The Last Real Democrat in the Kentucky Senate

UPDATE Below

One and only one of the 16 Democrats in the Kentucky State Senate had the integrity, courage and balls to stand up to Big Coal and Admitted Criminal Governor Ernie Fletcher today.

Senator Ernesto Scorsone, D-Lexington, cast the sole Senate vote against the Bankrupt The Commonwealth And Destroy the Environment At The Same Time Act of 2007

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Scorsone said the bill is not the state's energy policy, but that of (coal giant) Peabody Energy Co.

The bill, which passed the Democratic House on Wednesday, now goes to Ernie for his signature. Ernie, lagging 18 points behind in the governor's race, called this totally unnecessary legislative special session and demanded approval of this bill because he's desperate to show an accomplishment - any accomplishment, no matter how destructive - to voters.

Not going to be easy for Democrats to call him on this boondoggle since so many of them voted for it.

Ernesto, as all of his admirers call him, admittedly risked very little with his No vote. He represents a Senate District that is by far the most liberal in the state. Someday when we country liberals grow up, we want to move to Lexington so we can have Ernesto as our senator.

In 1998, Ernesto ran against then-state-representative Ernie Fletcher for the Sixth Congressional seat, in the Battle of the Erns. Ernie won on the strength of a whisper campaign about the single Ernesto's probable sexuality.

Ernesto had never denied being gay, mostly because no one had ever been rude enough to ask him about it. He ignored the whispers, and lost to Ernie by seven points.

Five years later in 2003, Ernesto made a speech in Lexington in which he referred obliquely to his homosexuality. The Lexington Herald-Leader put it on the front page, but everybody yawned.

Here's how incredibly popular Ernesto is in Lexington: In 2004, the year after he became the only openly gay member of the Kentucky General Assembly, the year republicans nationwide ran on gay-bashing, the Kentucky GOP did not even attempt to field a challenger to Ernesto.

Kentucky Democrats, however, made up for that lack. Also in 2004, the flat-on-its-ass Kentucky Democratic Party was desperately searching for someone to take charge as chair. Ernesto's name was mentioned, and the panicked party honchos lashed out by choosing corrupt, antediluvian hack Jerry Lundergan. Several Central Committee members, including current Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee Steve Beshear, resigned in protest.

Ernesto quietly returned to his Senate seat, and continues today to serve as the lonely - and sometimes lone - voice of liberal values in the General Assembly.

He's also the only Democrat in the Senate who grasps the criminal obscenity of handing billions of tax dollars to the destructive and inhumane coal industry at a time when, as the Herald-Leader noted, the state's economy, public education, infrastructure and just about every measure of civilized life rank in the bottom 10 states nationally.

UPDATE, 6:27 p.m.: Steve Beshear's Lite Guv running mate, Dan Mongiardo, is a current member of the State Senate. Does that mean he voted for the Bend Over For The Coal Industry, One More Time Act of 2007? No, thank goodness. He was not present for the vote, presumably because he's on the campaign trail. Still, what a chicken.

Historical note: Democrat Dan Mongiardo earned the everlasting enmity of thousands of Kentucky Democrats in 2004 when he sponsored the anti-gay marriage amendment to the Kentucky Constitution. Keep in mind he did so months AFTER his fellow Democratic Senator Ernesto Scorsone had come out as gay.

There's more: "The Last Real Democrat in the Kentucky Senate" >>

Coal: Kentucky's Renewable Energy

Whenever anybody says "tax incentives for renewable energy," check your wallet.

The energy bill passed this afternoon by the Kentucky House of Representatives reminds me of that trick soap that leaves your hands dirtier than when you picked it up.

It is, not to put too fine a point on it, a billion-dollar blow job on the coal industry.

The press release calls it "A comprehensive energy bill that would create tax incentives for the construction of alternative fuel and renewable energy plants in Kentucky and provide millions of dollars for energy research and development ..."

Well, not really. What it actually does is hand over to Big Coal 50 percent of the construction cost of any energy plant that uses coal ("alternative fuel" being left undefined). Such plants cost a minimum of $100 million to build, and usually closer to a quarter billion. Figure $100 million in cash rebates for each plant, times an infinite number of plants (the bill has no limits, and is such a free-whorehouse giveaway it'll spark a coal-rush to Kentucky), and you're lookin' at a budget buster that'll turn the entire state in a giant pig pen of slave labor for the coal companies.

According to the Lexington Herald, it’s even worse than the 50 percent construction rebate. “Qualifying companies could recover as much as 100 percent of the sales, use, income and corporate tax on a project and as much as 80 percent of the coal-severance tax paid on coal used by approved alternative fuel or gasification facilities.”

Now you’re looking at billions of dollars Kentucky simply does not have, and for what? A handful of jobs that will never earn back the bribe paid to the employer? More sliced-off mountains, more poisoned rivers, more forests and prime farmland turned into moonscapes? More enslaved, impoverished communities, more destroyed roads, more dead miners?

Kentucky Progress calls it the Coal Company Crazy Check Act of 2007.

In the first place, any process that uses coal in any way, shape or form is not, repeat NOT, renewable. Renewable applies to things that keep coming back even after you use them. Fast-growing plants, wind, sun, geothermal. Not oil. Not natural gas. Not coal.

