KyKurmudgeon

Sunday’s column:

FRANKFORT — Grants seemingly awarded to influence an election. Jobs that appear to have been exchanged for political favors. The state plane used for a trip that was partially political.

This is not the kind of government Ernie Fletcher promised Kentuckians he would deliver. He vowed to do better than his scandal-plagued predecessor.

Wow. Did I just type Ernie Fletcher’s name in that last paragraph? I guess this feeling of deja vu all over again I’m experiencing confused me for a moment. I meant to say this is not the kind of government Steve Beshear promised to deliver when he vowed to do better than his scandal-plagued predecessor.

But here we go again, folks. And this time, it can’t be attributed to inexperienced youth dominating a governor’s inner circle.

Heck, no. Beshear brought in so many old hands (a term defined as being within shooting distance of my advanced years) that kiddie wouldn’t even come up in the nickname conversation. Geriatric might. Or geezer. But certainly not kiddie.

Maybe that explains how Beshear stumbled into a mess of his own making in the special election for the 30th District Senate seat, which was vacated when Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo was inaugurated. Maybe all those old hands think they’re still living in a bygone era of old school politics. Or maybe they just suffered a collective senior moment.

Whatever the reason, the Beshear administration’s attempts at dictating the outcome of the Senate race have been clumsy, heavy-handed and embarrassing to watch from the outset.

Rigging the system to ensure that former Rep. Scott Alexander got the nomination over former Rep. Roger Noe alienated some of the district’s Democrats and made this a more difficult race to win.

Making the perception problem created by the rigging job worse, the administration gave Bell County Democratic Chairman Leo Haggerty a state job just days after he helped make Alexander the nominee.

Dumb is the most polite way of describing that decision. Truly dumb.

If there was no tradeoff, it’s dumb to create the perception that there was. And if there was a tradeoff, you wait until after the election to give the guy a job. You don’t do it before the election and give the angry members of your own party more reason to scream.

With the district’s Democrats united, the numbers would favor their candidate. Now, though, the election is such a tossup that Beshear has brought the power of the governor’s office into play, bringing handouts to the district Thursday in an attempt to tilt the race Alexander’s way.

Clumsy, heavy-handed, embarrassing.

Frankly, other than the symbolism of keeping Mongiardo’s seat in Democratic hands, I can’t see the gain that offsets the risk Beshear ran by getting so heavily involved in a political race so early in his term.

Sure, Beshear and his fellow Democrats want to retake the Senate. But this one election won’t get them there.

And as far as his own political capital is concerned, it appears to me that Beshear has walked into a lose, lose, lose trap in the 30th District.

Even if Alexander wins, it will come at the cost of the moral high ground Beshear occupied after beating Fletcher. It has been eroded by the raw use of power in this race.

If Alexander loses after getting so much help from the administration, Beshear will appear weak and ineffective, perhaps to the point of becoming the earliest lame duck governor in the history of Kentucky.

Then, there is that third possibility. Eastern Kentucky politics being Eastern Kentucky politics, if the Democrats try any shenanigans that attract the eyes of some people who report to superiors in Washington, D.C., the possibilities for a perception of “guilt by association” are limitless for a governor who’s taken such an active role in the race.

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That “non-endorsement” endorsement Beshear gave Bruce Lunsford in the Senate primary was also a mistake.  Lunsford’s wealth makes him the instant favorite in the race. All Beshear’s statement did was needlessly alienate supporters of other D candidates.