All Entries in the "Federal Government" Category

‘Some movement’ on congressional redistricting

FRANKFORT – The state House and Senate still have not reached a compromise on the redrawing of boundaries for Kentucky’s six congressional districts, but House Speaker Greg Stumbo appeared more optimistic Thursday that the two sides could reach an agreement.

“I think there’s at least some movement,” said Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg.

He said the House has offered another compromise plan to Republican Senate leaders. That plan specifically addressed some concerns of Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, Stumbo said. Rogers’ district includes most of Eastern and Central Kentucky.

The filing deadline for candidates is Jan. 31, but lawmakers could extend the deadline to give the two sides more time to hammer out an agreement.

Stumbo said he met and talked with Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers about the congressional map on Thursday morning, although no meeting has been set between leaders of the two chambers to produce a new congressional map.

Stivers, R-Manchester, said negotiations are “going slowly.”

HERALD-LEADER FRANKFORT BUREAU

Battle over redrawing Kentucky’s congressional districts on hold until Monday

UPDATED AT 1:13 P.M.

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT – The state House and Senate adjourned Friday until Monday without approving a bill to redraw boundaries of Kentucky’s six congressional districts.

The lack of action means the Jan. 31 filing deadline for candidates for U.S. Congress may have to be extended.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo said he thinks Monday would be the last day for the legislature to act on House Bill 2, the congressional redistricting bill, without changing the filing deadline.

Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said the Jan. 31 filing deadline for legislative and state Supreme Court candidates should stay in effect if Gov. Steve Beshear signs into law on Friday a bill already approved by the legislature to redraw those districts.

House gives final approval to controversial legislative redistricting bill

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The state House sent to Gov. Steve Beshear a controversial legislative redistricting bill Thursday that would move the district of Democratic State Sen. Kathy Stein from Lexington to northeastern Kentucky.

House Bill 1, approved on a 58-39 vote, redraws the boundaries of all 100 House districts and 38 Senate districts. It also redistricts the state’s seven Supreme Court districts.

Beshear is expected to sign it into law, though Stein’s supporters were lobbying for a veto. The Democratic governor had nothing to say about the bill on Thursday.

The House did not agree with the Senate on a plan to redraw the boundaries of Kentucky’s six congressional districts. A conference committee made up of representatives from both chambers started meeting Thursday afternoon to negotiate a compromise on House Bill 2 but finished about 5 p.m. without any resolution. It is to resume negotiations Friday.

House and Senate prepare to fight over Kentucky’s congressional map

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The Republican-led state Senate approved its plan to redraw the boundaries of Kentucky’s six congressional districts late Wednesday, setting up a fight with the Democratic-led House in coming days over the contentious political issue.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo said the House will not accept the Senate’s plan, which means leaders from both chambers will have to hash out their differences in a conference committee. Stumbo said he is hopeful the two sides can strike a deal on House Bill 2, which includes the congressional map, by the end of Friday.

Time is running out to reach an agreement. The filing deadline for candidates to seek state and federal offices is Jan. 31. If an agreement is not worked out by the end of this week, the legislature may have to push back the filing deadline.

Republican Sen. Damon Thayer of Georgetown, chairman of the Senate State and Local Government Committee, said the Senate’s congressional map does not differ greatly from the current congressional map.

Kentucky House approves plan to redraw congressional districts

PDF: House plan for congressional districts

By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The state House split mostly along party lines Tuesday in approving a bill to redraw the boundaries of Kentucky’s six congressional districts.

Republicans in the Democratic-controlled House protested that House Bill 2 was designed to protect Democratic U.S. Reps. Ben Chandler and John Yarmuth.

The bill now goes to the Republican-led Senate, where it is expected to undergo major changes.

“Absolutely, the Senate will change the House version to make the new map more like the current map,” said Senate State Government Chairman Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown.

If the Senate changes the House plan “in a positive manner, we certainly will take a look at it,” said House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg. “If the Senate chooses to change it in a political manner, I doubt it would meet very much success over here. We would just have to do without a plan.”

Beshear urges low-income Kentuckians to file for federal tax credit

Gov. Steve Beshear urged eligible Kentuckians Monday to apply when filing taxes for the Earned Income Tax Credit, a refundable tax credit for low- and middle-income working people.

“This tax credit is an extremely valuable resource for low-wage earning taxpayers struggling in this difficult economy, and I want to make certain that every Kentuckian eligible for this benefit receives it,” Beshear said at a news conference with U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, and Lexington Mayor Jim Gray at the United Way of the Bluegrass in Lexington.

Plan would put Hal Rogers’ home county in two congressional districts

PDF: House plan for congressional districts

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A state House committee voted along party lines Thursday to split the home county of Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers of Somerset into two congressional districts as it redraws the boundaries of Kentucky’s six districts.

The plan contained in House Bill 2 also moves Boyle, Garrard and part of Jessamine counties from Central Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District to south-central Kentucky’s 2nd District.

It also makes Northern Kentucky’s 4th District a more urban district and moves Daviess County from the 2nd District to the 1st District.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, acknowledged after the House State Government Committee approved the bill that it is likely to change before becoming law.

“I assume it will go through some vigorous debate and likely transformation,” he said.

Yarmuth gets new communications director

U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, has hired Stephen George as his new communications director.

George, who previously worked for Yarmuth as a staff writer at LEO Weekly in Louisville, will replace Trey Pollard, who has accepted a press position with the national Sierra Club in Washington to focus on media strategy for the organization’s conservation campaigns.

George’s first day with Yarmuth in Washington will be Dec. 12. George also has worked as editor of the Nashville City Paper and wrote about government for the Nashville Scene.

He recently was press secretary for U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee.

–Jack Brammer

Proposals to redraw Ky. congressional districts would bring big changes

By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

PDF: View the proposals

FRANKFORT — Two new proposals to redraw the boundaries of Kentucky’s six congressional districts could mean major changes for Central Kentucky voters.

Both plans appear to benefit Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, who represents Lexington and many surrounding counties in the 6th Congressional District.

The proposals — one pushed by the Democratic-controlled House and another by unnamed members of Kentucky’s congressional delegation — would move Republican-leaning Jessamine and Garrard counties out of Chandler’s district, replacing them with counties that lean more Democratic.

Republican Andy Barr, a Lexington lawyer who narrowly lost to Chandler in 2010 and plans to challenge him again in 2012, said Tuesday that the emerging plans amount to “incumbent-protection gerrymandering for a weak incumbent.”

Beshear salutes Kentucky veterans at Frankfort ceremony

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT– Gov. Steve Beshear recognized the “monument of service and the ocean of sacrifice” by Kentucky’s military veterans in a ceremony Friday morning on the front steps of the Old Capitol attended by about 300 people.

Besides honoring the more than 335,000 veterans in the state and the 12,000 Kentucky soldiers now serving in the Middle East, Beshear announced that the state plans to put up a bronze plaque in the Capitol to recognize the 59 Congressional Medal of Honor recipients from Kentucky.

That group includes Dakota Meyer, a Marine sergeant from Greensburg, who received the medal in September from President Barack Obama. Meyer, who is now in the inactive reserve, charged into heavy gunfire in Afghanistan in 2009 and saved the lives of 36 people.