Pol Watchers

Nighbert leaves Senate job to be consultant

Former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert has left his position as an aide to senate Republican leadership for a private-sector job, senate leaders confirmed Monday.

Senate President David Williams said Nighbert left ten days ago to take a consulting position. Nighbert, who served as Transportation Secretary from 2005 to December 2007, was hired by Williams in January 2008 to help the Burkesville Republican with transportation-related issues.

Nighbert’s attorney Howard Mann said Monday that his client had said the position with Williams was only temporary.

Mann confirmed last month that Nighbert had been asked to appear before a federal grand jury investigating improprieties in the transportation cabinet. Nighbert declined to testify, Mann said in June.

Williams said Monday that Nighbert had intended to work through the legislative session but stayed on until after the special session this summer.

“He was taking about a $40,000 a year pay cut,” Williams said of Nighbert’s position. Nighbert’s annual wage would have been about $70,000 if he had stayed until December, Williams said.

Nighbert could not be reached for comment.

- Beth Musgrave and Ryan Alessi

Legislative leaders reach tentative agreement on pension plan

UPDATE 5:58 P.M. Legislative leaders have reached a tentative agreement on a plan to overhaul the state retirement systems.

They said they will contact lawmakers tonight to get their views on the plan and possibly announce details of it Tuesday morning.

Legislative leaders adjourned their negotiations today at 5:38 p.m.

After meeting for nearly three hours behind closed doors, lawmakers broke for lunch claiming that they had made some progress in agreeing on major components of an agreement to restructure the state's cash strapped public employee pension system.

Democratic Whip Rob Wilkey said the group of 19 legislative leaders "identified probably a dozen" issues to still work through.

"We're not too far apart," he said. The biggest sticking points will likely be over whether to have future employees pay into a defined contribution retirement system, similar to a 401(k) set-up and whether to alter the inviolable contract between the state and existing employees, Wilkey said.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, declined to predict whether they will succeed in getting an agreement today. But he said the morning talks were productive.

If leaders can agree, Gov. Steve Beshear wants to call a special session before the end of the month for legislators to approve changes to the system. But Beshear and legislative leaders have said they won't go forward with a extraordinary General Assembly session without a prior agreement.

Teachers and other unions have expressed concern about some of the discussed changes, specifically the move to a defined contribution system.

"I don't know if it's a deal breaker. We're just not going to do it," said House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, after the morning meeting. "That's been our position."

The legislative leaders will resume their private meetings after 2:30 p.m. Monday.

UPDATE 3:10 p.m. Meanwhile, the Kentucky Association of Counties announced that its executive committee voted in support of a special session to address the retirement system.

The systems are facing a $26 billion shortfall.

"KACo is committed to supporting the efforts of the Governor and the legislature to address long-term solutions to the current deficit in properly funding public pension plans.” said David Jenkins, the Spencer County judge-executive and president of the organization. “The special session proposed by Gov. Beshear is a good starting point in addressing a comprehensive reform of the public pension programs in Kentucky, including recommendations from the workgroup to promote additional legislation that addresses the remaining issues facing the Kentucky Retirement System.”

- Ryan Alessi

Beshear hires his former law firm to handle Williams suit

Gov. Steve Beshear has turned to his former firm of Stites & Harbison to serve as the governor's office counsel in the lawsuit brought by Senate President David Williams over road funding.

Beshear opted to outsource his legal representation to his old employer and said he tasked his general counsel, Ellen Hesen, to spearhead the search. Mark R. Overstreet of the Frankfort office will take the lead, Beshear said.

But he dismissed a notion that hiring his former employer could give a perception that he played favorites or spark criticism.

"If there is, there is," he said. "I wanted to get who I considered to be the best lawyers to represent me on such an important issue."

Williams, a Republican from Burkesville, filed the suit last month because he said Beshear improperly vetoed a bill outlining how road funds could be spent.

- Ryan Alessi

Senate office renovations go forward despite budget crunch

By John Cheves
jcheves@herald-leader.com

The Kentucky Senate is renovating its offices at the state Capitol Annex in Frankfort, while public health programs, law enforcement, education and other state services face more cuts.

On Tuesday, the state requested bids for construction on the Annex’s second floor, to build new Senate offices, caucus rooms with kitchens, a press conference room and a Senate lounge.

The 5,250 square feet of space previously was used by executive branch agencies, which are slowly being evicted as the General Assembly claims more space in the Annex. New furniture, appliances and electronics will be purchased.

Senate President David Williams said he won’t know the project’s cost until bids are opened next week. But lawmakers can afford it.

