LawReader : OUR MAIN - LAW DIGEST INDEX : STEVE HORNER COLUMN - GOVERNMENT ISSUES IN KY. : JUDGE STEVE HORNER’S COLUMN FOR WEEK OF JAN. 5, 2008

US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) attempted to persuade mega-millionaire Paducah businessman Billy Harper to drop his 2007 campaign for Governor back in 2006, according to a remark by Al Cross who hosted KET’s Dec. 28 “Comment on Kentucky” show. Cross said that Harper told him this during the week before the show. Cross’ comment came during a “year end review” of the state’s political news with, of course, former Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s re-election defeat the biggest news of all.

Harper began his race for the GOP nomination in August 2006 about the time that Fletcher struck a deal with former state Atty.-Gen. Greg Stumbo to get a special Franklin County Grand Jury indictment dismissed. Fletcher had been charged with political interference with the state merit system – the last in a long series of Fletcher administration officials who were charged with similar crimes. On Aug. 29, 2005 Fletcher pardoned as many as he could (except himself) and on the next day took the Fifth Amendment when he was subpoenaed to testify to the grand jury. Cross and other members of the “Comment on Kentucky” show all agreed that Fletcher’s hopes of re-election in 2007 were doomed as a result of his pardon and assertion of his privilege not to testify. Fletcher was later indicted on May 11, 2006.

Former US Rep. Anne Northup (R-KY3) also jumped in the race against Fletcher in January 2007. After a bitter, ethical assault against Fletcher by Northup who raised far less money than she anticipated and had to contribute $500,000 of her own money to keep her campaign afloat, Fletcher carried 104 counties and managed to win about 50% of the GOP primary vote. Northup finished far back with 36.5% and Harper at 13.5%. McConnell was accused by many of Fletcher’s supporters as having recruited Northup to run against Fletcher – a charge denied by both Northup and McConnell. At the same time, Harper was seen by many of Northup’s supporters as the chief impediment to the removal of Fletcher as the party’s nominee.

McConnell remained publicly neutral during the primary, endorsed Fletcher afterwards, and appeared at a few general election campaign fund-raisers for Fletcher. After the primary, neither Northup nor Harper endorsed Fletcher who was crushed in a landslide by Democrat Steve Beshear who hung up a margin of over 180,000 votes.

McConnell is seeking a fifth term next year and issued a press release on Jan. 3 that he has collected $10.89 million since his 2002 re-election, according to a story by The Herald-Leader’s John Stamper posted on Jan. 3 at the newspaper’s polwatchers.typepad.com. McConnell has $7.32 million on hand after putting up non-stop (except for the holidays) TV ad’s across the state since the Nov. 6 gubernatorial election. McConnell’s statement said that he would file soon a report with the Federal Election Commission for the fourth quarter that would reflect the numbers above.

State Auditor Crit Luallen, who was widely thought as the favorite of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, took herself out of consideration on Dec. 7. Luallen was followed by Stumbo who terminated his US Senate “exploratory” committee on Dec. 19. Iraq War veteran and Louisville lawyer Andrew Horne, Prospect pain specialist Dr. Michael Cassaro, and perennial candidate David Williams of Glasgow have all filed for the Democratic nomination. Williams is not related to the state Senate President of Burkesville of the same name.

Multi-millionaire Louisville businessmen Bruce Lunsford and Greg Fischer have indicated directly or through agents to reporters that they are strongly considering the race. Lunsford was runner-up to Beshear in the 2007 Democratic gubernatorial primary, and Fischer has never before sought elective office. Lunsford could self-fund a race, and Fischer could partially self-fund.

Lunsford made his fortune on Vencor – a developer of hospitals that eventually went bankrupt with Lunsford blaming Medicare re-imbursement reductions pursuant to late-1990’s balanced US budget acts. Lunsford’s most visible holdings now include thoroughbred horses and a movie production company. Fischer is the CEO of Dant Clayton Corporation, a producer of stadium seating.