In the second place, so-called "clean coal" - synfuels, gasification, liquefaction, mumbledy-mumble-abracadabra-cation - is a myth. Like cold fusion, only less plausible. Coal companies have been fucking around with supposed technologies for literally decades and nothing has ever come of it.

You think wind and solar power are pie-in-the-sky fantasies that will never work economically? Since the 1970s, solar and wind power technologies - with virtually no help from the federal government - have slowly but steadily improved efficiency and lowered cost to the point that in many parts of the country they are competitive with fossil-fuel generation.

Over a much longer period, Big Coal has wasted hundreds of billions of tax dollars in federal government subsidies turning "clean coal" from a powerful fantasy into ... a highly destructive boondoggle.

Jim Waters, director of policy and communications for the Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky’s free-market think tank, offers an eye-opening short history of the industry's "clean coal" scam. Highlights:

...Frankfort adults who still believe in fairy tales should consider this: Several attempts to create the kind of coal-liquification technology that would provide viable substitutes to oil have become fuel for past taxpayer nightmares instead.

In the 1940s, Congress appropriated millions of dollars to enact the “Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act.” In 1948, the New York Times declared it would result in energy – produced from coal, air, and water – in quantities sufficient enough to “free us from dependence on foreign sources of oil.”

By 1952, these federal coal-to-liquid demonstration plants shut down.

In 1960, Congress (code: taxpayers) paid for construction of six synthetic fuels demonstration plants, including one in Cresap, W. Va. Proponents promised gasoline at 11 cents per gallon.

Didn’t happen. In fact, the Cresap economic disaster called “Project Gasoline,” went in the tank in 1970.

The most well-known energy-liquification effort occurred in the 1970s when an oil embargo threatened America’s economy. Many of us maintain unforgettable images of long lines at gasoline pumps.

In one of many demonstrations of ineptness, President Jimmy Carter signed the 1980 Energy Security Act, authorizing money for the Synthetic Fuels Corporation (SFC) and charging it to produce a half-million barrels of oil per day by 1987. President Gerald Ford previously promised 1 million barrels of oil a day from coal by 1985.

Instead, the SFC shut down in 1985. Not a single coal-to-oil plant produced anything – except the loss of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

He goes on to make the obvious point that if "clean coal" was so easy and fabulous, the free market would be investing in it, as the free market has done for real renewable energy - wind, solar, geothermal.

"Clean coal" needs government subsidies because no money manager with an ounce of sense would invest a dime in it.

But in Kentucky, Coal Is God. Not even University of Kentucky basketball, the State Religion, gets as much worship as coal.

No one in Kentucky is surprised at the way Democratic congress critters cringe and cower and show their asses in submission at the maladministration's mere whisper of terrorism.

We've watched Democratic legislators perform precisely the same way when any governor so much as mentions coal.

Not that Ernie’s any better

“I am glad that the House is working with us to make Kentucky a leader in energy,” said Governor Fletcher. “As we have said from the start, this legislation isn’t just important for a single company – it is important for the future of Kentucky. This legislation is a continuation of the energy strategy my administration initiated three years ago. I look forward to the passage of House Bill 1.”

Energy strategy? The closest thing Ernie has to an energy strategy is his practice of climbing into a state-owned gas-guzzler every morning for the 500-foot commute from the Governor's Mansion to the Capitol Building. No, wait, that's his Get Healthy Kentucky initiative.

What's that you say? What about "renewable energy?" Sorry, it's so easy to miss. The incentives in House Bill 1 for actual, reality-based, affordable, environment-protecting, child-friendly renewable energy are a grand total of ...

wait for it ...

One million dollars.

Peabody Coal probably spent more than that on booze and hookers for the General Assembly.

Postscript: Keep in mind, too, that this bill was passed by the Democratic House. The version that emerges from the Republican-controlled Senate is likely to be stripped of even the weak-ass renewable energy provisions House Democrats wrote.

There's more: "Coal: Kentucky's Renewable Energy" >>

Mitch at Fancy Farm: Stumbo Draws First Blood

UPDATE Below

Never let it be said that Greg Stumbo doesn't come out swinging. The Kentucky Attorney General is close to the worst possible choice to challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for re-election next year, but Greg drew first blood at the 127th annual "Pork, Pie and Politics" Fancy Farm picnic yesterday. The Lexington Herald-Leader's Jack Brammer reports:

McConnell never mentioned his bid for re-election next year. But Democratic Attorney General Greg Stumbo, who has formed an exploratory committee for a possible run against McConnell, brought several dogs with him to make light of McConnell's famous campaign ad against U.S. Walter "Dee" Huddleston in the 1980s, in which he used hounds to search for Huddleston. Stumbo's white polo shirt said he is "hunting for a real U.S. Senator."

McConnell's only decent line was a shot at Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear.

McConnell noted that he defeated Beshear in a U.S. Senate race in 1996 and that Beshear ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1987.

"It's actually good to see that Kentucky Democrats embrace recycling," McConnell said.

Yep, and you're headed for the compost pile, Mitch.