While the legislature this winter told Gov. Steve Beshear to cut $230 million from the executive branch’s $9.1 billion budget, it awarded itself 13 percent more over two years, taking it up to $55.6 million in 2010. It tucked about $1.4 million for capital projects into this year’s budget .

 “It’s nothing very extravagant,” said Williams, R-Burkesville. “Each one of the senators will have an appropriate office now. We have at least one senator who has a rather small office.”

But critics on Wednesday said they were stunned to learn that senators are making themselves more comfortable as the rest of Kentucky sacrifices.

“We wish the 52,000 children eligible for health insurance coverage through KCHIP, but not enrolled because of inadequate funds, would receive the same level of attention as the 5,250 square feet of Senate office space now being renovated,” said Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates. “The emphasis on these self-serving projects over the needs of real people is sadly becoming the norm.”

Williams sues Beshear over road plan veto

Senate President David Williams sued Gov. Steve Beshear Friday, claiming the governor's veto of a two-year state highway spending plan is unconstitutional.

Williams, R-Burkesville, claims in the lawsuit filed in Franklin Circuit Court that Beshear's veto was made beyond the constitutionally allowed 10-days after adjournment of the General Assembly.

UPDATED AT 1:09 P.M.:  Beshear, in a response, said his office has not had time to thoroughly review Williams' lawsuit, but "I am confident in our legal position and that the veto of House Bill 79 is effective and in the best interest of the Commonwealth."

Beshear said the veto "was necessary in order to preserve the needed flexibility to appropriately fund critical and unforeseen transportation projects."

He added that "it is telling that the legislature is not challenging my actions and that only Sen. Williams feels compelled to do.

"The Commonwealth would be better served if Sen. Williams worked with us to enact pension reform and adequate funding for education instead of constantly creating unnecessary controversy.

Beshear dismissed Williams' use of a 1980 attorney general's opinion, written by Beshear when he held that office, to support his lawsuit about how long a governor has to veto a bill after a legislative session ends.

"The 1980 Attorney General's opinion is not applicable in this case because the opinion addressed legislation enrolled while the General Assembly is in session and delivered to the governro before adjournment. That is clearly not what occurred with HB 79."

Beshear says he issued the veto on April 28, which was 10 days after House Bill 79 was delivered to him and within the constitutional guidelines.

Williams also claims the Democratic governor does not have the authority to establish a new road plan and is instead required by law to continue implementing the road plan in the current two-year state budget that expires June 30.

After issuing his veto, Beshear directed Transportation Secretary Joe Prather to formulate a substitute highway plan that combines projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars he originally recommended with projects the Senate and House added in HB 79.

His revised highway plan is expected before July 1.

Williams, R-Burkesville, sent a letter to Beshear last week, urging him “to follow the law.”  Dick Brown, Beshear's director of communications, dismissed Williams' letter and said the governor is following the state constitution.

Williams also maintains that the state budget bill for the next two years, which Beshear did not veto, spells out the state road plan for Beshear to follow.

Williams referred to line 23 on page 118 of the new budget bill. It reads: "Projects in the enacted 2006-2008 Biennial Highway Construction Plan are authorized to continue their current authorization into the 2008-2010 fiscal biennium."

Brown said last week that the governor is very confident that his veto of House Bill 79 is effective and that he is proceeding constitutionally to implement an effective highway plan for the Commonwealth.

- Jack Brammer

Beshear does not reappoint Williams' cousin

Gov. Steve Beshear has not reappointed a cousin of Senate President David Williams as an administrative law judge though Tom Davis of Tompkinsville was selected by a nominating committee for another four-year term.

Williams, R-Burkesville, said the appointment is the Democratic governor's prerogative, "but every occasion he gets to stick his finger in my eye, he does."

Dick Brown, Beshear's director of communications, said, "The fact that Mr. Davis has any relationship with Sen. Williams played no role in the decision. The nominees for these positions face the same objective process as those for any other board, commission or appointment made by the administration."

Williams disputed Brown's comments.

"The place over there leaks like a sieve and it was the factor," the senator said. "I'm not complaining, whining about this, but every time the governor does something like this, he looks a bit smaller."

Earlier this year, Beshear nixed a road project championed by Williams. Beshear's Transportation Cabinet canceled an $11.9 million change order that expanded a $53.2 million project to widen and straighten Ky. 90 and Ky. 61 in Cumberland County.

The change order was approved at the recommendation of Williams for his district in the final days of former Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration. The Beshear administration said the project was canceled because of its cost and "bad use" of the change-order process. Change orders are meant to reimburse contractors for unforeseen expenses, not expand the scope of projects, it said.

