KyKurmudgeon

Mmm! Mmm! The mention of leftovers from the picnic makes my mouth water. Oh, well, let's get on with the catching up bit:

1. State Rep. Greg Stumbo sure loves to keep the political pot boiling, doesn't he? By endorsing Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark's bid to retain that position in the upcoming D leadership elections, the former House floor leader and attorney general aligns himself squarely against House Speaker Jody Richards, who is backing Rep. Joni Jenkins' attempt to unseat Clark. Since the impending retirement of D Whip Rob Wilkey leaves Clark as the odd man out among returning D leaders, Stumbo's endorsement also makes those rumors that he's really angling for the Judiciary Committee chairmanship seem unlikely. Legislators who want to chair committees don't make a habit of bucking a majority of leadership. All of which has to increases speculation that Stumbo really will challenge Richards for the speaker's chair.

2. Apparently, state Education Commissioner Jon Draud learned a lesson from his erstwhile attempt to sweeten the benefits in his contract and the heat he took for pimping his new state ride with costly options. Telling the state school board he doesn't need a raise when the state is struggling with budget woes should earn him some points.

3. Political candidates shake up their campaign organizations for a variety of reasons, some of which are not good. Don't know what prompted the recent changes in multimillionaire Bruce Lunsford's campaign against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, but some of those changes apparently signal an increased interest in the race by national Democratic leaders. And that is a good thing for Lunsford.

4. One of the things I missed in transferring my observations about the Fancy Farm Picnic from my notebook to Saturday evening's post ("Scenes from a sweltering Fancy Farm Picnic") was the way the "Two-time loser" shouts from the R side of the crowd early in Lunsford's speech morphed into "Three-time loser" by the end of his address. Don't know if that was pre-planned or not, but it clearly indicated what the R's in attendance thought of his chances against McConnell.

5. I didn't hear him deliver the line myself, but Democratic state Senate candidate Carroll Hubbard earned a place in Fancy Farm lore by saying, "When (Senate President) David Williams takes a sleeping pill, the other Republicans in the Senate take a nap." Classic, truly classic.

A few thoughts on my favorite annual pig out and political free-for-all in the order they were entered in my notebook:

Wow! The combination of heat and humidity and the effect on an aging body were the worst I can remember for a Fancy Farm Picnic. (Of course, I have an aging memory, too, so “worst” may be relative.) But thanks to the kindness of some friendly folks who invited me to spend a while in some cool motor homes, I survived.

Considering the heat, it was good that a variety of groups were handing out statement-making fans. The most creative came from the D’s and offered the following Top 10 Reasons to Re-elect Mitch McConnell:

“10. $4.00 per gallon gas is too cheap.

“9. Chinese jobs are more important than ours.

“8. Health insurance is overrated.

“7. Millionaires deserve tax breaks more than I do.

“6. The minimum wage is too high.

“5. I prefer my tax dollars going to build bridges in Iraq instead of building bridges in Kentucky.

“4. Working three jobs is the American Dream.

“3. Seniors shouldn’t get a free ride called Social Security and veterans don’t deserve benefits.

“2. $9.5 trillion in national debt just isn’t enough.

“1. I want the next six years to be worse than the last six.”

The same list also appeared on D T-shirts and in the party’s “Fancy Farm Times” publication, which also noted that, when McConnell went to Washington 24 years ago, gas was $1.10 a gallon and the national debt (now $9.5 trillion) was $1.48 trillion.

Lest you think all the digs were directed at McConnell, one of his supporters carried around a large sign with a picture of  D Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford at one of his recent gas-pumping stops with the slogan, “Thanks Bruce for sticking it to Kentucky.”

Former University of Kentucky basketball coach Joe B. Hall was there, sporting stickers supporting Lunsford and 3rd District U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth and a pin backing Carroll Hubbard for the state Senate.