The real fireworks were between Beshear and Incumbent Criminal Gov. Ernie Fletcher. Brammer again:

The two candidates for governor stumped for votes as a heavily partisan crowd whooped for their favorites and heckled their opponents. Fletcher employed costumed characters in the crowd to underscore his comments. Fletcher said Attorney General Greg Stumbo and other Democrats could not stop him even with their "political witch hunt." On cue, a young woman dressed in a witch's black outfit stood up in the audience as Fletcher pointed to her.

He was referring to a lengthy investigation of hiring in his administration that led to three misdemeanor charges against Fletcher that later were dropped when he and Stumbo reached an agreement.

Fletcher later pointed to a character dressed like Moses. "He must be looking for the Ten Commandments, but he won't find them in our courthouses or schools," the governor said.

He was referring to Beshear's decision as attorney general from 1979 to 1983 when Beshear issued advisory opinions that removed copies of the Ten Commandments from public-school classrooms. At the time, Beshear said he had to follow constitutional and U.S. Supreme Court guidelines.

"I obeyed the law," Beshear said yesterday. "As governor I would obey the law. And wouldn't that be a great change to have a governor who obeys the law?" To illustrate his point, about 15 Beshear supporters who were labeled "Ernie's Chain Gang" marched around the crowd while dressed in prison garb and handcuffs.

Fletcher countered with "Easy Money Steve," who threw out casino chips ridiculing Beshear's position that Kentuckians should decide at the polls whether to allow expanded gambling.

Fletcher, who initially said he would not support or oppose a legislative move for casino gambling but now maintains expanded gambling will never occur while he is governor, said casino gambling in the state would lead to an increase in crimes, divorces and bankruptcies.

Beshear accused Fletcher of using scare tactics on the gambling issue, noting that the Fancy Farm picnic's main purpose is to raise funds through charitable gaming for St. Jerome Catholic church.

He called Fletcher hypocritical for not calling for the repeal of church bingo, the state lottery and parimutuel wagering.

After their speeches, Fletcher said "there is a world of difference" between casino gambling and other forms of gambling now in Kentucky.

In his speech, Beshear pounded away at the "failed leadership" in Frankfort the last four years.

Mixing a tourist slogan for Las Vegas with his lack-of-leadership claims, Beshear said, "What's going on in Frankfort right now shouldn't stay in Frankfort any longer." He then rattled off some figures that showed Kentucky in recent years has been dropping in economic development rankings for states.

And the prize for low blow predictably goes to one of the state's slimiest wingnuts.

The two candidates' running mates also did not shy away from each other. Robbie Rudolph, Fletcher's running mate, said Beshear and state Sen. Daniel Mongiardo of Hazard are "a match made in Vegas."

Rudolph said, "Fancy Dan likes young ...." Rudolph then paused, saying he is glad his daughter recently married.

Rudolph's comments were a reference to Mongiardo's engagement to Allison Patrick of Frankfort. There is an age difference of about 25 years between Mongiardo, 47, and Patrick. Mongiardo said they will not marry until after the November election.

Nice double-play there, implying Mongiardo is both gay and a child molester. Classy, Robbie. Very classy.

UPDATE, 7:17 p.m.: Ditch Mitch has great Fancy Farm coverage. (No permalink - scroll down.) And Hillbilly Report has pictures!

There's more: "Mitch at Fancy Farm: Stumbo Draws First Blood" >>

Pork, Pie and Politics

If you're going to be spending Saturday afternoon like me, in an air-conditioned living room hiding from a truly vicious heat wave, check out KET's live web-casting from Fancy Farm starting at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.

If you know what Fancy Farm is, and you're not from Kentucky, congratulations! You are a seriously addicted political geek in dire need of A Life. If you're from Kentucky and you don't know what Fancy Farm is, what are you doing reading a political blog? Go back to surfing Facebook, you slacker.

Fancy Farm is a tiny town in the far, far southwestern corner of Kentucky, where, on the first Saturday in August, the population explodes from 600 to 15,000 people there to eat the Best Barbeque North of Memphis and heckle politicians attempting to make campaign speeches outdoors in a heat/humidity index pushing four figures.

Rumor this year is that the Young Democrats are going to dress up in orange prison jumpsuits and march around to mock Indicted and Admitted Criminal Governor Ernie Fletcher.

Republican heckling of Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Beshear is supposedly going to involve a well-funded parody of Beshear's support for expanded gambling. I have a hard time believing they're not going to exploit running mate Dan Mongiardo's - well, the repugs can't decide whether Dan's gay or a cradle-robber for getting engaged to a girl half his age (I do wish the wingnuts would keep their sex fears consistent.)

The event is being emceed by Republican State Senate President David Williams, who has vowed to "control" the crowd. This announcement caused uncontrollable laughter in every precinct of the state. The whole point of Fancy Farm is to goad your candidate's opponent into some kind of foaming-at-the-mouth freak-out that your guy can make the centerpiece of his attack ads.

Fancy Farm always provides political theater at its best; this year, with the first Republican Governor in 32 years running for re-election despite admitting breaking state law and boasting an approval rating worse than George Bush's, is driving partisans on both sides to new heights - depths? - of bring-your-video-camera drama.

Williams' threat of "control" is driving Democrats to a performance-art frenzy. Expect Gestapo-style "security" tactics against Democratic demonstrators.

But the big attraction is Kentucky's own U.S. Senate Minority Leader and Facilitator of the Filibuster Mitch McConnell.

