Well, according to the former head of the Commonwealth Office of Technology, it was all Robbie Rudolph's idea, as a way to shut off access to BluegrassReport.org, a democratic web site that frequently criticized the Fletcher administration.
Joe Gerth has the story for the C-J:

Rudolph allegedly had blog blocked
Web site critical of Gov. Fletcher

By Joseph Gerth
jgerth@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

A former Fletcher administration official said yesterday in a sworn statement that he believes Gov. Ernie Fletcher's running mate, Robbie Rudolph, ordered a state crackdown on access to Internet blogs in an effort to silence a Democratic site critical of the governor.

"It was apparent that the state had intentionally targeted BluegrassReport.org and had blocked the category of blogs and other categories of Web sites in an attempt to disguise that fact," said Michael Inman, the state's former commissioner of technology.

Jodi Whitaker, a spokeswoman for Fletcher, said she hadn't seen a copy of the affidavit and couldn't comment on it. When offered a copy of the filing, Whitaker said it was more appropriate if the administration received a copy through normal channels.

The affidavit was filed in U.S. District Court in Frankfort as part of a lawsuit by Mark Nickolas, the operator of the now defunct BluegrassReport.org, charging that the state's Commonwealth Office of Technology violated his First Amendment rights.

In the suit, filed last year, Nickolas claimed the administration blocked access on state computers to his Web sites and others like it in an effort to keep state employees from reading what he wrote.

The Fletcher administration said at the time that it was merely trying to block a wide range of Web sites in an effort to keep state workers on task and from surfing the Internet during work hours.

Inman's affidavit was filed along with a motion aimed at moving the stalled lawsuit forward.

In the affidavit, Inman said Rudolph, Fletcher's cabinet secretary, sometimes complained during staff meetings about the Web site "and would express frustration when talking about the site."

Deputy Technology Commissioner Mark Rutledge, who Inman identified as a "close political" ally of Rudolph, informed Inman that access to Nickolas' Web site had been cut off in June 2006, about the time the New York Times mentioned the Web site in a story.

"Well, we finally blocked BluegrassReport.org," Inman recalled Rutledge saying.

According to Inman, when he asked Rutledge if that was legal, Rutledge replied, "They wouldn't ever know we did it. We hid it in a bunch of other stuff."

Although Inman was Rutledge's boss, he said he was never informed a new Internet usage policy was being considered, and he doesn't understand why political blogs were blocked when the state continued to allow employees to access some sports and shopping Web sites.

In the affidavit, Inman said that when he objected to the blocking of political blogs to John Farris, then secretary of the Finance and Administration cabinet, Farris told him "not to get involved because it came from 'high up.' "

Farris couldn't be reached to comment.

Inman said he believed it was Rudolph's decision to block such sites.

"Based on Rutledge's close alliance with Rudolph, I believe that the decision to block the Web site came directly from Rudolph in the governor's office as a result of Mark Nickolas' criticism of the administration."

Inman, a Republican, was fired Aug. 24, 2006, and replaced with Rutledge. In the affidavit, Inman said the only reason given for his dismissal "was that my 'services were no longer needed.' "

Nickolas, in an interview, called the affidavit "a devastating document. It shows beyond a doubt the governor's office targeted me."

Reporter Joseph Gerth can be reached at (502) 582-4702.