Ralph Long

Witch Hunting at the University of Kentucky

2008-06-30T13:48:00.008-04:00

Alright, time for another Jon Stewart WTF moment.

The Family Foundation has issued a hit list of six UK faculty members.

”We're trying to highlight where public money is being spent,“ (Martin) Cothran said. ”We're asking should we basically be funding the (political) left through the universities with public money.“

Cothran said ”all of the politicization of the academy is coming from the left.“

Given the the actions of the Family Foundation I'm not even going to comment on how idiotic that statement is.

UK and other universities might have achieved greater diversity in terms of color, gender and nationality, but the political left controls the prevailing campus ideology, and that control amounts to ”partisan political activity,“ Cothran said.

If we are in the process of purging politicization from the University of Kentucky I’d like to add a person to the Foundations list.

Arthur J. Nit z, PT, PhD, ECS, OCS
Professor, Physical Therapy
ajnitz1@uky.edu

Art Nitz is the current Chairman of the Board of the Family Trust Foundation.

By the way, in case you don’t know where the Family Foundation and Dr. Nitz stand on Domestic Partner Benefits here is a page from the Family Foundation website.

Weasel Words and Retirement

2008-06-28T09:02:00.001-04:00

The General Assembly has passed the retirement bill. The bill was loaded with weasel words that allow the legislature to back out of any commitment.

Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, was the lone lawmaker to oppose the bill. He warned that the legislation is a mediocre first step that doesn't do enough to keep the retirement system from draining the state government's coffers in the future.

”If our goal is to achieve mediocrity in the pension plan, we have succeeded,“ Buford said.

The net result of the bill was to screw the workers and retirees a little bit while the Legislature doesn’t bite the bullet and do the right thing.

There are three approaches to this problem.

One the approach the legislature took. Reduce benefits to workers and retirees, but not enough that they actually scream. Promise to do better in the future and claim victory.

”Regardless of the speeches about this being an important first step, this is the ball game,“ he (Jody Richards) said. ”This puts us on a sound foundation for several years.“

Richards, once again, exhibits an inability to do math. If a worker is hired this year, after this bill goes into effect, and given the changes just made, the system will still not be on sound financial footing when the worker retires.

A second approach would be the David William's totally shaft the worker proposal.

One of the more controversial proposals not addressed by the legislation is a plan (Senate President David) Williams has backed that would create a so-called defined contribution option, similar to 401(k) plans that let workers manage their own retirement investment accounts.

Here is the bottom line on 401(k) investments from the Kentucky Deferred Compensation Authority, the existing state 401(k) agency.

Investing may involve market risk including the potential loss of principal.

In other words, with Williams plan you have a chance of reaching retirement age and not have a retirement fund.

The third approach would be for the General Assembly to pass comprehensive tax reform and generate enough revenue to meet the obligations to state employees.

But the odds of the General Assembly summoning up the collective backbone to do such a thing is doubtful. These folks couldn’t pass a cigarette tax increase when it was not only the right thing to do but was supported by most of the voters.

Julian Carroll on The Retirement Bill

2008-06-25T08:05:00.001-04:00

The following is a copy of an email sent to me by a friend in Frankfort. My friend received the email from former Governor and Senator Julian Carroll.

Carroll has always been on top of money issues in Frankfort and his analysis of the retirement bill is pretty dead on.

Dear Friend,

I recently reported to you the negotiated House and Senate Leadership Pension Bill, together with charts showing the details of the agreed plan. Governor Beshear had previously charged the Leadership with negotiating such an agreed plan as a condition for calling the Legislature into a Special five-day Session in order to enact into law the proposed plan.

Just as a matter of explanation to some who are not familiar with the process, House Bill 1, the pension bill, was introduced Monday, June 23 on the first day of the Special Session and immediately referred to a House Committee for action. The Committee considered the Bill and reported it back to the House for a first reading.

The Bill received its second reading today and House Bill 1 will be considered for a vote on Wednesday, June 25, on that same day, the bill will be received in the Senate, referred to a Senate Committee, and reported out of Committee to have its first reading as required by the Constitution. The Senate will give the Bill its second reading on Thursday, and call the Bill for final passage on Friday. The Bill will then be enrolled and sent to the Governor, and the Session will adjourn Friday.

