be laid solely at the feet of Steve Beshear.

I have to think the Democratic House Leadership just doesn’t like Steve Beshear. They appear to have made a concerted effort to screw the Governor. Jody Richards and the House Democratic Caucus have one primary goal, to stay in office.

Why else do they stone wall on tax reform?

Why else do they refuse to raise the tobacco tax to at least the average nationwide?

Why else have they short changed the state retirement systems to fund pork barrel projects?

These guys are good at political infighting and handing out tax money, but when it comes to responsible leadership, they are sadly lacking.

Technologically Challenged

Sometimes you have to look at the little signs to get a hint of the thought processes that control state government.

From the Herald-Leader:

Gov. Steve Beshear, who replaced Fletcher in December, doesn't have a government e-mail account. He said he prefers his official communications to be in person or by telephone.

Beshear said he decided not to use government e-mail in part so that he wouldn't be exposed to the possibility of mixing personal and official communications.

"You've always got to be careful not to step over that line, and the easiest way from an e-mail standpoint not to step over that line is to not even have a government e-mail," he said.

Now I understand Beshear’s reluctance to use email. After all Ernie Fletcher was, in part, undone by email and so to some extent were Paul Patton and Steve Henry.

I’m also sure that in his law practice Beshear had a minion to do any necessary emailing.

But a few questions come to mind:

Is the Governor, like many of his generation, just email challenged?

Do the Governor’s official or personal communications contain something he doesn’t want to be subject to open records requests?

Does the Governor believe that just because he doesn’t use email his administration is bullet proof when it comes to scandals documented by email? If he wants to do that, then he needs to ban email statewide and cut all links between state government and the Internet.

I guess the real question comes down to whether the Governor is technologically ignorant or if he wants to make sure that any back room deals he makes don’t blow up in his face.

Neither answer looks good for this administration or the Commonwealth.

Camel Feed

And now for the Good, the Bad, the Undecided:

Harry Moberly has shown some leadership, something usually missing in the House of Representatives. He is trying an end run around Jim Gooch.

A maverick legislative move by one of the state's most powerful lawmakers will probably force a committee vote Wednesday on a three-year-old bill that would stop coal mine operators from filling valleys and creek beds with potentially toxic excess waste.

Despised by the coal industry and championed by environmentalists, the so-called "stream saver" bill was inserted Tuesday by Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, into a decoy measure that would have given tax breaks for camel feed.

Now if we could just get the House Democratic Leadership to remove the Coal Industry Representative Jim Gooch from being the Chairman of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee and replace him with someone not tied hand and foot to the coal industry.

The replacement doesn’t have to be a total tree hugger, just some one that doesn’t believe the world is flat and the coal industry never does any harm.

Kudos to Governor Steve Beshear for doing the right thing by easing the requirements for restoring voting rights to felons.

Felons who complete their sentences can get their voting rights restored more easily under changes to the pardon process announced Tuesday by Gov. Steve Beshear.

Beshear said he will drop requirements for an essay and three character references, both imposed by previous Gov. Ernie Fletcher. He also will revoke a $2 fee.

Under the "barriers" placed by Fletcher, the number of felons whose voting rights were restored shrank from more than 600 a year to about 250 a year.

"This disenfranchisement makes no sense," Beshear said……….

Beshear said he favors House Bill 70, a proposed constitutional amendment that would automatically restore the right to vote to most felons. But he stopped short of saying he would throw the weight of the governor's office behind it. HB 70 has waited on the House floor for weeks while House leaders debate casino gambling and the budget.

Now if Steve will just take one more step, show a little leadership and actually push House Bill 70, he could bring Kentucky in line with 47 other states on restoring felon rights.

And finally the Herald-Leader has took its’ own head count on the Casino Amendment and found it lacking the votes to pass. Among those undecided are Fayette County Representatives Bill Farmer, Ruth Ann Palumbo, Kathy Stein, and Susan Westrom.

Come on ladies, you know this is a bad bill. I mean really, any one of the three of you have more balls than Bill Farmer. Do you really need to weasel around this issue?

And speaking of weaseling around this issue how about Jesse Crenshaw being coquettish and just not saying where he stands. And, heavy sigh here, Jim Wayne taking the ultimate weasel stance of abstaining. I guess everyone has to go back to work after the silly season ends in Frankfort.

Walking Dead

There are some things that look to be dead or maybe they just smell bad.

Hillary Clinton’s Campaign - Dead
Hopefully for the Democratic Party this dies tonight. Doing the political math, I don’t see any way can Hillary get the nomination?

Bruce Lunsford’s Campaign - Dead
Do not give money to this man. There is no way on God’s Green Earth that this DINO is going to beat Mitch McConnell. If Lunsford thought Ben Chandler was mean to him in the Governor’s race four years ago, then he is going to be stunned when his good buddy Mitch turns the dogs loose in this election.


Casino Gambling Amendment – Near Dead
If the so called Democratic Leadership in House of Representatives manages to get this thing to the Senate it will be a miracle. Put these guys in a paper bag and they would try to walk out the closed end. Assuming the bill gets to the Senate, I don’t see that Republican controlled body letting it go further. And if by some miracle, the amendment actually goes to the voters, I don’t see it passing.

Now I hope it gets to the voters for one simple reason. If this thing isn’t killed by the voters it will be back from the dead next session.


A Workable Budget - Near Dead
There are three things working against a common sense budget. First, the false promise of painless money from the casinos. Second, there is the inability of the legislature to do math and enact sensible tax policy. And third, David Williams, wanting to inflict as much pain on the Beshear administration as possible, will make the budget as lean as possible.


Democratic Party Leadership – Smells Bad
Jennifer Moore, Chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, picking up the lunch tab for twenty or so high rolling lobbyists. The Governor picks the Chairman of the Party. Looks like Beshear has a talent for picking individuals sensitive to the appearance of their actions.

Walking the Walk

One part of the Steve Beshear’s retirement bill opens a whole set of political questions.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 42 to establish the Kentucky Public Pension Financing Advisory Commission in the Finance and Administration Cabinet to review investments and financing of the state-administered retirement systems and to provide a report to the General Assembly

The complete text of the section is below:

SECTION 6. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 42 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:

(1) There is hereby established the Kentucky Public Pension Financing Advisory Commission, which shall be composed of the following fifteen (15) members:

(a) The secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet;

(b) The secretary of the Personnel Cabinet;

(c) The State Treasurer;

(d) The state budget director;

(e) The state controller;

(f) The Auditor of Public Accounts;

(g) The executive director of the Kentucky Retirement Systems:

(h) The executive secretary of the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System; and

(i) Seven (7) individuals appointed by the Governor. Of these seven (7) individuals appointed by the Governor, one (1) appointee shall hold the designation of chartered financial analyst (CFA), one (1) appointee shall hold the designation of certified public accountant (CPA), three (3) appointees shall have extensive professional investment experience or pension plan experience, one (1) appointee shall be a member of the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System or an organization established to represent the interests of employees and retirees participating in the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System, and one (1) appointee shall be a member of the systems administered by the Kentucky Retirement Systems or an organization established to represent the interests of employees and retirees participating in the systems administered by the Kentucky Retirement Systems.

