Pol Watchers

Pol Watch: 7/26/07

NEWS

H-L: August session proposed
State lawmakers will return to Frankfort Monday to adjourn a stalled special session that began July 5 and hope to come back Aug. 13 for another special session to deal exclusively with a proposed package of tax breaks to attract a $3 billion coal-gasification plant to Western Kentucky. OTHERS: [CNHI] [C-J] [AP]

H-L: Rally to oppose partner benefits
About 250 people are expected to gather Monday in Frankfort in opposition to domestic partner benefits in Kentucky's public universities and agencies.

AP: State senator, former KSU chief among three named in suit
The federal government sued a Kentucky state senator and two business partners for $1.4 million yesterday, alleging the three men failed to pay back a Small Business Administration loan. Others: [C-J]

AP: Beshear takes in $77,000 more, Fletcher $6,000 for primary
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear took in an additional $77,000 over the past month for his primary election campaign and Gov. Ernie Fletcher another $6,000.

CNHI: AG will investigate Tompkinsville Mayor's race for alleged fraud
Officials with the state Office of the Attorney General are investigating the Tompkinsville Mayor's election last November which produced a large number of walk-in absentee voters and a court challenge which likely still isn't over.

Enquirer: Polls buoy potential McConnell challenges
Two days after a prominent Kentucky Democrat announced a potential challenge to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, new polling is encouraging McConnell detractors.

OPINION

Keeling: Give up pay for session
The bottom line for Kentucky taxpayers is that lawmakers are still being paid approximately $280 a day seven days a week in salary and expenses -- for doing nothing.

C-J: Fat checks, no work
If Kentucky lawmakers want to have any credibility with voters, they must do one thing -- immediately: They must find a way to resolve the problem of the big paychecks they're about to get for doing absolutely no work.

Pol Watch: 7/25/07

NEWS

H-L: Plan to sell Horse Park arena naming rights stirs objections
The growing trend of naming stadiums and sports venues after corporations for big bucks may be spreading to state government, and at least one state legislator is not happy about it.

H-L: Children's well-being rank rises for state
Slightly more children live in foster care in this state than the national average, and Kentucky's concern that too many children are stripped from their homes without an effort to keep them with their birth families exists nationwide, according to an annual report. OTHERS: [C-J][AP]

WHAS: McConnell's poll numbers dip
The latest Survey USA polling shows U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's job approval ratings dipping below where they were in February and March of this year.

CNHI: Bunning doesn't like cigarette tax to pay for children's health insurance program
Kentucky U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning says he opposes funding for a federal-state health insurance program for children because changes in legislation now before the Senate create regressive taxes on the poor and permit states to include adults who don't need the help. And it will further harm Kentucky's burley tobacco farmers, he said.

Enquirer: Stumbo's character an issue
An out-of-wedlock child; a guilty plea to public intoxication; 19 years as Kentucky House floor leader, where enemies are made as easily as friends. Northern Kentucky Republicans were happy Tuesday to pull out the baggage from Democrat Attorney General Greg Stumbo's past.

Enquirer: Leaders want more state help
Northern Kentucky is booming and has much success to talk about it, but local governments need help from Frankfort to deal with the spiraling costs of jails, pensions, roads and infrastructure. That was the message at Tuesday's State of Northern Kentucky Address.

OPINION

Post: More Frankfort follies
The sit-com in Frankfort is still cranking out the scripts, but the main storyline - "How Not to Govern Effectively'' - is getting stale.

- John Stamper

Pol Watch: 7/24/07

NEWS

H-L: Stumbo set to explore run for Senate
Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo, a Democrat, filed papers yesterday allowing him to raise and spend money to evaluate whether he should challenge U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2008. OTHERS: [CNHI] [C-J] [AP] [Enquirer]

H-L/AP: ConocoPhillips joins Peabody
Peabody Energy has joined with a second company on a proposal to construct a $3 billion coal-gasification plant that state lawmakers want to lure to Kentucky with some $300 million in tax breaks. OTHERS: [Gleaner]

C-J: Lawmakers must be paid unless they find alternative
Unless House and Senate leaders can agree on a way for legislators not to be paid for the ongoing legislative session, legislators must get their paychecks.

H-L: Oakwood gets new Type A citation
Bluegrass Oakwood has received its third Type A citation in two months for failing to fully investigate injuries to a mentally handicapped resident. OTHERS: [C-J]

Enquirer: Gambling debate enters race
The debate about casino gambling in Kentucky has seeped from the gubernatorial campaign into the race for attorney general.

OPINION

 

H-L: Energy policy - Do what's in Kentuckians' best interest
Presumably, the Kentucky leaders meeting Wednesday with Peabody Energy executives are doing their homework today.

Keeling: Safe at Fancy Farm
The Fancy Farm Picnic is many things. It's a pig-out on barbecue and fresh veggies and homemade desserts. It's bingo and country music. It's hot -- really, really hot some years. It's a Kentucky tradition. It's great political theater spiced with old-fashioned speechifying before a crowd of partisans who can get, well, a little raucous at times. But dangerous for the speakers?

- John Stamper