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Political BLOG |
 May 2008
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March 2008 ArchivesChelsea Clinton will be in Lexington and Louisville this week, campaigning for her mother. ...House and Senate leaders are busy calling their colleagues at this hour to tell them the Monday session of the Kentucky legislature has been cancelled. ...Some random thoughts on budget negotiations, including the fact that they've gone back behind closed doors: ...A company that makes cabinets for slot machines and other gambling devices is preparing to open a plant in Kentucky. ...The House and Senate leaders who are trying to hammer out a compromise state budget are back behind closed doors. After saying the conference committee negotiations would be open to the public and KET, Senate President David Williams closed a meeting between 10 House and Senate leaders and Lottery President Arch Gleason on Friday. And according to the Lexington Herald-Leader and >> Continue reading: Back Behind Closed Doors Hillary Clinton did one-on-one interviews with TV reporters after her visit to Manual H.S. on Saturday. Here's the link for her interview with WHAS11 News' Gene Kang. ...House Speaker Jody Richards hinted today that budget negotiators think they'll be able to "adequately fund" education and social services without raising taxes. ...Hillary Clinton is trying to show she's got military folks on her side in the campaign for president. Meanwhile, Obama is opening his Kentucky HQ on the same day Clinton is coming to Louisville. Here's Clinton's e-mail, signed by former military officers followed by details of Obama's HQ opening: ...Louisville developer Chris Thieneman's off and on run for Congress is still on hold. Thieneman's name will be on the May ballot as a republican candidate. But he says he's "still on the fence" about whether to run an all out campaign. ...Kentucky lawmakers are telling the executive and judicial branches of government to tighten their belts in these tough budgetary times, but they're not doing the same. ...Governor Steve Beshear made official what we reported at 5 and 11 p.m. Wednesday, the casino bill is dead. Beshear told reporters today that he's pulled the plug on trying to pass any form of casino legislation because of lack of support in the House. ...About 9,000 who have changed their party registration since January 1st, won't be allowed to vote in the May primary election. ...Her husband was here this week. Now Hillary Clinton is visiting the Bluegrass State this weekend. After a couple of stops in Indiana, Clinton will cross the river into Louisville then travel to Madisonville. Here's the itinerary from the Clinton campaign: ...House Speaker Jody Richards said today that SB 40, which requires abortion providers to show pregnant women an ultrasound before they have an abortion, isn't going anywhere in the House. ...Governor Beshear has set up a state panel to pull together all of the infrastructure and other improvements needed to successfully handle the future influx of soldiers and civilians at Ft. Knox. ...About one-third of American voters apparently think the presidential candidate's selection of a running mate is important in deciding who they'll for. That's according to Survey USA. ...It looks like future funding for the Ohio River bridges and other mega-projects may throw another boulder in the way of a negotiated state budget. ...WHAS 11 anchor Doug Proffitt had a satellite interview with Hillary Clinton today, asking her about her wrong claim that she landed in Bosnia in 1996 under sniper fire. Here's the full interview, which is only about 3 minutes long. Mrs. Clinton may be in Madisonville this weekend after canceling planning for a stop in Louisville last Friday. ...Well, Bill Clinton certainly hasn't changed much. He was a little late for his first speech of the day, then talked for 55 minutes instead of the allotted 20. He glad handed and signed autographs for another 30 minutes before leaving Frankfort around 12:45 p.m. His next event, an hour away in Paris, was scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. ...The incredibly slow process of hammering a compromise state budget plan has begun, sort of. The budget conference committee couldn't agree on how to disagree so negotiations never really got off the ground today. ...The Republicans do it too. It's those fear mongering e-mails to raise money for campaigns. Reporter Pat Crowley is reporting on the latest from the Mitch McConnell and Geoff Davis camps. ...The Louisville-area college republicans have managed to snare an all-star line up for their big dinner this weekend. Here's the details: ...Governor Steve Beshear may be wondering why he ran for governor about now. His approval rating has dipped below 50% and more Kentuckians now disapprove than approve of the job he's doing as governor. ...All of the high school students in the Franklin County School District are getting a chance to see Bill Clinton at a campaign rally in Frankfort on Tuesday, with parental approval. But that's not sitting well with all parents. ...The Kentucky State Senate has passed a budget that, in total, doesn't look a whole lot different than the one passed by the House. But it has some interesting twists. ...U.S. Senate candidate Greg Fischer is e-mailing folks, hoping they'll pony up some cash before the end of the month financial reporting deadline. Fischer is telling potential givers that he'll match their donations dollar for dollar with his own money. ...Here's the Tuesday itinerary for Former President Bill Clinton from his wife's campaign: ...Maysville may be the center of the Kentucky universe this week.....a boys' state basketball title for Mason County on Saturday, George Clooney in town tonight and Bill Clinton tomorrow. ...Governor Beshear's office has scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. Monday in the Capitol Rotunda to unveil the democrats' new strategy for passing a casino bill. ...I told you Steve Beshear would finally get a win. He wins the bet with Iowa's governor over the outcome of the WKU-Drake game. ...The David Williams vs. Harry Moberly mudslinging stepped up a notch on Friday, just as the two of them get ready to join the other House and Senate leaders for negotiations on the budget bill ...Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee were fuming today after sticking around for two hours after adjournment for a committee meeting that produced nothing. ...Bill Clinton will be a traveling fool on Tuesday, making three stops in Kentucky on behalf of his wife's campaign for President. ...The C-J political blog is still as hard to find as mine but there are a couple of good stories on there today. ...An audit of the 2006-07 portfolio scores on the CATS test has found nearly half of the scores were inflated, giving critics of the CATS test ammunition to abolish the test or at least the written portion of it. ...