At one point as Lunsford worked the crowd, three guys dressed as sheiks tagged along with signs carrying messages such as “No Domestic Drilling + High Gas Prices = Smiling Sheiks.” At least eight R “sheiks” were in the crowd wearing long white robes, fake beards and turbans. In that heat and humidity, they may have stumbled on the greatest diet plan in history.

D’s had a life-size cardboard picture of President George W. Bush, McConnell and a third body with a hole where its head should be so anyone who wished could stick their face in the hole and have a picture made. The cartoon bubble above Bush (in the middle) read, “Mitch, I feel so close to you.” The bubble above McConnell (to Bush’s left) read, “Well, I do vote with you 95% of the time.” The bubble above the headless body (to Bush’s right) read, “I’ve had enough.” Frankly, I think the D’s got it symbolically reversed by putting McConnell on Bush’s left and the exasperated Headless Voter on the president’s right.

On to comments about the speechifying, occasionally interrupted by signs in the crowd:

Former Gov. Paul Patton and his wife Judi joined the other honored guests on the stage.

As the time for oratory drew close, the R side of the crowd started chanting “Six more years” in support of McConnell. D’s responded with “Ditch Mitch.”

SIGN: “Bruce, where are you flying home to tonight?”

“We want to have fun here,” Mark Wilson, the chairman of the political portion of the picnic, told the crowd. “I want to have fun here. But please, let’s be civil to our speakers.” A bit later, Wilson modified that request to “at least, halfway civil.” With bused-in hecklers filling the space under the covered shelter, even “halfway civil” would be a miracle.

The D side of the stage was way more crowded than the R side, but the crowd in the shelter seemed evenly matched.

SIGN: “God didn’t get it wrong. Stop mountaintop removal.” Although the sign appeared on the D side of the shelter, it’s a sentiment that could be a criticism of both parties.

“There might be some people here who have not made up their mind who they’re going to vote for,” said House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, this year’s master of ceremonies, in echoing Wilson’s request for civility. Yeah, right! If anyone under that shelter had not made up his or her mind yet, they were either members of the media covering the event or picnic volunteers. The vast majority of the crowd were rabid one way or the other.

In his opening remarks, Adkins mentioned the late Vice President Alben Barkley and a number of former governors who had joined the speechifying fun at Fancy Farm over the years. Barkley and all of the governors he mentioned are/were D’s, as is Adkins. It’s understandable that any MC might choose to ignore scandal-tainted former Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s visits to Fancy Farm. But the omission of the late Louie Nunn made Adkins remarks seem unnecessarily partisan.

This year, picnic organizers had a new method for forcing speakers to abide by the time limits on their speeches. Anyone who ran over was immediately drowned out by the Frankfort Bluegrass band No Tools Loaned’s version of Foggy Mountain Breakdown. U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning was the first speaker to suffer that indignity.

Gov. Steve Beshear, the first speaker on the program, was greet from the R side of the crowd with shouts of “Tolly ho!” and a large picture of him dressed in a fox-hunting outfit. Beshear responded by remarking on the “funeral home fans” in the R’s hands and saying, “They’re going to a funeral Nov. 4 when we bury their candidates.” Beshear went on to express his pleasure that U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning “is here with us again finally,” adding that he had call Bunning office to offer to call out the National Guard to ensure the senator’s security. (Bunning previously had said he might never return to Fancy Farm because of concerns for his and his wife’s safety.) All in all, it was the most spirited speech I’ve heard Beshear deliver. But that comes with a caveat. I remember opining that Fletcher’s 2004 speech, also his first as a sitting governor, was the best I had heard from him. And we all know how that ended.

SIGN (from the D side): “So sad the party that once stood for family values has flushed themselves down the toilet.” Hello, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig.

