KyKurmudgeon

Heard around the Capitol:

Since Bruce Lunsford already has a residence in Chicago, he should have just tried to buy Barack Obama’s Senate seat. It would have been a lot cheaper for him.

1. Although they don’t mean diddly about filling a $456.1 million hole in the current state budget, thosevoluntary 10 percent pay cuts Gov. Steve Beshear, Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo and senior members of the governor’s staff will take in 2009 make for a nice piece of symbolism. None of these folks, who earn more than $100,000 a year each, will feel the kind of pain others will suffer from another round of cuts in state funding of education and crucial social services. Still, their small gesture was a laudable one. Legislative leaders, who are as responsible as anyone for failing to generate adequate revenue for any of the state’s operations other than their own, should be ashamed if they don’t join in the sacrifice.

2. Who woulda thunk we would see the day when U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky’s fund-raising king of kings, would have to borrow money to stave off a challenger? But the Politico Web site reported last week that McConnell borrowed a total of $1.8 million in the closing days of his race against Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford. The multimillionaire Louisville businessman may now be a three-time loser as a candidate, but give him credit for making the heretofore seemingly invincible McConnell work up such a sweat.

3. McConnell’s fellow Republican senator from the Bluegrass State, Jim Bunning, has said repeatedly that he will seek re-election in 2010. I hear he reiterated that stance during a teleconference with reporters Tuesday. But some of the recent whispers on the Kentucky political winds are starting to suggest otherwise. We’ll see. Assuming Bunning is the R candidate in ‘10, Democrats would be wise to get a name contender in the field shortly early in 2009 - unless they have another Lunsford on their bench who can self-fund a pricey campaign on short notice. Anyone else would have to start working early to raise the kind of money needed to pose a serious challenge to an incumbent senator.

After two weeks of desk duties at the Herald-Leader mother ship and another week of vacation during which I managed to do a fair imitation of a turkey by getting stuffed on Thanksgiving Day, I’m back, at least for a couple of weeks. Now, if someone would please remind me what a person does with a blog, I can get back to work. (Just kidding, sorta.) Anyway, let’s ease back into the routine with a few observations about some of the news from the last three weeks.

1. You know, for people who get and keep their jobs through what are essentially popularity contests, politicians can be really dense about appreciating the public perception created by their own actions. One example of that in recent weeks was Gov. Steve Beshear signing off on a 25 percent bump in salary (from $80,000 to $100,000) for a position he tapped friend and campaign donor Ralph Coldiron to fill in the Department of Homeland Security. At the time, Beshear knew the state was facing a projected shortfall in revenue for this fiscal year. He didn’t know the shortfall was going to be as much as the $456 million now estimated by the Consensus Forecasting Group, but he knew it was going to be significant. He also knew he was going to have to ask state agencies to cut back on funding the services they provide the public and/or ask Kentuckians to pay higher taxes. Under those circumstances, approving a salary increase for a position you’re naming a buddy to fill is, well, not very smart. It needlessly undermines the message Beshear will be delivering to the public and legislature over the next few weeks as he outlines his plan for dealing with a serious budget shortfall. A governor who plans to ask others to tighten their belts and make do with less needs to set the example with his own appointees.

2. Of course, Beshear is not alone among elected officials in Frankfort in being fiscally insensitive. A couple of recent stories (one in the Herald-Leader and another in The Courier-Journal) illustrated how profligate state lawmakers can be when traveling on the public dime. John Cheves’ story in the Herald-Leader dealt with the state police who provide security during out-of-state trips by Senate President David Williams and House Speaker Jody Richards, a practice that cost taxpayers $12,000 in just one month last summer. The Courier-Journal story by Tom Loftus reported that lawmakers in general spent $1.3 million of the public’s money on out-of-state travel between Jan. 1, 2006 and Oct. 31, 2008. Obviously, some travel by lawmakers to conferences and conventions can be beneficial since it can expand their knowledge about dealing with issues all states face. But state Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, traved at public expense an average of more than 40 days a year during that time frame. Others among the General Assembly top frequent flyers averaged 25-30 days a year during that period. Considering the state’s budget woes in recent years, that’s excessive. And I can think of no legitimate justification for the state police escort Williams and Richards have been getting in their travels. After all, outside of Kentucky, who would know either man or what positions they hold well enough to target them for harm?

