Tuesday, 18 July 2006

Abramson Vetoes Metro Council on Arena

In a surprise move, Mayor Abramson vetoed the Metro Council's plan that would give control to unions and enforce prevailing wages for all arena workers. I didn't think the mayor had the nerve to stand up to the unions on this issue. Of course, I didn't take into account the number of wealthy campaign donors who would be on the other side of the debate. It also keeps Downard from gaining traction on this issue in what is shaping up to be an interesting mayoral election.

The veto came on the heels of Fletcher's vows to not release 75 million in bonds to pay for the project. He believed that the newly inserted "labor agreement" was against Kentucky's laws governing the state's process for open bids in all contracts.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher said that provision will keep the state from issuing $75 million to pay for the project ��� and he said he���s not going to negotiate that point.

���I���m not here to negotiate at all,��� Fletcher said in an interview. ���That���s not part of my job. We���ve presented our offer to the council to support this project. The council needs to determine if they want the arena to move forward or not. The ball is in their court.���

I thought this was a bold move by Fletcher that caused the Mayor to blink and capitulate. Once again the Governor has done an excellent job setting the state's policy and making sure money is not wasted. The reality is that the project with union dominance and the demand for "prevailing wages" would have dramatically increased the cost of the project. Fortunately because of Fletcher, it looks like we are going to be saved that fate.

Council member Rick Blackwell, D-12th, who led the effort to insert labor provisions into the resolution that prompted the veto, asked Abramson for a meeting Tuesday, saying he hopes an agreement can be reached that will suit both sides. He conceded that Democrats don���t have the votes to override Abramson���s veto.

Of course the unions freaked out.

���Now there is no one at the table in the process that will advocate for workers. No one,��� said Larry Hujo, a union representative. ���It���s all about the business community. It���s all about the governor and his appointees, and I don���t think he has the interest of working families at heart.���

Let me translate for you. We will not have anyone at the table that can funnel money to us by fleecing the public. It is all about the commonwealth being able to save money through good leadership by accomplished businessmen. None of those guys will have our best interests at heart regardless of how much we could have fleeced the public.

Of course my favorite quote from Larry is about right to work.

���This is another step in their plan to bring right-to-work to Kentucky, which as everyone knows undermines the living conditions of working families,��� he said.

Ummm, Larry you and the labor cronies are the only ones who believe that right-to-work undermines living conditions of working families. In fact good economics would say that right-to-work would actually boost the living conditions by working families by creating more jobs and providing equal opportunity for success. Otherwise the monopolistic unions would horde both the money and opportunities for good paying jobs. They would be the arbiters of who "succeeds" and not the free market.

All in all, it is a good day for the people of Kentucky and Louisville. Well as good as a day is possible considering they have committed to building this silly stadium in the first place.

Update: 5:30 PM I received a letter from GLI (City Chamber of Commerce) today. I have included part of it below.

We finally stand at the threshold of success on this project, with the final decision in the hands of the Metro Council. Unfortunately, the resolution passed last week by the Council will result in the loss of the $75 million instate funding critical for the project's success.

The Council's resolution includes a condition that was not negotiated with the Arena Authority and includes a mandate that was not funded. This situation creates unknown and unacceptable risks for both the public and private sectors.

Because of these changes, GLI and the business community will not move forward with the $45 million in private funding pledged by business leaders in support of a downtown, multipurpose arena. In addition, we will not raise any new dollars from the private sector until the public sector financing is restored.

It appears that all of the major forces except unions are aligned against the 15 Democrats on the council. It will be interesting to see what they do.

Posted by elendil at 5:25 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Sen Evan Bayh for President?

Democratic Senator Evan Bayh is starting to focus his message for a presidential bid in 2008. He wants us to believe that he now cares about the middle class.

Yesterday in a National Press Club speech and again later in the day in Iowa, Bayh said he is aiming his possible candidacy at America's middle class. He said the Democratic Party has forgotten how to address the middle class, and the Republicans have ignored it.

...

While the Democratic Party has been, and must remain, a champion of the poor, Bayh said, it must not make issues like increasing the minimum wage "the entirety of our economic agenda."

He said aiding the nation's middle class would be "a centerpiece of my campaign," if he makes one. He left no doubt of his target audience, mentioning the words "middle class" 45 times in his formal remarks.

