Friday, 22 February 2008
Beshear Plays Kick the Can
Just a couple of days ago, I outlined some of the important issues facing this state. The most immediate are the overcrowding of local jails and the increasing expense of the state's pension plan. My question has been where is Beshear on the more pressing issues facing this state? Did he say we needed new leadership? Where is that leadership on these issues?
On the first issue, it turns out Beshear has decided to put together a committee to study the jail overcrowding problem.
Gov. Steve Beshear's committee to modernize Kentucky's penal code, with an eye on prison and jail crowding, might not issue a report until July 2011, with the 2012 General Assembly taking action.
What? By 2011? That would be after his first term in office. It's not like this issue hasn't already been studied. We have two reports from 2002 and 2006 addressing jail overcrowding. Many of the counties need solutions now and not 4 years from now. Rather than tackle the problem, Beshear has decided to kick the can down the road for someone else to deal with later.
Surely, he is going to address the pension shortfall. I thought he might, but then I read the outline of his meager proposal. While it is movement in the right direction, it is not a serious attempt to solve the problem.
Even if Beshear's proposal becomes law, the retirement systems would go into debt an additional $800 million next fiscal year, which begins July 1, said Patrick Welsh, a Louisville actuary who has helped House Democratic leaders and Beshear draw up the plan.
The plan is going to save $500 million a year, but the debt will go up $800 million. That is not a solution. It is an attempt to slow the drain down so it will be someone elses problem in the future.
After watching the initial months of the Beshear administration, I have decided that I want to be governor. I can spend all of my time trying to enrich my friends and major contributors while kicking the real issues facing this state down the road for some other administration to handle. It must be a sweet gig if you can get it.
