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  October 2008
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July 2008 ArchivesThe state employee who led a petition drive to keep the current number of security guards at the old L and N Building in Louisville says Tuesday's story by WHAS 11 News prompted state officials to reverse a decision to cut those guards. More than 20 upset and scared state social service workers talked with me on Tuesday, saying they f... Barack Obama is sending e-mails to potential contributors, claiming John McCain is taking the "low road" in his latest TV ads. Obama is hoping the e-mails will generate some cash from his supporters: ...Governor Beshear has won the first round of a lawsuit over the legality of Beshear's veto of the legislature's r... Kentucky is shelling out more than $1 million in grants to companies who are working on alternative energy sources, including one wind company in E-town and another firm in Louisville: ...Congressman Baron Hill leads arch enemy Mike Sodrel by seven points in their southern Indiana congressional race. A new Survey USA/WHAS 11 News poll shows the democrat leading the republican challenger by a 49% to 42% margin with Libertarian Eric Schansberg capturing 4%. Sodrel and Hill have taken turns holding the 9th district seat then... Governor Beshear has appointed a new head of Financial Institutions: ...If you live in the Louisville TV market, you've probably seen those clever anti-union, pro right-to-work ads. Actors posing as workers sarcastically say things like "I'm glad my union dues are going to politicians I don't even like." WHAS-TV's Adam Walser did a story on the ads yesterday. And here's a >> Continue reading: Anti Union Ads Raising Eyebrows It seems like just yesterday that we saw hundreds of signs that said "Keep FDA Off The Farm" at the Fancy Farm Picnic, spurred on by Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. That was when talk first began about a tobacco buyout in return for some federal regulation of burley. My how times have changed. Today the U.S. House voted overwhelmingly for a bill to set up federal regulation of ... Governor Steve Beshear has appointed a Louisville political consultant and media buyer to the Kentucky Lottery Board. Larry O'Bryan replaces Jim Sullivan who has resigned. ...Kentucky's two U.S. Senators may be spending the weekend in Washington, D.C. instead of in Graves County, Ky. The AP says the U.S. Senate may conduct a rare Saturday session. That means Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnell might skip the Fancy Farm Picnic. Here's the AP story: ...This my personal thanks to Barack Obama and John McCain for their decisions to stay away from the Fancy Farm Picnic. The temperature is supposed to be around 95 (feels like 130 at Fancy Farm) and I didn't want to battle bumper-to-bumper traffic on the road to Fancy Farm. Selfish? Yes. Reflective of the feelings of every other p... Social services and other state employees in the old L and N building in Louisville are upset and scared about their cabinet's plan to cut the security staff at their office building from 11 employees to 2 beginning Friday. ...The state nursing home regulator who was fired for his relationship with a nursing home operator, is now telling his side of the story. I talked with Moses Young and his attorney, though Young wouldn't speak on camera for fear of saying something that might be used against him in the FBI and Attorney General investigations that are targeting him. Here's the link to... There was a leak of mustard gas at the Bluegrass Army Depot near Richmond, but officials are claiming there's no threat to the public. Here's the AP story: ...Governor Beshear's former chief of staff will be back in campaign mode this fall. The Lexington Herald-Leader is reporting that Jim Cauley will be helping with the campaigns of senate democrats. ...Allison Haley is leaving as Bruce Lunsford's campaign spokesman. We also understand that the campaign's IT director is leaving. Haley is leaving voluntarily and will be replaced by former LEO editor Cary Stemle, according to theVilleVoice. If the Lunsford campaign folks will listen to Stemle's advice, he'll be a terrific addition to the staff. But when was the last time any political campaign listened to their communication director instea... Hillary Clinton is sending out e-mails to past supporters, trying to retire her campaign debt by offering contributors a shot at dinner with Sen. Clinton. Here's the Clinton campaign e-mail: ...Fayette County republicans have nominated Chuck Ellinger as their candidate to replace Ernesto Scorsone in the State Senate. Rep. Kathy Stein is seeking the seat on the democratic side. Here's the GOP's announcement: ...