(2) The secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet shall serve as chair of the Kentucky Public Pension Financing Advisory Commission. The State Treasurer shall serve as vice chair of the commission and shall serve as chair in the absence of the secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet.

(3) A majority of the entire membership of the Kentucky Public Pension Financing Advisory Commission shall constitute a quorum, and all actions of the commission shall be by vote of a majority of the quorum.

(4) Professional, clerical, and other staffing needs shall be provided by the Office of Financial Management in the Finance and Administration Cabinet.

(5) The Kentucky Public Pension Financing Advisory Commission shall be charged with:

(a) Conducting a comprehensive operational and governance review of the past investments of the state-administered retirement systems. This review shall be completed no later than December 1, 2009;

(b) Examining and recommending appropriate investment benchmarks and investment portfolio strategies, based on investment returns and asset allocations of comparable public pension systems;

(c) Preparing an analysis for the 2010 Regular Session of the General Assembly as to the financial impact of the pension modernization reforms enacted under this Act;

(d) Providing recommendations to the 2010 Regular Session of the General Assembly for a long-term funding strategy for pension and health care benefits, with the goal of ensuring full funding of the actuarially required contributions to the state-administered retirement systems by 2020; and

(e) Providing and filing a report summarizing the findings and recommendations of the commission as provided by paragraphs (a) to (d) of this subsection to the Governor, the Legislative Research Commission, and the boards of the state-administered retirement systems.

(6) Notwithstanding any provision of KRS Chapter 6, 16, 61, 78, or 161 to the contrary, each state-administered retirement system shall furnish any and all investment or investment-related information or data and any actuarial analysis or projections requested by the commission, at no cost to the commission.

(7) The Kentucky Public Pension Financing Advisory Commission shall be dissolved at the conclusion of the 2010 Regular Session of the General Assembly, unless the General Assembly acts to extend the duration of the commission.

(8) In order to carry out this section, the commission may contract for the services of a nationally recognized independent investment advisor with extensive experience advising public pension plans who is capable of reviewing investment benchmarks, investment portfolio strategies, investment returns, and asset allocations of the state-administered retirement systems.

(9) For purposes of this section, "state-administered retirement system" includes:

(a) The Kentucky Employees Retirement System, the County Employees Retirement System, and the State Police Retirement System administered by the Kentucky Retirement Systems and established under KRS 16.505 to 16.652, 61.510 to 61.705, and 78.510 to 78.852;

(b) The Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System established under KRS 161.220 to 161.716;

(c) The Judicial Retirement Plan established under KRS 21.345 to 21.580; and

(d) The Legislators' Retirement Plan established under KRS 6.500 to 6.577.


Now I don’t expect to see brilliance coming from the head honchos at Kentucky Retirement Systems or Kentucky Teachers Retirement Systems.

If things follow course in Frankfort most of the elected and appoint officials will never show up, they will send an assistant to sit in their chair. We've already seen that the State Auditor has been content to sit and ignore this problem so we shouldn’t really expect a lot from most of the Commission members.

But the real question mark here is what will Jonathan Miller do as Secretary of Finance and Administration with this Commission?

Gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Miller had some very definite ideas on what should be done about pension systems in Kentucky.

A year ago Miller had these things to say:

"Irv Maze and I will stand up for our teachers, police, firefighters and civil servants with real reforms. In the Miller-Maze Administration, we will fight for full disclosure of all investment commissions and of all legal fees affecting the pensions systems."

"Just as we will shine light on all aspects of state government so that Kentuckians know they are getting what they pay for, our public employees and their families need to know that their pension systems are managed well. And that includes providing leadership through the Governor's office to manage our overall budget well so that we don't have to divert resources to shore up our retirement systems at the peril of safe streets and a strong education system."

Other reforms Miller proposed for the public pension systems included:

-Posting the names of the chairs of all systems committees on the Web

-Posting times of all full board meetings on the Web at least one month prior to the meetings

-Posting times of all committee meetings on the Web sites at least one month prior to the meetings

-Posting on the Web all minutes of the full boards, as well as committees, within one week of the meetings

-Including State Treasurer and Secretary of State on both the KRS and KTRS boards

-Including the Secretary of Finance on the boards as a voting member and as a member of investment and audit committees

-Making the Personnel Secretary a voting member of the boards and chair of the personnel committees -Opening voting rules for employee representatives and including term limits

-Banning exclusions of board members from any committees

-Full disclosure of investment commissions paid by name of firm and firm's location

-Full disclosure of all legal fees including proceeds from class action suits and attorney of record on class action suits.

“I also call on the Governor to follow the advice of the advocacy groups to provide a real, independent review of the state's pension funds, and to take the tough, immediate action that is necessary. I also call on our legislative leaders, including those running for statewide office this year, to tackle the pension problems in this year's session, instead of pushing them off to future generations."

So if this bill becomes law in its’ current form we will get to see if Miller can walk the walk as the Secretary of Finance or if his statements were just talking the talk by a candidate.

Tinker's Dam

"Tinker's-dam - a wall of dough raised around a place which a plumber desires to flood with a coat of solder. The material can be but once used; being consequently thrown away as worthless."

In today’s Herald-Leader Larry Dale Keeling points a major flaw in Steve Beshear’s proposed pension reform plan.

What's missing, though, is money.

Don't take that as a criticism of Beshear's opposition to giving the plans a one-time infusion of cash by issuing pension bonds. In the current economy, the risk of bonding may well exceed the reward.

The missing money in question is the difference between the state contribution to the systems proposed in Beshear's budget and the actuarially recommended amount that would keep the unfunded liability from increasing during the next biennium.

Although the rising cost of health care is the major force that has driven this crisis of unfunded liability, governors and lawmakers have exacerbated the problem by underfunding the systems to the tune of $1.5 billion in recent years.

This governor and the current group of legislators are preparing to do it again.

Once again our so called leaders in Frankfort demonstrate their ability to see as far as the next election. This like other issues could be dealt with if the Governor and General Assembly had the vision and intestinal fortitude to actually address the nineteenth century tax laws the Commonwealth currently operates under.

Like Ernie Fletcher’s tinkering with tax reform, Steve Beshear is tinkering with pension reform.

Retirement Reform Light?

A few thoughts on the Herald-Leader story about Steve Beshear’s plan for state retirement systems. I’ll have more after we actually see the bill.

From the Herald-Leader:

FRANKFORT -- The state would save several hundreds of millions of dollars a year for its financially strapped retirement systems under a plan Gov. Steve Beshear and lawmakers are to unveil Thursday.

The plan primarily would affect future hires. It would raise the years of service before state workers could retire but not for teachers, place restrictions on "double dipping" in which state workers retire and then return to a job in government and eventually draw two pensions, and create a special panel to review any proposed changes in the pension systems.

House budget chairman Harry Moberly Jr., D-Richmond, said the primary area in which the plan deals with current employees is the cost-of-living adjustment on the pension system for state workers.

Their annual cost-of-living adjustment for current and future retirees would be 1.5 percent. Any adjustment higher than that would have to be approved and pre-funded by the state legislature. The COLA now is tied to the rate of inflation. In recent years, retirees have been getting about a 3 percent increase each year.

