Archive for April, 2010

Kentucky Senate debate to air on C-SPAN; ‘Comment’ guests named

FRANKFORT — A popular state-wide public affairs program that will feature Kentucky’s U.S. Senate primary candidates in coming weeks is scheduled to air nationally on C-SPAN, Kentucky Educational Television announced Friday.

On Monday, Democratic candidates Jack Conway, Daniel Mongiardo, Darlene Price, Maurice Sweeney and James Buckmaster will appear on “Kentucky Tonight” hosted by Bill Goodman. The live program will be shown on KET as well as C-SPAN at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

The following Monday, Republican candidates Trey Grayson, Rand Paul, Gurley Martin, Jon Scribner and John Stephenson will appear. The program is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Eastern time on May 10 on both KET and C-SPAN.

Meanwhile, three veteran journalists will appear on Friday night’s “Comment on Kentucky.” They include Janet Patton of the Herald-Leader, Deborah Yetter of The Courier Journal and Greg Stotelmyer of WTVQ-36 in Lexington.

The public-affairs show on Kentucky Educational Television is aired live at 8 p.m. Friday on KET1.

Over-the-counter medicines group is top lobbyist

By John Cheves – jcheves@herald-leader.com

The top-spending lobbying organization during the first three months of the 2010 General Assembly was the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which didn’t even begin lobbying until March, according to a report released Friday by the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission.

CHPA reported spending $307,777 on phone banks, more than twice as much spent by the next-highest lobbying organization, the ethics commission said. Reports show that CHPA paid $4,000 in compensation to its Frankfort lobbyist, Patrick Jennings, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

CHPA, which represents makers and distributors of over-the-counter medicines, lobbied against two bills — House Bill 497 and Senate Bill 211 — that would have tightened restrictions on the purchase and possession of pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine. Those substances are found in many over-the-counter medicines and can be used illegally to produce methamphetamine.

Both bills died in the House.

Other lobbying organizations in Frankfort supported the bills, the ethics commission noted. Those included the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police and the Kentucky Pharmacists Association, which said SB 211 would have been an “effective measure in cutting down the amount of pseudoephedrine used by criminals to produce meth.”

Kentucky courts slashing 113 jobs

By Beth Musgrave – bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Kentucky courts will axe 113 positions over the coming months to help make up an expected $6.8 million shortfall for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The job reduction is the largest layoff in the court’s history and follows a smaller round of cutbacks last year. More belt tightening is likely again next year, when a $10.6 million shortfall is expected.

Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. called the numbers “staggering” and “sobering.”

“If we are to balance our budget, we must make widespread reductions to court operations,” Minton said in a news release. “These reductions will affect all four levels of the court system.”

The cost-cutting measures include:

■ Cutting at least 18 staff positions from the state’s family court programs;
■ Abolishing drug courts set aside for families and juveniles;
■ Axing 21 trial commissioners;
■ Cutting overtime for all deputy clerks;
■ And cutting all payments to attend conferences for the next two years.

Beshear reports gifts in latest financial disclosure form

FRANKFORT –Gov. Steve Beshear accepted three gifts last year worth more than $200 each, according to his financial disclosure form with the Executive Branch Ethics Commission.

They were University of Kentucky men’s basketball and football season tickets, a membership to the Frankfort Country Club and a framed print of Abraham Lincoln from the Lincoln Trail Area Development District in Elizabethtown.

State law requires all executive branch officials to file financial disclosure forms with the ethics agency by April 15.

Mongiardo and Conway disclose financial information

FRANKFORT — Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo is collecting about $5,000 a year in rent from a tenant on the Franklin County farm he bought last July with the help of a $30,000-a-year state housing allowance.

Meanwhile, Mongiardo’s chief rival in the May 18 Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate, Attorney General Jack Conway, disclosed on a state ethics form his ownership of stock in a Texas natural gas company that has been the focus of a TV ad by Mongiardo’s campaign.

Mongiardo’s ad claims that Conway’s financial interest in Kinder Morgan Energy shows that Mongiardo is friendlier to coal than Conway and that Conway is cozy with utilities while his office is charged with protecting consumers from high utility rates.

The rent Mongiardo collects and Conway’s interest in Kinder Morgan are contained in financial disclosure forms they have filed with the Executive Branch Ethics Commission. State law requires all executive branch officials to file financial disclosure forms with the ethics agency by April 15.

The statements require officials to list all sources of gross income exceeding $1,000, creditors owed more than $10,000, gifts received that have a retail value of $200 or more, and businesses in which they own an interest of more than $10,000 or 5 percent of the business.

