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Political BLOG |
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Joe Arnold
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August 2008 ArchivesHow many Kentuckians did you see at the podium or playing a big role in the Democratic National Convention in Denver last week? Yeah, me neither. But the Republican National Convention looks like it has a better appreciation for folks from the Bluegrass State. ...
Sen. Mitch McConnell refused to answer questions, including the written ones his staff requested, as the Lexington Herald-Leader worked on a story about McConnell exerting his influence over federal regulators and a part of the horse industry. It's an interesting read about McConnell's attempts to crush federal regulators and let an industry regulate itself. ...I had an inkling that John McCain was going to pick a woman running mate, but Sarah Palin was not the first name that came to mind. Now that she is his running mate, I had to ask myself, would I have been less surprised if McCain had chosen a maverick MALE governor of a state? ...Virginia Fox believes she was wrongly removed from the Council on Postsecondary Education and she's gone to court to get her seat back. The former head of KET is suing Governor Beshear. ...The overwhelming reaction of Louisvillians to John McCain's pick for vice president, was "who?" Only one of the folks I interviewed late this morning had ever heard of the 44-year-old governor of Alaska. Here's the story I did at 5 Friday. ...The legal fight with horsemen over off track betting revenues and the lack of any new gaming revenue has forced Churchill Downs to cut its purses for races during the upcoming fall meet. Here's the release from Churchill: ...The most recent national polls show Barack Obama slightly ahead or tied with John McCain. The most recent poll data was released Wednesday so it will be interesting to take a look at the weekend polling, just before the Republican Convention begins. ...Hillary Clinton met with her Kentucky supporters and told them she will come to Kentucky to campaign for Barack Obama and Bruce Lunsford. The New York senator requested the meeting, according to one Kentucky delegate, because Kentucky gave Clinton one of her biggest margins of victory. ...I didn't get to go to Denver. But I think I did a pretty good job of trying to cover the Kentucky delegation and the Democratic Party goings-on from Louisville. But if I'd been in Denver, I would have been the guy with the sunburn and Captain Morgan. Funny stuff here. ...The Democratic party delegates in Denver apparently aren't dropping any coin at the city's strip clubs. The Denver Post is reporting that business is down at the adult clubs. ...The state of Kentucky has officially asked the federal Centers for Medicaid Services (CMS) to reinstate the medicaid eligibility of Oakwood. Oakwood is the state run home of nearly 300 Kentuckians with mental retardation and other disabilities. The federal government quit sending Medicaid funding to Oakwood after a slew of substantiated abuse and neglect complaints at the Somerset facility. The state is now footing the $3 million/mo. bill a...
Governor Steve Beshear has issued a partial pardon to Ron Berry, a former Lexington youth worker who was convicted of sodomizing kids. ...You won't find anyone who will claim that Barack Obama isn't one of the great political speakers of our generation. But that may work against him tonight. Millions of folks who are watching on TV will expect a Kennedy or Reagan-esque speech, maybe better than that, and Obama will be expected to deliver. Some Kentucky delegates in Denver talk about Obama's task and ...
