Feb. 15, 2012 —
Please excuse the colorful language in our headline but, at this point, those appear to be the starting and ending points of the 2012 Kentucky General Assembly.
Instead of putting public good above political gain, the backroom politicians at the Capitol convinced the House Democratic leadership and the Republican Senate leadership to take the unethical practice of gerrymandering to a new low point in our history.
Political payback almost reached the level of an art form as boundary lines zigged and zagged and district numbers changed without rhyme or reason.
As a result of those shameful acts, the legislative process now is seriously gridlocked as the leaders in both chambers try to untangle the redistricting mess, ruled unconstitutional and summarily discarded by a brilliant, courageous judge.
In our view, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd deserves the gratitude of every citizen in Kentucky for telling the lawmakers to do it right or go back to the old district boundaries.
We wanted to applaud when the judge wrote in his ruling that the discredited redistricting bill was clearly a case of the cure being worse than the disease.
The Kentucky Supreme Court will be the next stage for this publicly-financed theatre of the absurd. The justices likely will hear arguments next week.
Alison Lundergan Grimes, our promising new secretary of state and chief state elections officer, is getting four years of experience in her first year in office as the court orders, candidacy papers and filing deadlines come and go.
Virtually nothing is being accomplished in the legislature because few, if any, members are willing to vote on controversial issues until they know who will be running against them.
And that can’t be determined until a new redistricting plan passes muster with the courts and the incumbents and challengers know when to file and where to campaign.
All of this means there may not be enough time in the 60-day session for important issues like giving our citizens the opportunity to vote on expanded gambling or making it tougher to buy ingredients for meth labs or protecting vulnerable children with stricter accountability for the adults in their lives.
Or raising the public school dropout age to 18, or giving tax credits to those willing to invest in more jobs in local businesses, or passing a two-year state budget that does the least possible damage to public education, social services, and public safety.
The mess in Frankfort brings to mind a warning sounded long ago:
“No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”
Editorials
From the penthouse to the outhouse
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EKU Regents also lose touch with reality
We criticized Murray State University’s Board of Regents for not doing the public’s business openly regarding the future of President Randy Dunn. Then we criticized the University of Kentucky for its lack of transparency in responding to inquiries from the news media about issues in the College of Medicine. Today, we direct our criticism at Eastern Kentucky University Board of Regents for demoralizing an entire institution through the hiring of a new president.
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Let citizens draw districts, not politicians
We say “amen” to our colleagues at the Lexington Herald-Leader who have called for a new method of realigning legislative districts to balance population changes from census to census.
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Which Mitch will be on the ballot next year?
We seldom agree with his policies or his tactics but we make no secret of our admiration of Mitch McConnell’s political survival skills as the senior U. S. senator from Kentucky.
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Farmer building new ‘Unforgettable’ label
University of Kentucky basketball fans who fondly remember “The Unforgettables,” the 1991-92 edition of the Wildcats, may need to edit those good memories.
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Can Beshear solve Medicaid slow pay?
We’re trying to understand why Gov. Steve Beshear believes he is smarter than all 138 members of the General Assembly when it comes to Medicaid.
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East Kentucky needs new game plan for coal
Politicians complaining about the so-called “war on coal” by the Obama Administration were painfully accurate, according to a new state report released last week.
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Legislators barely avoided a failing grade
In our view, last minute heroics to save pension reform kept the 2013 Kentucky General Assembly from getting a failing grade on the short session which mercifully ended last week.
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Carter Caves: Does the credit really matter?
The first two articles in our series on Carter Caves State Resort Park prompted positive and negative reader comments.
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HB 1 a good start with special districts
Kentuckians haven’t had much to cheer about in the 2013 legislative session. It appears that some vital issues won’t be addressed in the final two days later this month.
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It’s time for Fiscal Court to face the people
State Rep. Jill York filed a bill in the 2013 legislative session to try to convince Carter Fiscal Court that it should be more open in its public meetings.
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EKU Regents also lose touch with reality
