All Entries in the "Damon Thayer" Category

Beshear accuses Williams of trying to intimidate pro-casino senators

By John Cheves
jcheves@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear on Tuesday accused Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, of trying to intimidate Republican senators who support his casino gambling proposal.

“He is using intimidations and threats against fellow senators, including some in his own party,” Beshear said.

Williams later denied Beshear’s claim. He told reporters that he opposes the expansion of gambling in Kentucky, but he is not punishing senators who support it. Nobody is losing their committee chairmanships or other choice assignments because they disagree with him, Williams said.

“The governor has been untruthful about this issue for four years, and he continues to be untruthful,” Williams said.

Specifically, Beshear tied Williams to a story Tuesday in the Lexington Herald-Leader that raised questions about $208,835 in horse industry consulting fees collected by Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, during 2010 and part of 2011.

Senator backing casinos won’t name his clients in horse industry

By John Cheves
jcheves@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — State Sen. Damon Thayer, who is expected to file a casino gambling bill in coming days that could bring big bucks to Kentucky’s horse industry, collected at least $208,835 in consulting fees from the industry during 2010 and part of 2011, according to court records.

Thayer, R-Georgetown, runs Thayer Communications and Consulting out of his house. According to his firm’s Web site, Thayer founded it in 2007 to serve “companies in the equine industry” following two decades of executive jobs in horse racing, including a seven-year stint at Turfway Park, a racetrack in Florence.

From his consulting firm, Thayer earned $132,835 in 2010 and $76,000 during the first eight months of 2011, according to an asset disclosure that he signed Sept. 12 in his divorce records. In an interview Monday, Thayer said those income figures “sound in the ballpark.”

By comparison, Thayer said in court that he makes $35,000 a year as a part-time senator.

However, Thayer declined Monday to identify his clients or explain if they would gain financially from casino gambling. His annual financial disclosure statement at the Legislative Ethics Commission does not require him to name his clients, he said.

Plan redistricts Lexington’s Kathy Stein out of state Senate

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

LINK: Close-up map of proposed state Senate districts in Fayette County

FRANKFORT — Under a plan adopted by a state Senate committee Wednesday, one of Fayette County’s longest serving public officials would be out of office by the end of the year.

The Senate State and Local Government Committee on Wednesday passed its version of new congressional and Senate district maps. The new senate district lines would move Senate District 13 — which Democrat Kathy Stein currently represents — to northeastern Kentucky. That new district would include Mason and Lewis counties.

Because Stein is up for re-election this year, she would have to move to northeastern Kentucky to run for that district seat. The district where Stein currently lives becomes Senate District 4 under the new plan, which is currently held by Sen. Dorsey Ridley, a Democrat from Henderson. Stein could run for Senate District 4 in two years when that seat is up for re-election.

Tea Party candidate says he will run against Thayer

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — An electrical contractor with ties to the Tea Party has filed paperwork with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance to run in the Republican primary against Sen. Damon Thayer of Georgetown.

Ricky Hostetler, who lost the Republican primary to Rep. Ryan Quarles in the 62nd House District race in 2010, will seek the Republican nomination for the 17th Senate district that currently includes Scott, Grant, Owen and part of Kenton County. Hostetler filed his paperwork with the registry to begin raising funds for the May 22 primary on Nov. 21.

Senator offers redrawn map of Congressional districts

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT – Senate State and Local Government Chairman Damon Thayer unveiled his plan Tuesday to redraw the boundaries of Kentucky’s six Congressional districts.

Thayer’s proposed map is similar to the current map, with some changes because of population shifts.

Beshear’s office sought meetings for political allies at pension agency

By John Cheves
jcheves@herald-leader.com

At least twice in recent years, Gov. Steve Beshear’s office called the Kentucky Retirement Systems to suggest meetings with two of the governor’s Democratic political supporters who were working on behalf of private investment companies.

The supporters were Mark Guilfoyle, a Northern Kentucky lawyer and lobbyist who helped lead Beshear’s 2007 transition team, and Jill Daschle, wife of the then-executive director of the Democratic Governors Association and daughter-in-law of former U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle.

Guilfoyle worked with Fort Washington Investment Advisors, based in Cincinnati, although he said in an interview that he was not paid. Daschle is managing director of investor relations at EnTrust Capital, based in New York.

The companies wanted to manage part of the multi-billion-dollar pension fund for state and county government retirees, said Mike Burnside, KRS executive director until he was fired last month. Both companies were given meetings, although neither won a contract with KRS, Burnside said.

“The only reason I took the meeting (with Guilfoyle) is that I was called by the governor’s office and asked to meet with Guilfoyle and his client,” Burnside said. “I received a similar request from an aide to the governor to meet with Jill Daschle, (who) had a client trying to do business with KRS as well.”

Census: A lot of Kentuckians will get a new congressman

By Bill Estep – bestep@herald-leader.com

A lot of Kentuckians are going to get new representatives in the U.S. House because of significant shifts in the state’s population.

The eastern and western ends of the state lost population between 2000 and 2010 while the middle third grew, according to U.S. Census figures released this week.

Three of the state’s six congressional districts fall short of the necessary population, while the other three are over it.

The national average for a U.S. House District will be 710,767.

However, the target number will vary by state; dividing Kentucky’s population of 4.3 million by six seats means a population target for each district of about 723,000.

Kentucky Senate approves bill to end guaranteed public pensions

By John Cheves — jcheves@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The state Senate passed a controversial bill on Friday that would end guaranteed pensions for new state and local government employees in order to resolve the public pension funds’ growing liability.

Kentucky needs to stay ahead of the multi-billion-dollar pension liability problem that is forcing tax hikes and painful spending reductions in other states, said Republican senators backing the bill.

“It is just not affordable to go forward with our current plan, for state government or for local governments,” Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, told his colleagues.

From a fairness perspective, taxpayers in the private sector struggle with layoffs, stagnant wages and benefits cuts, yet they’re expected to support generous public pensions far better than anything they will get to enjoy, he said.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 24-13, along party lines, to send Senate Bill 2 to the Democratic-led House, where its future appears grim.

Racing compact passes Senate panel

By Beth Musgrave — bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Kentucky would be the first state to join an interstate racing compact if the bill allowing it passes the legislature this year.

The Senate State and Local Government Committee unanimously passed Senate Bill 24 on Wednesday, which would create an interstate racing compact that would help states develop uniform rules regarding racing and wagering.

Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, and sponsor of SB 24, said that six states would have to pass similar legislation before the compact would go into effect.

New York tried to pass legislation last year to join the compact, but failed. Rick Goodell, an attorney with the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, said that New York is pushing it again this year.

Goodell told the committee that if a national commission created a rule that Kentucky disagreed with, the state would not have to adopt the rule.

The Kentucky bill now goes to the full Senate.

GOP agenda moving through state Senate in whirlwind fashion

By John Cheves and Jack Brammer – jcheves@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — In whirlwind fashion, Senate Republicans pushed much of their 2011 legislative agenda forward Thursday in committee and floor votes with little meaningful resistance from the Democratic minority.

Among the measures approved in committee was a complex switch of the state pension plan to a defined-contribution system, similar to 401(k) accounts common in the private sector, for future state workers. The bill was approved by the Senate State and Local Government Committee without a required financial analysis.

Committee chairman Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, said the analysis is expected in a few weeks but Republicans deemed it necessary to act on the bill this week.

Sen. Walter Blevins Jr., D-Morehead, objected to the pension measure, Senate Bill 2, noting that a 66-page substitute version of the bill was introduced just minutes before the committee vote.

“I don’t know why we have to rush this bill through,” he said.