In a WHAS11.com video briefing with Joe Arnold, Republican strategist Scott Jennings explained how Barack Obama "stands a very good chance" to win the popular vote, but the electoral count will come down to Ohio. ...The head of the Kentucky Retirement System says his agency is ready to implement the pension law changes enacted by the Kentucky legislature. ...It may seem like Gov. Steve Beshear is getting his sea legs on his new job, but kentuckians apparently aren't noticing. The latest Survey USA/WHAS 11 poll shows Beshear's job approval rating is the same as it was at the end of May, 44%. The poll shows 50% of Kentuckians disapprove of the job Beshear is doing. ...Pineville Mayor Bob Madon and his son, Brent Madon, have both been charged with vote buying. ...WHAS11's Joe Arnold sat down with U.S. House Minority Whip Roy Blunt Wednesday for reaction to the Democratic National Convention. Here's a summary: ...Before Hillary Clinton called a halt to the roll call vote of states at the Democratic National Convention, the Indiana and Kentucky delegations got to deliver their votes to the floor. ...Kentucky's democratic party delegation in Denver is still talking about the stellar speech that Hillary Clinton delivered Tuesday night. Now it's Bill Clinton's turn. See what Governor Beshear, Virginia Woodward and Clarence Yancey have to say about Hillary's speech, the fallout and President Clinton's impact on the convention. You won't want to miss the best sound... Three members of Kentucky's congressional delegation are on the same side of a recent move by the Army to send out warnings when there's a leak at the Bluegrass Army Depot: ...Anyone who watched Hillary Clinton's terrific speech at the Democratic Convention last night might be second guessing Barack Obama's pick for V.P. At least until tonight when Sen. Joe Biden takes the podium. But Clinton has set the bar pretty high for Biden. And after the N.Y. senator's speech last night, her hard core Kentucky supporters were wiping away the tears of what might have been, according to the >> Continue reading: Hillary Supporters Have Rough Night Actress Ashley Judd may have been hanging out with Kentucky's Democratic Convention delegates last night. ...Kentucky democrats seem fairly convinced that Hillary Clinton can sway her supporters to join the flock and support Barack Obama this fall. ...Some of you may have seen video of an ABC photographer getting hassled on a public street outside the restaurant where C-S-X hosted the Kentucky delegation party on Saturday. It turns out the man telling the photog "you're not going to shoot me" and demanding to see an ID was none other than former Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Lundergan. You can get to the video through this >> Continue reading: Lundergan Hassles Photographer Outside Ky. Party Coongressman Ben Chandler has chosen to turn the other cheek and support Bruce Lunsford's run for U.S. Senate. What's not clear is how much help Chandler plans to be on the campaign trail. Lunsford accused Chandler of dirty politics in the 2003 Governor's race, dropped out of the race, then endorsed Republican Ernie Fletcher. Lunsford says the two men have been working to repair their tattered relationship over the past several months. Her... President Bush's approval rating from Kentucky voters is still below 40% but there's good news in the numbers for Mitch McConnell and some other republican candidates. While Bush's approval rating is just 37% statewide, the new Survey USA/WHAS 11 poll shows it's over 50% in western Kentucky (52%). That's good news for McConnell whose str... Speaker Jody Richards' candidate didn't get the democrats nod for the seat being vacated by Rep. Frank Rasche. And Bill Bartleman wonders if that might be a sign of things to come in the Speakers' race in January: ...ABC News spent the past two days in Denver tracking down parties and receptions that were sponsored by corporations and lobbyists. The resulting story showed an ABC cameraman being muscled away from one gathering and business leaders and congressmen defending the practice. The story also included video of Kentucky Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo and Democratic Part...
A new Survey USA/WHAS 11 News poll shows Kentuckians think John McCain would do a better job than Barack Obama handling Iraq, terrorism, immigration and the economy. The poll found Obama is trusted by more Kentuckians when it comes to dealing with health care issues. The latest "horse race" poll shows McCain leading Obama by 18 points in K... The 8664 boys have apparently forced the hand of an embarrassed Transportation Cabinet. The group that wants to blow up I-64 along the Louisville waterfront got hold of documents showing the state was studying their concept before abruptly halting the study, just a couple thousand dollars from completion. Now the Cabinet is apparently going to go ahead and >> Continue reading: State Will Finish Alternative to Bridges Project The father of two girls who were the target of an off color statement by former gubernatorial candidate Otis Hensley has apparently decided that Hensley was just joking with his two young daughters. All charges against Hensley were dropped today. ...Governor Steve Beshear isn't in Denver yet. He stayed behind today to make a couple of annoucements. But Beshear told WTVQ's Greg Stotelmyer that when he gets to the Democratic Convention, he plans to tell Barack Obama's henchmen to send their candidate to Kentucky. Beshear says the main reason Obama isn't polling well in Kentucky is because "Kentuckians don't know him." The gov is hoping that will turn around in the coming months. He's a... Will he or won't he? That's the most pressing question among Frankfort political observers. They're speculating on whether Greg Stumbo will run for House Speaker. I've said publicly that I don't think he will because Stumbo won't run if he can't win. And right now I don't see many committee chairmen and A and R committee members tossing aside their allegiance to Speaker Jody Richa... UPDATE: Governor Beshear has now announced what we reported last night about ZAP cars being built in Kentucky. Sources tell WHAS 11 News that Governor Beshear will announce on Monday that a deal has been inked between Integrity Manufacturing Inc. of Shepherdsville and the ZAP Co. to manufacture ZAP's e... As you might expect, Indiana democrats are disappointed that Barack Obama didn't pick U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh as his running mate. My two cents - if Barack is serious about "change" and a "civil" campaign, I'm not sure he should have picked Biden. As a reporter, I love Biden. I've interviewed him a couple of times. He's smart, he usually ans... The Lexington Herald-Leader's John Cheves has a story about a previous FBI investigation of highway contractor Leonard Lawson abruptly ending and flapping in the breeze after the terrorists attacks of 9/11/01. ...The republican who was challenging Rep. Charlie Hoffman has dropped out of the race. ...