Mitch will have his handful of supporters, of course, and his hundreds of bought-and-paid-for demonstrators, but the Fancy Farm crowd demands its speakers stand up alone and expose themselves to shrieking abuse.

No tame New York Times reporters at Fancy Farm. No Fox Noise sycophants. No Joe Lierberman to hide behind.

Just you, Mitch. You, the heat, the humidity and 15,000 partisans slavering for payback.

And the Food Network, there to check out the barbeque.

There's more: "Pork, Pie and Politics" >>

Fletcher Official Admits Political Gagging

If you're reading this at work - on your lunch hour or break, of course! - count your blessings and do something nice for your boss.

You're better off than Kentucky state employees, who cannot read this, or any other blog that republican Governor Ernie Fletcher doesn't like, at work.

Yeah, yeah, they shouldn't be reading blogs at work, blah, blah, blah.

That's what Fletcher officials said. AFTER they got caught blocking a particular blogger who was exposing their crimes and stupidity several times a day.

For 2-1/2 years, from his inauguration in December 2003, Ernie had no problem with state employees reading blogs at work. State computer techs blocked porn sites, of course, and if your blog reading interferred with your work, your boss would call you in for a little chat about productivity, but if you wanted to spend your break reading the latest on Daily Kos or Little Green Footballs, nobody cared much.

But in May 2006, a grand jury indicted Fletcher on charges of violating state merit law by firing civil-service-protected Democrats to make room for his republican cronies.

And Mark Nickolas attacked.

Nickolas, who managed the campaign of Ben Chandler, who lost the governor's race to Fletcher, operated a blog called BluegrassReport.org. For two years, he'd been posting news and snarky commentary about Fletcher's Keystone Kops administration - along with strong criticism of the state's cowardly and incompetent Democrats.

But after the indictment, Nickolas moved into overdrive, and BluegrassReport became the don't-miss, refresh-all-day, multi-commented Blog Everybody Reads.

And Fletcher couldn't take it. One day, state employees checked out BluegrassReport.org and found only a full-page message: "This Site Has Been Blocked by the Commonwealth Office of Technology."

WTF?

That first day, you could still get on Kos, and LGF, and TPM, and Drudge, and all the rest.

So by lunchtime, it was pretty obvious what had happened. Fletcher had specifically blocked BGR because Nickolas - and his many bright, funny, well-informed commenters - hurt his tiny widdle feewings.

Emails flew between Nickolas and his state employee informers, and by close of business, Nickolas was accusing Fletcher of targeting BGR in political retribution.

The next day, all the liberal/progressive blogs were blocked, but state employees could still spend all day soaking up the vomit spewed by LGF and Drudge and the rest of the bush-fellators.

Nickolas cried foul again: Republican blogs were fine, but Democrats and liberals need not apply.

Fletcher officials blustered and lied and stalled, but in the end, they had no choice. To cover up their un-Constitutional gagging of BGR from state computers, they had to block all blogs.

Elephant-footed, they blanket-blocked everything on the Internet, to the point that people who needed information couldn't access even federal government websites.

Over the course of months, COT refined its blocking techniques, lifting the block on specific web sites if an employee could justify it as work-related.

It's still highly suspicious: FOX gets a pass, despite being news-free, as do Amazon and most shopping sites. Right-wing and Christian religious sites get through, but the Flying Spaghetti Monster is blocked.

It's also somewhat arbitrary: Talking Points Memo, TPM Cafe, TPM Election Central and TPM Horse's Mouth are blocked, but TPMMuckraker is not. Salon's War Room blog is blocked, but its Broadsheet blog is not. Kevin Drum's Political Animal blog at washingtonmonthly.com hung on for a few months, but was gone by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Nickolas filed a federal First Amendment lawsuit against Fletcher and kept beating Ernie senseless on his blog.

In June, Nickolas moved to Montana and shut down BGR. But the lawsuit continues, and last Friday former Fletcher technology commissioner Michael Inman dropped a bombshell:

Robbie Rudolph, Fletcher's running mate for lieutenant governor and secretary of the executive cabinet, directly ordered Inman to block BGR.

"It was apparent that the state had intentionally targeted BluegrassReport.org and had blocked the category of blogs and other categories of Web sites in an attempt to disguise that fact," Inman said in a sworn statement.

No shit.

The Blocking of BGR is small potatoes compared to the wholesale burning of the U.S. Constitution perpetrated by Smirky and Darth Cheney. But the testimony of Inman - whom Fletcher stupidly fired - is a crack in the Right-Wing Authoritarian Wall.

It gives me hope on two counts: That republicans with integrity are not a myth, and that they will, when pushed hard enough toward the Dark Side, do the Right Thing. And that blogs like BGR and Watching Those We Chose can, indeed, Make A Difference.

Mark Nickolas and BluegrassReport contributed enormously to the 2006-2007 rebirth of the Kentucky Democratic Party, not least by flaying moribund and corrupt Democrats as raw as he flayed Fletcher and other republicans. Nickolas and BGR strongly supported Steve Beshear's gubernatorial candidacy and played a significant role in Beshear's 20-point drubbing of Fake Democrat and Convicted Criminal Bruce Lunsford in the May primary.

