Wednesday, 28 November 2007

Surreal

I was reading the Lexington Herald today when I came across the headline "Beshear staff choice raises ethics issue". He hasn't even taken office and he already has an "ethics issue". I can't help but laugh.

It appears that Beshear's newly appointed communications director, Phil Osborne, has a wee little conflict of interest problem. While he plans to step down as CEO of Preston-Osborne, he wants to continue on as an owner and retake the helm of his company when he leaves state government. The only problem is that he works with 36 companies who do business with the state.

 Whether incoming Gov. Steve Beshear gets his first choice as communications director could hinge on the Executive Branch Ethics Commission, which will be asked to decide whether appointee Phil Osborne has a conflict of interest.

Osborne agreed to step down temporarily as CEO of the Lexington-based marketing and research firm Preston-Osborne to take the post with Beshear -- a job that entails crafting messages and coordinating communications strategies across state government.

But Osborne said in an interview Tuesday that, even though he will give up his salary from Preston-Osborne, he will retain his ownership of the firm and intends to return to his CEO position after at least six months in state government.

Preston-Osborne works for at least 36 clients, some of which are regulated by, receive funding from or seek contracts with state government. One of the firms most high-profile clients is the Kentucky Equine Education Project, a coalition of horse owners and breeders that, among other causes, supports casino gambling -- an issue poised to be the most hot-button political debate in 2008.

I don't see how the ethics commission can let this go forward. Here is a guy who can proffit from his influence in state government. He will be in position to help make decisions that could put money directly into his pocket.  There have been too many instances where this has occurred to believe he is going to be different. Especially after reading Osborne's comments on the issue.

 "My first loyalty is to the company," Osborne said. "As much as I like Steve and I want to help him, I need to do what's best for the company."

What I want to know is why he wasn't better vetted by the Beshear team? He was one of Beshear's first appointments and yet he has an obvious conflict of interest. They were either arrogant enough to believe that no one would question the good ole boy system or they were too incompetent to realize the problem. Either way, they look ridiculous. They should withdraw the appointment immediately and begin looking for a new communications director rather than wait to see what the ethics board says. If not then they will have already broken their campaign promise of to bring "ethical hiring practices"  back to Frankfort.

Posted by brians at 6:43 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Tuesday, 27 November 2007

The Crony Express IV

Not wanting to be left off the crony express, newly elected AG Jack Conway has decided upon his deputy attorney general.

Attorney General-elect Jack Conway says he'll name University of Louisville administrator Dana Bynum Mayton to serve as deputy attorney general. That's the top appointed position in his office.

Mayton currently serves as associate vice president for governmental relations and special assistant to the president at the University of Louisville. Prior to that, Mayton was secretary of the state Revenue Cabinet (Emphasis mine) 

I wonder if we are going to get ANY new blood in this administration. 

Posted by brians at 6:05 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Why hasn't Mongiardo Resigned His Senate Seat?

Rep Carolyn Belcher resigned after being elected Bath County Judge Executive. Today Fletcher set the date for the special election. He set it for the first possible date under the law  once he received the resignation letter.  Fletcher wanted to make sure the people from the district were represented for at least most of the session. The same can't be said for Mongiardo's senate seat. He has still not sent in his resignation and now there is little chance the people in his district are going to be represented in the next legislative session.

I can't fathom why Mongiardo would want to screw over the people who elected him to the state senate. I guess the Beshear/Mongiardo team care more about petty political maneuvering than actually representing the people. That doesn't bold well for Kentuckians over the next four years.

Posted by brians at 5:58 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Beshear: Expanding the Size of Government One Cabinet at a Time

When Fletcher got elected he promised that he would reduce the size of government and increase efficiency. One of his best steps was to merge cabinets and slim down the administration of running state government.

Well Beshear has been elected and he isn't taking very long to reverse course.
"I want the cabinet secretaries to be in place," he said. "We are going to instruct cabinet secretaries to take a detailed look at the cabinets" to determine whether any need to be split or reorganized.

Specifically, he cited the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet as ripe for chopping up. Nicknamed by some in Frankfort as the "Kitchen Sink Cabinet," the agency contains natural resources departments that oversee environmental and mining issues, a host of regulatory commissions that cover industries from insurance to housing to utilities to horse racing, and the labor department.

"I have promised during the campaign to create a Labor Cabinet," Beshear said Tuesday, adding that he will stick to that pledge.

The Health and Family Services Cabinet is another agency that Beshear said he'd consider slicing in half. Under Gov. Paul Patton's administration, the Health Cabinet handled the Medicaid program and public health department, while the Children and Family Services Cabinet was the home base for social workers. Gov. Ernie Fletcher merged the two in 2003.
Beshear promised he would save money by making government more efficient. He seems to be off to a poor start. Rather than working to reduce the cost and size of government, he is looking to immediately start increasing the size of government.

