Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Is Beshear A Leader?
By now many of you know about Gov Beshear's town hall meeting in Pikeville last week.
Gov. Steve Beshear took three plane loads full of officials with him to Pike County at a cost of more than $7,000 Thursday for the first stop in his six-week statewide tour of town hall meetings.
That came just days after Beshear suggested ways state workers could conserve on fuel when commuting.
The responses to the story are so obvious. The first is a charge of hypocrisy. Do what I say and not what I do. The second is why did he take everyone?
But Republican Party Chairman Steve Robertson questioned why the state paid for so many cabinet officials to attend if they weren’t part of the official program.
Robertson said the taxpayers appear to be footing a $7,000 bill for one stop in what appears to be a public image-building tour.
While the story is amusing, I think it provides some insight into the problems with this administration. Let's look at Beshear's response to the incident.
"I happen to think it's important to listen to what the people of this commonwealth think," he said in Lexington Monday at the Kentucky Association of Conservation Districts convention. "So when I'm going around the state for the next two months, I'm going to take the cabinet secretaries with me regardless of whether the Herald-Leader likes it or not."
Beshear opened himself up to such obvious ridicule so his cabinet members could listen to the people? That is silly and makes little sense to me. The members of his cabinet have only been in the job for six months. They shouldn't exactly be out of touch with the world around them. I am sure the people in the town hall meetings had no idea who any of the secretaries were nor did they care. I know I wouldn't care. The people of Pikeville showed up to speak to the governor.
The governor should be able to listen to the peoples concerns and incorporate them into his vision for tomorrow. Once he does, he should be able to provide direction for his cabinet officials to implement his agenda.
All of which brings me back to my original question. Why did he make this trip with his entire entourage knowing full well that he would be open to such ridicule? Part of it is because he thought he could slip it by like previous administrations. I think the bigger reason is he doesn't have a vision for Kentucky. He is hoping that his cabinet will help him to provide an agenda for his term. He doesn't know what to do himself.
The pieces are beginning to fall into place for me. Beshear was elected based on the platitude that we can do anything if we have casinos. He had no idea or vision to what that "anything" actually was. He ran for governor so he could have the prestige and not to actually move Kentucky forward.
This is why he surrounded himself with the old cronies in the first place and why he took them with him on these town hall meetings. He has no idea what he is doing and is hoping his "friends" will help him make something up. It also explains his failure to lead during the last legislative session. He didn't know where to lead.
Beshear is adrift and has no idea where he is going. Without a vision he can't lead this state forward. I doubt he has the leadership skills to develop a vision and instruct his secretaries to implement his plan for tomorrow. Instead he seeks some form of consensus as to what to do next. As Margaret Thatcher said, "consensus is the death of leadership".
