The big news from Frankfort came at one of the worst times for the administration. Here is what two former Governors have said about the "mess in Frankfort."
Democrats, who were hosting a picnic across town, were quick to pounce.It's unknown how Evan Bayh will vote but it will affect the future.
Former U.S. Sen. Wendell Ford said it showed the GOP in Kentucky was "disintegrating."
"The governor is the titular head of the party and so he's asked the party to do certain things and they've told him that they're not going to do it," Ford said. "I think that tells us a lot what the future holds for this governor - it's probably his last term and they'll be looking for another candidate."
State Sen. Julian Carroll, D-Frankfort, said it showed Fletcher had lost control of the Kentucky GOP. Carroll, a former governor, said it was a "slap in the face" for the executive committee to ignore Fletcher.
"Politically, he is through. And if he doesn't know it by now, he doesn't read the tea leaves very well," Carroll said. "He got the worst slap in the face that I could imagine today when the Republican leadership of his party thwarted his desire to remove Brock as chairman."
Band Aid has some roots in Boston.
Even folks in Washington are becoming scared of Ernie Fletcher's doings. This one is too good to not print in it's full form but I've gotten most of the excerpts.
First, he acknowledged that mistakes might have been made by some of his underlings.Will Katrina change politics?
Then, he went on the attack and said accusations that his staff had broken state hiring laws were trumped up by an overly aggressive, politically motivated attorney general who was out to get him.
Sticking with the "they-didn't-do-it-and-even-if-they-did, it-ain't-a-big-deal'' defense, Fletcher compared the charges to a minor fishing violation and granted pardons to nine current or former members of his administration who were under indictment.
This week, he changed strategies again. He fired nine members of his staff, including Dick Murgatroyd of Kenton County and three others whom he had pardoned, and hinted that some of them may have in fact broken state hiring laws. And about those pardons? They were still the right thing to do, he said.
No wonder his communications director is quitting.
Fletcher's explanation of how his administration became so contaminated with corruption has been a jumble of inane inconsistencies.
If he truly felt those implicated had done nothing wrong, then why didn't he let justice run its course? Nothing wipes away the tarnish of scandal quite like an innocent verdict.
If he truly felt that some of his employees had exercised poor judgment, then why didn't he clean house right off the bat and fire those responsible? Quick, decisive action would have been a move by a true leader, one committed to his promise of restoring integrity to the governor's office.
If he truly believes that kicking nonpolitical state workers out of their jobs and replacing them with political hacks isn't a serious offense, then why did he campaign on the platform of "cleaning up the mess" in Frankfort? A crime is a crime, even if it is fishing without bait.
That there's corruption in Frankfort is hardly a surprise to even casual observers of Kentucky politics. Every administration seems to have its share of rogues and scofflaws. But what Fletcher doesn't seem to grasp, or perhaps chooses to ignore, is just how severely his reputation has been damaged.
Fletcher marched into Frankfort two years ago brimming with self-righteousness. The good-ol' boy, my-way-or-the-highway politics that had infested the Capitol under three decades of Democratic rule would be no more, he promised. Things would be different under his administration, he vowed.
On the campaign trail, he vilified his Democratic opponent, then-Attorney General Ben Chandler, whom he said had not been aggressive enough in investigating the sins of the governor they were both trying to replace, Democrat Paul Patton.
It was a laughable, but highly effective, strategy. The truth was, Chandler had been hounding Patton practically from the day that Patton moved into the governor's mansion. But for whatever reason, Fletcher's charges stuck, and the next thing you knew, the Republicans were back in power for the first time in 32 years.
Apparently, the view is a lot different from inside the governor's office.
While Candidate Fletcher pilloried the former attorney general for not being aggressive, Gov. Fletcher accuses the current attorney general, Greg Stumbo, of going overboard in investigating his administration's alleged crimes.
Stumbo wants to be governor himself, Fletcher says, and is using the investigation to score political points by tearing down a Republican administration.
Stumbo says he's not running for governor, at least not in 2007, when Fletcher will be up for re-election. But even if he were, so what? Right now, he's the state's top law-enforcement officer. And that means he must enforce the law, even when the accused is one of the governor's inner circle.
Fletcher's about-face is so astounding, if he were a Democrat, Republicans would accuse him of flipflopping.
Ernie Fletcher came into office promising to "clean up the mess" that is state government. Instead, he has made a mess of his own.
Some history behind the Blues Brothers...
Shame on Pat Robertson. This guy is sick if he thinks like this. Stop worrying about the blame game and start worrying about helping the families who are homeless.
Pat Robertson on Sunday said that Hurricane Katrina was God’s way of expressing its anger at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for its selection of Ellen Degeneres to host this year’s Emmy Awards. “By choosing an avowed lesbian for this national event, these Hollywood elites have clearly invited God’s wrath,” Robertson said on “The 700 Club” on Sunday. “Is it any surprise that the Almighty chose to strike at Miss Degeneres’ hometown?”This is pathetic but it's become what you expect from that guy. I'll sum of the Bible in less than a sentence: "Love others as you love yourself." Pat Robertson does not have any moral compassion for a single soul, much less himself.
Robertson also noted that the last time Degeneres hosted the Emmys, in 2001, the September 11 terrorism attacks took place shortly before the ceremony.
“This is the second time in a row that God has invoked a disaster shortly before lesbian Ellen Degeneres hosted the Emmy Awards,” Robertson explained to his approximately one million viewers. “America is waiting for her to apologize for the death and destruction that her sexual deviance has brought onto this great nation.”
Robertson added that other tragedies of the past several years can be linked to Degeneres’ growing national prominence. September, 2003, for example, is both the month that her talk show debuted and when insurgents first gained a foothold in Iraq following the successful March invasion. “Now we know why things took a turn for the worse,” he explained.
In order to avoid further tragedy, Robertson called not only for the Television Academy to find a new heterosexual host, but to bar all homosexuals and bisexuals from taking part in the ceremony.
He said employees at the Christian Broadcasting Network had put together a list of 283 nominees, presenters, and invited guests at the Emmys known to be of sexually deviant persuasions.
Some good news right now, the Kentucky Wildcats have scored their first touchdown against the Indiana Hoosiers.
Ernie Fletcher's approval rating: 44%.
I think we know where Vice President Dick Cheney has been hiding: Gaithersburg, Indiana.
There's a picture with Vice President Cheney that's in the chambers where you get your picture taken after you're sworn in. My son Nicholas is on my side there; he made a comment about one of these laser-tag birthday parties. The vice president is smiling because, just the moment before, I said: "Mr. Vice President, if anyone asks what you were doing in Gaithersburg at the laser-tag facility, you should know when one of my boys was asked for his laser-tag combat name, he said, 'Dick Cheney.' And what's more, sir, you should know Dick Cheney won."Magical Mystery Tour. A mystery indeed as many fans were expecting the usual opening of "Venus and Mars/Rock Show/Jet," not "Magical Mystery Tour" when Paul McCartney opened the US Tour last night.
St. Louis officially clinched the division today as Mulder pulled off the win against the Cubs' Greg Maddux. Nothing like doing it at Wrigley Field.
Bronson Arroyo started for the Red Sox. David Ortiz has a career high with over 40 home runs this season.
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