The new chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party is State Treasurer Jonathan Miller, who staunchly opposed Fletcher's Internet blocking. Miller was the Voice of Reason, pointing out that Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and other neighboring states manage to get the work of the people done without denying their employees access to anything on the Internet except porn.

Miller's withdrawal from the governor's race ensured Beshear's victory, so Steve owes him big time.

If Beshear wins the election in November, state employees will be able to read political blogs at work again by Christmas.

BGR is gone, but several other progressive Kentucky blogs are working hard to fill its shoes, including Bluegrass Roots, Kentucky Democrat, Drinking Liberally Louisville, Hillbilly Report, Kentucky Woman and Ditch Mitch Kentucky.

There's more: "Fletcher Official Admits Political Gagging" >>

Only 16 Weeks Left for Beshear to Lose 23 Points

No, I'm not trying to jinx the Democrat apparently destined to bury Gov. Ernie Fletcher in a historic landslide.

I'm trying to keep Kentucky Democrats from throwing premature victory parties, ignoring the campaign, forgetting to vote and waking up on Nov. 7 to discover that once again the Democrats have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

SurveyUSA's latest poll on the governor's race has Steve Beshear leading Fletcher 59 to 36, with only five percent undecided.

Check out the details - Beshear leads Fletcher in every single sub-category (age, race, sex, region, politics, etc.) except Republicans, Conservatives and people who oppose expanded gambling. And even 43 percent of people who oppose expanded gambling support Beshear, who has made expanded gambling a centerpiece of his campaign.

Beshear sits comfortably with more than 50 percent in every category he leads.

For pity's sake, Beshear even leads Fletcher among Republicans who voted in the primary for one of Fletcher's opponents: 57 percent of Anne Northup's voters and 40 percent of Billy Harper's voters support Beshear.

But here's the killer: 14 percent of people who voted for Fletcher in the primary now support Beshear.

Of course, the poll also has four percent of the people who voted for Beshear in the primary now supporting Fletcher, but that polling point was probably a UK fraternity prank.

Kentucky political campaigns traditionally don't really get going until after Labor Day, but that five percent undecided has got Democrats waaaaaay over-excited. Even if you grant Fletcher all the undecideds plus the entire five-point margin of error, they babble, Beshear still wins by 8 points.

If the election were held today, that is.

Beshear's a smart, savvy guy with minimal baggage who's run a near-perfect campaign since January. No Democrat in the state would have a better chance of knocking Fletcher off his throne.

It's still almost 16 weeks. 110 days. 2,640 hours. 158,400 minutes.

And every one counts.

There's more: "Only 16 Weeks Left for Beshear to Lose 23 Points" >>

When Democrats Attack

Four months from the election that may put an end to Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher's political career, the Democratic House of Representatives is slapping him around.

On July 5, Fletcher called the General Assembly into Special Session. Because the Kentucky legislature meets only 90 days every two years (60 days in even-numbered years, 30 days in odd-numbered years), if the governor wants to get anything done between April and January, he has to drag the legislators away from their real jobs in their home districts screaming and kicking back to Frankfort.

But when the Democratic-majority House met on Friday, Speaker Jody Richards stepped down onto the Floor and told Fletcher to fuck off and die. The dems adjourned sine die and left town, mooning Fletcher all the way.

Kentucky State Police launched a house-to-house search for the bottle of Tobasco sauce somebody emptied into Richards' morning oatmeal.

Special Sessions are supposed to be rare, called only for emergency, but this one is less of an emergency than an oopsie.

Seemed Fletcher had second thoughts about his failure to secure legislation awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary tax breaks to Kentucky coal companies planning to build "coal-to-liquid" plants.

Set aside for the moment that the many hyped plans (clean coal, synthetic fuels, liquefaction, etc.) to use coal in ways that do not put the planet on the fast track to destruction are a galactic boondoggle.

Remember only that Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee Steve Beshear's 40 percent victory in the primary came as a nasty surprise to Fletcher. He was counting on a Democratic runoff to drain Beshear's campaign chest and leave Fletcher way ahead in the money game. Now Fletcher is looking at a united Democratic Party with a well-funded candidate. He needs money.

And where have Kentucky politicians in trouble always found money? The coal industry. Never mind that the coal industry has screwed this state over six ways from Sunday for more than 100 years - it's got the money.

So Ernie figures, hey, give Peabody Coal Company 2, 300 million bucks the state can't afford in unnecessary tax breaks and maybe they'll cough up six figures for my re-election campaign.

And what's the $60,000 per day in costs to keep the legislature in town compared to a 9-figure bribe?

Democrats and various goo-goo commentators screamed bloody murder. Both the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader, plus other newspapers across the state, accused Fletcher of playing politics (which in Kentucky is a sport, not a crime), wasting taxpayer's money and generally being a jerk.

No, no! Ernie cried. The General Assembly also hase to approve all these capitol projects the legislature failed to approve in the spring.

Those would be the capital projects Ernie vetoed. Three months ago, they were worthy but unaffordable. Now they're the dearest wish of thousands of constituents Ernie desperately needs in November.

Richards, who usually stuns the scientific community with his ability to stand upright despite the handicap of a spine made of cooked spaghetti, saw an opportunity to look like a hero and grabbed it.

