Even though he lost his bid for re-election, former Gov. Ernie Fletcher has a presence in this year’s General Assembly. It takes the form of legislation that would make it more difficult or impossible for future governors to repeat some his more egregious abuses of power.
For instance, House Bill 5 proposes to amend the state constitution to bar a governor from issuing the kind of blanket pardon Fletcher granted to all members of his administration during the BlackBerry Jam hiring scandal. It would also prohibit a governor from pardoning himself.
House Bill 134 would expand the state Personnel Board from seven members to nine by adding two additional classified (merit) employees. It would also require that any changes in the selection method for job classifications be approved by the board.
House Bill 250 is a comprehensive reform of the executive branch ethics law. Among other things, it would give the state auditor and attorney general a say in who gets appointed to the Executive Branch Ethics Commission. It would also require any official who sets up a legal defense fund to file regular reports with the commission. (Reporting requirements for legal defense funds are also addressed separately in House Bill 47.)
Then, there is House Bill 446, which would prohibit an administration from spending more than half of the highway contingency fund in the first six months of a fiscal that begins during a gubernatorial election year. That is in response to the Fletcher administration spending all but $307,000 of the $65 million budgeted for this fiscal year before leaving office in mid-December.
Larry Dale Keeling, a columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader, has spent most of his 35-plus years in journalism reporting on or writing editorials and columns about Kentucky’s politics and political issues. He now brings his experience and expertise on those topics to the KyKurmudgeon blog.
What about a bill to prevent abuse of power by the Attorney General, especially if he is from the opposing party?! Or how about a bill requiring all hiring complaints to go before the Personnel Board before any referral to the Attorney General’s office?!
To date, no one, especially you, Mr. Keeling, has held Greg Stumbo accountable for his very partisan witch hunt. Are you still denying it was a witch hunt? Where are the KBI investigators in the scores of hiring infractions already committed by Beshear? Come on!! Try to be just a little more balanced here!
These bills may have some merit, but a lot of this is simply hypocritical grandstanding! There is such an incredible DOUBLE STANDARD that exists: Fletcher could do no right, and Beshear gets away with murder!
So WHO DID contribute to Gov. Fletcher’s defense fund? Was the whole controversy a bunch of baloney or was it significant in some way that was more than simple slimeballing by the governor’s opponents and the press?
Lt. Governor Robbie Rudolph and his wife and the Balls of Lexington gave more than HALF of Fletcher’s measly 90,000 dollar legal fund. On the other hand, a casino operator thrown out of New Jersey personally gave ONE MILLION DOLLARS to help fund ETHICS ads which brutally and effectively attacked Fletcher daily. Compare the outrage and compare the press coverage. Also compare the numerous stinks already of this still brand new Beshear administration. Actually Keeling has done better than most reporters, not that that is saying much.
It took four years, thousands of scandalous and skewed headlines by two major newspapers, a few editorial boards with their own agendas, a brilliant, but blatently power hungry, attorney general, who made the conscious decision to destroy a good man for political gain, and a stacked grand jury led by the most partisan judge in Kentucky to bring down Ernie Fletcher. Through arrogance and misreading the election, Steve Beshear has managed to discredit himself and give up any claim to higher moral ground by making an unbelievable number of bad decisions in less than two months. The people of this state were like sheep—with a mob mentality!! What a picture! I guess we really do get the government we deserve.
Not so fast Philip…read Larry’s editorial in today’s Herald. Pretty spot-on. However, I do think it is fair to ask the question, “WHERE THE HELL IS JACK CONWAY IN ALL THIS?” He is charged with upholding the laws of the Commonwealth. He has an investigative unit. What is he doing…spending all day getting manicured? If he thinks he can just chill out in that seat and ignore his friends’ abuses of power he will get a crappy wakeup call soon…and it will be second verse, same as the first. The Republicans could run a dead man against him and the dead man will win…not because he has a mandate…but because the public is pissed at Jack (nod to Larry).
Jack…you better get your arse moving on the reports of election fraud out of the 30th…the hiring screw-ups of your buddies…and the Bill Yung fiasco going down right before our very eyes. STUMBO WAS TOO POLITICAL, YES. BUT AT LEAST HE WAS SHOWING UP TO THE GAME!!!!
Keeling: I am not buying your B.S. Your column is a back handed attack on Fletcher.
The only reason you have to go after Beshear is because Brett Hall is exposing all the corruption in the Governor’s Mansion, and making the MSM reporters look like fools. If it weren’t for Hall, you wouldn’t have had to write your pathetic little column.
But comparing Fletcher to Beshear is like comparing Elliot Ness to Al Capone. Sworn testimony from Missy McCray and Doug Doerting makes it clear that the dirt in the Fletcher Administration came from Democratic, career state employees who moonlighted as partisan political operatives.
Even so, there has been more corruption from Beshear in the last eight weeks than there were allegations of corruption leveled at Fletcher in four years. Even the former king of corruption, Greg Stumbo couldn’t invent the kind of crap Beshear is pulling, to obtain a bogus indictment on Fletcher.
From ethically challenged appointments, to covering up for his Finance Secretary’s illegal hiring practices and raises, to using state aircraft for overt political campainging, to handing out state jobs to county party bosses who pushed Alexander into the Democratic nomination in the 30th Senate District, to finding jobs for Congressman’s wives the day after announcing a state hiring freeze, to handing out $2.6 million in taxpayer money in the 30th senate district during a “budget crisis” in an overt attempt to but an election, to illegally firing a service man, than changing his personnel records, to executing illegal budget reduction orders that clearly violate KRS 48.130 to help manufacture a budget crisis, to dirty casino money, Beshear has been a one man wave of corruption since he took office.
If we had a legitimate Attorney General, there would be numerous actions already pending against Beshear. Your smarmy, attack on Beshear is a crock.
Beshear is so out of touch, that he still thinks its 1980 and that he and his corrupt political cronies with the help of the state’s news editors can hide what is happening in Frankfort. The guy thinks he was elected dictator.
I do feel sorry for you in one respect. Brett Hall has made your job a lot harder. How can you cover up for a corrupt politician in your own party when the interenet lets anyone with a computer and internet connection print the truth.