The order of the speaking in contested elections was decided by a coin flip, with the incumbent making the call and the winner deciding who went first. McConnell won the coin flip with Lunsford and opted to go last, which led Lunsford to say it was appropriate for the incumbent to go second because ‘that’s where he’s going to finish on Nov. 4.” Lunsford also noted Bunning’s presence by referring to ‘being attacked by someone who probably knew Babe Ruth.” Lunsford spoke directly to the D side of the crowd, ignoring chants that took off on McConnell’s “Thanks Bruce” ads that refer to his involvement in getting an automatic gas tax increase approved during the administration of former Gov. John Y. Brown Jr. and other chants of “Two-time loser” (Lunsford lost two gubernatorial primaries in which he spent about $15 million of his own money) that morphed into “Three-time loser,” a reference to his campaign against McConnell. He ignored the R side so completely, the eight R “sheiks” moved over to the D side to get in his line of sight. Lunsford closed with a reference to McConnell’s infamous 1984 “hound dog” campaign against former Sen. Walther “Dee” Huddleston by saying, “Let’s sic the hound dogs on Mitch McConnell.”

For his part, McConnell totally ignored Lunsford, focusing instead on D presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. That’s typical for McConnell, who rarely if ever affords an opponent the honor of mentioning their name. McConnell spent his time attacking the “liberals (including Obama) … (who) love to raise gas prices.” It was an R them throughout the day, taking an energy issue that should have been their weakness (the way Enron should have been their weakness a few years ago) because it’s totally attributable to the Bush administration Mideast fiasco and turning it back on the D’s by stressing domestic production and attacking environmentalism. “Democrats just need to get out of the way and let us get to work (on addressing the energy crisis,” McConnell concluded. “And when they do, we can all say: Yes, we can.”

SIGN: “You can tell when Mitch lies … it’s when he opens his mouth.”

SEVERAL SIGNS ON THE SAME HANDLE:

Alfred E. Neuman’s picture from Mad.

“What, me worry?

“8 years as George Bush’s lapdog.

“Owned and operated by big oil and big insurance.

‘Money = free speech.”

In his speech, Bunning played McConnell’s attack dog, accusing Lunsford of wanting to join the “legions of environmental wackos” in Washington, D.C. His speech was also laced with several references to the “Thanks Bruce” theme of McConnell’s ads.

Heather Ryan, the D candidate in the 1st District U.S. House race, thanked McConnell for getting her into the race. “If he had not been such a thin-skinned, dirty, corrupt politician,” she might not have fulfilled her dream of running for Congress and speaking at the Fancy Farm Picnic, she told the crowd. Ryan, who had a previously well-publicized run-in with McConnell in a public forum, noted that the Kentucky’s senior U.S. senator departed before her turn at the lectern. “He must have been afraid of my 12-year-old daughter again,” she said.

Imitating McConnell, incumbent 1st District U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield didn’t make reference to Ryan. He chose instead to talk about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Obama, saying they “want to bring the values of San Francisco and Chicago to rural America.”

SIGN: “Kentucky can do better than liquid coal.”

SIGN: “Nancy Pelosi blocks oil drilling.”

Like McConnell before them, Bunning and Whitfield left the stage not long after speaking. The D’s, including Beshear hung around.

Interestingly enough, I didn’t see state Rep. Greg Stumbo in the crowd, even though he had said he would be there earlier in the week. House Speaker Jody Richards, whom Stumbo might challenge in next January’s leadership races, was there working the crowd.

And of course, the barbecued pork and mutton and the fresh veggies were to die for, as usual.

But I will be blogging about the 128th Annual Fancy Farm Picnic Saturday evening. I’ll be on the road to Western Kentucky Friday.

If you’re going to be there, too, let’s chat about politics, food and scorching heat. Look for me on the picnic grounds Saturday and at Downtown After Dinner in Paducah Saturday night. You may find me in downtown Paducah Friday night as well.

After Fancy Farm weekend, I’m taking a couple of days off. Should be back at it by Wednesday.

During state Rep. Greg Stumbo’s time as attorney general, his office issued an opinion saying the General Assembly could authorize expanded gambling, including casinos, in Kentucky without a constitutional amendment. Now back in the House, Stumbo Wednesday released a draft of legislation that would authorize video lottery terminals at racetracks. Taxes generated from the machines would be earmarked for a variety of purposes including but not limited to education, enhanced purses at the tracks and to offset repeal of the state’s share of the personal property tax on motor vehicles and motorboats.