So here's where it stands tonight:

- Fletcher has suspended the Special Session until July 30 in hopes the Dems will cave, as they usually do.
- In record time, the republican Senate approved everything Ernie asked for, including ponies, then set their lawyers to investigating the possibility of turning the General Assembly into a unicameral body.
- Every special interest in the state with a vetoed capitol project suddenly given a second chance at life by Dr. Ernie - in other words, every special interest in the state - is loudly demanding the dems return to Frankfort to rubber-stamp their appropriations.
- the GOP is making robo-calls to voters in house dems' districts claiming their reps are violating the state constitution and standing in the way of progress.

We haven't had this much fun in Frankfort since 1978, when Lt. Gov. Thelma Stovall waited until Gov. Julian Carroll left the state to call the General Assembly into Special Session to pass property tax reform.

There's more: "When Democrats Attack" >>

What's That Smell, Mitch?

The bodies of the politically dead are starting to pile up here in Kentucky:

- the most powerful republican woman in the state
- the sitting lieutenant governor
- a former governor and sitting state senator
- two millionaire businessmen
- a former lieutenant governor
- a former Miss America
- the chair of the state Democratic party (no, no, children: this is a good thing)
- the sitting Attorney General

And oh, yeah:

The current Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate.

Yes, indeedy, the big loser in yesterday’s GOP gubernatorial primary was none other than Mitch McConnell.

And that’s because incumbent Gov. Ernie Fletcher beat Mitch’s hand-picked challenger, former Rep. Anne Northup, by more than 13 points.

SNAP!

Technically, Mitch did not publicly endorse Annie, but he didn’t have to. Mitch’s senile junior colleague, Senator Jim Bunning, endorsed her. Everybody knows Annie would never have challenged an incumbent republican – and one whom Mitch personally anointed four years ago - without Mitch’s explicit approval.

And Mitch has been signaling his extreme disapproval of Ernie for more than a year by refusing to defend Ernie against charges of corruption, refusing to smack down Ernie’s growing number of critics, refusing to punish republicans who abandoned Ernie, refusing to endorse Ernie’s candidacy, refusing to discourage challengers like Northup, refusing, refusing, refusing.

That Ernie beat Mitch – er, Annie – by a two-digit margin is irrefutable proof that Mitch’s star is on the wane.

Forty-two months ago, Mitch was the GOP god who put an end to 32 years of Democratic ownership of the governor’s mansion.

Today, he faces a 2008 re-election campaign with the Kentucky Republican Machine he built himself in smithereens at his feet.

For the Democrats, this is no time to show mercy. Kick him when he’s down, right now, and keep kicking, right through November ’08.

Show Harry Reid how real Democrats treat republicans.

Tomorrow: Big winners who didn't make the front page, dirt on some of the losers, and proof that consorting with republicans lowers your IQ.

There's more: "What's That Smell, Mitch?" >>

Victory in Kentucky

Former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear will take on Gov. Ernie Fletcher in November for the Governorship of Kentucky.

With 99.9 percent of precincts reporting, Fletcher has 50.1 percent of the GOP vote and Beshear has 40.9 percent of the Democratic vote - both exceeding the minimum required to avoid a runoff.

Fletcher successfully rose from the political dead to beat Anne Northup by a convincing 13.6 points and prove, once again, that Kentucky republicans are way dumber than we think they are.

But it was Beshear who really pulled off the miracle, trouncing five opponents and beating his nearest rival by 19.5 points.

Almost 20 points over Traitor and Fake Dem Bruce Lunsford, who outspent Beshear five to one.

Let me say that again. Beshear beat by 20 points an opponent who outspent him five to one.

Come November, Ernie is toast.

Tomorrow, details on the winners, the losers, the politically dead, the embarassingly stupid, and the people who should sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up, but probably won't.

There's more: "Victory in Kentucky" >>

Down the Straight and Headed for the Wire

Polls close in the eastern half of Kentucky in 10 minutes, and in the western half in 70 minutes. (Yeah, it's weird and annoying, but two time zones is what we get for being a horizontal state so close to the Mississippi River.)

Yes, I voted, and one of my votes is already turning out to be a huge mistake. Of the three Democrats running for Treasurer, I voted for Todd Hollenbach IV, only to get online and find out from a Bluegrass Report commenter that Hollenbach is an anti-choice wingnut.

Serves me right for not doing my homework. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Learn from my mistake, everybody - make sure you know who you're voting for before you vote.

So far, it's looking like Dirty Ernie, our corrupt and none-too-bright incumbent Governor Fletcher, is going to take the three-way GOP primary with more than 40 percent and avoid a runoff against former Louisville Congress critter Anne Northup.

That's good news for Democrats, as virtually any of the six Democrats running could beat Fletcher with half a campaign.

Latest polls have former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear with a 32-23 lead over Traitor and Fake Democrat Bruce Lunsford, but Lunsford could still deny Beshear the 41 percent he needs to avoid a runoff on June 26.

I'll be heading to the Beshear-Mongiardo party shortly, and will blog the results as soon as possible after 7 p.m. EDT.

Meanwhile, Bluegrass Report and Polwatchers will be posting updates.