The COLA change "is going to be necessary," Moberly said in an interview Wednesday. "Overall, I think the governor has put forth a reasonable plan."

Some thoughts on what was in the story:

Double Dipping

This will not include any current employees. If it did Beshear would have to send home half of the people he has appointed to jobs in state government.

Teachers

These sacred cows can’t be touched by Beshear. After all the Jefferson County Teachers Association is one of the water carriers for legalizing Casinos.

Future Employees

The new employees will bear the brunt of the funding burden; it’s easier to screw the guys with no voice in the process.

Retiree’s COLA

Tough luck if your pension doesn’t keep up with inflation. You should be used to it, the same thing happened to your raises when you were working for state government.

What wasn’t in the story was the mention of health care. Why this 800 pound gorilla sitting in the corner of the room was ignored is puzzling. At first blush this looks like band-aid fixes at best.

God forbid that Beshear, Moberly and the rest of the so called leaders of both parties in Frankfort have the guts to actually propose changing the tax laws to a fair system that would meet the obligations of state government.

Help For Horse Farms

I always enjoy reading Larry Dale Keeling in the Herald-Leader and I have to agree with his take on Steve Beshear’s paying his debt to the horse and gambling industry.

FRANKFORT --Kentucky's horse industry played a significant role in electing Gov. Steve Beshear. So, Beshear no doubt felt an obligation to propose casino gambling legislation in keeping with the wishes of the industry.

OK. Fine. Beshear's obligation has been met. The industry's bill has been introduced. Now, let's all prepare for the return trip to the real world.

As might be expected from an industry that has never been able to get its act together on expanded gambling -- and please, let's call it gambling, not gaming -- the legislation Beshear unveiled Thursday is unrealistic, over the top, bizarre even.

Perhaps Beshear and the General Assembly could benefit from those with more experience in writing this kind of law. Below is an example from Nevada.

NRS 244.345 Dancing halls, escort services, entertainment by referral services and gambling games or devices; limitation on licensing of houses of prostitution.

1. Every natural person wishing to be employed as an entertainer for an entertainment by referral service and every natural person, firm, association of persons or corporation wishing to engage in the business of conducting a dancing hall, escort service, entertainment by referral service or gambling game or device permitted by law, outside of an incorporated city, must:

(a) Make application to the license board of the county in which the employment or business is to be engaged in, for a county license of the kind desired. The application must be in a form prescribed by the regulations of the license board.

(b) File the application with the required license fee with the county license collector, as provided in chapter 364 of NRS, who shall present the application to the license board at its next regular meeting.

The board, in counties whose population is less than 400,000, may refer the petition to the sheriff, who shall report upon it at the following regular meeting of the board. In counties whose population is 400,000 or more, the board shall refer the petition to the metropolitan police department. The department shall conduct an investigation relating to the petition and report its findings to the board at the next regular meeting of the board. The board shall at that meeting grant or refuse the license prayed for or enter any other order consistent with its regulations. Except in the case of an application for a license to conduct a gambling game or device, the county license collector may grant a temporary permit to an applicant, valid only until the next regular meeting of the board. In unincorporated towns and cities governed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 269 of NRS, the license board has the exclusive power to license and regulate the employment and businesses mentioned in this subsection.

2. The board of county commissioners, and in a county whose population is less than 400,000, the sheriff of that county constitute the license board, and the county clerk or other person designated by the license board is the clerk thereof, in the respective counties of this state.

3. The license board may, without further compensation to the board or its clerk:

(a) Fix, impose and collect license fees upon the employment and businesses mentioned in this section.

(b) Grant or deny applications for licenses and impose conditions, limitations and restrictions upon the licensee.

(c) Adopt, amend and repeal regulations relating to licenses and licensees.

(d) Restrict, revoke or suspend licenses for cause after hearing. In an emergency the board may issue an order for immediate suspension or limitation of a license, but the order must state the reason for suspension or limitation and afford the licensee a hearing.

4. The license board shall hold a hearing before adopting proposed regulations, before adopting amendments to regulations, and before repealing regulations relating to the control or the licensing of the employment or businesses mentioned in this section. Notice of the hearing must be published in a newspaper published and having general circulation in the county at least once a week for 2 weeks before the hearing.

5. Upon adoption of new regulations the board shall designate their effective date, which may not be earlier than 15 days after their adoption. Immediately after adoption a copy of any new regulations must be available for public inspection during regular business hours at the office of the county clerk.

6. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 241.0355, a majority of the members constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business.

7. Any natural person, firm, association of persons or corporation who engages in the employment of any of the businesses mentioned in this section without first having obtained the license and paid the license fee as provided in this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.

8. In a county whose population is 400,000 or more, the license board shall not grant any license to a petitioner for the purpose of operating a house of ill fame or repute or any other business employing any person for the purpose of prostitution.

9. As used in this section:

(a) “Entertainer for an entertainment by referral service” means a natural person who is sent or referred for a fee to a hotel or motel room, home or other accommodation by an entertainment by referral service for the purpose of entertaining the person located in the hotel or motel room, home or other accommodation.

(b) “Entertainment by referral service” means a person or group of persons who send or refer another person to a hotel or motel room, home or other accommodation for a fee in response to a telephone or other request for the purpose of entertaining the person located in the hotel or motel room, home or other accommodation.

[1:50:1923; NCL § 2037] + [2:50:1923; NCL § 2038] + [3:50:1923; NCL § 2039] + [4:50:1923; NCL § 2040]—(NRS A 1959, 838; 1961, 364; 1971, 11; 1973, 923; 1975, 562; 1979, 20, 305, 511, 728, 730, 732, 733; 1989, 1899; 1991, 166; 2001, 1124)

If our Kentucky legislators followed this model, think of all the new business and extra income folks at KEEP like Brereton Jones and his Airdrie Stud could generate.

Like ranching in Nevada, this kind of law would bring a whole new meaning to the term Stud Farm in Kentucky.

Spinmeister

The Herald-Leader has this story on Steve Beshear pushing casino gambling, Beshear has new spin on casinos.

FRANKFORT --
Casino gambling legislation that Gov. Steve Beshear plans to release next week could produce several hundred million dollars in licensing fees that would boost his anemic two-year budget proposal, the governor said Friday.

He declined to provide details, but said "the license fees that can be produced by this are significant."……

Beshear's declaration reverses his prior position against counting on casino money to bolster the budget that takes effect July 1.

"It's not financially responsible for me to do," he told the Herald-Leader on Jan. 13. "I'm going to go ahead and propose my budget based on what these (General Fund revenue) projections really are."

New spin my Aunt Fannie.

This is the same fiscally irresponsible crap dished by the Fletcher administration in a new wrapper.

Beshear acknowledged that the spending of one-time money from license fees could worsen the "structural balance" of the budget.

For several years, lawmakers have been spending more money than the state's General Fund has produced. It's called a structural imbalance -- lawmakers use money that won't be available in the future to pay for programs that will continue to cost money.

Folks this is like having maxed out a dozen credit cards and getting a new one to solve the problem.

What is it going to take for these guys to get some guts and do the right thing?

