Hey, wake up people! I've written diaries about what is going on in KY before, but no one seems to care! Now, we have the KY GOP gov, Ernie Fletcher, subpoenad by a Grand Jury investigating illegal hiring practices, so perhaps a few more people might notice this. One of the governor's top (now ex-) aides has been indicted on 20+ charges, including destroying evidence. Geez, people, y'all love to see stories about crooked GOP pols, so why not KY? I've never seen the KY mess mentioned in the main story area or as a recommended diary. This one is good and it will get better, especially if the gov is indicted and/or he pardons all of his cronies (which is often mentioned as something he might do).
Main story below the fold:
First, here is a link to today's Lexington Herald-Leaders story:
KY Gov Gets a Subpoena
The first paragraph is:
Gov. Ernie Fletcher yesterday was subpoenaed to appear before the special grand jury that is investigating the hiring practices of his administration, becoming the first sitting governor to receive such a summons in a quarter century.
So, what is this mess all about? KY has a 'merit' system for hiring many/most state workers. In theory, a person who gets hired for a run-of-the-mill state job, such as a highway construction foreman, should actually know something about highway construction. Well, not with this administration! They have been firing lots of people who has either voted Democratic in the past, or has made campaign contributions to a Dem. The people hired? ONLY Fletcher campaign contributers. After the whistle was blown, the gov and his apologists said "This is a politically motivated witch hunt" and "Nothing wrong was done" and "The Dem administrations have done this in the past". In other words, the party of personal responsibility has refused to accept any personal responsibility.
Here are a few more key graphs from the above article:
So far, several dozen administration officials have gone before the grand jury, which since June has been reviewing evidence related to allegations that Fletcher's administration improperly hired, fired or transferred rank-and-file merit employees for political reasons.
Merit employees must be hired based on qualifications, state personnel laws say.
Assistant Attorney General Scott Crawford-Sutherland wrote in a court filing that Fletcher's administration constructed a "corrupt political machine" that recruited Republican merit job candidates and vetted applicants based on political ties.
That filing says Fletcher and top aides were briefed on several occasions that some of the administration's personnel practices could be improper. And documents cited in that filing show that one of the key hiring officials in the Transportation Cabinet, Dan Druen, often met with the governor and two of his political advisers.
Druen, who was asked to resign last month, is one of nine former or current officials charged with misdemeanors related to the probe. He also faces 22 felonies, including tampering with a witness and evidence.
When this whole mess is over, here is my guess on what will happen:
- Lots of Fletcher's key staff will be indicted.
- IF they go to trial, they will be found guilty
- Fletcher will pardon the lot and hope that he doesn't get indicted himself.
- Fletcher's political career is over, and he will lose his re-election bid.
So, please wake up people! There is a HUGE GOP mess here in KY, and this administration is poised for a huge fall. The next Gov election is just before the next presidential election, so it is vital that a Dem gov get elected. KY never seems to have any voting machine problems, but a dem governor would at least prevent anything bad from cropping up.