http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com Covering Kentucky politics and government Tue, 22 May 2012 21:44:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/10/ky-state-recipets-down-for-april-but-on-pace-to-meet-estimates/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/10/ky-state-recipets-down-for-april-but-on-pace-to-meet-estimates/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 17:45:17 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21690 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/10/ky-state-recipets-down-for-april-but-on-pace-to-meet-estimates/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/09/challenger-questions-conservatism-of-thayer-in-state-senate-primary-election/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/09/challenger-questions-conservatism-of-thayer-in-state-senate-primary-election/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 21:06:27 +0000 Accountability Editor http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21683 By John Cheves jcheves@herald-leader.com Editor's note: This is one in a series of stories previewing Kentucky's May 22 primary election. Ricky Hostetler is trying to squeeze to the political right of state Sen. Damon Thayer, one of the General Assembly's most vocal conservatives. Hostetler is challenging Thayer in the May 22 Republican primary for the 17th Senate district, which represents Scott, Owen and Grant counties and part of Kenton County. The winner will face Democrat David Holcomb on Nov. 6. All three men live in Georgetown. Hostetler says Thayer — who is seeking a fourth term — has become part of the Frankfort political establishment that drives up government spending while enjoying public pensions and cozy relationships with lobbyists. Hostetler pledges to limit himself to two terms, which he said he would use to slash taxes and regulations, giving the private sector the freedom it needs to grow. "Just take a look at the numbers. In the last 10 to 12 years, our state's debt has increased ten-fold to about $40 billion, if you count the state pension system liability," Hostetler, a 53-year-old electrical contractor, said in an interview. "Senator Thayer has been there most of that time. I think he has to accept some of the responsibility." Thayer, 44, responds by calling Hostetler "a little desperate." Thayer touts his conservative support from U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the National Rifle Association, the pro-business Kentucky Club for Growth (which ranks him best among 38 state senators) and the anti-abortion Kentucky Right to Life.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/09/challenger-questions-conservatism-of-thayer-in-state-senate-primary-election/feed/ 1 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/02/chief-justice-announces-furloughs-other-cost-saving-measures-for-judicial-branch/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/02/chief-justice-announces-furloughs-other-cost-saving-measures-for-judicial-branch/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 16:00:10 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21654 By Jack Brammer jbrammer@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT – Kentucky court workers will be furloughed three days this year, closing courthouses statewide on Aug. 6, Sept. 4 and Oct. 15, Chief Justice John D. Minton said Wednesday. The cost-cutting move is the result of cuts the Kentucky General Assembly made to the court system’s budget, Minton said. This is the first time since Kentucky’s modern court system was formed in 1976 that the judicial branch must close courthouse doors to balance its budget, he added. Court spokeswoman Leigh Anne Hiatt said the furloughs will affect all judicial branch employees except elected officials. The state court system has about 3,300 employees and 404 elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks, she said. Furloughs are one of several measures included in the judicial branch’s budget reduction plan for fiscal year 2013, which begins July 1.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/02/chief-justice-announces-furloughs-other-cost-saving-measures-for-judicial-branch/feed/ 4 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/01/common-cause-questions-tax-status-of-conservative-group/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/01/common-cause-questions-tax-status-of-conservative-group/#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 16:04:26 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21644 Jack Conway to investigate the tax status of a conservative group made up of state lawmakers and business interests involved in legislation. Richard Beliles, state chair of Common Cause of Kentucky, said in a letter Tuesday to Conway that the American Legislative Exchange Council enjoys tax-exempt status because it is registered as a charity in Conway's office and at the federal level. But ALEC is primarily a lobbying organization and may be in violation of its tax-exempt status, Beliles said. “ALEC is a corporate lobby front group masquerading as a public charity on the taxpayers’ dime,” Beliles said. “Kentuckians shouldn’t have to subsidize ALEC’s agenda to limit voting rights, undermine our public schools, spread Stand Your Ground gun laws and weaken laws protecting our environment.”]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/01/common-cause-questions-tax-status-of-conservative-group/feed/ 1 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/20/senate-approves-road-budget-bill-with-restoration-of-some-vetoed-road-projects/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/20/senate-approves-road-budget-bill-with-restoration-of-some-vetoed-road-projects/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:03:46 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21618 UPDATED AT 7:20 P.M. By Jack Brammer and Beth Musgrave jbrammer@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — A five-day special legislative session that cost taxpayers more than $300,000 ended late Friday afternoon after Kentucky lawmakers approved a transportation budget and a bill aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse. The contentious session wrapped up quickly after leaders in the Republican-led Senate and Democratic-led House begrudgingly accepted compromises on both bills, which they had failed to approve in the final hours of the regular legislative session on April 12. The Senate backed off a proposal to restore about $50 million worth of road projects in and near Senate President David Williams’ Southern Kentucky district that Gov. Steve Beshear had vetoed earlier this week. Meanwhile, the House accepted an anti-drug abuse bill that keeps the state’s electronic prescription monitoring system in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services — and out of the hands of law enforcement agencies eager to investigate doctors who over-prescribe addictive medications.