You cannot provide revenue sources for long term commitments with one time band-aid answers like casino gambling. It doesn’t work. The credit card eventually maxes out and someone has to pay it off.

This is not leadership. Steve Beshear is paying off political debts by providing a simple, easy to understand wrong answer to a complicated problem. Steve Beshear was right the first time, this is irresponsible.

There are practical alternatives:

HB 443 (BR 838) - D. Watkins, M. Marzian, T. Burch, J. Crenshaw, J. Jenkins, R. Meeks, C. Miller, H. Moberly Jr, D. Owens, R. Palumbo, C. Rollins II, K. Stein, J. Wayne, S. Westrom

AN ACT relating to a cigarette surtax and declaring an emergency. Amend various sections of KRS Chapter 138 to create an additional cigarette surtax of 70 cents; increase the tax rates for other tobacco products and snuff; impose a floor stock tax as of July 31, 2008; EMERGENCY.

Feb 1-introduced in House
Feb 4-to Appropriations & Revenue (H)

HB 262/FN (BR 911) - J. Wayne, J. Jenkins, L. Belcher, T. Burch, L. Combs, K. Hall, R. Henderson, M. Marzian, R. Meeks, T. Riner, K. Stein

AN ACT relating to taxation. Amend KRS 141.020 to increase the tax rate on income over $75,000; amend KRS 141.066 to establish a refundable earned income tax credit at 15 percent of the federal credit; amend KRS 140.130 to decouple from the federal estate tax phase-out; amend KRS 139.120, 139.200, and 139.480 to include a list of selected services as subject to sales tax; amend KRS 141.0205 to recognize changes to income tax credits; make income tax provisions effective for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2008, make estate tax provisions effective for deaths on or after August 1, 2008; make sales tax provisions effective for billings on or after August 1, 2008.

Jan 10-introduced in House
Jan 15-to Appropriations & Revenue (H)


This is a financial management problem Beshear and most of the General Assembly, Republicans and Democrats, refuse to address. This is a financial management problem that will eventually be solved on the backs of Kentucky taxpayers.

The current actions of the Governor and General Assemby are at best irresponsible.

Wrong Tool

Once again the Beshear administration shows the political subtlety of a broad sword.

From the Herald-Leader:

Gov. Steve Beshear's administration might have violated state and federal laws by firing a governor's office staffer who had just returned to Kentucky in December from three months of U.S. Air National Guard training.

A couple of points:

The guy fired was a political appointee in the Governor’s Office. If he truly had any illusion of keeping a job after the administration changed he was an idiot.

However, the Beshear administration should have found him a job counting paper clips for a few months or offered him a job in Inez or Fulton or sent him to work for the boss from hell. I can think of at least three other ways to get rid of this guy without front page headlines.

Another mark of political ineptitude is who in the administration is talking and who isn’t.

Dan Egbers, general counsel for the state Personnel Cabinet, didn't return a call.

Dan Egbers knows more about personnel law than anyone in state government. If Dan Egbers is not returning phone calls then someone probably screwed up big time.

On the other hand we have Executive Assistant to the Governor Colmon Elridge III sending an email to the fired employee.

"I did not know anything about this until this morning but unfortunately it is true," Elridge wrote in a Jan. 25 e-mail. "I am so sorry for the way in which this turned out, however, you know as we all do how we serve at the pleasure of our Governor!"

Elridge is nice guy, but I’m not sure I’d want a 25 year old being out front in another possible hiring investigation, unless of course I needed an expendable soldier to fall on his sword if things got rough.

Elridge’s bio from WHAS:

Executive Assistant to the Governor - Colmon Elridge, age 25, most recently served as the Central Kentucky Director for the Kentucky Education Association and the Outreach Director for the Kentucky Democratic Party and Democratic National Committee. Previously, Elridge served as the Legislative Liaison for the Kentucky Association of Regional Mental Health Programs (KARP). In 2007, Elridge served as President of the Fayette County Young Democrats and in 2006 he served as Treasurer of this group. Elridge resides in Lexington and is engaged to Victoria Hall of Louisville

I Feel Your Pain

Steve Beshear is willing to suffer a little pain to get additional cash flow (Casinos) into state government. However most of the pain Steve is willing to suffer is on the backs of those that are least able to defend themselves.

Medicaid

FRANKFORT --
Although Gov. Steve Beshear's proposed budget would give Medicaid $166.4 million more from the state's General Fund over the next two years, current projections suggest the program will still fall short by about $61 million each year.

"The Medicaid program is not fully funded," said Janie Miller, secretary of the Health and Family Services Cabinet.

Public Advocacy

The state's chief public defender says Gov. Steve Beshear's proposed budget cuts may force public defenders to withdraw from some cases, potentially placing thousands of cases in limbo.

Justice

FRANKFORT --
Kentucky would keep packing felons into its prisons and jails, and the Corrections Department would suck money from the rest of the justice system -- including Kentucky State Police, prosecutors and public defenders -- in Gov. Steve Beshear's two-year budget proposal.

Higher Education

University of Kentucky President Lee Todd implemented a hiring freeze and ordered about $10 million in cuts Wednesday to comply with Gov. Steve Beshear's directive to reduce the university's budget by 3 percent.

Beshear Comments

Here is a partial transcript of comments made Monday by Gov. Steve Beshear about potential cuts in the next two-year state budget.....

Q: Are you just trying to push casinos?

A: The numbers speak for themselves. We have a half-billion dollar hole. I won't be proposing a budget to be balanced on some speculative income off of casinos. That would not be responsible and I'm not going to do that.

One of the options that this commonwealth does have to create additional revenue is to allow limited expanded gaming. But that issue is hopefully to be addressed in this General Assembly and we won't know where that's going until April 15.

Q: Do you oppose a cigarette tax increase?

A: I don't favor any kind of increase of taxes at this time. I think Kentuckians are taxed enough, particularly in these hard economic costs. ...

Now I realize Steve made a deal with the devil. He was willing to sell out to the gambling interests to be Governor. But he doesn’t want to look like he sold out. So instead of doing the right thing he’ll let the weakest of Kentuckians take the hit.

If the man had any cohones, he would tell the Casinos and Horse Breeders thanks for the bucks but now I’m going to actually lead Kentucky. He would back two bills that would address the immediate problems and start addressing state government revenue stream.

Rep. Jim Wayne, (here is a guy I would like to see be Governor) talks about the long term fixes.

The Consensus Forecasting Group anticipates that Kentucky is facing a staggering $900 million shortfall in the next biennium. The ramifications for our citizens living with this financial hole in our budget are too unpleasant to imagine.

But imagine we must. This problem will not drift into the shadows. Our citizens are concerned and raising their voices to make sure we, the leaders with the power, act to protect our children, our sick, our college students, our elderly, our transportation systems, our prisons, our law enforcement officers, our environment and our citizens with mental retardation, addictions and mental illnesses, as well as other areas of our lives touched by the state budget.

Rep. David Watkins gives us the short term answer with raising the cigarette tax.

FRANKFORT --
A proposed law filed Friday would increase the state's tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1.
The 70-cent increase would raise more than $200 million for the cash-strapped state while decreasing the smoking rate, which is tops in the nation, said Rep. David Watkins, D-Henderson.

