Are we at crazy town yet?

Because when Jim Bunning seriously thinks that Governor-for-now Ernie Fletcher can be renominated with his crappy approval ratings, something is clearly wrong. If you remember, Bunning didn't know anything about the soldiers in Iraq a while back or what was going on in Frankfort. Remember, he only watches Fox News and doesn't even read the local papers.

A panel has proposed some proposals that include decriminalizing Merit System violations. I don't know about you but I am fed up with the Republican bullcrap that they are doing in Frankfort. It's gotten to the point to where if I was legally eligible to run for Governor, I would. Republicans, and they are making their reputation this, prefer to get away with crimes by making illegal crimes legal. You know what? It's bullcrap that they can get away with this. Our party should have $2 million in the bank by now with as much that has happened this summer. Do they? I doubt it. We won't know til the filing deadline in October after the Joe Biden event up here.

Panel members outlined 26 preliminary proposals to change the state Merit System, including a plan to make state employees undergo drug testing both before and during their state employment. The panel's final vote on the proposals was scheduled for next month.

Attorney General Greg Stumbo's ongoing personnel investigation, which has stymied the Fletcher administration since May, has been at the center of the task force's work.

Stumbo, who had been appointed to the task force, resigned from it last month after questioning its legitimacy. Deputy Attorney General Pierce Whites said the panel's preliminary recommendations would be a "step backward for Kentucky."

"It's a mistake to decriminalize someone's civil rights," Whites said Wednesday.

The state Merit System was created in 1960 and designed to insulate rank-and-file state employees from political influence.

A Franklin County special grand jury indicted nine current or former administration officials on misdemeanors stemming from the investigation; Fletcher subsequently pardoned them. Last week, Fletcher fired nine members of his administration - four of whom received pardons - for their role in his administration's hiring practices.

State Sen. Dan Kelly, R-Springfield, said removing the threat of criminal prosecution would make it more practical for enforcement.

Based on testimony from task force consultants and state employees, it would be difficult to remove politics from the personnel system, Kelly said. Instead, it's more important to hire qualified candidates and protect them from being arbitrarily fired, he said.

"What we're recommending is sound, and in fact would allow a greater deterrent because it could be more effectively implemented," Kelly said.

Violators would face a fine and the loss of their state employment for five years under the proposal. The state Personnel Board would review allegations and forward them to the attorney general under the plan.

Personnel Cabinet Secretary Erwin Roberts, who headed the task force, said based on the testimony, "patronage is kind of part and parcel" to government hiring.

"It would be almost impossible to have a 100 percent guarantee of no influence in the Merit System," Roberts said.

Bill Lear, a Lexington attorney and panelist, said he didn't see any recommendations that would remove political influence.

"I assumed one of the things that we were going to try to do is adopt some reforms that would make it more difficult," Lear said.

State Rep. Mike Cherry, D-Princeton, said he was "leery" of the idea and would study it further.

"I don't want to weaken the penalties for misuse of the Merit System, period," Cherry said.

Charles Wells, director of the Kentucky Association of State Employees, said the proposal would hurt government workers. Wells said he would oppose them in the General Assembly.

"It's a bad idea," Wells said.

Among other things, the recommendations would also:

_Allow for an affirmative action program.

_Give state employees optional 40-hour work weeks.

_Prohibit "burrowing" by requiring people who switch from non-merit to merit status to undergo a one-year probationary period.

_Offer employees mediation in job disputes.

_Reduce the number of job classifications.

_Encourage personnel disputes to be resolved before going to the Personnel Board.

When Fletcher opened the panel's first meeting, he said he wanted it to propose changes that would protect state workers and ensure governors could "advance his or her vision."

Fletcher spokeswoman Jodi Whitaker said Fletcher had not reviewed the proposals.

Bullcrap! All Fletcher wants are to have his political cronies innocent when they are indeed guilty!

Speaking of Senator Jim Bunning, what does he have to say about Governor-for-now Ernie Fletcher?

.S. Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky said yesterday that Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a fellow Republican, probably will be nominated for re-election in 2007, "and I think that would be best for the party."

But Mitch McConnell, the state's senior U.S. senator and a leading force behind Fletcher's 2003 campaign, continued to deflect questions about the hiring investigation that has dogged the administration.

Last weekend, the state Republican Party executive committee rebuffed Fletcher's request to oust party chairman Darrell Brock, prompting questions about support for the governor.

Bunning told reporters that he supports Brock.

"It's the executive committee and the budget committee's job to hire and to fire, not the U.S. senators from Kentucky, not the elected officials, no one except the executive committee," Bunning said. "I was on it for 15 years, so I know."

With regard to Fletcher, Bunning said: "I think an incumbent governor has all the tools at his disposal to win the nomination. Anything that the party might do would be useless, and I think Governor Fletcher would probably be renominated for governor..."

McConnell has yet to discuss the Brock matter or Fletcher's political troubles.

The following exchange with a reporter occurred yesterday in the U.S. Capitol outside the majority whip's office and Senate chamber:
Q. Can I ask you about the Darrell Brock situation and what do you think? What's your opinion -- should he have been asked to leave or not?
McConnell smiled and stopped but did not reply.

Q. I know Larry Cox (McConnell's Kentucky aide and a member of the state GOP executive committee) was there, right? Couldn't we hear your thoughts on...
McConnell waved, saluted, smiled and began walking.

Q. You actually can't talk about it at all?
McConnell, still smiling, walked into the Senate chamber, saying, "I'll catch you on the way out." About 45 minutes later, McConnell came out and walked back to the majority whip's office.


Q. Everybody wants to know what you have to say about this. Would you share a few bon mots with us?
McConnell smiled and kept walking.

Q. Did you recommend anything to the state committee, what they should do?
McConnell smiled.

Q. I'm getting the silent treatment, eh?
McConnell smiled and waved, opened the office door and entered.

I need a break from all this...