A Lexington attorney is claiming in a court action that Kentucky's public defender system failed to provide counsel for a juvenile. He wants to open up records of a hearing held on the matter, but wants any news media that report the name of the juvenile or his mother to be held in contempt of court. Huh? Sorry bud, as they told you in law school, you opened the door to that inform... It appears former Republican Party Chairman Ellen Williams and former Democratic Party Chairman Terry McBrayer are slurping at the public trough. Both have $60,000/yr. contracts with state universities to provide lobbying-type work. ...After making several off the wall comments, former adult film actor Sonny Landham has been catapulted from the Libertarian Party. Landham now says he w... Governor Beshear has been taking a little bit of heat from some veterans for no longer ordering flags to half staff when every soldier based at Ft. Campbell or Ft. Knox dies in combat. So he's apparently changed the flag lowering policy again. And Sen. Joey Pendleton issued a news release today, backing u... Clear Channel Radio's Al Mayo talked with Greg Stumbo about the possibility of running for a leadership position. Here's the guts of Mayo's story on Stumbo: ...It appears Rep. Greg Stumbo is seriously considering a run for House Speaker in 2009. Last week the C-J's Tom Loftus quoted Stumbo as saying he hadn't ruled out a run for Speaker. Now the H-L has a similar story. Just to add some fuel to the fire, Stumbo told me, and others, just before the end of the 2008 session that he didn't think he could beat Jody Richards but might consider ... Wonder why state lawmakers want to switch state government jobs? It's no longer a secret thanks to Ryan Alessi's story in the Lexington Herald-Leader. Here's the right link for the story for those of you who couldn't open it before. ...
Democratic senatorial candidate Bruce Lunsford finally countered Sen. Mitch McConnell's TV ad which blames Lunsford for rising gas taxes and $4/gallon gas. Lunsford told reporters today that "there's no question Mitch McConnell thinks Kentuckians are stupid" if he thinks they believe the claims in his ad. Lunsford also called McConnell's ad "propaganda" and laid out his 8 point energy plan, including a "gas tax holiday" which his party's pre... Here's the H-L's version of Steve Beshear's town hall meeting in Winchester. ...The Lexington Herald-Leader is reporting that Rep. Rocky Adkins has turned down the governor's overture to join his adminstration. See how easy that was newspaper guys? It's OK to tell your readers that other media broke a story. Just give the media some credit and voila! you're giving your readers more information!!!!... I'm subbing for Ferrell Wellman on KET's "Comment on Kentucky" again Friday night. My guests are Tony McVeigh of Kentucky Public Radio, Pat Crowley of the Kentucky Enquirer and Louisville lawyer and part time C-J columnist John David Dyche. ...Kentucky Public Radio reporter Tony McVeigh is reporting that Education Commissioner Jon Draud plans to auction off his controversial state car on eBay. The AP picked up the story: ...Sen. Mitch McConnell told the Lexington Herald-Leader that he will be at the Fancy Farm Picnic in a week and a half. It'll be interesting to see if McConnell will answer questions from Kentucky reporters this year. He ducked everybody last year, getting out of car behind the stage and hustling past reporters with a Secret Service agent in tow. ...A Bullitt County businessman who lives in Louisville has filed as a Libertarian candidate in the 3rd district congressional race. ...The mayor of Tampa isn't happy that Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson is throwing a big party in his city, trying to convince Floridians to come back to their hometown of Louisville. Here's the story from the Tampa Tribune newspaper as well as a legitimate question: Should we be spending GLI money on parties to try and recruit Louisvillians back home? Former WAVE-TV reporter James Zambroski, who now works in Tampa, ain't movin'....he says so ... Mayors on both sides of the Ohio River are calling on state and federal officials to move ahead with the Ohio River Bridges project. Funding for the two bridges and reconstruction of Spaghetti Junction in Louisville may be in trouble because of the lack of federal dollars, no commitment for placing tolls on the bridges and a legal dispute over the state road plan. But the mayors want to push ahead. Here's the release from a pro bridges grou... Jefferson County's republican party is holding its annual summer picnic this weekend with Anne Northup as the headliner. Here's the repubs release: ...State Rep. Frank Rasche is resigning from the Kentucky House of Representatives to take a job with the Kentucky Education Department, according to a story in the Paducah Sun: ...An investigative report released today quotes a former nurse at a northern Kentucky nursing home as saying that the owner of that home always seemed to know when state inspectors were coming to his facility. The report also says an informant secretly recorded conversations with fired state worker Sharon Harris in which Harris admitted that she never