Archive for November, 2009

Higdon raises nearly $100,000 in Senate race in November

FRANKFORT — The Republican vying for a recently vacated state Senate seat is trailing his Democratic opponent in fundraising for a hotly contested Central Kentucky race, according to finance reports filed Monday.

Rep. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, raised $99,843.99 and spent about $49,170.73 from Nov. 6 to Nov. 23, according to reports filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. His cumulative total this year is $131,499.08, the report says. He has $73,628.51 of cash on hand.

He faces former state representative and Democrat Jodie Haydon in the Dec. 8 special election for the seat vacated by long-time Senator Dan Kelly, R-Springfield. Kelly was appointed to a circuit court judgeship by Gov. Steve Beshear.

Haydon, who released his latest finance reports last week, has raised $229,050 in individual donations, $9,550 from political action committees and $30,000 from Democratic Party committees, bringing his total receipts to $268,600 since Nov 7. For the year, Haydon has raised $333,455.

Court: No executions until protocol is adopted

FRANKFORT—Kentucky must halt all executions by lethal injection because it did not properly adopt the procedures for using the three-drug cocktail, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The 4-3 ruling, written by Justice Lisabeth Hughes Abramson, says that the appropriate administrative process was not followed, including holding public hearings before using the method.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky’s lethal injection method of execution did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Kentucky, like 35 other states, uses three drugs that sedate, paralyze and then kill the inmate.

Haydon reports nearly $240,000 in state Senate race

FRANKFORT — Democratic state Senate candidate Jodie Haydon reported Wednesday raising $229,050 in individual donations and $9,550 from political action committee since he was nominated on Oct. 31.

Haydon, of Bardstown, faces Republican Jimmy Higdon of Lebanon in a special election Dec. 8 to fill the 14th Senate District seat vacated by Republican Dan Kelly of Springfield. Kelly accepted an appointment by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear to a circuit judgeship.

‘Comment’ will feature student journalists

Joining host Ferrell Wellman on this weekend’s “Comment on Kentucky,” a public affairs show of the Kentucky Educational Television network, will be three college newspaper editors.

They are Laura Butler, editor in chief of The Eastern Progress at Eastern Kentucky University; Kenneth Colston, editor in chief of the Kentucky Kernel at the University of Kentucky; and Marianne Hale, news editor of the College Heights Herald at Western Kentucky University.

Paul: National GOP group won’t endorse in Kentucky’s U.S. Senate race

FRANKFORT — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul said Wednesday that the National Republican Senatorial Committee will not make an endorsement in Kentucky’s race next year.

“It’s good news,” said Paul, a Bowling Green eye surgeon. “They see this race as tight and realize that it’s best to remain neutral.”

Lexington to host southern leaders conference

FRANKFORT — Lexington will host a conference this summer that will focus on growing and strengthening the south’s standing in the automotive industry, Gov. Steve Beshear announced Tuesday.

The conference will be part of Beshear’s new role as chairman of the Southern Growth Polices Board, a think tank based in North Carolina. Created in 1971 by several southern governors, the group looks at improving economic development across the region.

Beshear is the 40th chairman of the organization. Other past chairs include former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Beshear taps Meyer for Education post

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear has appointed a deputy secretary of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet as acting secretary of the cabinet that has more than 3,000 employees and a $2.5 billion budget.

Joseph U. Meyer of Covington was appointed by Beshear as deputy secretary of the cabinet that oversees education and the state’s workforce initiatives in September 2008. Meyer also is a senior policy adviser to Beshear.

Appeals court ruling limits governor’s pardon power

FRANKFORT — A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals recently ruled that a governor’s power to pardon is limited to criminal cases.

In a ruling released Friday, the state Court of Appeals ruled that the Executive Branch Ethics Commission could proceed in an ethics case against Basil Turbyfill even though former Gov. Ernie Fletcher had issued a pardon in a criminal case against the former director of the Governor’s Office of Personnel and Efficiency. Turbyfill was one of several former Fletcher administration employees who were charged for violating the state’s merit hiring laws and later pardoned by Fletcher.

Conway asks for execution dates for three Death Row inmates

FRANKFORT — Attorney General Jack Conway wants Gov. Steve Beshear to set execution dates for three men on Death Row.

In a statement, Conway said that Ralph Baze Jr., Robert C. Foley and Gregory L. Wilson had exhausted all of their respective appeals and it was time for the families of their victims to have closure.

“Each has exhausted all of their ‘matter of right’ appeals in state and federal courts,” Conway said, including reviews by the Kentucky Supreme Court and a federal habeas corpus review. “There are no remaining legal impediments to the finality of these death sentences,” he said.

“The horrific crimes these men committed have taken an enormous toll on the victims’ families, for whom this may bring closure,” he said.

Bryant will host this weekend’s ‘Comment’

strong>Bill Bryant, an anchor for Lexington’s WKYT-TV, will substitute for Ferrell Wellman this weekend as host of “Comment on Kentucky.”

Guests on the public-affairs show on the Kentucky Educational Television network will be Lexington Herald-Leader reproter Ryan Alessi; reporter and columnist Ronnie Ellis of CNHI News Inc. and Courier-Journal Frankfort reporter Stephenie Steitzer.