Beshear also redirected $15 million in developments at Dale Hollow State Park, which is in the heart of Williams' district, to the state Horse Park in Lexington to prepare for the 2010 World Equestrian Games.

Williams said Friday that he played no role four years ago when Fletcher appointed Davis to be an administrative law judge. Such judges, appointed by the governor with consent of the Senate, deal with workers' compensation claims and receive about $130,000 a year.

Davis, 59, said he learned Thursday that Beshear had not reappointed him. He is to leave the job July 15.

"I guess it's political," said Davis, a former district judge in Adair, Casey, Cumberland and Monroe counties.

Asked if his kinship to Sen. Williams played a role in his losing his job, Davis laughed and said, "I think that was a factor."

Davis, whose office is in Bowling Green, said he expects he will practice law in Tompkinsville.

--Jack Brammer

Ethics brawl threatens negotiations on state budget

A bare-knuckle battle of words between two of the state's most powerful lawmakers threatens to cripple upcoming negotiations over the state's two-year spending plan.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said Thursday evening in a news conference that Democratic Rep. Harry Moberly of Richmond, the key architect of the House's version of the state budget, may be unintentionally violating state ethics laws by virtue of his job at Eastern Kentucky University.

"I believe if anyone filed an ethics complaint against Harry Moberly now, that he would be in violation," of opinions issued by the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission, Williams said.

Although Williams said he doesn't believe Moberly has intentionally violated any ethics laws, he accused Moberly, a vice president at the public university in Richmond, of standing up in closed-door budget negotiations and advocating for building projects at EKU.

"I've been at the conference table in the conference many times when he has stood up to have things added for Eastern Kentucky University in the budget," Williams said. "That's just the way it is, and if he doesn't get what he wants in the budget, nobody else is going to get what they want in the budget."

On Friday morning, Moberly called Williams's statements a "pack of lies" and said he has never violated the ethics laws governing lawmakers.

Moberly said it is Williams who "skates on the thin line of ethics all the time" and called Williams an "ego-maniacal," "delusional," "little king" who "can not stand to be thwarted in any of this goals."

Specifically, he accused Williams of "manipulating" the committee of lawmakers who finalize the budget by using a "secret list" to funnel $10 million for a pharmacy school at the University of the Cumberlands, which sits in Williams' south-central Kentucky district. The appropriation has since been found unconstitutional by a Frankfort judge.

The dispute between Moberly and Williams stems from changes made in the Senate earlier this week to a House bill that would overhaul the state's ethics rules.

In particular, the revised bill would specifically prohibit a lawmaker from voting on a bill that names their employer. Thus, Moberly couldn't vote on a budget bill that provides funding to EKU.

Moberly contends the change was made to the ethics bill as an attempt to punish him for refusing to hear in his committee Senate Bill 1, which would dramatically alter the state's testing system for school children.

"He's humiliated by me killing that bill," he said.

When asked if the ethics changes were retribution against Moberly, Williams said that many members of the Republican caucus in the Senate feel that Moberly is abusing his power.

"Everyone is afraid of him over various issues because he holds the budget hammer over there," Williams said. "So he intimidates groups and interferes. After a while, if you get out in a big battle, somebody starts saying 'look, you're abusing your position.'

"I think that's how the members of the caucus feel," he said. "It's nothing personal."

Calling Williams the "great disrupter" during closed-door budget negotiations, Moberly said he fears the spat is intended to undermine upcoming budget negotiations.

Williams, in a floor speech Friday morning, denied that his remarks were politically motivated. Instead, he said he wants to start a dialogue about the broader issue of ethics reform.

Although Moberly said he is "concerned" with Williams' behavior, he pledged to work with Williams during budget negotiations "as long as he acts in good faith."

Moberly said he hopes future budget negotiations are opened to the public because "I want everybody to see what he does."

The Senate is expected to approve its version of the state's two-year, $19 billion spending plan on Monday. A conference committee of lawmakers from both chambers will then work through the following Saturday in an attempt to reach a compromise.

Both chambers must give final approval to the bill by Tuesday, April 1, if they want the ability to override any vetoes by Gov. Steve Beshear.

- John Stamper

State budget tidbits

Senate President David Williams offered a few nuggets of information about the Senate's plan for the state budget to reporters Thursday evening. Here are the highlights:

• "Several" of the building projects vetoed from the last budget by former Gov. Ernie Fletcher will not be funded in the Senate's budget plan. In general, the Senate's budget will bond far less than was proposed by the House.

• He called the method used by the House to divvy up $100 million for water and sewer projects across the state "irresponsible." He would not say how much, if any, money the Senate would appropriate for such projects or how the money would be divided up.