Two top employees in the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have quit because of potential conflicts of interest on two construction projects. The number 3 man in the Cabinet, State Highway Engineer Gilbert Newman has resigned along with his top aide, Bill Gulick. Here's the release from the governor's office, which came at 4:30 p.m., long after Governor Beshear left a Louisville news conference where reporters could have asked him about the co... The state of Kentucky is launching a pilot program to put GPS devices in state vehicles. Let's hope the tracking will be subject to Open Records so taxpayers and the media will be able to check on possible abuses of state vehicles. Here's the release from the Finance Cabinet: ...State Treasurer Todd Hollenbach tells me he willingly gave up his spot as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention so Kentucky's delegation would meet the gender quotas imposed by the DNC rules. Hollenbach says he's not upset with the decision of the Kentucky Democratic Party which resulted in him staying home. Hollenbach was a Clinton delegate who, according to a challenge from Clinton delegates, was replaced by an Obama supporter. ... Metro government has hired a former housing official to head a portion of the agency left behind by the resignation of Kimberly Bunton: ...There's a new deputy commissioner in the Department of Juvenile Justice. And she'll fill a newly created position: ...Bruce Lunsford has apparently figured out that George W. Bush is bad news for Mitch McConnell. And McConnell is firing back that Lunsford is tied to Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and other democrats who are unpopular in Kentucky. It could make for some interesting dialogue. Here's my story. ...
Senate President David Williams said today that if his friend, Bill Nighbert, committed any crime in connection with state highway contracts, he should be punished for it. But Williams also called on Governor Beshear to look at road construction bids and contracts going back into the Patton administration. Beshear replied that he doesn't intend ... Kentucky fire chiefs have failed in their effort to get the state to allow local communities to pass tougher fire codes than are currently part of state law. WTVQ's Greg Stotelmyer was in Frankfort for the hearing. ...The Kentucky Supreme Court has issued a split decision on the C-J's quest to get the names of donors to the super secret U of L Foundation. The high court ruled that the folks who gave money assuming their names would be kept private, won't be seeing their names in the news. But in the future, the records of all donors will be public record. ...Bruce Lunsford looked straight at Sen. Mitch McConnell and told him he'd had a chance to improve Kentucky and the U.S. but "you've failed." McConnell says as a freshman senator, Lunsford would have "a miniscule amount of influence." And those might be two of the nicer things the two candidates for U.S. Senate said about each other during a nearly two hour forum before the Kentucky Farm Bureau Board of Directors today. ...WHAS 11 News has learned that the outgoing Director of the Louisville Metro Corrections Department will be the target of a "no confidence" vote by his staff. The executive board of the FOP Union that represents more than 400 jail officers made the decision to let members take a "no confidence" vote on Director Tom Campbell, according to union president Tony Harris. ...
A federal grand jury has issued a subpoena for records of 13 road contracts and bids that were handled by the State Transportation Cabinet in 2006 and 2007. Nine of the 13 contracts went to companies controlled by Leonard Lawson, who's the target of a federal investigation, though Central Rock and Mineral may not have been owned by Lawson at the time its subpoenaed contract was approved in November 2006. WHAS11 News reported on this developm...