Maybe Watkins would make a good Lt. Governor for Wayne.

Politics Not Ethics

One more comment on the Bluegrass Freedom Fund. The fund had contributors other than gambling interests.

Disregarding this window dressing email from the Bluegrass Freedom Fund:

CONGRATULATIONS, KENTUCKY!

House of Representatives Unanimously Passes Ethics Reform

Bluegrass Freedom Fund Urges State Senate to Join Grassroots Effort

The Bluegrass Freedom Fund congratulates the Kentucky House of Representatives for unanimously (94-0) passing ethics reform on Wednesday, January 30, 2008. We urge the State Senate to join this grassroots effort to pass important anti-corruption legislation this session. Our advocacy on behalf of ethics reform, which began last year, is one big step closer to becoming law.

Call your State Senator today and urge them to support strong ethics reform.

The purpose of the Fund was to put Steve Beshear in the Governor’s Mansion. Ethics reform may be an unintentional by product, but the purpose was political control. The primary drivers (contributors) want Casino Gambling. Other major contributors (labor unions) wanted the Republicans out. Their objective was the same, even if their motivations were different.

This was politics, pure and simple, and had nothing to do with ethics.

Too Much Bling

From the Herald-Leader:

The Bluegrass Freedom Fund, an independent campaign group, raised $3,150,000, of which 70 percent -- more than $2.2 million -- came from gambling and equine interests, according to tax documents filed just before midnight Thursday.

Who knew that a passion for ethical government sprang from the horse and casino interests? I’m only going down to the $50,000 table because, quite frankly I couldn’t stand to do any more.

Please click the links.


HORSE AND CASINO INTERESTS

• $1 million from William Yung, president of Northern Kentucky-based development company Columbia Sussex, which owns several casinos and hotels, including the embattled Tropicana Hotel and Resort in Atlantic City and the Aztar in Evansville, Ind.

• $250,000 from Churchill Downs Inc., the Louisville racetrack's parent, that is looking for a casino.

• $250,000 from Phoenix Capital, a limited liability company formed in August by Keeneland, the Lexington thoroughbred track.

• $250,000 from EP Acquisitions in Louisville, which is owned by Ronald Geary, who bought Ellis Park in Henderson and also is interested in casinos.

• $125,000 from Turfway Park in Florence, which is co-owned by Keeneland and Harrah's.

• $60,000 from Lexington Trots Breeders Association, which owns The Red Mile harness racing track.

• $50,000 from Hideout of Lincoln County, LLC, of Palm Desert, Calif., owned by R.D. Hubbard, who has apparently recently dropped out of the Sprint Racing Partners seeking a quarter horse racetrack in London, Ky.

• $50,000 from Edward Allred, owner of Los Alamitos Race Course in California, who has also dropped out of Sprint.

(Fast Eddie Allred runs the nation's largest privately held chain of abortion clinics. His Family Planning Associates Medical Group generates $70 million in annual revenue and some $5 million in profit.)

• $50,000 from Will Farish of Versailles, who owns Lane's End Farm.

• $50,000 from Tracy Farmer, the Midway horse farm owner who staunchly backed Gov. Steve Beshear.

Bingo Police

The Bingo Police get an old buddy of Steve Beshear’s and another ex-trooper. The biggest thing this agency does is provide a home for former State Troopers to pad their retirement.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Jan. 30, 2008) – Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet Secretary Robert D. Vance announced today appointments to two key positions in the Office of Charitable Gaming (OCG).

Henry Lackey, 60, of Henderson, is the new executive director. The office, which has a staff of 44, licenses and oversees the gaming activities of more than 800 charities throughout Kentucky. Charitable gaming annually generates $550 million in gross revenue…..

Lackey served in the Kentucky Senate for two terms, in 1982-86 and 1991-94. He was also Henderson’s mayor from 2003 to 2006. His public service also includes a three-year stint on the Henderson City Commission from 1978-81…….

“I’ve known Governor Beshear for nearly 30 years,” Lackey said. “I’ve always admired his honesty and integrity, and I am honored to have the opportunity to work for him.”

Bob Sparrow, of Lawrenceburg, will serve as OCG’s director of enforcement.

Sparrow, 66, has extensive experience in law enforcement, having served in the Kentucky State Police from 1962 until his retirement in 1994. Sparrow was on the security detail for the lieutenant governor from 1984 to 1992, then for two years served as commander of executive security for both the lieutenant governor and governor; in that capacity, he supervised 20 officers.

Gutless in Frankfort

Let’s start with a few of truths.

1. Cigarettes are bad for you. This product kills people.
2. The majority of Kentuckians would support a tax increase on tobacco.
3. Due to the fact that our elected leaders are generally gutless, they have been unable to come up with a true tax reform package that will pay of state government services.
4. Raising the tobacco tax would reduce the number of smokers and raise revenue for state government.

So today’s story in the Herald-Leader clearly shows that we have a group of wimps pretending to be public servants.

Let’s start at the top and work our way down.

Governor Steve Beshear:

Beshear favors raising revenue with casino gambling over higher taxes.

Now I’m sure that Steve Beshear would not mind an increase in the cigarette tax as long has he doesn’t have to do any of the heavy lifting. Beshear will take the money as long as he can still claim he never raised taxes, the evil legislature raised the taxes. Steve remembers Louis Nunn and Nunn’s Nickel and he sure as hell isn’t about to put his neck on the line to raise a tax.

Speaker of the House Jody Richards:

But legislators are finding increased cigarette taxes more palatable as polls show widespread support for some level of increase…….Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, expressed reluctance to join that list.

Jody has repeatedly shown that the only thing he truly cares about is being the Speaker of the House. God forbid Jody actually takes a stand for the people of Kentucky.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Charlie Hoffman:

Kentucky's cigarette taxes would more than triple, to $1 a pack, under a proposal likely to be filed Friday……Rep. Charlie Hoffman of Georgetown, House Democratic caucus chair, said a 30-cent hike is "about as high as we could attain at this time."

Good Ole Charlie is following Jody’s lead.

Senate President David Williams:

David Williams is passing the buck back to the Governor. We couldn’t have a Republican take a stand for the people.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said he doesn't know what kind of support a $1-a-pack cigarette tax would have.

"The governor obviously is the person who is running the train on all tax increases down there," Williams said. "The governor will give the speaker (Jody Richards) and Sen. Worley the marching orders on tax increases and will be the phantom operator of that operation."

But of all of these self serving political hypocrites that claim to be leaders the saddest example is House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover. Here is a guy that knows in gut and in his heart he should do the right thing, but is so politically screwed up he can’t bring himself to do what he should.

But Hoover said the issue has become a very difficult and very personal one for him since his 70-year-old mother, Mae, was diagnosed with recurring lung cancer. "She was given three to six months to live at the end of October. She's been smoking since she was 14," Hoover said.

"I'm not inclined to support a tax increase but, to be honest, it's hard to see somebody who's a victim of 55 years of smoking ... and not think about what this might mean down the road," he said.

Collectively if these guys were in a paper bag they would never get out. Because even when they found the open end of the bag, none of them would have guts enough to step through first.

Air Heads

OK, I give. These guys don’t have a clue about public perception.

