Archive for January, 2009

Lassiter returns as state budget director

FRANKFORT – Former state budget director Mary Lassiter, who retired at the end of last October after 25 years in state government, is returning to her old job.

Gov. Steve Beshear signed an executive order Friday appointing Lassiter as state budget director, effective Feb. 1. John Hicks has been acting budget director since Lassiter’s retirement.

Legislative leaders report progress but no resolution on budget shortfall

FRANKFORT — State legislative leaders held another private meeting Thursday to tackle the projected $456.1 million shortfall in the state budget.

They did not reveal any agreements, but expressed optimism that a resolution may be forthcoming soon.

NRSC head still not sure Bunning will run

The silence surrounding Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning’s 2010 re-election bid is deafening.

According to Politico, a Washington based political publication, Sen. John Cornyn , R-Texas, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said he still wasn’t sure whether Bunning would still run.

No indictment in Obama effigy case

A Fayette County grand jury refused Tuesday to charge two college-age men who hung an effigy of Barack Obama from a tree last fall on the University of Kentucky campus, their lawyer said.

The grand jury dismissed charges of second-degree burglary, theft by unlawful taking and disorderly conduct against Hunter Bush, 21, and Joe Fischer, 22, who graduated from UK in December, lawyer Fred Peters said Tuesday.

Whitfield crosses party lines to support wage discrimination bill

U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Hopkinsville, was one of only a handful of House Republicans to support a controversial measure that makes it easier to sue for wage discrimination.

The measure overrides a May 2007 Supreme Court ruling that Lilly Ledbetter, a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company employee in Gadsden, Ala., couldn’t sue her employer for pay discrimination because she didn’t file suit within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act. The measure passed the House on a vote of 250-177 Tuesday.

Bunning takes aim at McConnell

UPDATED THROUGHOUT AT 5:10 P.M.
A rift between Kentucky’s two Republican U.S. Senators surfaced publicly Tuesday as U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning groused to reporters that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn’t publicly backed his 2010 re-election bid.

Bunning said McConnell must have suffered “a lapse of memory” last week when he told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington that he didn’t know if Bunning planned to seek re-election. Bunning, widely considered the nation’s most politically vulnerable GOP senator, said he told McConnell of his re-election intentions in early December.

State agencies asked to plan for deeper budget cuts

FRANKFORT — State agencies have been asked to prepare worst-case-scenario budgets for the current fiscal year in order to close a projected $456 million General Fund shortfall.

Gov. Steve Beshear has asked lawmakers to solve the shortfall with a combination of cuts, furloughs and a 70-cent-per-pack cigarette tax increase, but lawmakers remain reticent to raise taxes.

Lexington’s revenue numbers holding

Although Lexington’s financial outlook is holding steady, city officials still warn that the worst is yet to come.

Through the first six months of the year, the city’s revenue collection is up $5.3 million, or 4.1 percent, over the same period last year.

Mongiardo will run for U.S. Senate; Conway remains ‘very interested’

FRANKFORT — The first Kentucky Democrat stepped forward Monday to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, who is widely believed to be the most vulnerable incumbent Senator in the nation.

Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo plans to run again for the U.S. Senate, a move that effectively will prevent him from being Gov. Steve Beshear’s running mate in a possible 2011 re-election bid for the Democratic governor.

McConnell remains mum on Bunning

Despite being peppered with questions by reporters at the National Press Club in Washington, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell remained mum on junior Sen. Jim Bunning’s 2010 re-election prospects on Friday.

“Sen. Bunning has not announced his intentions yet,” McConnell said in response to question on whether Bunning is seen by the GOP as a vulnerable candidate.

McConnell went on to note that the Republican Party’s overall 2010 election prospects look much better than in previous years.