There is no good reason to split up the current cabinets nor add any additional cabinets. All it does is expand bureaucracy and create more "high paying" administrative positions. Not exactly the best way to save money, but it is a good way to pay back cronies.

We are truly turning back the hands of time to the days of Democratic government bloat. So much for campaign promises. Or maybe he is keeping his promises. His slogan was "taking care of our own". Maybe he meant that he is going to take care of big government and Democratic cronies. Because they seem to be the only ones he has taken care of so far.
Posted by brians at 5:42 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Thursday, 22 November 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving. Enjoy your time with family and friends! Oh yeah and those extra days off from work. Just don't eat too much food, shop too long, or watch too much football. OK, I know that is just wishful thinking. Overindulgence is inevitable. But at least we get a couple of days off from work.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by brians at 12:41 PM in Announcements
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Monday, 19 November 2007

The Crony Express III

Steve Beshear has named the person who will take over the Department of Transportation. The DOT has historically been the most corruption of any departments. So who does Beshear pick for the spot? Joe Prather. Imagine that! Another crony from previous administrations.
Incoming Gov. Steve Beshear has tapped well-known political figure Joe Prather to head the Transportation Cabinet, which has had its share of problems over the years.

Prather, of Elizabethtown, served as president pro tem of the state Senate from 1976 to 1986. He will replace outgoing Secretary Bill Nighbert.

Prather, 67, served three terms in the state House, beginning in 1967, and was elected to the state Senate in 1973. He was elected president pro tem of the Senate in 1976 and served through the end of 1986.

Prather also has been chairman of the state Democratic Party and was a member of the Democratic National Committee from 1983 to 1984.

During the first year of Democratic Gov. Brereton Jones’ administration, Prather was secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet.
I was wondering what direction we would see from the Beshear camp with regards to cabinet secretaries. I figured it would have a bunch of cronies, but I thought he would be smart enough to try to bring in some outsiders. Instead, his first couple of appointments have been cronies. His latest appointment is yet another long term crony. I can't believe he picked a long time insider to lead the most corrupt department in the state. I don't think I could have written that script. Hey, at least people can't say Beshear isn't living up to his campaign slogan "Taking care of our own". It's a shame that most people thought that meant all Kentuckians and not Democratic cronies. Looks more and more every day that the next four years will look like the past 30 years before Fletcher.
Posted by brians at 11:03 AM in Kentucky Politics
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Tuesday, 13 November 2007

Beshear's Appointments II (The Crony Express)

Beshear has made another appointment. He has named Thomas Preston to be his senior advisor (emphasis added).

Gov.-elect Steve Beshear on Monday named a businessman to be his senior adviser.

Thomas L. Preston, who founded a Lexington public relations firm, will report directly to the governor. Preston will also be a liaison between Beshear and state agencies during emergencies and disasters.

"I called upon Tom for advice many times during my campaign and am pleased he is taking on this new role," Beshear said in a statement.

Beshear, a Democrat, defeated Gov. Ernie Fletcher in last week's election and gets sworn in as governor next month. Since the election, Beshear has been naming officials to his administration.

Preston, 73, founded the Preston Group, Inc. in 1968 and was its board chairman until 1997. He has been involved in state government during his career, including a stint as top assistant to former Gov. Wendell Ford.

The crony express just keeps coming. Beshear continues to add cronies experienced people from previous corrupt Democratic administrations. 

On a similar note, Beshear is looking for staffers from western Kentucky.

The incoming state chief executive says it's too early to start discussing names in the Purchase region, but his team is - as he put it - "casting a wide net" to include staffers from all part of Kentucky.

Hmmm, this sounds a lot like the LINK program that got Fletcher into trouble in the first place. But I guess it is OK if you are a Democrat doing it. I am sure this new administration will follow all of the merit laws. Otherwise, Conway will be chomping at the bit to investigate. I also believe they will be on the look out for qualified candidates regardless of party affiliation. Yeaaaah. Sure they will.
Posted by brians at 6:00 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Monday, 12 November 2007

Beshear's Appointments Begin

Steve "Good Ole Boy" Beshear's appointments are beginning to surface. The first official appointment came out Friday. It was a nice election payback for Johnathan Miller. If you don't remember, Miller dropped out of the race and threw his support behind Beshear which tipped the nomination in Beshear's favor. First Miller was given the reigns of the party and now Secretary of Finance. Of course there wasn't any "deal" made back in the primary. No that wouldn't happen. It is purely coincidence that Miller was the first named Secretary appointment. 

Mary Lassiter, a long time Democratic insider, will be the budget director. Nothing quite like having Patton's budget directory back in place. Especially since he left office with a huge budget deficit.