Cross is a UK journalism professor and the executive director of the UK Center for Rural Journalism and Community Issues. He is the former senior political reporter for The Courier-Journal and writes a bi-weekly column on national or state politics in the newspaper’s Sunday Forum section.

No Forgy Independent Candidacy against McConnell

Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Larry Forgy, a Lexington lawyer, told reporters last year that he might file as an independent to draw votes away from McConnell on Nov. 4. However, Forgy did not change his voter registration from Republican to independent by Dec. 31 in order to do so, according to a story by WKYT-TV’s Bill Bryant that was posted on Jan. 4 at wkyt.com. Forgy is sore because McConnell – in Forgy’s opinion – recruited Northup to run against Fletcher in last year’s primary and then didn’t do enough to help Fletcher in his race against Beshear.

Forgy has one quit and three losses to show for an electoral skid dating back to the 1987 Governor’s race when he pulled out shortly before the filing deadline after having then lined up most of the party’s organizational support. He said that he didn’t like the idea of asking people for money. The party then scrambled “at the last minute” to replace him. Forgy later waged a full-fledged but losing campaign for Governor in the 1991 GOP primary. In 1995 as the heavily favored Republican gubernatorial nominee, Forgy lost to former Gov. Paul Patton. In 2000, Forgy was defeated by former state Supreme Court Justice James Keller for a seat on the state’s highest court.

The filing deadline for all elected positions with terms ending on Dec. 31 is Jan. 29. Forgy has until then to file against McConnell in May 20 GOP primary – something that he called unlikely but still possible, according to Bryant’s story.

Democrats to Nominate State Senate Candidate on Jan. 5

An “inside baseball” Democratic Party internal squabble has boiled over to generate a Dec. 29 story in The Herald-Leader and now involves the Governor’s office. The issue concerns which of two former Democratic state Representatives will be nominated in Senate District-30 to run in a Feb. 5 special election to fill the seat of Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo who had to resign the seat to assume his higher office on Dec. 11.

Scott Alexander of Hazard and Roger Noe of Harlan are vying for the nomination in a district that includes Bell, Harlan, Leslie, and Perry counties. At issue is whether the four Democratic county chairmen should choose the nominee or whether the county executive committee members in each county should all have a vote in the nomination. Democratic Party rules allow for counties with more registered Democrats to cast a higher “weighted” vote than counties with smaller numbers of Democrats.

According to Ryan Alessi’s story, Bell and Perry counties together will have a higher weighted vote than Harlan and Leslie in combination. Alessi reported that, in a Dec. 20 meeting in the Governor’s office, the party chairmen in Harlan and Leslie spoke up for Noe while Perry’s chairman supported Alexander and Bell’s chairman was undecided.

Harlan County chairwoman Nancy Brock said that the Governor’s office was exerting influence on behalf of Alexander. “It’s coming from Frankfort,” Brock said. “Dr. Mongiardo has called people in our area asking them to vote for Scott Alexander. And some people are calling folks in the district using the name of the governor and asking them to support Scott Alexander.” Jeff Derouen, Mongiardo’s chief of staff, denied Brock’s charge. “No one is making any effort to rig this election.”

Vicki Glass, Beshear’s spokeswoman, would not say whether Beshear was involved. “I’m sure that all potential candidates and supporters are contacting people on the committee,” Glass said. “That’s how the process works.”

The four chairmen have agreed to hold meetings with their committees and to generally follow the wishes of their committee members which may number from 15 to 20 Democrats. Then each of the four chairmen would cast a weighted vote for their respective counties as described above. But Noe has filed an appeal of this procedure with the party’s State Central Executive Committee, according to Alessi’s Jan. 2 story at polwatchers.typepad.com. Noe wants all of the four counties’ executive committee members to cast votes on the nomination – a process that would apparently bind each of the four county chairmen to the winners of their respective county executive committees’ vote totals.