Surely, Steve Beshear has a friend, or a friend of a friend, who owns a private plane and would like to spend some quality time with the Governor.

From Mark Hebert:

During his campaign for governor, Steve Beshear said he wouldn't fly to campaign stops in the state airplane. That statement came as Gov. Fletcher was being lambasted for using the state plane for the dual purpose of attending political fundraisers and official functions on the same trip.

Well. on Monday Beshear used the state airplane to make three stops in west Kentucky, two of which could be construed as political stops.......

Vicki Glass says the governor will make a "reasonable" reimbursement to the state based on todays "official and political" activities.

Why not just avoid the problem, don't take the plane to political events.

Revisiting

Let us consider new ideas and revisit old ones.

October 30, 2002
FRANKFORT, KY - - Governor Paul Patton today named Henry Clay “Hank” List secretary of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet. List follows the late James E. Bickford as secretary of the cabinet.

Jan. 25, 2008
Henry Clay “Hank” List, of Lexington, is returning to the state’s environmental agency as deputy secretary, Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet Secretary Robert D. Vance announced today.

"This is like deja vu all over again." - Yogi Berra

Sucking Up at Taxpayer Expense

Maybe Steve Beshear is getting a clue. From the Herald-Leader:

"Perception is always the problem with these kinds of things," Beshear said Thursday after the Lexington Herald-Leader reported that the cabinet's approval process for the turn lights near (Transportation Secretary Joe) Prather's Elizabethtown home got started on Dec. 12, the first day Prather and Beshear were on the job.

Let’s break this down.

Was the stop light needed? - No.

The directional arrows went up last week despite an agency review that found they were not necessary.

Did it cost a lot of money? - Not really, in the Transportation Budget this is chump change.

Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe said the turn arrows cost $5,450 and the money came out of the Elizabethtown highway district's traffic operations budget.

Did Prather want the change made? - Yes

Prather told reporters Thursday that he had been talking with Elizabethtown officials for more than a year about the turn arrows because of increased traffic on the road and had asked them to recommend the signals to the state Transportation Cabinet.

So what happened?

Simple, the guys at Transportation fast tracked a questionable expenditure to make the new boss happy. Who is really going to care about a few bucks if it makes Joe happy? Consider this sucking up at taxpayer expense; it happens all the time in Frankfort.

But the real issue isn’t just Prather’s stoplight; it’s an administration wide lack of sensitivity to what they are doing. The voters are sick and tired of corrupt politicians and anything that even smells slightly will raise their anger and media will be happy to capitalize on the slightest screw up.

Prather new about the change and didn’t stop it. Public servants need to understand they are in the public eye.

I don’t believe Joe Prather is corrupt, unlike his predecessor, but he has been out of the game for a while. I hope this hit will jar him back in to shape.

Prather said the ordeal has taught him that he must be mindful of the weight his recommendations carry.

"I have learned from this and I will be more careful as I move ahead," he said.

If he really wants to show some integrity, Prather should pull $5,450 out of his six figure salary from the Transportation Cabinet and put it in the Elizabethtown highway district's traffic operations budget. Even at more than $5,000 it would be a cheap education.

Boys are Back In Town

Guess who just got back today?

Them wild-eyed boys that had been away

Haven't changed, haven't much to say

But man, I still think them cats are crazy

They were asking if you were aroundHow you was, where you could be found

Told them you were living downtownDriving all the old men crazy

Ernie Fletcher and his administration screwing up was the main reason Steve Beshear is governor. If Gatewood Galbraith had been the democratic candidate in the General Election he would be governor now.

So I continue to be amazed at the inability of this administration to understand that perception is as important as reality. In less than six weeks of this administration we already have had:

A move to put the Ethics Commission under the Finance Cabinet,

A bill to lessen the Governor’s responsibility in contracting,

The first act of an efficiency effort is to hire a guy at a salary of at least $73,000 per year,

Hiring Ben Chandler’s wife, I won’t even go into some of the Bozo’s they have hired to work for her. Allow me to translate, Executive Assistant equals political payoff for services rendered.

Killing the Jonathan Miller / Brooke Parker investigation,

Reinstalling all of the good ‘ole boys and girls,

And on the political side, encouraging Bruce Lunsford.

And that doesn't even take into account pimping for the Casinos.

And now this from the Herald Leader:

FRANKFORT --
After Gov. Steve Beshear ran a successful election campaign promising government reforms to "earn the trust" of Kentuckians, one of the administration's first moves was to install non-essential turn arrows at a stoplight in the new Transportation Cabinet secretary's neighborhood.

I had hopes for this administration but I have to agree with Ronnie Ellis:

There was a sense during the campaign that Steve Beshear might bring some fresh new faces to Frankfort, but some of his appointments have a fairly familiar look. While he promised to return competent, ethical leadership to Frankfort, three of his appointments appeared to have conflicts of interest, although they were given qualified clearance by the ethics commission – while another was involved in a personnel board hearing over a hiring question in his previous position.

This boys are back in town but they appear to be as clueless as the bunch that just left.

Same Song, Different Band

Sometimes I just don’t understand why bureaucrats in Frankfort can’t understand that appearance is reality.

Take for example Steve Beshear’s call to state workers to be more efficient. The call has been made by previous Governors. From John Y. Brown’s “Run it like a business” to Ernie Fletcher’s “Waste, Fraud and Abuse” the words change but the meaning is the same. This is nothing new, it is a repeat of the old “Do more with less”.





One of Steve Beshear’s first actions to create Innovation, Economy and Efficiency was to hire Joe Graviss as the Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Innovation, Economy and Efficiency (GOIEE). An Executive Director’s base salary is $73,255.68; however they usually state this level of employee at $97,050.72. It’s hard to get good help for less.

Graviss ran a close primary race for the Senate seat now occupied by former Governor Julian Carroll. He supports education and is a successful business man. He served on Beshear’s transition team.

From left, Joe Graviss, Versailles;
and KCTCS President Michael B. McCall.

As a community leader and chairman of the Woodford County Economic Development Authority, Joseph A. Graviss, owner of Graviss McDonald’s Restaurants, understands the value of education and job training as it relates to economic development. His company made a substantial commitment to support the Versailles Building Fund initiative which has focused on transforming the KCTCS System Office into a statewide resource for companies, government agencies and other organizations. The gift will be used to enhance telecommunications and teleconferencing in the System Office conference center. An area of the System Office building will be named in Graviss’ honor.

Graviss McDonald’s Restaurants, led by Joe Graviss of Versailles, has initiated a McDonald’s-based GED promotion currently underway in Franklin and Woodford counties. For five weeks, more than 180,000 McDonald’s customers in three restaurants will see motivational tray liners and/or bag stuffers that profile successful Kentucky GED graduates with the theme, “GED: Prove Yourself.” Franklin and Woodford County Adult Education Programs have coordinated adult education public service announcements that will air on local radio stations in correspondence with the campaign. KYAE plans to replicate this project in other Kentucky communities using the same series of materials.

But here is the bottom line.

GOIEE is a public relation exercise. GOIEE will not make a substantial difference in the budget of the Commonwealth. If the administration really wants to deal with the ongoing financial mess they will support substantial changes to the tax laws shifting the tax burden to the the more affluent and the service sector of the economy.