A few comments:

First, Stumbo should drop the VLT bull and rewrite the proposed bill to call these gambling devices by their real name: slot machines.

Second, lay person that I am, I agree with the legal reasoning of the opinion on expanded gambling issued while Stumbo was attorney general. But whether the opinion was legally correct doesn’t mean diddly. With more than 80 percent of Kentucky voters wanting the right to vote on a constitutional amendment on expanded gambling, lawmakers would be committing political suicide if they authorized slots prior to passage of such an amendment.

Third, Stumbo knows this. He knows his proposal may generate some discussion but isn’t going to pass. But he also knows that, by grabbing a few headlines just days before this Saturday’s 128th Fancy Farm Picnic, he will garner more attention there, where he and his potential rival House Speaker Jody Richards are expected to be pressing the flesh even if they’re not on the speaking program. Remember, it was on the eve of the 2005 picnic that prosecutors in his office gave the ”corrupt politic machine” filing to Franklin Circuit Court in the BlackBerry Jam investigation of hiring practices in former Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s administration.

So, Stumbo knows one other thing as well. He knows timing.

1. Sometime ago, I noted that state Rep. Greg Stumbo thrives in the midst of chaos. Well, the former majority floor leader and former attorney general is stirring up a chaotic situation now by broaching the possibility that he might take on Speaker Jody Richards in the House leadership elections next January. With very little going on around the Capitol in summer’s dog days, speculation about Stumbo’s intentions is Topic A for the hallway gossip. My guess at the moment is that he will challenge Richards. Stumbo didn’t win back his old House seat to be a bystander. He wants to be one of the main players when the deals are brokered. And if gets in, he certainly can count on help from Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark, who is on the outs with Richards, and probably can count on the support of his longtime friend and current Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins.

2. If inquiring about Adkins’ interest in a state job was an indication that Gov. Steve Beshear wants to meddle in those leadership races, he should scrap any such plans immediately. If the administration’s fingerprints are found anywhere near the scene of the bloodletting to come, the number of his enemies among his own party’s House members will increase dramatically.

3. This is shaping up as Lawsuit Summer for state government. First, Senate President David Williams challenged Beshear’s veto of a road projects bill. Then, the Department for Public Advocacy filed suit seeking a declaratory judgment on an adequate level of funding for providing legal aid to the indigent. And some state agencies have gone to court to challenge the General Assembly’s habit of raiding “agency funds” (money the agencies collect to cover the cost of their regulatory duties) to balance the General Fund budget. The latest such suit was filed by the Department of Charitable Gaming, which has seen lawmakers take about $6 million of its funds in recent years. And still to come is the suit county officials are expected to file in regard to funding for jails. Sounds like Franklin Circuit Court will spend a lot of time in coming months exploring some interesting legal questions.

Seems the folks who put on the Fancy Farm Picnic have been taking some heat for not allowing the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate Bob Barr and U.S. Senate candidate Sonny Landham to participate in the speechifying. That prompted Todd Hayden, the chairman of the picnic to send out an e-mail saying in part:

“The picnic has always been nonpartisan and has never supported one candidate over another. Unfortunatly we only have 2 hours scheuled for political speaking and if the political chairman let everyone who wanted to speak there would not be enough hours in the day. Therefore every year he has to make some decisions that don’t always agree with everyone. Mr. Barr and Mr. Landham and whoever wants to is invited to the picnic to speak to whomever they like, they just may not be able to do it from the political platform if the political chairman already has a full schedule.
“The Fancy Farm Picnic is a fund raiser for the St. Jerome Church. Politicians found it a good place to campaign starting many years ago and it has grown over the years. The picnic still remains 1st and formost a fund raiser. It IS NOT an event that is put on for politicians, but to accommodate them we have made it part of our schedule and because of news coverage we do get some exposure from it. What people need to understand is that this event is put on by a bunch of  volunteering parishoners trying to do some stewardship by donating time to their church.”