3. It would be way, way dumb of House Democratic leaders if they try to “steal” the 26th District seat from Rep. Tim Moore, R-Elizabethtown. Moore narrowly won re-election over Democratic challenger Mike Weaver, who held the seat prior to his unsuccessful 2006 campaign for the 2nd District U.S. House seat. Weaver and D leaders have discussed the possibility of contesting Moore’s election when the General Assembly convenes next month because of a malfuntion in a voting machine at one precinct. Such a contest would be settled by a vote of the full House, where D’s hold a sizeable majority. But Weaver and D’s leaders should end those discussions and accept defeat in the 26th District. Otherwise, they’ll only wind up looking as foolishly arrogant and petty as Williams and Senate R leaders looked when they tried to seat Dana Seum Stephenson despite court rulings that she failed the constitution’s residency requirement for serving as a state senator.

Hope you all had a spectacular Turkey Day.

1. It appears some Republicans want Mike Duncan, the chairman of the party’s national committee, to take the fall for the beating they took at the polls Nov. 4. Several reports indicate the Inez banker may have competition, perhaps from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich among others, if he seeks re-election in January. But it seems a bit odd to me that Duncan would become the scapegoat. After all, the R’s got their butts kicked because of President Bush’s disastrous policies on the economy and in Iraq, not because of the way Duncan ran the party machine. Any R who believes otherwise is in a serious state of denial. If there is any Kentuckian who should be blamed for the beating R’s took on a national basis, it is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been Bush’s enabler in chief on all those disastrous policies.

2. When the Consensus Forecasting Group meets Friday, expect an even gloomier revenue projection than the $294 million shortfall Gov. Steve Beshear’s budget analysts predicted a couple of weeks ago. Expect that gloomier forecast to cause Beshear and House Democratic leaders to suggest an increase in the cigarette tax. But since the election didn’t produce any change in Frankfort’s political dynamics, don’t expect any increase to be passed because President David  Williams still mans his roadblock in the Senate.

3. A story in The Courier-Journal Tuesday reported that the Horseshoe casino (formerly Caesar’s) has paid $740 million in Indiana state taxes in its 10 years of existence. Some $215 million of that went back to Harrison County, where the casino is located. In addition, the county got another $100 million in profit-sharing. One Indiana casino contributed a total of $840 million to the public bank accounts in 10 years. Think what nine casinos could be contributing to Kentucky’s public bank accounts. But don’t think too hard about it right now, not with the roadblock still functioning in the Senate.

1. It’s been nearly 24 hours since U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted on seven felony charges. Why doesn’t Bruce Lunsford’s campaign already have ads out there linking the Alaska Republican to his good buddy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell? As I’ve noted before, Lunsford’s ability to self-finance a large part of his campaign got him into a competitive position, which became a virtual dead heat after the collapse of the nation’s financial markets. But he still has to close the deal. Stevens’ conviction gives him an opening to do so. If I were Lunsford, I would have had ads out there pairing Stevens with McConnell no later than this morning. And I would keep them going non-stop for the next seven days. But so far, all the Lunsford camp has done is issue a couple of statements, giving McConnell time to try to distance himself from Stevens. Makes you wonder how much the Lunsford camp wants to win.

2. And it’s not as if they don’t have the McConnell camp on the defensive. The R’s wouldn’t be trying to make a big deal out of a silly little flap over a recording device at last week’s debate in Gilbertsville if they weren’t running scared.

3. I was surprised when a recent Courier-Journal Bluegrass State Poll put Gov. Steve Beshear’s approval rating at 60 percent. I knew he had bounced back from a rating in the high 30s at the end of the General Assembly session, but I didn’t think he had bounced back that much. However, the Herald-Leader/WKYT Kentucky Poll gave Beshear a very similar 57 percent approval rating. So, I guess Beshear has been making a number of right moves since the spring. Still, his folks know the improved numbers of late are “soft” and could drop quickly, particularly if sluggish revenues force the administration to make more painful spending cuts.