The Bill contains an Emergency Clause, which provides for it to become effective on enrollment and signing by the Governor. House Bill 1 will become law upon the signature of the Governor, presumably on Friday June 27, 2008.

I have received numerous questions about the pension bill. I hope that the bullets below will help clarify any questions that you may have.

For existing employees, beginning July 1, current and future KERS, CERS and SPRS retirees will receive a set 1.5 percent Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA).

For current employees, hazardous KERS, CERS and SPRS retirees, who return to work on or after September 1, 2008 in SPRS in a hazardous duty position in KERS or CERS, will be required to observe a one-month break in employment.

All other KERS, CERS and SPRS retirees who return to work on or after September 1, 2008 in KERS, CERS or SPRS, will be required to observe a three-month break in employment.

Provided the break is observed, the employee can return to work, draw his pension, but will not contribute to the systems or earn a second pension. However in order to further fund the system, the employer will be required to pay contributions to the systems and the health insurance premium of the retiree not to exceed the cost of a single premium.

The Bill will presumably become law on Friday, June 27, 2008 , so the provisions for new hire's after September 1, 2008 as previously reported, will be in affect.

The argument, which has been made for increasing the break in reemployment to three-months is the savings that will be realized both for balancing the new budget starting July 1 and funding the unfunded balance for the retirement system.

I hope this information, along with what I have previously sent, will answer most of your questions.

Please feel free to contact me if I can be of assistance to you.

Julian M. Carroll
State Senator

Send In The Clowns

2008-06-24T11:54:00.003-04:00

I didn't know they were going to hold another special session of General Assembly......

Old Mulkey Meetinghouse to Host Clown Camp for Kids

URL : http://kentucky.gov/Newsroom/parks/mulkeyclowncamp.htm

Date : Friday, June 20, 2008

Issued By : Department of Parks

Summary : Old Mulkey Meetinghouse State Historic Site will host "Clown Camp" on Thursday and Friday, July 17 and 18, 2008. The two-day camp for children age 10 and over will give participants an intensive hands-on learning experience on street performing and clowning as taught by members of "The Clockwork Clown & Co."

Reduction in Retirement Benefits

2008-06-24T09:29:00.009-04:00

I’m not going to take on the entire retirement reform bill at one time. If I did your eyes would glaze over, I know mine do, before we got half way through the legalese.

So let’s just start with the changes to the Cost of Living Adjustment for existing retirees.

The bill quits using the Consumer Price Index to compute the Cost of Living Adjustment and sets the annual raise to 1.5 % per year.

The Legislature has the ability to do away with COLA’s for existing retirees anytime they want “The General Assembly reserves the right to suspend or reduce the benefits conferred in this subsection if in its judgment the welfare of the Commonwealth so demands.”

Here is the zinger"

The Consumer Price Index has never dropped to 1.5% during the last 20 years. Below are the percentages for the last 20 years. The General Assembly will happily screw the state employees by annually reducing their purchasing power.

Below is the CPI for the last 20 years.

1987 3.60%
1988 4.10%
1989 4.80%
1990 5.40%
1991 4.20%
1992 3.00%
1993 3.00%
1994 2.60%
1995 2.80%
1996 3.00%
1997 2.30%
1998 1.60%
1999 2.20%
2000 3.40%

2001 2.80%
2002 1.60%
2003 2.30%
2004 2.70%
2005 3.40%

2006 3.20%
2007 2.80%

Day Late and a Dollar Short

2008-06-24T08:47:00.001-04:00

The saying “better late than never” doesn’t apply here.

I received the following Commonwealth News Center Updates via email on June 23.

Media advisory
URL : http://kentucky.gov/Newsroom/finance/etransparency.htm
Date : Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Issued By : Finance and Administration Cabinet
Summary : The Kentucky eTransparency Task Force to hold its first meeting

Governor Beshear Issues Call for Special Legislative Session to Address Pension Reform
URL : http://kentucky.gov/Newsroom/governor/20080617special.htm
Date : Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Issued By : Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office
Summary : Governor Steve Beshear today issued the call for a special session of the General Assembly to convene on Monday, June 23, 2008, to act on the state's public pension crisis.