"We must confront the challenges middle-class Americans face — health-care costs, college affordability, retirement security and more — so that all can build lives of greater prosperity and promise," Bayh said. "And we must reward hard work, thrift and ingenuity so that all who aspire to it can join our middle class."

Bayh's rhetoric sounds hauntingly similar to Bill Clinton. In fact, I used to believe that Bayh was a moderate Democrat that could win the presidency if he could get the nomination. But then there is his pesky Senate voting record. I have already noted that in the last year, he has moved solidly to the left in his voting.

This sudden shift to the left is also found when looking at the 109th Senate's voting patterns. Where he used to be a moderate, his current voting pattern puts him in the same category with well known liberals Kerry, Shumer, and Feinestein. So even though he talks the moderate game, his voting record belies a liberal at heart. Which may help him in the primary but may well prove fatal in the general.

Posted by elendil at 1:31 PM in National Politics
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Blog Story Continues Unabated

This is surreal. We have yet another story about state's effort to block blogs to state employees.

The article is the same story different day. Paper claims state is not blocking sites even handedly. State responds that they are continuing to update their filtering until it works.

More shamelessly, we get the continued free advertisement for Mark Nicholas's liberal blog. This story had no need to mention his site, but guess what? It is in there with a link to his site. Ridiculous!

Posted by elendil at 12:18 PM in Kentucky Politics
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State's Blog Ban Continues to Get Press

In the "I can't believe this story is still getting press" category, we have another article about the state's attempt to control access to the Interweb for state employees. This story has some funny stuff in it.

But Fletcher's decision to block some political blogs and not others raises constitutional issues.

Government computers are subject to constitutional restraints, and discriminating based on a viewpoint isn't allowed, said Bob Corn-Revere, a First Amendment lawyer based in Washington, D.C.

"The fact that the new policy seems to, with the precision of a laser beam, pick out some news Web sites and not others is a very troubling thing for the state," Corn-Revere said.

First off, I love how the story makes it sound like Fletcher's "personal decision" on which sites to block. I am sure he has no idea what sites are blocked. Secondly, I love how they talk about constitutional rights and how they are cherry picking sites to block. Do these people have any idea how technology works. The sites picked are done through the filtering software. And they continue to add new sites as they deem then inappropriate for state employees. In fact most of the top conservative bloggers are banned by the state. Seems like an across the board policy to me.

The reality of the situation is that it is impossible to ban everything... you just have to keep adding new sites as they are discovered. This is probably being done by review of the proxy logs to see what sites people are hitting. I know that is how I would do it.

What infuriates me about this continuing series of articles is how Mark Nickolas, who managed Democrat Ben Chandler's 2003 campaign against Fletcher, continues to get free advertising fpr his web site everyday when a new story is printed.

But now we get to the nut of the story.

The fact that the lawsuit comes from Nickolas and not a state employee troubles Jon Fleischaker, a Louisville attorney who represents the Kentucky Press Association, The Courier-Journal and other media outlets.

"Nickolas is saying that he has a right, by electronic means, to get into all government offices," Fleischaker said. "I think that's a real stretch."

If Nickolas has that right, then everybody else does too, he said.

"It would effectively deprive government of any chance to restrict messages of any type that had content to its employees," he said.

Alvin Goldman, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law, disagrees with that assessment. The government doesn't have to provide access to the Internet for its employees, but once it does, it has two choices: Prohibit personal use of the Internet, or allow it, as long as it is not excessive.

Most private employers choose the latter, said Goldman, who specializes in labor law and has taught constitutional law for many years. Prohibiting all personal use is bad for morale and difficult to enforce, Goldman said.

Fleishchaker hits the nail on the head. Nickolas believes he has a right to be heard by every state employee during work hours. That is the problem. Employees should be "working" and not reading opinion pieces. They still have the right to read Nickolas's rubbage after work hours.

Alvin Goldman on the other hand doesn't get the problem. Of course most companies allow personal use unless it is not excessive. Because they have the ability to "fire" employees. The state does not have that luxury. Therefore they are forced to attempt measures to cut down on personal use in what appears to be a fair way.

This is an amazing non story that is only being pimped because it make Fletcher "look like a dictatorial leader" when all he is doing is trying to improve employee productivity.

Posted by elendil at 12:42 AM in Kentucky Politics
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