Graviss appears to be a nice guy with good intentions and political ambitions but he probably doesn’t have a clue about how infighting works in state agencies. He will probably be stonewalled at every turn.

For instance he will have to deal with the Commonwealth’s Office of Technology. This agency was deeply politicized by the Fletcher administration and currently does not have a Commissioner in place.

Do you really believe that all of the emails surrounding the Merit System investigation just accidently disappeared?

Until Steve Beshear and Jonathan Miller take a broom to this agency they will be obstacle to progress.

So Joe Gravis has a steep learning curve to climb to make this public relations exercise work and to justify his salary.

And one other thing GOIEE as an acronym sounds like some kind of growth that needs to be removed.

Remember Joe, appearance is everything.

Plausible Deniability

Here is a bill I don’t understand.

HB 112 (BR 83) - R. Damron
AN ACT relating to the purchase of real property by the Commonwealth. Amend KRS 45A.045, regarding the purchase of real property by the Commonwealth, to eliminate the requirement that the Governor approve the purchase of real property from a state employee; retain requirement that the Secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet approve such a purchase.

The actual sentence, I use the term loosely, being changed is below. My Senior English teacher Miss Virginia Neptune would have a few caustic comments about the inability to write a coherent sentence, but that is another rant.

Subject to the provisions of this code, real property or any interest therein may be purchased, leased, or otherwise acquired from any officer or employee of any agency of the state upon a finding by the Finance and Administration Cabinet, based upon a written application by the head of the agency requesting the purchase, and approved by the secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet[ and the Governor], that the employee has not either himself or herself, or through any other person, influenced or attempted to influence either the agency requesting the acquisition of the property or the Finance and Administration Cabinet in connection with such acquisition.

So, is the problem the Governor is overwhelmed with the number of purchases of property owned by state employees or is this too trivial a matter to the Governor’s attention?

Or maybe, it just provides a governor with the veil of plausible deniability.

The Complete Package

The Steve Beshear has a person or persons that understand how politics in Frankfort work. Below is a smattering of recent stories, three stories on personnel and three on money.

Steve Beshear’s people while not the sharpest group of knives; do understand how game is played. Even if you don’t agree with everything they are doing you have to admire the way they are massaging the media and the political system this early in the administration.

Avoiding a hiring scandal

Three non-merit Public Service Commission employees were back at work Tuesday, more than a week after being let go despite questions about whether such actions violated state hiring laws.

Hiring Ben Chandler’s Wife

FRANKFORT --
The state agency that doles out money to local governments has hired Jennifer Chandler, the wife of Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, and added 16 other appointed officials Wednesday, including Bell County's Democratic Party chairman.

Ending the Investigation of Jonathan Miller

FRANKFORT --
The state Personnel Board has decided not to investigate two referrals from former Personnel Secretary Brian Crall concerning two hiring-related moves in the office of former state Treasurer Jonathan Miller.

Sticking one to David Williams

Gov. Steve Beshear has nixed a road project championed by his chief political critic, state Senate President David Williams. Beshear's Transportation Cabinet canceled an $11.9 million change order earlier this week that expanded a $53.2 million project to widen and straighten Ky. 90 and Ky. 61 in Cumberland County.

Stoking the need for Casino’s in Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Kentucky's budget problems are even more serious than previously projected, the state's official economic forecasting group concluded yesterday.

We really, really need the Casino Money

FRANKFORT --
Thousands of poor Kentuckians might be without heat this winter if additional money to help doesn't come soon from the state or federal governments, warns an official with Community Action Kentucky.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel

Let’s talk about state contracts for a minute. The first thing that should be done is to look at the state contract process. In February of 2005 Auditor Crit Luallen released a report on Kentucky’s Administration and Management of Master Agreements and Catalog Master Agreements.

The Performance Audit made the following findings:

• Kentucky’s Procurement System Cannot Calculate the Number of Items Purchased or the Amount Spent on a Particular Item
• There Is No Formal Method for Strategic Analysis of State Government Expenditures
• The Legal Authority for Establishing Contracts Is Not Cited Accurately
• Additional Procurement Training Is Needed Within State Agencies
• Kentucky May Not Be Obtaining the Lowest Available Prices
• Regular Compliance Reviews Are Not Being Conducted by the Finance and Administration Cabinet

So here is another idea for Governor Steve Beshear and Finance Secretary Jonathan Miller, don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have too, some of the homework has already been done for you. I seriously doubt that Ernie Fletcher and company addressed this findings. My guess is that if the audit was again the same problems would still be there.

By the way in case someone says they never knew this was a problem, here is the distribution list for the report.

Robbie Rudolph, Secretary, Finance and Administration Cabinet
House Speaker, Jody Richards
Senate President, David Williams
Representative Harry Moberly, Chair, House Appropriations and Revenue Committee
Representative John Arnold, Vice Chair, House Appropriations and Revenue Committee
Representative Bob DeWeese, Vice Chair, House Appropriations and Revenue Committee
Representative Fred Nesler, Vice Chair, House Appropriations and Revenue Committee
Representative Joni Jenkins, Vice Chair, House Appropriations and Revenue Committee
Representative Robin Webb, Vice Chair, House Appropriations and Revenue Committee
Senator Charlie Borders, Chair, Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee
Senator Ernie Harris, Vice Chair, Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee
Senator Katie Stine, Co-Chair, Program Review and Investigations Committee
Representative Charlie Hoffman, Co-Chair, Program Review and Investigations Committee
Stan Cave, Chief of Staff
Brad Cowgill, State Budget Director
James Nelson, State Librarian and Commissioner, Department for Libraries and Archives
Robert Sherman, Director, Legislative Research Commission
Ginny Wilson, Deputy Director for Research and Finance, Legislative Research Commission
Kathy King, CSA, Appropriations and Revenue Committee
Michael Meeks, CSA, Government Contract Review Committee
Greg Hager, CSA, Program Review and Investigation Committee
Mike Burnside, Director of Office of Material and Procurement Services, Finance and Administration Cabinet
Gary Freeland, Department of Education
Cindy Gosser, Cabinet for Economic Development
Jackie Watkins, Cabinet for Health and Human Services
Jimmie Richerson, Kentucky State Police
Roy Brothers, Commerce Cabinet
Roberta McCann, Attorney General’s Office

Shorter Buggy Whips

Yesterday I receive an email hyping Steve Beshear’s efficiency initiative. The Press Release is below:

Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office Governor Beshear Seeks Ideas & Input from State Employees: Initiative to make government more efficient and productive

Press Release Date:
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Contact Information:
Vicki Glass 502-564-2611

FRANKFORT, KY – On the morning following his first State of the Commonwealth address, Kentucky state government employees were greeted with a personal message from Governor Steve Beshear, asking for their help in addressing the Commonwealth’s looming budget crisis.

In an email, Gov. Beshear announced his efficiency initiative, requesting ideas from state employees on how to make Kentucky state government operations more cost-effective, productive and innovative.

“No idea is too big or too small,” Gov. Beshear said. “If it helps your department or agency become more economical, more innovative, more productive or more accountable, I want to hear about it.”