There's more: "Down the Straight and Headed for the Wire" >>

Dirty Ernie and the Seven Ponies - Part 2

(Read Part One)

Let's say you're a Kentucky Democratic voter. You're stomping your hooves for the chance to kick out Ernie Fletcher, who beat your man Chandler for the governorship in 2003. You're in the voting booth in the May primary, looking at the seven names listed as Democratic nominees for governor. You can't believe your eyes. One of them is Bruce Lunsford. The exact same Bruce Lunsford who dropped out of the democratic primary in 2003 because polls showed he was losing bad to Chandler. The same Bruce Lunsford who then turned around and ENDORSED Ernie Fletcher, the republican nominee and eventual winner. The same Bruce Lunsford every breathing Kentucky Democrat blames for Chandler's loss to Ernie.

So here's the question: How much money will it take to persuade you to vote for Bruce Lunsford?

If you answered "there is not enough money on earth or in heaven," congratulations! You just graduated from the How Not To Piss Off Voters You Will Need Later class Greg Stumbo flunked out of.

Stumbo is Lunsford's running mate, and opinion is about evenly divided as to whether Greg has taken complete leave of his senses or has a major trick up his sleeve that no one can figure out. Stumbo is currently Attorney General, and could have cruised to re-election. He could have made a credible run for governor on his own. Instead he attaches himself to a coward, turncoat and criminal whose name will be forever attached to one of the biggest corporate financial disasters in Kentucky history.

Opinion's leaning more to the "gone nuts" theory since Greg started threatening union leaders who refused to endorse Lunsford. It'd be funny if it weren't downright scary.

Jody Richards is the Speaker of the House who is running with John Y. Brown III, former Secretary of State and son of the former governor. Richards also lost to Chandler in the 2003 primary, but at least he had the guts to stick it out until the votes were counted. Richards apparently doesn't have a campaign website, but he does have a long record of swearing to House colleagues that he would not run for governor in 2007. Jody's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and doesn't exactly impress on the stump. He also doesn't seem to know what to do with a large Democratic majority. Mostly, he lets the Republican minority slap him around pretty good.

You want fun? You want guns? You want drugs? You want a candidate who shows up stoned to community meetings and talks about how stoned he is? Gatewood Galbraith is your man! I'm probably going to vote for him, if only because he'd be non-stop entertainment, of which Frankfort could use some. His running mate is Mark Wireman, an engineer from eastern Kentucky (to balance Gatewood being a Lexington lawyer) who just retired from the Transportation Cabinet. Nobody ever heard of Wireman before, but as the Transportation Cabinet was the Central Cesspool of Ernie's Merit Mess, we're all agog to hear what Mark might know.

Otis Hensley is an Eastern Kentucky demolition contractor who's running with the nickname "Bullman" and the promise to "run the Bull out of Frankfort." He's even got a picture on his home page of himself riding a giant statue of a bull. He got a grand total of 9,372 votes in the 2003 primary, but it hasn't given him a big head. His web site is actually pretty detailed on numerous policy issues. And it reads like it was written by a real person, as opposed to a campaign consultant - funny and self-deprecating but serious. His running mate's name is Richard Robbins. The Louisville Courier-Journal columnist Billy Reed handicaps Hensley's chances at "a zillion to one." That's not fair. There are fewer than two million voters in Kentucky.

Some of you political science majors out there may be wondering what happens if none of the above lovelies (including yesterday's three) gets a majority of the primary vote on May 22. Yes, Kentucky does have a runoff provision. If no candidate gets at least 40 percent of the primary vote, the top two vote-getters face each other in a runoff.

It hasn't been used since it was established in 1992, but it looks likely to get a workout this year. There's been a lot of talk during the General Assembly this year about repealing the runoff provision. The big problem is the millions of dollars that the individual counties will have to pay to set up a second election just 35 days after the first one. County Clerks, who run elections and will have to come up with the money, are dead-set against it and want the provision nixed. But the goo-goos object that it's not fair to eliminate the runoff this close to the primary, after candidates filed while perhaps counting on a runoff.

But runoffs are tricky. Just when you think not having a runoff is going to help you, you end up on election night a close second to someone you might have beaten in a runoff.

So members of the General Assembly are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, filing contradictory bills and changing sides, sure of nothing except they've got just a few days left to completely screw up the most wide-open election in Kentucky history.

And if that's not enough to turn you off Kentucky politics for life, you can get your fix at Pol Watchers and Bluegrass Report.

There's more: "Dirty Ernie and the Seven Ponies - Part 2" >>

Republican Meltdown in Kentucky

I'm sure you've heard that the Louisiana and Kentucky gubernatorial races this year are bellwethers for 2008. Avert your eyes from the dem crackup in bayou country and take a gander at the GOP disaster being overseen by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell right here in his home state.

Short version: Boy governor goes from national GOP hero to galactic goat in three short years, own Lt. Gov. stabs him in the back, political godfather abandons him, rejected congresswoman and his own former finance chair challenge him for nomination, state GOP at each other's throats, whole mess threatens to bring down Machine That Mitch Built.

Ready for the dirty details?

Mitch's former pet, Gov. Ernie Fletcher, the man he hand-picked in 2003 to end 32 years of Democratic ownership of the Capitol, has re-defined political incompetence. He ran afoul of state civil service laws (we call it the "merit system" down here, for reasons passing understanding) almost immediately by forcing merit employees out to make room for cronies.