A southern Kentucky judge has put a temporary halt on the earlier release of state inmates and parolees that's included in HB 406. The legislation gives more "good time" to inmates and gives them "street credit" for time they're on parole without any violations. But Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy Montgomery has sued the state over the new laws, convincing a judge that he should hear arguments on whether the state can retroactively recompute a ...
Gen. Maxwell "Clay" Bailey quit his state job as head of Kentucky's disaster response agency after allegations surfaced that he was drinking on the job and watching porn on his state computer. Bailey was also Governor Fletcher's first Transportation Secretary. ...Rep. Arnold Simpson of Covington says he's one of at least five democrats who may be vying for the Majority Whip... Rep. Greg Stumbo wouldn't rule out a run for House Majority Leader today, if current leader Rep. Rocky Adkins would consider running for House Speaker. But Stumbo says Adkins hasn't expressed any interest in running for anything but his current post. ...The Lexington Herald-Leader has hunted down more information on the arrest of former gubernatorial candidate Otis "Bullman" Hensley. He's accused of trying to solicit sex from two young girls. John McCain has opened up a 6 point lead over Barack Obama in Indiana, according to a new WHAS11/Survey USA poll. The survey shows Obama lost support among Hoosier women. He led McCain by 7 points among female voters eight weeks ago. Now, the two are tied. Meanwhile, the same >> Continue reading: McCain Leads Obama By 6 in Indiana Former WKYT-TV anchor/reporter Valeria Cummings is the new P.R. person for the state Finance Cabinet. Cummings replaces Jill Midkiff who has moved over to the the Governor's Office: ...The Lexington Herald-Leader's Jack Brammer has a well researched story about thousands of dollars being spent on road improvements that helped Bill Nighbert's brother in Anderson and Washington Counties. ...The Lexington Herald-Leader says Otis "Bullman" Hensley has been locked up on a charge of soliciting sex with a minor. Hensley has twice run for governor. ...Former Corrections Commissioner committed contempt of court when his agency refused to follow a judge's order. That's what the Kentucky Court of Appeals has ruled. ...It's been 16 months since State Police began investigating Dr. Steve Henry for allegedly running an exploratory campaign for governor before it was legal; collecting campaign donations from supporters who thought they were giving to Henry's 2007 race for governor; and putting that money into his 1998 U.S. Senate campaign. Now, the investigation is finished, but stalled. Here's >> Continue reading: Henry Investigation At Standstill On Friday I tried to find out who was behind some polling on questions about the investigation of the Transportation Cabinet and former Gov. Ernie Fletcher. A spokesman for the Kentucky Democratic Party said they weren't behind the polling and I found out the F.B.I.'s rat, Jim Rummage, wasn't behind the polling either. It now appears the targets of the probe may have paid for the polling, according to a story by the >> Continue reading: Attorneys For Nighbert, Lawson May Be Polling It's a Senate district that's been represented by Kentucky's only openly gay state elected official. But if a Lexington Herald-Leader story is any indication, the largely liberal voters in Ernesto Scorsone's old Senate district might be willing to consider a republican as a replacement. ...The AP is reporting that nearly 3000 state workers have filed papers to retire this year. State officials have been throwing around numbers like 10,000 when estimating how many state employees might quit before the end of the year when their retirement "factor" will decrease. Here's the AP story: ...People with ties to companies controlled by road builder Leonard Lawson or his family gave about $100,000 to candidates in the past couple of election cycles, according to an analysis by the C-J's Tom Loftus. Apparently, a number of the employees in those companies are pretty well paid because they could afford to write $1000 checks to candidates, bundling those checks on the same day, according to the >> Continue reading: Folks Linked to Lawson Gave 100K In Elections Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson says he's "not aware" of any discussions between anyone on his staff and the governor's office about the timing of Irv Maze's appointment to circuit judge. That timing allowed Abramson to appoint a new County Attorney who could avoid an election race this fall. ...There's a major shake up at the top of the Louisville Metro Corrections Department. Yesterday, Director Tom Campbell announced his retirement. Today, the second in command, Kevin Sidebottom, handed in his resignation effective September 14th. Sidebottom is quitting as investigations into six complaints against him continue. ...