paid rent to live... Well maybe this story does involve politics. Church politics. Some members of a Louisville church are suing their pastor claiming the church fired him months ago but he won't go away. Sort of like many Americans feel about President Bush (best I could do for political tie-in.) The C-J has the unrepentant pastor vs. some of his flock story. >> Continue reading: Not Politics, But Funny The chairman of the House Education committee is looking for a job in the State Education Department, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. Rep. Frank Rasche has applied for a job with the department that lobbies for legislation in front of his committee. I think Rasche is one of the more honest legislators but everybody else see the problem with this one? Can the department sa... Republican Anne Northup has taken a huge chunk out of John Yarmuth's lead in the 3rd District congressional race, according to the latest Survey USA/WHAs 11 News poll. Northup still trails Congressman Yarmuth by 10 points, but that's down from 17 last month. ...Bill Nighbert has left his job with Senate President David Williams. The former state Transportation Secretary served as a $70,000/yr. consultant with the republican senate leadership. Nighbert's job switch comes as a federal grand jury is looking at possible corruption during Nighbert's tenure as Transportation Secretary. One could reasonably w... Governor Steve Beshear told the Lexington Herald-Leader that he'll keep flying his cabinet secretaries and other top officials to his town hall meetings "whether the Herald-Leader likes it or not." Beshear may be able to justify spending thousands of dollars to fly his staff to rural areas of the state but losing his cool with the F... CNHI News Service reporter Ronnie Ellis speared Governor Steve Beshear in his weekend column. He also printed some good questions for the traveling governor. ...
The new bluegrassreport.org website claims Senate President David Williams interest in road construction projects is tied to his father-in-law, who BGR claims has an interest in one of Kentucky's largest highway contractors. UPDATE: That's not true according to Williams who says the blog post is completely false and is asking that it be taken down. Williams' father-in-law owns Stephens Pipe and Steel. Williams says Stephens'... The man who runs the ruraldemocrat blog is apparently calling it quits. William Hayes says his health coupled with the stress of keeping up with a daily blog is prompting him to throw in the towel. ...
David Boswell's poor fundraising numbers has prompted one of the contributors to Roll Call political newspaper to say that the congressional race between Boswell and republican Brett Guthrie is all but over. Boswell has collected just $45,000. Here's the article: ...Whether it was federal bureaucracy or Abramson administration screw ups, Louisville Metro government has lost more than $300,000 that could have helped the homeless in our community. The C-J has a terrific, but sad, story. ...WHAS 11 News has learned that a second Cabinet for Health and Family Services employee has been fired for her connection to a Covington nursing home operator. Sharon Harris was also terminated for refusing to cooperate with the cabinet's investigation of fired chief inspector Moses Young and the nursing home operator, according to a copy of her termination letter obtained by WHAS 11 News. Harris is a friend and former fiance of Young and ser... I'm hosting KET's Comment on Kentucky tonight. Ryan Alessi, Stephenie Steitzer and Roger Alford of the AP's Frankfort bureau are the guest. We'll be talking about Beshear's busy week, the U.S. Senate race and why the republican candidates outraised the democrats in two key congressional races. The show airs at 8 eastern with a replay at 12:30pm on Sunday. ...One day after urging state employees to save money and gas, Governor Beshear's administration spent more than $7,000 to fly state officials to Pike County for the governor's town hall meeting Thursday night. Oops. The Herald Leader has the story. ...In the first TV commercial of the fall US Senate campaign, Sen. Mitch McConnell is blaming Bruce Lunsford for higher gas prices. McConnell's ad claims Lunsford's role as Commerce Secretary in the John Y. Brown administration has contributed to the annual hike in Kentucky's gas tax. The co-chair of the Government Contract Review Subcommittee has called on the Beshear administration to review the big add-ons to state contracts. Rep. Dennis Keene sent a letter to Finance Secretary Jonathan Miller, requesting the review: ...Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo is apparently trying to set an example for other ATV riders by getting his own certification to ride one. Here's the release reporters got from Mongiardo's office: ...The Lexington Herald-Leader is reporting that Fayette County Democrats have picked Rep. Kathy Stein as the party's nominee to replace Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, who's taking a judgeship. Anyone else wonder why Stein wants to leave the House and her chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee for the Senate, where she'll be a lone, li...