Chief of Staff Jim Cauley Announces Decision to Leave Post in Beshear Administration
URL : http://kentucky.gov/Newsroom/governor/20080618cos.htm
Date : Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Issued By : Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office
Summary : Governor Steve Beshear today announced the decision of Chief of Staff James Cauley to resign in order to pursue his own political consulting business.

And this one on June 24th:

eTransparency Task Force holds inaugural meeting
URL : http://kentucky.gov/Newsroom/finance/etransparency.htm
Date : Thursday, June 19, 2008
Issued By : Finance and Administration Cabinet
Summary : Gov. Beshear's vision for making public information more available, accessible discussed

Now I know email is not perfect, but a 5 or 6 day lag?

I don’t know if this time lag is intentional or just blazing incompetence but it is another example of how this administration appears to be clueless when dealing with the public appearance of doing the right thing.

I do know that all four of the items were things that I have commented on in this blog.

I Want to Be Governor 101

2008-06-22T08:50:00.003-04:00

OK kids, here’s a lesson in practical politics. Let’s call it I Want to Be Governor 101.

Adam Edelen has recently been appointed by Steve Beshear to be his chief of staff. The Herald-Leader summarizes Edelen’s credentials for the position:

Before his appointment to homeland security, Edelen was a senior executive with both Thomas & King Inc. and Commerce Lexington. He also has served as a board chairman of Kentucky Educational Television, chairman of the 2006 United Way of the Bluegrass Annual Campaign and an aide to Gov. Paul Patton.

In addition to his role at homeland security, Edelen is currently vice chairman of the Urban League of Lexington and a member of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

"Adam brings a diverse resume of public, political and private experience, along with strong and decisive management skills, all of which will be crucial to the ongoing success of this office and administration," Beshear said.

All of this is true, but they left out his most important skill. Adam Edelen can raise money like no one else in Kentucky politics. Edelen can raise hundreds of thousands of dollars without even trying hard. This is an invaluable asset to any politician.

So Edelen has his public service credentials, the ability to raise money, and the Homeland Security job started him on the way to making connections with all of the county officials.

Remember Homeland Security in Kentucky has nothing to do with Homeland Security it is a pork barrel pass through agency, it’s all about handing out money.

By becoming the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Adam Edelen positions himself so that everyone that wants something from the Governor comes through him. This is a powerful position. The Chief of Staff, if played correctly, will get a lot more ink from the press than the Director of Homeland Security.

Now Edelen has scored a political triple play, money, connections and publicity.

What’s next?

With Steve Beshear, unless he pulls an Ernie Fletcher, basically assured of repeating as Governor there is only one place to Edelen to go; the office of Auditor of Public Accounts. Crit Luallen is term limited out of the Auditor’s Office and there are no other viable candidates on the horizon.

Adam Edelen will have a cake walk in to the Auditor’s Office in 2011, much like Jonathan Miller did in his first term as Treasurer during the middle of the Paul Patton’s administration.

The real fun will begin when both Edelen and Jack Conway both want to be Governor in 2015. Both can raise money and will, in the up-coming years, have the opportunity to make and impression on the public.

Remember a successful campaign to be Governor is not only the tactical game of winning the election; it is the strategic game of positioning to win the election.

Adam Edelen is doing a masterful job of positioning.

Poke The Caged Lion

2008-06-21T08:50:00.002-04:00

As a certain Right-Wing Ground Sloth has pointed out “Mr. Long will, at times, poke the caged lion just to watch him twitch.”

Here’s a poke.

But I hope all the folks that support Bush/McCain will cringe at the truth rather than twitch.

THIS ISN’T GETTYSBURG

2008-06-20T14:11:00.003-04:00

The following is an email written by University of Kentucky Professor of Finance Joe Peek. His words speak much better than mine to this topic.

DISCLAIMER: The views stated herein are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of members of the UK Board of Trustees or Administration.