A state board has approved up to $48 million in tax incentives for a Shepherdsville-based company that wants to build electric cars at a new plant in Franklin, Ky. Integrity Manufacturing's applications to KEDFA calls for construction of an $84 million plant to be built on a site in the Wilkey Industrial Park in Franklin. ...Governor Beshear announced today that Kentucky will have a new pot of loan money available to Kentucky students, courtesy of a bond issue. ...The State Auditor's office has found questionable spending and other problems with $5 million in tobacco settlement money grants that were given to a Louisville company. Allied Food Marketers West was hired to help Kentucky farmers get their products to new markets. The audit found no oversight of the grant money by the Governor's Office of Agricultural Development. Here's my >> Continue reading: Auditor Finds Problems With Tobacco Money Hillary Clinton's name will be placed in the nomination for president at the Democratic Convention in Denver, according to an e-mail release from the Clinton and Obama press offices: ...The republican candidate for the State Senate seat currently held by Denise Harper-Angel is doing his campaigning from the Louisville Metro Jail tonight. PageOne has the scoop. ...The head of Louisville Metro Corrections is retiring at the end of next month. WHAS 11 News first reported Tom Campbell's resignation earlier today. ...Pardon the CAPS, this is the script we just filed for broadcast.... SO MUCH FOR DEMOCRATIC PARTY UNITY. WHAS11 NEWS HAS LEARNED THAT HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTERS IN KENTUCKY HAVE FILED AN OFFICIAL PROTEST WITH THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY. THE COMPLAINT ALLEGES THAT A HILLARY CLINTON DELEGATE TO THE NATIONAL CONVENTION WAS REPLACED WITH A BARACK OBAMA SUPPORTER, IN VIOLATION OF THE PARTY'S RULES. THE NATIONAL CONVENTION REQUI... Jefferson County Attorney Irv Maze has been appointed to a circuit judgeship by Governor Beshear. Maze takes the seat that became open with the death of Kathleen Voor Montano. ...
The three biggest names in Louisville democratic politics are planning a happy news conference on Thursday where they'll announce that construction on the troubled African American Heritage Center in west Louisville is restarting. The problem is, the company that's done the work up until now still hasn't been paid. Here's Adrianna Hopkins' story, ...Governor Steve Beshear told members of the Louisville Forum today "I'm going to keep pushing for an increase in the cigarette tax." Beshear also told the group his "number one goal" right now is coming up with "more revenue." ...Ed Martin, the Libertarian candidate in the 3rd District congressional race, is still registered as a republican. That's according to records obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader. ...Bruce Lunsford now trails Mitch McConnell by 12 points while John McCain has stretched his lead over Barack Obama to 18 points in Kentucky, according to the latest Survey USA/WHAS11 poll. ...Ed Monahan, who used to handle death penalty cases in the Kentucky public defenders office, is now the head of that agency. Monahan will replace Ernie Lewis who is retiring: ...State Auditor Crit Luallen is a long time political ally of Mayor Jerry Abramson. So it will be interesting to see what her office finds and reports as it audits the Metro Government department that was headed by Kim Bunton. Bunton resigned last week after the C-J revealed she had funneled city grant money to her mother. ...The new chairman of Jefferson County's Republican Party has recently been handed some fodder by the Abramson administration and he's trying to take advantage. Here's a statement from the local party and chairman Bradford Cummings: ...The C-J is reporting that the former highway engineer who says he took cash to allegedly leak confidential bidding information to Leonard Lawson got a boost in pay and was allowed to "double dip" by his former boss, Bill Nighbert. Nighbert has also been implicated in the federal probe. Meanwhile, Senate President David Williams says Nighbert >> Continue reading: Nighbert OK'd Boost in Pay, Retirement Benefits For Rummage A city owned alley which dates back to 1869 is being given away by Louisville Metro government. The city is giving the property to the owners of the surrounding buildings. But at least one of the prospective owners doesn't want the alleyway which the city has failed to maintain for years and has a giant sinkhole in it. Here's my story. ...Senator Mitch McConnell has been the biggest recipient of campaign donations from Leonard Lawson, his family and those tied to his company, according to an analysis by the Lexington Herald-Leader. But plenty of democrats have also been slurping at the Lawson trough. ...Governor Steve Beshear says he met with the F.B.I. to answer questions about their investigation of corruption in the Transportation Cabinet. ...