• If the House and Senate can't vote on a final budget before the governor's 10-day veto period begins on April 2, there will be no state budget during this legislative session. Instead, Williams would prefer to complete the budget during a special session.

• Williams said the Senate budget will not rely on any tax increases, but would "identify and book" new revenue from other sources. He wouldn't say where the money will come from or how much their might be.

• The Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee is expected to take up the budget in a lengthy hearing that is expected to begin Monday morning. The full Senate is expected to vote on the measure later that day so that the bill can be sent to a conference committee Monday evening.

- John Stamper

Senate panel will consider amended bullying bill

A long-stymied bill that would require school districts to create policies dealing with bullies will get a hearing in a Senate committee — but not before it is amended, Senate President David Williams said Thursday.

His comments came after Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, D-Lexington, forced a vote in the Senate on a petition to discharge the bill from the Senate Judiciary  Committee, which has not held a hearing on Senate Bill 12 and similar measures filed since 2004.

“We can guarantee a safe environment” for school kids, Scorsone said. “To fail to do that when we can is shameful.”

Scorsone’s petition was defeated 20-15 in a party-line vote, so it remains in committee. At least three Republicans said they likely support the bill’s intent, but first wanted to talk with Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, about his potential changes. Stivers was absent from the General Assembly on Thursday.

Williams, R-Burkesville, wouldn’t offer any details about planned amendments, but has said previously that some in the Senate are concerned the measure “would be used to teach curriculum that people aren’t interested in, like homosexual, same-sex marriage, sort of things like that.”

However, House Republicans don’t have issues with the legislation. The House approved a similar proposal, House Bill 91, in a 96-0 vote on Jan. 29.

The House proposal is supported by the Kentucky School Boards Association, Kentucky Education Association, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, Kentucky Youth Advocates, Kentucky County Attorneys Association, Kentucky Council of Churches and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky.

The bill would require schools to formulate a code of “acceptable behavior and discipline that prohibits harassment, intimidation, or bullying of a student.”

It also asks for schools to have strategies in place to protect victims from retaliation. Districts would be asked to provide training to employees, and to inform students and parents about the code of acceptable behavior.

Bullying would be cause for suspension, expulsion or another form of discipline.

- John Stamper

McConnell promises misery for eventual opponent

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell riled up the crowd of several hundred at Saturday night's Republican Party of Kentucky Lincoln Day Dinner in Lexington when he promised misery for his Democratic opponent in the fall.

"Whoever runs against me is going to have a perfectly miserable experience," McConnell promised.

The state's senior senator said he expects his opponent to argue that Kentucky needs a "fresh face" in the Senate. "I'm going to argue that I give us a competitive edge in a highly competitive environment."

To drive home the point, McConnell played a lengthy video highlighting his efforts to bring back big bucks for tobacco farmers, universities, parks, the Bluegrass Army Depot and workers sickened at Paducah's uranium enrichment plant.

Louisville Democrats Bruce Lunsford and Greg Fischer are the two leading contenders to challenge McConnell.

McConnell started his speech by noting that "spirits are a little bit higher this year," a clear reference to the group's contentious gathering in Louisville a year ago when former Gov. Ernie Fletcher faced a primary challenge from former congresswoman Anne Northup.

He said he spoke recently with Fletcher, who is adapting well to his private life and following recent news accounts about Gov. Steve Beshear with "some detached amusement."

McConnell pointed to Secretary of State Trey Grayson's ability to draw 51 percent of the vote last November as "the first indication that Republicans weren't going to fold their tent or go away."

Then came "a game changer" earlier this month when Republican Brandon Smith won the Eastern Kentucky state Senate seat formerly held by Democratic Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo.

"I couldn't go to sleep I was so excited about it," McConnell said. "I thought it was enormously significant."

State Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, emceed the event. He took the opportunity to throw a few barbs at Beshear and noted that the Democratic governor's approval rating took a tumble this week, particularly in Eastern Kentucky.

As for Beshear's proposed constitutional amendment allowing casinos in Kentucky, Williams offered this advice: "He can stick a fork in it. It's done."

Congressman Ron Lewis, KY-2nd, used his time at the podium to promise he will do "everything I can" to get state Sen. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, elected to the seat he is vacating.

"I'm leaving, but we have a fine and wonderful young man in Brett Guthrie to carry on the work," Lewis said.

He also pledged to turn over "most" of his campaign war chest, which stood at more than $400,000 at the end of 2007, to the state party.

Lewis has repeatedly apologized to the party in recent weeks after secretly attempting to have his chief of staff, Daniel London, be the lone GOP candidate to replace him. London dropped out of the race earlier this month.

- John Stamper