CLAIMER: Usually, but not always, when someone says “I told you so,” they do so with some degree of self-satisfaction and a minimal degree of enjoyment. This is one of the usual cases.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THANKS: I would like to thank the Herald-Leader and the UK Administration for the timing of the front page articles on Wednesday (Todd bonus) and Thursday (Boone-doggle Center). I have been out of the country for the past 3 ½ weeks and am leaving again tomorrow for another week. Thus, these two days of headlines appeared on the only two days during a five-week period in which I was in town to read them. Makes me appreciate just how much I miss this place.

NOTE: Unlike the UK Administration, I try to be responsive to faculty comments and views. In response to numerous requests, I am attempting to be a bit more subtle. However, it is a learning process, since I am severely subtlety-impaired (I am also subtitle impaired, since foreign languages are among my many areas of in-expertise).

FEELINGS

After having a few days to contemplate their decision about the President’s bonus, do you think that any of the members of the Board of Trustees are feeling a bit sheepish? (Please note the lack of bold font in an effort to be more subtle.) Note that many have attributed the awarding of the bonus by the trustees, and the acceptance of most of the bonus by President Todd, to an ID-ten-T error. (Hint: subtlety at work; write it out using numbers.)

THIS ISN’T GETTYSBURG

President Lincoln’s famous reference to “government of the people, by the people, for the people” has been changed at UK to “governance of the administration, by the administration, for the administration.”

Self-serving decisions are the norm at UK, at the expense of faculty, staff, and students. At least in President Todd’s acceptance speech for his bonus, he touted the self-sacrifice shown by the faculty and staff accepting zero percent salary increments in these difficult financial times.

However, such behavior and attitudes are present not only at the top of the UK administration; they are pervasive throughout the administration structure. As an example, I give you my own Gatton College. After six months of repeated efforts to obtain information on the awarding of the January merit increments to Gatton faculty, I have finally received an accounting. In addition, to a set of “compression and inversion” adjustments, 11 adjustments were awarded to “top performers” among the faculty. Of these 11 adjustments, five went to non-administration faculty (that is, 5 out of about 80 such faculty) and six went to faculty that were also college administrators (that is, 6 out of 6). Any wonder why we have such a lack of transparency at UK?

SEE BLUE? SEE BLURRED!

In such dire financial times, surely there must be a better use for the $95,500 bonus accepted by President Todd. Perhaps the funds could have been used for student aid to offset the tuition increase for some students; or to lessen the impact of layoffs; or to fund faculty research efforts.

Alternatively, think of how much beer could be purchased at Pazzo’s next Friday night for faculty. Then, perhaps many of the faculty could have the same blurred vision as our administrators.

GRADE INFLATION

Grade inflation is a well-known problem at universities. However, usually the worst occurrences are associated with student grades. At UK, we are breaking new ground. Here, our Board of Trustees has inflated President Todd’s grade to a near perfect score of 96.8. Unsurprisingly, his lowest score was for the category of “improving communications with students, faculty, staff and trustees.” Apparently, it is still not well understood that communication is bidirectional. Weak communication problems are not solved by sending out more memos, but by actually listening to the stakeholders in the university.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

At least one of the three of us (you, me, President Todd) do not have a firm grasp of reality; but I am not sure just who. The UK Administration emphasizes form over substance. Thus, it would seem that accepting most of a $145,000 bonus at a time of soaring tuition, layoffs, and zero raises for faculty and staff would be a public relations disaster. However, we are reminded by the UK publicity staff that President Todd’s salary trailed nine of his peer’s salaries at 19 benchmark universities. Still, this is just the public funds part of his salary, and, I am sure inadvertently, they forgot to provide the ranking of UK faculty salaries relative to those same 19 benchmark universities. So why am I not sure just who is out of touch?

Simply because the reality is that decisions are made over and over by the UK Administration that are not in the interests of university stakeholders, yet the UK Administration is allowed to get away with it, although in some instances they first must weather a brief and ineffective protest (e.g., renovation of the Boone-doggle Center); but perhaps I am being too cynical here.