The Courier-Journal has found an FBI affidavit which claims Kentucky's biggest road contractor, Leonard Lawson, paid a former state highway engineer $20,000 to leak confidential bid information to him. The affidavit claims former state Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert also asked engineer Jim Rummage for bid inform... Mitch McConnell is staying on message, continuing to attack Bruce Lunsford on gas prices. The latest McConnell ad says Lunsford "wouldn't open a single acre" of land to more drilling. McConnell's cadre of omnipresent videotapers have obviously failed to their job mission because Lunsford has been saying for a couple of weeks that opening up more areas of ANWR and off shore to drilling shoul... Nice work by the Frankfort State Journal, getting the scoop on the cost of Gov. Beshear's recent trip to Japan. $86,000 was the final bill. Ouch. ...Governor Beshear has appointed a southern Kentucky lawyer and former judge to fill the vacancy on Kentucky's Supreme Court. Dan Venters will replace Joseph Lambert, who has retired: ...Former presidential candidate John Edwards has admitted he had an affair with a former campaign staffer whom he had met in a bar. But Edwards tells ABC he is not the father of the woman's one-year-old child: ...A story by John Cheves of the Lexington Herald-Leader makes the point that Mitch McConnell may have a tough time making alot of hay about Bruce Lunsford's ties to the troubled Vencor company. McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, was on Vencor's Board of Directors. ...
Kentucky's Attorney General is telling WHAS 11 News that wholesalers, not retailers, are to blame for the higher gas prices in the Louisville. Jack Conway says his office's preliminary investigation has found the wholesale price of gas in Louisville is 15-22 cents higher than it should be. Conway claims the problem is Marathon Oil, which he says, has a "monopoly" on the market,...
Anne Northup is following the republican playbook this election season. She's got a new ad on Louisville radio stations lambasting "congress" and John Yarmuth for taking a five week recess without taking any action on expansion of drilling for more oil offshore. ...
Mitch McConnell is a fundraising machine for a reason. Here's his latest e-mail blast to supporters: ...Bruce Lunsford has new TV ad out that blasts Mitch McConnell's acceptance of millions of dollars in donations from the oil industry and special interests groups. I know the repubs are focusing solely on oil and gas prices. So why is Lunsford playing into McConnell's hand? And when was campaign finance a deciding factor in any... Former Sen. Ernesto Scorsone must now wear a robe somewhere other than the bathroom. He's a judge. ...Sorry about the lack of posts on Thursday. Took my son to Holiday World with Rachel Platt and her two sons then had a softball game. The Springdale Presbyterian Sluggers, the #13 seed (out of 29) in the Watkins Methodist Church Mens League Tourney, are now rolling into the semifinals Friday night. Your hero has been 7 for 9 in the tourney playing 2nd, RCF and RF. ...Congressman John Yarmuth used his franked mail privelege to send an official congressional mailer to Louisville households just a couple of days before the 90-day-before-election blackout on those mailings. The mailings cost $55,000, according to a spokesman for Yarmuth. Richard Beliles of Common Cause of Kentucky says the country has other needs for that money, calling the congressional mailers a waste of tax dollars. Here's the >> Continue reading: Yarmuth Mailing Bumps Up Against 90 Day Blackout My friend and retired host of KET's "Comment on Kentucky" has received a top honor from the Society of Professional Journalists. Al Smith was nominated for the award by one of his former employees, former C-J political writer Al Cross. ...Want to know how much your friends at U of L earn? Click here. ...TheVilleVoice is chiming in on the new publisher of the Louisville Courier-Journal. ...Republicans have taken advantage of an issue that's landed in their laps and they've got tunnel vision on their campaign messages. Mitch McConnell is the most visible example of a republican focusing their entire campaign on linking their opponent to high gas prices. You can watch my story here. It includes video of McConnell walking away from questions about Presi... Governor Beshear's administration has scheduled the second meeting of the task force that's studying transparency in government for a time when the republican's Mr. Transparency, Trey Grayson, can't attend the meeting. One blogger is beating up Beshear. Here's the response from the Secretary of State and the response to the response from Beshear's office: ...Barack Obama is in neighboring Indiana today, campaigning with the man