OK, I know you all may think from the scarcity of recent posts that the old Kurmudgeon is a slacker who’s been laying down on the job. And you’re partly right. I did take some time off. But the time off was sandwiched between a period of filling in for absent colleagues at other H-L editorial board duties and a period of participating in the time-consuming process of interviewing candidates for endorsements. But my part in that process is over. This Sunday’s column is written. And I’m back to a more normal routine at least through Election Day. I even cancelled plans to take next week off just in case anyone associated with either presidential campaign finally figures out where to find Kentucky. So, let’s start with a couple of quickies:

1. Like most members of the media who have been following this story, I was surprised by Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate’s ruling in the case involving domain names of on-line gambling sites. And I remain unconvinced that the state ultimately will prevail in seizing those names and forcing the sites to block play in Kentucky and pay restitution for past illegal Internet gambling. But even if the state does win, the on-line gambling industry will find new ways to reach out and put the touch on Kentuckians. That’s why I still believe the best way to deal with this issue is pass legislation regulating on-line gambling and then tax it.

2. Earlier this month, the Connecticut Supreme Court handed down a 4-3 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, making it the third state (joining California and Massachusetts) where such unions are authorized. A subsequent poll conducted for The Hartford Courant found that 53 percent of the state’s residents agreed with the ruling, compared to 42 percent who disagreed. Those numbers suggest that a state referendum that could ultimately lead to a constitutional ban on such marriages could well be defeated. Regardless, the court ruling and the poll results show that the times are a-changin’ for our gay and lesbian friends and family members - slowly to be sure, but they are changin’.

I’m back, sorta. Between filling in for absent editorial board colleagues and taking some time off myself, this old KyKurmudgeon hasn’t been very active recently. So, let’s do a little catching up, particulary about a couple of results from the The Courier Journal Bluegrass State Poll.

1. That millionaire businessman Bruce Lunsford, with all his baggage and with a campaign that has not been overly impressive, could be in a statistical dead heat with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (45 percent for McConnell to 44 percent for Lunsford) in a conservative state like Kentucky speaks volumes about how low the Republican brand has sunk in this country. Another clear indication of that is the fact that Sen. Barack Obama trails Sen. John McCain by just 10 points in a state where he hasn’t actively campaigned since getting blown away in the Democratic primary. I must confess that I never gave Lunsford much chance to beat McConnell. But this poll of likely voters, conducted as the nation’s financial meltdown was occurring, suggests he just might pull off what would have to be considered a huge upset. If he does, Democrats may well find themselves with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

2. Even more surprising to me than the results from the Senate race was the fact that the poll gave Gov. Steve Beshear a 60 percent job approval rating. After stumbling badly in his first legislative session, Beshear’s approval rating sank to 39 percent in a poll conducted last spring for the Herald-Leader and WKYT-TV. Once lawmakers left town, he started using his executive powers in ways that produced some positive changes and made him look more gubernatorial. So, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a current approval rating around 50 percent. But a 60 percent approval rating after getting off to such a bad start represents quite a rebound.

1. Sen. John McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate caused TV’s talking heads to start asking immediately whether she has the experience and qualifications to be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office. Such questions are reasonable to ask, considering her limited experience and McCain’s criticism of Sen. Barack Obama’s inexperience. However, my reason for questioning McCain’s judgment is that he opened the door for the ticket being lampooned as “The Beauty and the Beast,” or even “The Beauty and the Least.” In addition, her youth emphasizes his age to his detriment.

2. It’s hard to believe Republican officials would even think about delaying their convention out of fears that Tropical Storm Gustav would hit New Orleans while they were boogying down in St. Paul and remind the world how incompetent an R administration’s response was to Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. How stupid is that? By simply mentioning the possibility of delaying their party for that reason, they ALREADY have reminded the world of the Bush administration’s incompetent response to the greatest natural disaster this nation has suffered in modern times.

3. Obama gave a good speech, not a great speech. But of all the Big Five speakers at the D convention - the two Obamas, the two Clintons and Sen. Joe Biden - Biden’s was the most disappointing. He didn’t live up to his billing.

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.