This government efficiency initiative will be administratively attached to the Finance and Administration Cabinet. State government employees may submit their ideas by clicking on the efficiency logo on the http://www.kentucky.gov homepage or by visiting the Finance Cabinet’s Web site at http://finance.ky.gov/ideas.htm. Ideas submitted via this electronic suggestion system will be collected and studied by the governor and his staff to determine merit, practicality, feasibility and legality.

“We are looking long and hard at every cost saving measure we can think of,” said Gov. Beshear. “But, I’m sure there are things we haven’t thought about and you just might do so….please, put your minds to work!”

The Governor’s video message can be viewed at: http://governor.ky.gov/ideas/.

Now, this sort of idea skimming from employees has been around Frankfort for a long time. As far as it being innovative, I’m sure there is a suggestion on file somewhere that buying shorter buggy whips will reduce state expenditures.

But I did notice two things about Beshear’s plan that seems different from Ernie Fletcher’s plan. First based on the websites it looks like Finance instead of Personnel is running the show and second Ernie was at least willing to share the wealth.

Employees who suggest implemented ideas receive awards ranging from a minimum of $100 to 10 percent of the first-year savings ($2,500 maximum award.)

A press release on Ernie’s Plan is below:

Click Here To Make State Government More Efficient

February 7, 2005

On January 28 Gov. Ernie Fletcher announced state government employees can now use a new Internet-based system to submit suggestions on making state government more efficient, thanks to the newly-launched Employee Suggestion System Web site.


The newly enhanced system puts Kentucky on top in recognizing and managing the ideas of employees. “My administration continues its commitment to eliminate waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiencies in state government,” said Gov. Fletcher. “Through the Employee Suggestion Systems, employees are able to play a role in making this happen by suggesting ways to increase efficiencies and save money. I encourage each and every state employee to use this system — a system which empowers employees to make a difference in state government.”

The Kentucky Employee Suggestion System is an incentive program designed to encourage merit employees to participate in good management by submitting their suggestions for implementation. Employees who suggest implemented ideas receive awards ranging from a minimum of $100 to 10 percent of the first-year savings ($2,500 maximum award.)

The Personnel Cabinet has partnered with IDMS, a Kentucky-based solutions development firm, to deliver a system that takes advantage of the best practices in the area of idea management. Together they have revolutionized the concept of the traditional system to provide consistent submissions, approval and notification. Employees can now submit suggestions at the moment an idea occurs by utilizing a new online form, available 24-7. The form is simple, user-friendly and fast. Employees receive immediate confirmation and will be able to track their suggestion. “The Employee Suggestion System has successfully saved the commonwealth millions of dollars since its implementation,” said Personnel Cabinet Secretary Erwin Roberts. “With the enhanced system, we hope more state employees will participate in the program, resulting in more efficiency in state government, and in addition, more rewards for more employees whose ideas are selected.”

Last December 28 state employees were recognized for their implemented suggestions which saved more than $760,000. The five-year life savings from last year’s suggestions alone will amount to more than $3.8 million in savings. The Kentucky Employee Suggestion System was implemented in 1981. The first-year savings recognized since the system’s establishment is more than $26 million.

Employees can access the site at http://personnel.ky.gov.

Here’s my first suggestion, actually a question. Why do political appointees like Cabinet Secretaries need $25,000 Crown Vic’s to tool around Frankfort? Wouldn’t a $14,000 Focus work as well?

Certainly we could trim a few bucks from the multi-million dollar contract for Ford Crown Victorias.

10 Years Late

Ronnie Ellis has one of the best summations of the Beshear administration so far.

FRANKFORT, Ky
Change is in the air – at least in the presidential nomination races. All the candidates have now adopted Barack Obama’s call for change.

But not in Kentucky.

Mark Twain famously said that when the end of the world neared, he would move here because “everything happens 10 years late in Kentucky.” Looking around Frankfort, one might conclude Twain was an optimist.

How not to Raise a Cigarette Tax

Yesterday’s Herald-Leader had a story about raising the cigarette tax.

The story reveals three unsurprising facts:

The American Lung Association of Kentucky is organizing a coalition to push for a cigarette tax increase of as much as 75 cents a pack.

One, the coalition pushing for a cigarette tax knows nothing about the process of wheeling and dealing. When the average cigarette tax in this country is over a dollar their starting point is asking for an increase of up to 75 cents.

Guys, if you get everything you want, and that’s not likely, then you barely get above the average, go for the New Jersey rate of $2.75 per pack. Surely some of you have bought cars before, the process is called dealing.

"The biggest hurdle, plain and simple, is political will," said Mike Kuntz, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association of Kentucky.

Two, the Kentucky General Assembly is populated by a bunch of gutless wonders too scared of not being reelected for doing the right thing. The only time this group shows is a political will is when they head for the nearest lobbyists free buffet. This was demonstrated yesterday in a hearing on Casino Gambling.

Anti-casino advocates got short shrift Thursday, as legislators cut the hearing short so lawmakers could make Frankfort's annual round of receptions and dinners.

And Three, leadership only occurs in Frankfort when a politician thinks he know which way the mob is headed so he can jump in front of it and claim he is leading until then they remain pretty spineless.

Beshear, a Democrat, has publicly said he will not support a cigarette tax. "He feels Kentuckians are taxed enough right now as it is," said Vicki Glass, Beshear's press secretary.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, who also opposes an increase, said Wednesday that there was "little sentiment" for a tax increase in the Senate.

House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, did not rule out an increase Wednesday, saying he was waiting to see Beshear's budget proposal. "It's premature to consider that issue," Richards said. In the past Richards has said he would not support an increase.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

In the words of Gomer Pyle, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!".

A follow up to this morning’s post PolWatchers has a post on how Steve Beshear will deal with the short fall. In a 2:00pm Friday press conference, Steve Beshear directed state agencies:

To slash agency spending, Beshear has asked departments to:

• Reduce the state workforce by attrition and limit new hires to "crucial" positions only.
  
• Review state contracts for savings. "All new contracts, including personal service contracts and leases, must be justified as essential to the delivery of services and must demonstrate that the service cannot be provided with existing personnel," Beshear's budget reduction order says. Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary Jonathan Miller will be assigned to review all other contracts, as well.
  
• Cut amount devoted to travel expenses. That includes making the state's vehicle fleet more efficient (something Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration did by purchasing hybrid vehicles), as well as increasing the use of video conferencing.
  
• Reduce printing budgets in every agency, especially by encouraging use more electronic data transfers.
  
• Place a moratorium on furniture and equipment purchases and selling off surplus property.
  
• Reduce discretionary spending. "No area of spending is immune," the administration's press release says.
  

So what does this mean in real terms?

Here’s the message to state workers.

Turn the heat down and the lights off. Bring your own pens and paper. Use your own car at your expense to travel or don’t travel. Your chair broke, go buy your own. Too bad your computer died, there’s an adding machine in the backroom. If the management can think of anything else to cut we will. Do not expect a promotion or to replace anyone who leaves because of the working conditions, unless they have political connections.

As one state director told a group of us employees, "Just be damn glad you have a job."

In other words we have the standard, predictable entrance of a new administration cooking the books on the backs of state employees.