Courtesy of Mark Wilson, here’s the schedule for the 128th Annual Fancy Farm Picnic:

EVENTS FOR FRIDAY AUGUST 1:

7 am (CDT)  MASS ON THE PICNIC GROUNDS

8 am  MEAT GOES ON THE PITS: (8,500 LBS MUTTON - 10,500 LBS PORK)

RV PARKING BEGINS: $100 GOOD THRU MONDAY-NOONTIME(Contact Sherry Jones 270-623-8181)

5 pm  KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS FISH FRY. CARRYOUTS AVAILABLE
ADULTS: $9.00 CHILDREN UNDER 12: $4.00 CHILDREN UNDER 4: FREE.

REGISTRATION FOR ONE-MILE CLASSIC RUN FOR CHILDREN OR ANYONE WHO LIKES TO COMPETE AT A SLOWER PACE. ENTRY FEE: $10.00. FIRST 200 ENTRANTS WILL RECEIVE A FREE T-SHIRT. DOOR PRIZES ALSO AVAILABLE.

6 pm  RUNNING OF THE ONE-MILE CLASSIC RUN

7 pm  5K PICNIC EVE RUN. ENTRY FEE PRIOR TO FRIDAY IS $17.00. INCLUDES SPECIAL-DESIGN T-SHIRT. LATE ENTRY FEE IS $20.00. WATER STATIONS, DRINKS, AND FRESH FRUIT PROVIDED FOR RUNNERS. ALL RUNNERS ELIGIBLE FOR PRIZE DRAWINGS. COMPUTERIZED RESULTS. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL 270-623-8200.

7 pm KET Comment on Kentucky - live production at political platform?

7:30-11 pm  MUSIC PROVIDED BY “36-30 Band”

HAMBURGERS, HOT DOGS, NACHOS, AND SOFT DRINKS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE PICNIC GROUNDS FRIDAY NIGHT. T-SHIRT STAND WILL BE OPEN.

EVENTS FOR SATURDAY, AUGUST 2:

8 am  BAR-B-QUE BY THE POUND GOES ON SALE.  PORK $7.00lb & MUTTON $8.00lb

10 am  OFFICIAL STARTING TIME OF PICNIC. BINGO, GAMES, CRAFTS, MUSIC AND FOOD FOR ALL. BAR-B-QUE SANDWICHES: $3.00  HAMBURGERS: $2.50 HOT DOGS: $1.50.

11 am  HOME-COOKED MEAL SERVED CONTINUOUSLY UNTIL 8:00pm IN THE AIR-CONDITIONED
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS HALL. MEAL FEATURES: BAR-B-QUE PORK AND MUTTON, FRIED CHICKEN, FRESH SWEET CORN, LIMA BEANS, GREEN BEANS, PURPLE HULL PEAS, FRESH TOMATOES, CUCUMBERS, POTATO SALAD, SLAW, HOMEMADE PIES AND CAKES. $9.00 for adult $4.00 for children.

10:30 am-1:30 pm   MID-DAY MUSIC BY “No Tools Loaned”

1:30 pm  PIONEER AWARDS: PRESENTATION AT POLITICAL STAND.

2 pm  POLITICAL SPEAKING: HOUSE MAJORITY FLOOR LEADER ROCKY ADKINS WILL SERVE AS EMCEE. PLENTY OF SEATING IN AND AROUND SHADED PAVILION. For more info contact Mark or Lori Wilson-270-623-6768 or at mawilson@galaxycable.net

6 pm-10 pm  NIGHTTIME MUSIC BY “Lew Jetton & 61 South”

10 pm DRAWING FOR: FIRST PRIZE: 2008 Jeep Patriot (Purchased from Driver Motors-Mayfield, Ky).
SECOND PRIZE: 42 inch flat-screen plasma TV (purchased from West Ky Technology Store)

NO ADMISSION CHARGE AND PLENTY OF FREE PARKING

*For further information please contact St. Jerome Catholic Church at 270-623-8181, Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm, CDT.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has confirmed that he will speak at the 128th Fancy Farm Picnic Aug. 2, according to Mark Wilson, chairman for the political portion of the event.