As in most states and the federal government, merit law in Kentucky allows governors and county executives to replace "non-merit" or political appointees any time they choose, for any reason. But "merit" staff - professional employees covered by civil service protection - cannot be fired except for cause. The details can get convoluted, but the basic principle is pretty simple.

Not simple enough for Ernie, though. He left several of his Democratic predecessor's political appointees in place, and went fishing in the merit pool for positions for his campaign contributors and their idiot nephews.

Merit employees, the vast majority of whom are Democrats, did not take this kindly. One who lost his job went to the attorney general, Democrat Greg Stumbo, who investigated and filed charges against ol' Ern and several of his staff.

Now, the case was a long way from a slam dunk. Lots of questions about exactly who lost their jobs and under what circumstances. It was so shaky, in fact, that if Ernie had just stood in front of the cameras and said some of his overenthusiastic staffers had inadvertently overlooked the specifics of the somewhat arcane merit laws and regulations and made mistakes, that the mistakes had been corrected and the staffers disciplined, the whole thing would have been a two-day wonder and forgotten.

But Ernie's infallibly wrong political sense told him otherwise. He stonewalled, denied, cried political persecution, called Stumbo names, blamed Democrats in state government and then, when it seemed there was only one thing left to do to seal his political coffin, he did precisely what Democrats prayed - but never believed - he was stupid enough to do:

He pardoned the miscreant staffers.

Now, pardoning staffers, especially those who know things that might interest a grand jury, is a long gubernatorial tradition, last used by Ernie's predecessor Paul Patton.

But Ernie not only forgot the campaign promise he made to NOT pardon staffers, he went so far as to pardon people who had not even been indicted yet - issuing blanket pardons that gave them immunity for any crime they may or may not have committed - plus any crimes they may commit in the future.

(For a few weeks that summer of 2005, you could crack up anyone in Frankfort just by saying, "Pardon me!")

He did not pardon himself, and promised rather loudly he would not do so, which he may have regretted in May 2006, when Stumbo's grand jury indicted Fletcher on misdemeanor violations of the merit law.

Giddy Democrats had to be tied in their chairs for fear their dances of glee would shatter the windows.

The only thing holding Ernie back from the political abyss was the powerful hand of his political mentor and sponsor, Mitch McConnell. With Mitch behind him, Ernie could bluff it out.

Then Mitch let go of Ernie's collar and kicked him over the cliff.

For six months, Mitch refused to comment on Ernie's troubles, or make any statement at all that could be construed as support.

Thus it was no surprise in January when Anne Northup filed as a Republican candidate for governor. Annie was the five-term Congressperson in Louisville who also benefitted from Mitch's patronage. When she lost to neophtye Democratic challenger John Yarmuth in November, there was a lot of speculation she might run against Fletcher in the May primary.

But she would not - could not - do it without Mitch's approval. If she filed for governor, that meant Mitch had cut Ernie loose. If she didn't, then maybe Ernie still had a chance to crawl, groveling, back in Mitch's good graces.

She filed, and Ernie's political career died with her signature.

A smart politican would have bowed to the inevitable, taken a bullet for the team and withdrawn from the race.

But if Ernie were a smart politician, he wouldn't have made all the bone-headed decisions that got him into this mess in the first place.

Oh, and did I mention that the other Republican challenging Ernie for the nomination is Ernie's very own 2003 campaign finance director?

But here's the best part: Ernie's 2003 running mate, Lieutenant Governor Steve Pence, has just endorsed Anne Northup.

You heard that right: The sitting Lt. Governor has stabbed his own Governor in the back.

Not that it was unexpected. In 2005, after Ernie pardoned his staffers, Pence - the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky - announced he could no longer support Fletcher and would not be his running mate in 2007.

He stayed on as Lieutenant Governor, though, doing - well, we're not sure exactly what he does, other than cashing his paycheck. And sniping at his former running mate. In the last week, Pence has not only endorsed Annie, he has started publicly condemning Ernie on the merit mess.

Technically, Mitch has not endorsed Annie. He doesn't have to. Everybody knows he's supporting her; that's why Mitch's allies all over the state have rushed to endorse her. Kentucky's junior senator, Jim Bunning, has endorsed Annie in a move widely seen as a surrogate for McConnell's support.

It's less than 3 months to the May 22 primary. Latest polls show Annie and Ernie neck-and-neck. Annie says Ernie can't win the general election, and she's right. She's also subjecting Ernie to a death by 1,000 cuts, coming out almost daily with additions to the list of Ernie's broken promises and failed initiatives.

Whether she can win in November depends on which of the mostly lame Democratic contenders wins the primary.

If Ernie wins the primary, or Annie wins the primary and loses the general, Mitch enters his 2008 re-election race greatly weakened. Even if Annie wins both, Mitch will be wounded by the party split caused by the primary.

It's never a good idea to underestimate Mitch McConnell. He's brilliant, powerful, unscrupulous, ruthless, and sitting on a huge hoard of campaign cash.

But this time, he just may have acted sharply enough to cut his own throat.

For more details on Mitch's Mess, and insightful commentary, check out the Lexington Herald-Leader's political blog at http://polwatchers.typepad.com/pol_watchers/ and Mark Nickolas' indispensable Bluegrass Report at http://bluegrassreport.org/.

There's more: "Republican Meltdown in Kentucky" >>