State Rep. Brandon Smith (R-Hazard) is expected to be the GOP Senate nominee.

GOP Nominee Named in WKY State House Special Election

The Feb. 5 special election ballot to fill a vacant state House seat is now complete when Republicans nominated Marvin Wilson to oppose Democrat Will Coursey, according to The Associated Press’ story that was posted on Dec. 28 at The Cincinnati Enquirer’s nky.com. Wilson is an Eddyville lawyer, and Coursey is a Benton banker. They are running to replace former state Rep. J. R. Gray (D-Benton) who was named by Beshear to be state Labor Commissioner.

Wilson has run against Gray during the last two election cycles losing in 2006 by almost 3,000 votes and in 2004 by less than 600 votes. 2004 may have been a low-water mark for WKY Democrats because the state-wide election ballot that year featured Pres. George Bush, then very popular, and a referendum on a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages – a measure which enjoyed overwhelming voter support. Bush’s candidacy and the same-sex amendment produced hordes of religious fundamentalists to the polls that year with most of them voting a GOP ticket.

State Sen. Roeding to Retire

As he enters his eighteenth year in the General Assembly, state Sen. Dick Roeding (R-Lakeside Park) announced on Jan. 2 that he will not seek re-election this year. The announcement immediately drew a GOP candidate – US Marshal for the state’s Eastern District John Schickel, according to a story by The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Patrick Crowley posted on Jan. 2 at nky.com. Roeding told Crowley that he would endorse Schickel, who is a former Boone County Jailer.

Crowley reported on Jan. 3 that Florence Elementary School principal and former state Rep. Charlie Walton (R-Florence) will run against Schickel. Walton, 60, gave up his House seat in 2004 in an unsuccessful race against Roeding who won by about 1,000 votes in the GOP primary that year. State Rep. Addia Wuchner (R-Burlington) is also considering a campaign to replace Roeding. Wuchner, like Walton in 2004, would have to forego re-election to the House if she were to run for the Senate. She told Crowley on Jan. 3 that she would make her decision in about one week. Wuchner, 52, replaced Walton in the House District-66 seat four years ago

Roeding, 77 and a retired pharmacist, serves a district including part of Kenton and all of Boone and Gallatin counties. The Kenton County suburbran cities of Lakeside Park, Crescent Springs, Crestview Hills and Fort Mitchell are in the district which was initially numbered Senate District-24 and eventually changed now to Senate District-11. It is clearly regarded as a safe GOP district where Republicans outnumber Democrats by a 49.5% to 39.2% margin with independents and minor party members accounting for 11.2%. Roeding last drew Democratic opposition in 2000 when he cruised to almost a 3-1 majority.

State Democratic vice-chairman Nathan Smith of Fort Mitchell said that his party will evaluate the race to see if it would field a candidate. One Democratic activist and blogger, Diane Brumback, is already backing Walton, according to Crowley’s story posted on Jan. 4 at nky.com. “Charlie has the pulse of what is needed to move education forward not only in Boone County but in the commonwealth as well,” Brumback said. “Over the years, Charlie has developed and demonstrated a wide base of knowledge on numerous issues facing Kentucky. The years he spent in the legislature are key to Charlie being able to step right back into the political scene in Frankfort.”

The Kentucky Post Closes

The Kentucky Post, an afternoon newspaper that served Northern Kentucky and at one time was the state’s third largest in circulation, came to a close on Dec. 31. Gannett Co. Inc., the owner of The Cincinnati Enquirer – which had a joint operating agreement with the E. W. Scripps Corp. that owned The Kentucky Post – decided three years ago not to renew the joint operating agreement begun with Scripps on Sep. 23, 1977 with an expiration of Dec. 31, 2007. The agreement provided that it could only be renewed if both companies wanted to renew it. Gary Watson, then-president of Gannett’s newspaper division, said in 2004, “Readership habits around the country continue to shift away from afternoon newspapers. As profitability declines and expenses rise, tough decisions have to be made,” according to a Q. and A. story in The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Dec. 30 edition.