State Treasurer Todd Hollenbach, state Rep. Steven Rudy and his opponent for the 1st District House seat, Mike Lawrence, have also confirmed that they will speak since my July 9 post (below) on the subject.

Attorney General Jack Conway will attend, but will not speak. Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer will not be there due to an out-of-town wedding in the family.

No word yet from the two presidential candidates from the major parties, although Wilson indicated he expected a decision from Sen. Barack Obama within a few days.

If the number of scheduled events provide an accurate measure, Democrats apparently will be having the most fun the week of the Aug. 2 Fancy Farm Picnic.

D’s start with a Thursday morning golf tournament at Mayfield’s South Highland Country Club. On Friday, the West Kentucky Building and Construction Trades Pre-Fancy Farm Luncheon will be held at Paducah’s Mid-America Xpo Center. Later that afternoon, state Rep. Mike Cherry and his wife Gail will host the Pennyrile Garden Party at their home in Princeton. The Marshall County Bean Dinner will be held Friday evening at the Kentucky Dam Village Convention Center. Before heading over to hear the Saturday afternoon oratory at the 128th picnic thrown by the good folks of St. Jerome Catholic Church, the D’s will chow down at the Graves County/Mayfield Democratic Breakfast at Mayfield High School.

R’s will have their own Night ‘fore Fancy Farm GOP Rally at the Kenlake State Resort Park amphitheater. It’s hosted by the Marchall County GOP Women. And Saturday brings the Graves County GOP Annual Fancy Farm Breakfast at Graves County High School. R’s also are planning a state executive committee meeting during Fancy Farm weekend, but the day and time are still to be determined.

Of course, you don’t have to hang with the D’s and R’s at their events to have fun and stuff yourself with food. There will be a fish fry and entertainment Friday night on the picnic grounds. The doors providing access to those serving tables full of pork, mutton, fresh veggies to die for and homemade desserts open at 11 a.m. Saturday. The speechifying kicks off at 2 p.m. And the bingo and assorted other sources of entertainment is pretty much non-stop.

Go. Enjoy. Hope to see you there. I’ll be the one pigging out on those veggies.

Then, end your day enjoying a variety of music in the open air at Paducah’s “Downtown After Dinner.” If you’re still hungry there are some excellent restaurants near the entertainment.

Or you can enjoy watermelon at the Bank of Benton’s annual “Watermelon Bust” at Marshall County High School, followed by gospel music in the school auditorium.

According to Mark Wilson, chairman for the political portion of the 128th annual Fancy Farm Picnic, the following folks had confirmed their appearance at the Aug. 2 event as of late Tuesday:

House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins (master of ceremonies), Gov. Steve Beshear, Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning (who previously said he might never attend again because of safety issues), U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford, U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, 1st District U.S. House candidate Heather Ryan, Auditor Crit Luallen, state Sen. Kenneth Winters, state Senate candidate Carroll Hubbard and state Rep. Fred Nesler.

Also invited but not yet confirmed are U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, Secretary of State Trey Grayson, state Treasurer Todd Hollenbach, state Rep. Steven Rudy and state House candidate Mike Lawrence. (Grayson’s spokesman Les Fugate said the secretary of state will be there.)

Wilson said two presidential candidates, Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama, have been invited and that Obama’s camp had called to ask for the demographics and history of the picnic and area.

Confirmed no-shows include Attorney General Jack Conway and Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer, according to Wilson.

UPDATE: Conway spokesperson Allison Martin says the attorney general will be in Western Kentucky Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before the Fancy Farm Picnic. She said he was uncertain whether he could attend Saturday but had declined to speak out of deference to the candidates who are running for office this year.