Beshear warns of ‘cataclysmic’ impact of government shutdown

By Beth Musgrave – bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear warned Wednesday of the potentially “cataclysmic impact” of not having a state budget when the new fiscal year begins on July 1, saying that “every single family in this state will be affected in a negative way.”

If lawmakers can’t resolve an impasse over the two-year spending plan, Beshear said visitors would be turned away from state parks, coal mines might close because there would be no safety inspectors or rescue teams, companies depending on economic development programs would go without help and death investigations that depend on an autopsy by the Office of the Medical Examiner would stall.

Dozens of other agencies and programs might also lose funding, including the Kentucky State Police, veterans’ nursing homes, existing road projects, the state-federal Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled, public universities and public health departments, Beshear said.

Beshear, speaking at a Capitol news conference, said he wanted the public to know what will happen if the General Assembly fails to provide a budget for the executive branch of government.

Despite the Democratic governor’s warning, legislative leaders said Wednesday that there has been little or no movement on an agreement between the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House over the past two weeks since lawmakers adjourned on April 15 without a two-year budget.

Political, horse races collide on Saturday

By Jack Brammer – jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Jack Conway has two special goals in May: winning the Kentucky Derby on May 1 and capturing the Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate on May 18.

Of course, neither is a sure bet for Kentucky’s attorney general.

Obstacles abound in both contests.

Stately Victor owned, by Conway and his father, Thomas Conway, was an upset winner at this spring’s Blue Grass Stakes at Lexington’s Keeneland. But a slew of other Derby contenders also want to grab the roses Saturday at Louisville’s Churchill Downs.

In the political race for Kentucky’s next U.S. senator, five Democrats, including Conway, and five Republicans are competing.

The four major candidates in the Senate race — Democrats Conway and Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo and Republicans Secretary of State Trey Grayson and Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul — plan to be at the 136th Kentucky Derby this Saturday to see the horses run.

Ashland union endorses Mongiardo for U.S. Senate

FRANKFORT — United Steelworkers Local 1865 in Ashland is backing Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo in the May 18 Democratic primary election for U.S. Senate.

The union represents more than 4,000 active and retired members in six counties in Kentucky.

“We’re proud to endorse Daniel Mongiardo for the U.S. Senate because of his record of fighting for the working men and women of Kentucky. Steel is a very energy intensive industry. Daniel’s consistent opposition to cap and trade legislation because it will raise our utility rates and devastate our industry is just further proof that he understands the issues that affect not just us – but our families and our communities,” said Doug Campbell, president of the local, in a statement.

–Jack Brammer

Arizona immigration law rekindles debate in Kentucky

By Valarie Honeycutt Spears – vhonycutt@herald-leader.com

Arizona’s tough new law aimed at illegal immigrants is rekindling debate about the issue in Kentucky, but there’s little legislative sentiment to follow the Grand Canyon State’s lead.

Lawmakers who have supported previous attempts to crack down on illegal immigration at the state level say the Kentucky General Assembly isn’t likely to approve a law that allows local police to detain people they suspect are in the country illegally.

But they say recent developments should cause Kentucky to consider more carefully other legislative proposals aimed at the illegal immigration issue. “I’ve filed a number of bills to try to alleviate (the illegal immigration) problem in Kentucky and we’ve never got much traction on it,” said state Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington.

Members of the Lexington-based group Kentuckians for Immigration Reform and Enforcement, which supports the Arizona law, think Kentucky lawmakers should first pass a measure that would penalize business owners if they don’t verify the immigration status of their employees, said president Douglas Roy.

“We’re not experiencing the level of violence that Arizona is seeing,” Roy said. ‘‘But we will if we don’t do anything.”

The renewed interest in illegal immigration is a worrisome development for immigrant advocates, who have successfully turned back previous attempts to enforce immigration laws at the state level.

6th District GOP candidates debate from same playbook

By John Cheves – jcheves@herald-leader.com

Six Republicans running for Congress in Central Kentucky agreed during a live televised forum Monday that government needs to shrink and get out of the way so entrepreneurs can create jobs.

Candidates for the 6th Congressional District seat talked amiably on Kentucky Tonight on Kentucky Educational Television. The GOP primary is May 18; the winner will face U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, on Nov. 2.

The men criticized President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress for expanding government’s reach and cost through bailouts of failed corporations and the recent health-care reform law.

Garland Hale “Andy” Barr IV, 36, a Lexington lawyer, said Congress could enact market-based health-care improvements, such as promoting high-deductible health-savings accounts.

Mike Templeman, 63, a retired coal executive in Frankfort, said the federal government shouldn’t play any role in health care, given the poor record of Medicare and Medicaid. The states can decide how to provide better access to health care for their residents, he said.

“We have turned so many things over to our government, and they have sent so many unfunded mandates back to us,” Templeman said.