One reason for the demise of the US afternoon newspaper is that the country’s transition from an industrial economy to a service economy has resulted in US workers going to work later in the morning and getting home later in the afternoon – with more time in the morning to read a morning newspaper but less time in the evening to read an afternoon newspaper. Other reasons are the proliferation of both broadcast and cable TV news content 24/7 and the accessibility of news via high-speed internet service to most Americans.

Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky once had 13 dailies with eight printed in English – including The Kentucky Post – and five in German. The Kentucky Post was founded on Jan. 3, 1881 under the name, The Penny Paper, by brothers Walter and Frank Wellman. Its first edition was four pages in length and reported that the US population had just passed 50 million. (Now, it is estimated at over 303 million.) It was acquired that same year by E. W. Scripps, the individual. Scripps changed the newspaper’s name in 1890 to The Kentucky Post.

Mike Rutledge, a reporter for The Kentucky Post, had this comment in a Dec. 30 story in The Cincinnati Enquirer, “From its very first edition –launched in a snowstorm from a second-floor office near the Cincinnati riverfront – The Post was a blue-collar, workingman’s paper. Feisty and independent, it shaped the region’s history as much as the region shaped its daily headlines.”

So on Dec. 31, The Kentucky Post closed up shop just three days short of its 127^th birthday. Assistant managing editor Dan Hassert and associate editor Robert White had these comments in their 210^th and final column on Dec. 29:

“And finally, we’d like to say goodbye. As in for good. This is our last column. We’re going away, and so are our jobs, and so is The Post. You probably knew that, but we wanted to use our last precious inches of space to turn all introspective and weepy.

“Or at least introspective.

“We’ve had a lot of fun with this column, which started out – believe it or not – some four years ago as simply a way to take advantage of some space at the bottom of what was once called the Comment page.

“We quickly figured out that it was a good outlet for snarky comments, some quick background issues in the news, our personal opinions (as opposed to the paper’s ‘official’ opinion on the editorial page, which we usually wrote) and some quick discussion of topics that wouldn’t otherwise become full-fledged editorials.

“When the Comment page died, we kept the column going…

“All we know is we’ve enjoyed hearing back from you. We’ve enjoyed writing this, and we hope you miss us – and The Post – when we’re gone.

“Combined, we’ve been at The Post 44 years.

“Thanks for reading.”

Note: www.kypost.com will live on pursuant to a policy of WCPO-TV, a Cincinnati broadcast station that is owned by the E. W. Scripps Television Station Group. The on-line site previously had been operated by The Cincinnati Enquirer, an entity owned by Gannett. The site will concentrate on Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties. Kerry Duke, managing editor of the site, said, “It’s our intention to honor the tradition of The Kentucky Post by building a vibrant online media service that captures the essence of what it means to live in Northern Kentucky.” Duke said that the site will have one full-time reporter and will have video news and stories by The Associated Press. It is designed to be self-supporting through site advertising and will have archives and back issues of The Kentucky Post.

Quotes by Former Pres. James Madison

“What spectacle can be more edifying or more reasonable, than that of liberty and learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual & surest support?”

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: and a people who mean to be their own governours, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

Newspaper Editorial Comments

Jan. 1 – The Herald-Leader: “A little advice for the new year”

“Here are resolutions for some of 2007’s newsmakers.

“President Bush: Start drinking again. Ride your mountain bike helmetless. Go wild. All your problems will soon be someone else’s.

“Vice President Dick Cheney: Stop shooting at helpless birds. If you must hunt, go after Osama bin Laden.

“U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell: Use that gold-plated health care to have your hip surgically separated from the decider-in-chief’s.

“U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning: Repeat ‘I am running for re-election in 2010’ until your party’s bloggers start to believe you.