The House Health and Welfare Committee voted down a bill that would bar state agencies, including state universities, from offering health insurance benefits to the partners of gay, lesbian and single employees. But the vote didn't come until bill sponsor Sen. Vernie McGaha was berated by Rep. David Watkins. ...A group of Louisville teenagers is getting lesson in civics, the hard way. They're finding plenty of roadblocks as they try to get lawmakers to pass a resolution recommending Kentucky schools provide the study of the Holocaust in their coursework. ...The Kentucky House of Representatives has passed the payday loan bill that's not quite as tough as many consumer groups wanted. ...Kentucky's First Couple will be attending the opening of George Clooney's new movie in Maysville and Jane Beshear tells Jack Brammer she's really looking forward to it. ...Vice President Dick Cheney will be in Lexington raising money for 2nd District Congressional candidate Brett Guthrie. ...State government employees will once again be able to read this political blog and others courtesy of the new governor. ...Governor Steve Beshear and Democratic House leaders are promising one final push to get a casino bill through the House early next week. ...The Louisville Bar Association has polled its members and come up with rankings for the candidates in the Jefferson County judicial races. It appears former state legislator Louis Guenthner is the only candidate who had more lawyers rate him "unqualified" than "qualified." ...In a head-to-head matchup with Republican John McCain, Barack Obama would get killed according to the latest SurveyUSA/WHAS11 Poll. ...Congressman John Yarmuth has been ordered not to wear his "Article One" button when he speaks on the House floor. The button police have also warned other congressman to avoid wearing the "Article One" buttons. And Yarmuth isn't happy. The Washington Post has the funny story.....funny to everyone but Yarmuth apparently. Hat tip to a reader for finding this one. ...The Kentucky Senate continued its pattern of voting on controversial legislation on the same day they're approved by a senate committee. Today, it's the ethics bill which was quickly peddled through a senate committee and full senate within hours of each other. ...Lexington Herald-Leader political writer Ryan Alessi chats with Governor Beshear about the rough first three months for his administration. ...Reporter Pat Crowley was with U.S. Senate candidate as he campaigned in Northern Kentucky. ...Governor Steve Beshear is having a tough time winning anything in the 2008 Legislative Session, much less a casino gambling amendment. But he's going to get a win on Friday. ...PageOneKentucky is reporting that Gov. Beshear is in the process of lifting the ban on access to political blogs from state government computers. ...Hillary Clinton supporters in Kentucky were all a-twitter on Tuesday afternoon with news that the New York senator would be campaigning in Louisville on Friday. ...One of the most heavily lobbied bills of the 2008 Legislative Session will have a new look when it hits the House floor later this week. ...Rep. Larry Belcher was treated like a conquering king by his fellow democrats during a committee meeting on Tuesday. ...The campaign finance bill that was passed by the Senate is now on its way to the 100 member House. ...The House Appropriations and Revenue Committee surprised everyone on Tuesday by approving a bill to give tax breaks to military families. ...The Governor's office employee who claims he was illegally fired after returning from National Guard training, has been rehired by the Beshear administration. ...The Kentucky Criminal Justice Council was pulled out of mothballs today to begin looking for ways to keep folks out of prison. ...You can write this one down: The state senate is about to pass a state budget that looks an awful lot like the original budget plan proposed by Gov. Steve Beshear. ...Indiana Congressman Baron Hill says he doesn't support using tolls to pay for the Ohio River bridges between Louisville and his district. ...Democrat Scott Alexander outspent Brandon Smith by a 2 to 1 margin in losing the race to replace Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo in the state senate. ...Another big labor organization has endorsed Bruce Lunsford's campaign for U.S. Senate. Yes, it's another coalition that worked against Lunsford in his 2007 race for governor. ...Ah, it's spring and the Homeland Security grants are flowing: ...Even though his plan for a 70 cent increase in the cigarette tax is getting the cold shoulder from state lawmakers, Governor Beshear obviously isn't giving up. ...It appears some governors are fighting their own state's open records laws and trying to keep their e-mails, which they wrote on government blackberries or computers, secret. ...Louisville developer Chris Thieneman tells WHAS11 News he's reconsidering his decision to quit campaigning for the republican nomination for Congress. ...
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