Vicki Glass, the mouth of Stumbo, has upgraded and will now be the mouth of Beshear. I guess Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf was unavailable.

Posted by brians at 12:43 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Misc Election Tidbits

WHAS performed an interview with Anne Northup after the election. During the interview, Northup denied that her primary challenge contributed to Fletcher's defeat on Tuesday.

So her primary challenge strengthened Fletcher's position? I guess all of those negative attack ads that she ran for months were really helpful in his re-election efforts. And here I thought negative ads drive a candidate's numbers down. Who knew?
Posted by brians at 12:36 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Friday, 9 November 2007

Beshear's Transition Team

I said all along that if Beshear wins election two things will happen. He will be one of the most liberal Democrat Governors and he will bring the good ole boy network back to Frankfort.

It didn't take long for my predictions to come to pass. Looking at the "transition" team, we see three groups of people: the good ole boy network, some extreme liberals, and the RINO traitors.

First let's look at the largest group, the good ole boy network.
  • Larry Hayes - Budget Director for Gov Marth Collins, Deputy Mayor Louisville
  • Ellen Hesen - General counsel in Crit Luallen's office
  • Ed Holmes - Regulation Cabinet Secretary for Gov Brereton Jones, Public Service Commission for Gov Paul Patton
  • JoEtta Wickliffe - Patton appointee to University of Kentucky Board of Trustees
  • Mark Guilfoyle - Served as general counsel, budget directory and executive cabinet secretart for Gov Jones
  • Carol Palmore - Personnel Cabinet Secretary under Patton's Administration, Secretary of Labor for Collins, Wilkinson, and Jones.

His transition team is a who's who of people who have been running Frankfort the previous 30 years prior to Fletcher. So much for bringing a "fresh start" and "integrity" to Frankfort. Looks more like Beshear is bringing the "good old gang" back to Frankfort.

The most amusing is Carol Palmore to head up the "Personnel Cabinet" search. Let's bring in the former personnel cabinet secretary for Patton administration to help clean up "hiring practices". Wasn't Patton one of the worst abusers of the personnel system? She has been an inside player for the last 4 Democratic governors! Every one of which treated personnel hiring laws as little more than pretty words on a piece of paper. This is got to be a joke, right? Beshear's entire election was on cleaning up the "corruption" in Frankfort. Instead it looks like he is inviting corruption back to Frankfort. Palmore more than another other person on this list highlights the fact that Beshear's campaign was a sham. And now the people of Kentucky get to pay the price for their ignorance.

Where Beshear didn't find good ole boys to help, he turned to the left wing of the Democratic party.

  • Eleanor Jordan - Patton Appointee and former State Representative. She challenged Northup in 2000 and was beaten because of her extreme liberal stances.
  • Ernesto Scorsone - Most liberal State Senator in Kentucky

The final group is the most sickening for me. That is the RINO traitors.

  • Steve Nunn - Former Republican State Representative and first class RINO.
  • Steve Pence - He is the most disturbing member on this list. We have the current sitting REPUBLICAN LT GOVERNOR working for the incoming DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR. That is unconscionable. The head of the Republican party should come out immediately and condemn Pence's atrocious behavior.

Personally, I hope Nunn and Pence both get their 30 peices of silver for working on the transition team

UPDATE: Beshear appointed Miller Finance Secretary. It appears his first appointment is going to come from the liberal wing of the party. 

UPDATE 2: Pence is helping with Beshear's transition at the request of Fletcher and will not server in Beshear's administration. I take back my comments about Steve Pence, but the remain for Steve Nunn. Once again Fletchers actions speak loudly about his true nature. Even though he has been drug through the mud by Democrats and the media he is still willing to help give Beshear a leg up on his administration. This also speaks to how biased and despicable the media has become.  I wonder if they will offer a correction? I wouldn't hold my breath.

Posted by brians at 4:38 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Wednesday, 7 November 2007

Election Results

Last night kinda sucked. I didn't even bother watching the returns.

But there is some good news to take from the night. Republican incumbents Trey Grayson and Richie Farmer both won re-election by comfortable margins. That means the election was a referendum on Fletcher and not necessarily a pro-Democrat vote. That bodes well as we head into next year's congressional and presidential elections.

The best news of the night came out of Louisville. Where a referendum that would create a new 2% occupational tax to pay for the library system was crushed by a 2 to 1 margin. It is good to see that people in Jefferson County didn't fall for the "its all for the children" ploy and nixed the tax. It is a relief that my company and I are not going to be forced to pay for that gross money grab that  the Mayor, the chamber, and other community leaders tried to foist upon us.