“U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA: Grow a backbone. Maybe stem-cell research can help.

“U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV: Ditto. Is it majority or leader you don’t understand?

“U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler: Follow the path of another Albert. Use your popularity to illuminate inconvenient truths.

“U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis: Frankly, my dear, you should send less mail at taxpayer expense.

“U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers: Remind us again: Why should the public foot the bill for a road to nowhere, Interstate 66?

“Gov. Steve Beshear: You rolled the dice and won, so play the budget hand you’ve been dealt. Play more hardball than Power Ball.

“Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo: Study the charts of our last two top political docs. And hope it’s not contagious.

“Former Gov. Ernie Fletcher: Spend some free time noodling for catfish near your Kentucky River home – in season, of course.

“Former Lt. Gov. Steve Pence: Don't look back. There’s more money to be made defending those indicted ham sandwiches.

“Outgoing Attorney General Greg Stumbo: Maybe you can go home – or at least back to the House – again.

“Attorney General-elect Jack Conway: Dive into Central Kentucky’s water debate. Just keep an eye out for the corporate sharks.

“Auditor Crit Luallen: It’s OK to let the guys see that you’re smarter.

“Secretary of State Trey Grayson: Avoid publicly coveting Jim Bunning’s Senate seat. You could get beaned by your own pitch.

“State Senate President David Williams: Relax and watch your big- screen TV. Pushing the governor’s legislative agenda is the Democrats’ dilemma now.

“State House Speaker Jody Richards: It could be worse. You could have won the governor’s race.

“Former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup: Try to forgive – or at least forget – the little schoolboy you bullied during the campaign.

“Larry Forgy: Go ahead. Run. Maybe the fourth time’s a charm….”

Political Analysts’ Comments

Jan. 1 – The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Patrick Crowley at nky.com: “Beshear’s ‘partisanship’ pledge won’t come easy”

“Republican Ernie Fletcher came into Frankfort on the promise of cleaning state government of ‘waste, fraud and abuse.’ He didn’t. Four years later voters sent him packing.

“Democrat Steve Beshear was sworn into office as governor early last month on pledge to end or at least curtail much of the partisanship that has choked Frankfort, not just during the Fletcher administration but for much of the dozen years I’ve covered Kentucky politics.

“We’ll see if he lives up to his promise…

“Sen. Jack Westwood, a Crescent Springs Republican, told me over breakfast Christmas Eve that he is going to give Beshear a chance to see if he keeps his word about staying away from partisan battles.

“That would change, Westwood said, if Beshear gets aggressively involved in recruiting Democrats to run against Senate Republicans. Courier-Journal columnist Al Cross recently wrote that ‘Beshear went too far before the election in saying he would push for Democratic control of the state Senate next year.’

“ ‘No one can reasonably expect Beshear to stay out of Senate elections, but he needs to hold out the prospect that Republicans who help him can get out of the Democratic bull’s-eye,’ wrote Cross. ‘Some things governors should say; others, they must merely do.’

“It takes two to tango – and two to fight in Frankfort – so Westwood and the Republicans have their own duty to try to work with the new administration.

“They need to try to make this new marriage work before they go to war with one another.”

Disclaimer: We are not attempting to practice law, give advice or represent ourselves as anything more than a resource portal with many unique features. Our design is copyrighted. We have no claim of any affiliation with any linked website nor any liability for anything they may say or do. We, and our contributing authors, offer no warranties of any type, to anyone, about anything express or implied. What you see is what you get, we cannot afford to be your insurer.

By going further into this site, you accept this complete waiver of all warranties.

ERROR LOG: 100: Couldn't delete session row! IN FILE /var/www/vhosts/lawreader.com/httpdocs/FreeEnergyModules/database/standard_library ON LINE 233 You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'WHERE ID='pTlxLq0rcma6krgOBE81Ff4xZDV5wV9m'' at line 1