Saturday, 3 June 2006

Lt. Governor Pence Resigns From Ticket

In a weird turn of events, Lt Governor Steve Pence has decided he will not seek re-election as part of the Fletcher team. I am guessing he doesn't want to go through the slime that will be part of the next gubernatorial election.

Bizarrely, he resigned his post as Secretary of Justice Department, but will continue to keep his job as Lt. Governor. Which means his job for the next year will be to sit around and see if Fletcher dies. Personally, if you are going to disengage yourself from the current administration, I think you should resign from Lt. Governor so Fletcher can get in a right hand man that will work to see the administration succeed.

If it turns out he is doing this to run against Fletcher he is making a big mistake. I don't think the Republican party will nominate a turn coat. At least I would hope they wouldn't.

Of course the slime in the media along with the Democratic party are getting a kick out of this.

Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Lundergan said in statement that Fletcher should demand Pence's resignation as lieutenant governor because Pence "essentially gave up his job, but not his salary."

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said Pence's decision suggests the Republican Party is "getting ready to wave bye-bye" to Fletcher.

"I can't imagine the Republicans re-nominating him if they want to win," Sabato said.

I also hope that the Republican party doesn't take Sabato's advice for two reasons. One I think he is wrong about Fletcher's chances and secondly, that would be a very "Democrat" thing to do for the party. I say that because it was the same greedy party members who rode Fletcher's coat tails into the Governor's mansion and eventually got Fletcher into this hiring "scandal". Fletcher then pardon's these scoundrels and now they might turn around and stab him in the back? We will just have to wait and see what happens.

Posted by elendil at 6:27 PM in National Politics

Fletcher Gets a New Judge

Chief Justice Lambert has appointed Family Court Judge David E. Melcher to be the special Judge for Fletcher's criminal trial.

According to a short biography released yesterday by Lambert's office, Melcher is a 1968 graduate of the University of Dayton and a 1971 graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He served as chief staff attorney for the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals from 1971 to '75. For the following two years he was on the staff of the U.S. attorney in Cincinnati. Between 1977 and 1993 he was in private practice with the Cynthiana law firm of Swinford & Sims.

"Judge Melcher has tried civil and criminal cases in 20 Kentucky counties and has handled cases in every Kentucky court and every federal court except the U.S. Supreme Court," according to the biography.

Judge Melcher is stepping in for Judge Hart who recused himself from the case when it became known that he was good friends with Doerting, one of the whistle blowers in the case. I still don't understand how Judge Hart didn't realize that Doerting might be a witness in the case. Even though Melcher is a registered Democrat from Cynthiana, he is outside the cesspool of Frankfort politics which will help Fletcher to get a fair trial.

Posted by elendil at 6:26 PM in National Politics