Update: The best part of the tax defeat was seeing the liberals in Louisville take a pounding at the ballot box. The Courier-Journal spent a lot of time and print trying to pimp this tax. They even ran a couple week long "What the Library Means to Me" series. It is fun to see that as much as liberals want to tax and spend that tired dogma doesn't fly with the vote

Posted by brians at 4:16 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Tuesday, 6 November 2007

Election Day Musings

I have been really busy the last couple of weeks and have missed the most hectic part of the campaign season which is a bummer. So I'll offer some election day musings. The polls pretty much point to a Beshear victory today although I think the results will be closer than the polls suggest, but still not competitive. I wouldn't be surprised if the spread was around 55-45. if not then Trey Grayson might not be able to squeak out a victory today. The most frustrating part of the election has been looking at the polls. Not so much because they favored Beshear throughout, but that 1 in 4 Republicans and 1 in 3 "Conservatives" supported Beshear.

It is beyond me how ANY Republican can vote for Beshear. Don't they remember the malaise of Democratic reign in this state? Don't they remember the days where corruption and Democrats hiring 99% Democrats to run state government? Guess who was in the thick of things back then? Steve Beshear. His mantra as Attorney General during the Brown administration was "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". He was Lt Govenor for the corruptible Martha Collins administration. To think that he is going to bring "Integrity" back to the office is a joke. It is like giving your 16 year old kid the cars to your Ferrari and a case of beer and then tell him to go have fun. It won't be six months before it is business as usual back in the state capital. The new AG and state papers will totally ignore it. In fact I am sure there will be a new zeal to "expunge" those rascally Republicans from state government.

Just as concerning to me is the number of conservatives supporting Beshear and cast. What possible issue do conservatives have in common with Beshear? Let's run through them quickly. First up, limited government. Beshear has repeatedly said that the state needs new streams of revenue. Mainly to massively expand the welfare state to bring about "universal"(socialized) medicine in Kentucky. That means NEW TAXES. It might be hidden behind casinos, but it is still means a new form of taxation for state residents. What will happen if he doesn't get his casinos? He says he is going to get it from an "efficiency study". That is ridiculous. Most of that has already been done by the Fletcher administration. He isn't going to get blood out of a turnip.

How about right to work? Beshear is opposed to it. He want to force employees to have to belong to a union wether they want to or not. How conservative is that?

Bringing in new business? Beshear wants to completely open up the process used to award incentive packages. How is this going to bring in new business? No company in their right mind will apply. Doesn't he realize that much of what is kept confidential has to do with sensitive corporate data? Why would a company want to make any of that public? Beshear has no clue how to attract new business.

Health care. Fletcher has gotten an A- for his work in solving the state's Medicaid problems. A program which is now solvent and heading in the right direction. But instead of letting his administration tackle the problems of affordable coverage, the state has decided to turn the keys over to a guy whose only idea is to throw more money at the problem while ignoring the underlying causes. It is the kick the can down the street strategy. Leave it for someone else to address.

Next up, illegal immigration. Fletcher has said he will try to get local law enforcement to help identify illegals during arrests so they can be deported from the country. Beshear said it is a "federal problem". His comments come on top of Democratic panel in Lexington wanting to give illegal aliens drivers licenses. This is surreal. They slam Fletcher for breaking the law when he was cleared by a court system yet they want to either help or do nothing to people who are currently breaking the law.

Education? Beshear is going to through more money at it and pander to the biggest obstacle to education reform in this state, the KTA! Again government expansion without any real desire to solve the problems. Hmmm, this seems to be a common theme. At least Fletcher tried to challenge the teachers unions in this state.

Ok how about guns? Beshear is "pro" gun. Except that anytime he had an opportunity to stand up for gun rights he didn't do it. On top of that, the AG candidate, Conway, favored gun control measures when he ran against Northup for Congress. In fact the NRA rated him an an F. Now he is going to be the chief law enforcer in the state. That is not good for anyone who cares about the second amendment.

What about abortion? Beshear is against it but reserves the right to choice. To me this is the most morally vapid stand a person can take. I assume he thinks that the killing of the unborn is wrong, but that it should remain a choice. How completely repugnant is that line of thinking? If you believe something is wrong how can you support its practice?

Basically, almost every stand Beshear has made goes against the principles of conservatism. While Fletcher may not be 100% conservative he is 80-90%. That is a far cry better than 0-10% conservative that Beshear represents. On top of that Beshear is an empty suite. His only good ideas in the campaign were stuff that the Fletcher administration is already doing.

So I say to Republicans who are voting for Beshear. You have identified yourselves as RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and can not be trusted to lead the party. And for those calling themselves conservative and are voting for Beshear, you might want to rethink your principles. No true conservative would vote for Beshear.

But in the meantime I am going to enjoy this brisk sunny day and vote.
Posted by brians at 10:10 AM in Kentucky Politics
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