who's apparently on Obama's short list of candidates for the number two slot on the ticket. Sen. Evan Bayh is running around with his fellow U.S. Senator today: ...The Executive Branch Ethics Commission has voted to follow a hearing officer's recommendation and drop its ethics charges against former State Transportation Cabinet official Marc Williams. Williams was the number 3 man in the department under Bill Nighbert. ...State Rep. Frank Rasche is leaving the Kentucky legislature for the Department of Education. Rasche will be the new government liaison for the Commissioner, according to a news release from the department: ...The C-J's Joe Gerth is reporting that Bruce Lunsford's Senate campaign is undergoing more shake ups. Gerth's story seems to imply that the shake ups are a sign the National Democratic Party is serious about taking on Mitch McConnell. But it could also be a sign that the campaign is floundering with poor statewide organization and a n... Bullitt County legislators were surprised on Tuesday when they heard the head of a Shepherdsville manufacturing company say he was looking to build a new plant in Simpson County, not Bullitt County. Rep. Larry Belcher and Sen. Gary Tapp had been helping Integrity Manufacturing get state help and assumed that a possible new plant to build electric cars was in the card... Anne Northup's campaign manager has left because of a "personality conflict" with the former congresswoman. That's what Northup's political advisor, Ted Jackson is saying. ...Governor Beshear's new press secretary is earning close to $125,000/yr. according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. That's a raise over what Dick Brown was making as the head of the governor's communications staff. ...A man will replace Joseph Lambert on Kentucky's Supreme Court. That man will have judicial experience but may not be a sitting judge. That's according to the list of three nominees for the vacant Supreme Court seat released today by the Judicial Nominating Commission: ...The ABC affiliate in Lexington has a new news director. It's former Fletcher administration spokesman Doug Hogan. ...A non partisan group that reviews political ads for truthfulness has whacked one of Mitch McConnell's TV ads which accuse Bruce Lunsford of playing a role in high gas prices. FactCheck.org says McConnell's ad is misleading. ...TheVilleVoice has an interesting story about a woman who lives in a house next to a lot owned by Metro Councilman Jim King. Apparently, the woman thinks her high powered neighbor is meddling in her dispute with the city. ...Governor Beshear has ordered the state Transportation Cabinet to review design plans for more than 600 projects in the 6 Year Road Plan. They'll be looking for ways to scale back the projects to save money. ...An employee working at a Kentucky State Park stole $75,000 before she was caught, according to an audit. Amy Hall is the former employee. The state Auditor's office has recommended a number of money management improvements at KenLake Resort as a result of the thefts: ...Did anyone see any Bruce Lunsford signs dotting highway 80 on the road to Fancy Farm?
I'll write more later this weekend, but here are my first impressions of the Fancy Farm Picnic: ...For those of you who keep trying to pooh-pooh the automated polling done by Survey USA (and used by WHAS-TV), check out this article in the Wall St. Journal. ...
The U.S. Senate will not be in session tomorrow. That means Senators Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning will be at the Fancy Farm Picnic in Graves County on Saturday. Hope they bring their shorts and t-shirts. Temperatures are supposed to be in the mid to upper 90s. ...The most recent Gallup Poll shows Barack Obama and John McCaini in a dead heat. Here's the list of most recent polls. ...The U.S. House has approved a federal budget that includes money for a new VA Hospital in Louisville. Congressman John Yarmuth secured the funding, apparently with the help of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Yarmuth's move also prompted a one-up-manship contest with Sen. Mitch McConnell who's getting even more money for the hospital included in the Senate spending plan. A conference committee will work out the final dollar amount later. ...Former Patton and Stumbo labor liaison Danny Ross has a new job with the Beshear administration. Ross is the new labor liaison in the Labor Cabinet. Some folks are questioning the appointment because Ross was once indicted and pardoned in connection with a campaign contribution scandal involving Patton. ... |
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WHAS11.com Political Blog
WHAS11 Reporters blog the latest political news from the campaign trail and beyond. 
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