WHAS 11 News has learned that the number two state regulator of Kentucky nursing homes was fired in May for having an improper relationship with a northern Kentucky nursing home operator. Moses Young lives in a home, perhaps rent free, that is owned by the owner of the Garrard Convalescent Home in Covington. Young also made hundreds of calls from his state cell phone to Ralph Stacey Jr., many of them on the same days the state received compl... Governor Steve Beshear got a big crowd to his first town hall meeting in Pikeville tonight. Apparently he promised to give the city of Virgie a casino license if its residents would show up. Just kidding. Here's the story from the AP's Roger Alford: ...Republican Senator Mitch McConnell has one upped Democratic congressman John Yarmuth by securing $75 million for Louisville's proposed VA hospital in the Senate appropriations bill. Yarmuth had earlier secured $45 million for the same project. ""This is great news," Congressman Yarmuth said. "I was happy to have secured funding in the House for a new VA hospital in Louisville, and with the Senate now on board, we can confidently say that Lo... Several of you have e-mailed or called to ask for an update on the health problems of former state official and Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Tom Bennett. He's still in critical but stable condition at a Louisville hospital. That's all of the information his family wants released at this time. The plasma drive was so wildly successful that the Red Cross is urging people to give blood in Tom's name because no more is needed for his treatmen... The Libertarian candidates won't be allowed to speak at the Fancy Farm picnic, according to what organizers are telling Pat Crowley. ...She;'s been a regular at Kentucky General Assembly sessions for years, chasing lawmakers and writing editorials about their foibles. But Jill Johnson Keeney won't be in the Capitol Annex hallways jotting down notes during the 2009 session. She's leaving the C-J, according to TheVilleVoice. ...Kentucky has taken the first step toward banning anabolic steroids in race horses. A subcommittee of the Equine Drug Council has recommended that the Council and Racing Commission pass a ban on the controversial drugs. Here's the story I did on the move as well as the release from the Commission: ...Governor Beshear said today that the state of Kentucky should consider nuclear power as part of any comprehensive energy policy. The governor says he understands the questions about disposing of nuclear waste, just like the problems in dealing with the CO2 left over from turning coal into liquid fuel. But he says Kentucky shouldn't rule out a look at nuclear. There is currently a state law banning construction of nuclear power plants in Ken... The state of Kentucky is shelling out $11 million to build an Agriculture Heritage Center in Mercer County. Any thoughts on this project and spending? Here's the release from the Governor's office: ...Anne Northup doesn't have the power she once had when she was a member of the House Appropriations Committee, but she's still got enough friends with deep pockets to give her money for a campaign. Northup outraised incumbent congressman John Yarmuth in the second quarter of this year. ...
Another National Guardsmen who was fired from his state job after returning from active duty, has settled his case against the state. And this time it was the Fletcher administration that did the illegal firing of a military man. ...Governor Steve Beshear says he's pushing his cabinet secretaries to identify as many employees as possible to put on 4 day work weeks as a way to help those state workers save on gas costs. ...Kentucky has reached an agreement with the federal government to provide more services for hundreds of Kentuckians with mental retardation who are on the "waiting list" for homes in the community. What's not clear is the total cost of the plan and where Kentucky will come up with the cash. Here's the release from the state: ...Governor Steve Beshear will begin his "town hall" meetings tour this week by throwing a bone to conservative democrats whose support he seemed to be losing. Beshear said today that he'll push for legislation allowing Kentucky vehicle owners to get a new "In God We Trust" license plate at no extra charge. Here's the story from the C-J. ...