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/20/senate-approves-road-budget-bill-with-restoration-of-some-vetoed-road-projects/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/19/senate-committee-adds-williams-projects-back-into-road-budget/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/19/senate-committee-adds-williams-projects-back-into-road-budget/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:05:05 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21606 By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — The $50 million in road projects that Gov. Steve Beshear vetoed in or near the Southern Kentucky district of Senate President David Williams are back — for now. In a surprise move Thursday, the fourth day of a special legislative session, the Senate budget committee added the projects to a bill containing the Transportation Cabinet’s operating budget. The panel adopted by voice vote an amendment offered by committee Chairman Bob Leeper, I-Paducah, that restored the projects. The committee then approved the amended House Bill 2 on a 14-0 vote and sent it to the Senate, which is expected to consider it Friday. If the changes become law, which seems unlikely, they would reverse Beshear’s decision on Wednesday to veto the road projects from the state’s two-year road plan. That bill was approved on April 12, the last day of the regular legislative session. Leeper said he introduced the amendment “as a matter of principle” because it was not fair for the governor to direct his vetoes at one legislator.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/19/senate-committee-adds-williams-projects-back-into-road-budget/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/money-for-roads-in-williams-district-pales-in-comparison-to-house-leaders/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/money-for-roads-in-williams-district-pales-in-comparison-to-house-leaders/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:04:37 +0000 Accountability Editor http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21601 By John Cheves jcheves@herald-leader.com Gov. Steve Beshear blamed Senate President David Williams' "greed" last week after Williams added tens of millions of dollars in spending for his district to the state's two-year road plan. Meanwhile, Williams criticized Beshear for not signing the plan into law hours after legislative leaders hammered out a compromise version and delivered it to the governor. A week after the regular legislative session ended in failure because of this impasse, the facts don't entirely support either man. Though Williams, R-Burkesville, did try to fatten short-term road spending in his district, which includes six rural counties along the Tennessee state line, what he awarded himself pales in comparison to the asphalt anticipated by House Democratic leaders, who get first crack at the governor's road plan and share the governor's party affiliation. From 2012 through 2014, the road plan the legislature approved last Thursday would have spent $115 million in Williams' district, or $1,017 per person. Floyd County, home of House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, would get $95 million, or $2,411 per person. Elliott County, home of House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, would get $41 million, or $5,259 per person.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/money-for-roads-in-williams-district-pales-in-comparison-to-house-leaders/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/beshear-vetoes-50-million-in-road-projects-in-williams-district/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/beshear-vetoes-50-million-in-road-projects-in-williams-district/#comments Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:28:50 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21593 By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Senate will approve a $4.5 billion operating budget for the Transportation Cabinet on Friday and end a special legislative session that began Monday, Senate President David Williams said late Wednesday. The announcement came after Gov. Steve Beshear signed into law a two-year road plan, but not before vetoing about $50 million in funding for road projects in or near Senate President David Williams’ Southern Kentucky Senate district. Williams said he was “very pleased” that the governor finally signed the road plan, “and we will proceed now to pass the operating budget” for the Transportation Cabinet. He said Beshear’s vetoes were “vindictive and unconstitutional. But since he just directed them at me, we will proceed.” The Senate GOP leader said per capita spending in the road plan for his district after Beshear’s vetoes is about $700, compared to about $2,400 in House Speaker Greg Stumbo’s district. Williams’ district includes Clinton, Cumberland, McCreary, Monroe, Wayne and Whitley counties.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/beshear-vetoes-50-million-in-road-projects-in-williams-district/feed/ 4 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/law-enforcement-officials-rally-for-prescription-drug-bill/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/law-enforcement-officials-rally-for-prescription-drug-bill/#comments Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:05:17 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21582 Patricia Jones of Laurel County pleaded with legislators in a Capitol Rotunda rally “to do something” to stop the prescription drug abuse that took the life of her son, Westley Brewer. “There’s a void in our life that will never be filled,” she said. She later said in an interview that her son got the drugs “from friends who went doctor-shopping to get them.” HB 1, which now goes to the Senate for its consideration, would move control of the state’s prescription monitoring system to Attorney General Jack Conway’s office and require physicians to use the system. Currently, only 25 percent of Kentucky physicians do so.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/law-enforcement-officials-rally-for-prescription-drug-bill/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/house-passes-road-bill-pill-mill-bills/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/house-passes-road-bill-pill-mill-bills/#comments Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:56:21 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21579 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/house-passes-road-bill-pill-mill-bills/feed/ 0