The Kentucky Agriculture Department spent about $26,000 on registrations and hotel rooms for its employees during a week long conference in Lexington last month. WHAS 11 News obtained documentation of the money spent on the SASDA conference through an open records request. ...Kentucky's only openly gay state legislator has decided to seek a new elective office - judge. Sen. Ernesto Scorsone of Lexington tells Jack Brammer that he will withdraw his papers for reelection and file for a vacant circuit judge's slot in Fayette County. State Rep. Kathy Stein of Lexington says she will seek Scorsone's sena... Brett Guthrie has begun ads on some radio stations in the 2nd congressional district. And just like every other politician, republican and democrat, Guthrie's pitch is built around high gas prices. It seems to be the only topic of discussion in political races so far with both sides trying to convince voters they have the silver bullet to spare us at the pump. Here's Guthrie's release: ...The democratic challenger to Sen. Mitch McConnell says he'll report raising about $600K from sources other than his own bank account during the last quarter. Bruce Lunsford has already pitched in $2.5 million of his own money. ...The division of Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement is no longer a semi-autonomous agency within the Justice Cabinet. As reported here first over the weekend, KVE will now be ruled by the State Police. But a number of KVE officers have told me they're not happy about losing their autonomy: ...Bill Cox tells me he quit as Kentucky Revenue Commissioner because of an "honest difference of opinion" with Beshear administration officials over the role of the Revenue Department. ...American Founders Bank, which counts Tracy Farmer and Brereton Jones among its founders and board members, is facing a series of fraud lawsuits. The bank is also struggling financially, according to story in today's Herald-Leader. ...Democratic Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford says Sen. Mitch McConnell's $15 million campaign war chest is obscene. Lunsford says if he had to raise $15 million to get reelected to the Senate in Kentucky, he'd quit and go search for another job. ...The Executive Branch Ethics Commission has decided to continue its investigation into alleged merit hiring violations by four members of Ernie Fletcher's administration. ...The Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement agency will soon be governed by the Kentucky State Police under a reorganization plan that's expected to be unveiled next week. That's what sources are telling me. ...Kentucky's county judge-executives have voted to sue state government over the new policy to give inmates credit for time served while awaiting trial. The new policy lessens prison time and state expenses but is costing the counties more. ...Governor Beshear has appointed a new member to the UK Board of Trustees: ...Kentucky's county judge-executives, meeting in Lexington, say something needs to be done about the state's judicial system which is putting too many people in jail and putting their counties in financial straits. ...The H-L's Larry Dale Keeling has the scoop on who will, and won't, be at the Fancy Farm Picnic on August 2. ...
U of L President Jim Ramsey says former Education and Human Development College Dean Robert Felner did a "really good job" at U of L. Ramsey says he doesn't know if Felner has done anything illegal because the federal investigation of missing grant money involving Felner hasn't been completed yet. Here's my story. ...Senator Mitch McConnell is accumulating alot of free speech. The senator who equates campaign donations with free speech has raised a record amount for his reelection campaign, including $3 million in the past three months. Here's the release from McConnell: ...University of Louisville President Jim Ramsey will be getting the same state-funded raise as every other employee at U of L - $700. Ramsey has told the school's Board of Trustees that he doesn't want a big raise this year, though Ramsey could still get a hefty chunk of change from the U of L Foundation, which supplements his salary. ...The wife of republican Congressman Ed Whitfield is out as head of the Equine Drug Research Council. That's the group that's looking at steroids and other issues in Kentucky horse racing: ...The Judicial Nominating Commission has sent the names of three Louisville attornies to Governor Steve Beshear to fill the circuit judge's seat vacated by the death of Kathleen Montano. Beshear will make the appointment from these names: Jefferson County Attorney Irv Maze, public defender Ted Shouse and well known Louisville attorney Maggie Keane. ...Polwatchers is reporting that Congressman Hal Rogers now has an opponent for the fall election. ...A couple of readers say Kentucky lawmakers should step back from their rush to jump on the ZAP electric car bandwagon and try to bring a plant to Kentucky. On Tuesday, the operators of a Bullitt County auto parts maker said they plan to partner with ZAP to build a $30 million plant employing 300 people to make the electric cars, but Kentucky needs to lift its ban on allowing electric cars on the road. ...
A Washington-based group that supports public financing of campaigns wants Bruce Lunsford to do what Mitch McConnell won't.....vote for taxpayer funding of federal campaigns. The call to Lunsford comes just a couple of weeks after he wrote his campaign a check for $1 million: ...As a follow up to my posting last night about the problems with the 2008 Legislative session and both chambers "sitting on" bills until the last three days of the 60 day session, one reader pointed out something interesting. Nine different House bills were passed by both the House and Senate and signed by the House Speaker in early March. But Senate President waited two or three weeks to sign them himself and send them to the governor. ...The democrats held their press conference at Integrity Manufacturing plant in Bullitt County today with the CEO telling House Speaker Jody Richards, to his face, that state lawmakers must pass a law legalizing three wheel electric cars on Kentucky roads by the end of the year or he'll build his 300 employee electric car manufacturing plant elsewhere. ... |