A REPRESENTATIVE VIEW

The Herald-Leader reports that faculty trustee Ernie Yanarella thinks that there will be “some diffuse irritation among faculty about Todd’s salary and bonus.” He continues, stating that, “The faculty who are cynically minded will be crabby about it.” First, why would UK faculty become cynical? OK, maybe a few. Well, I suggest that all three of us (among the 1,900 UK faculty) who have become cynical and crabby send President Todd an email suggesting that he did not make an intelligent decision when he accepted most of the bonus. The Herald-Leader reports that President Todd appears to receive few complaints about his policies, quoting President Todd as stating, “I don’t think I’ve had an email yet—maybe one or two—about not giving a raise.” And in your letter, you should pledge your entire 2008 faculty raise to a fund intended to make up the shortfall of President Todd’s $150,000 bonus.

A FINAL THOUGHT

While the UK Administration may not appreciate the faculty or entertain their views, at least they do entertain with their statements and actions.

Joe Peek
Professor of FinanceGatton Endowed Chair in International Banking and Financial Economics School of Management

Idiots or Liars?

2008-06-15T15:32:00.002-04:00

Retirement investments suck; at least that’s the opinion of the Legislative Research Commission (LRC).

Seven months after this blog broke the story that Kentucky Retirement Systems (KRS) and the Kentucky Teachers Retirement Systems (KTRS) combined over the last 3 years underperformed by $2 billion, the LRC came out with a report saying they underperformed by $2.9 billion. Slightly different time periods but the result is the same.

The excuses by the Executive Directors of both systems prove that they are either blatant liars or totally incompetent.

From Mark Hebert’s Blog:

The CEO's of both pension systems told lawmakers that they've been hamstrung by cash flow problems and a past ban on foreign investments.

From the Associated Press story:

Gary Harbin, executive secretary of the Kentucky Teacher's Retirement System, said the system has been limited by regulations that prevented international investments. That has since changed, and the retirement system is performing better, Harbin said.

There have never been any regulations preventing KRS or KTRS from investing internationally. This was confirmed in the 1998 review by Kentucky State Auditor that recommended both KRS and KTRS invest internationally.

This hallucination of a regulation was totally self-inflicted by their own incompetence.

From page 21 of “AN EXAMINATION OF INVESTMENTS AND INVESTMENT PRACTICES OF THE KENTUCKY RETIREMENT SYSTEMS AND THE KENTUCKY TEACHERS’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM”:

KRS and KTRS should further diversify their investment portfolios by including international holdings.

Cash flow issues have no influence whatsoever on pension investment return. This is unheard of as an excuse in other states,

So it’s your choice, are the Executive Directors of the Pension Funds idiots or liars?

Send Draud Home

2008-06-12T07:31:00.001-04:00

Jon Draud is one greedy SOB and state government would be better off without him.

Draud has been caught twice with his hand in the cookie jar since becoming Education Commissioner.

First, he wanted extra vacation days.

Gov. Steve Beshear also asked that the search be reopened, but the board hired Draud. In February Draud withdrew a request for additional benefits after Beshear questioned the timing.

The board had approved a proposal that would have given Draud 20 days of vacation and an extra 30 sick days before the commissioner withdrew his request.

Now he wants a state car with a bunch of goodies.

State government recently bought a nearly $31,000 Chrysler 300 for Draud to drive as his state car. Draud signed off on the car with nearly $13,000 in upgrades that included a more powerful engine, a hands-free phone system and a global positioning system.

Draud gets paid 220,000.00 per year of our tax dollars, and he still insists on trying to screw the Commonwealth out of every dime he can.

This guy needs to go, the sooner the better.

Transparency - Sort Of

2008-06-10T08:29:00.005-04:00

Here is a Kentucky government web site that offers a glimpse, sort of a looking through the glass darkly view, where your tax dollars are going.

While not as transparent as we would like, the Legislative Research Commission offers some transparency to state government spending. The Government Contract Review Committee shows us who gets some of our tax dollars.

All of the information is on contracts and amendments that have been reviewed and approved by the committee for payment. So we get to see where the money went, not where it’s going.

Here are the bigger ticket items from May 2008:

MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT FOR

16. 0800007172

Health Care Excel Incorporated
2629 Waterfront Parkway
Indianapolis, IN 46214

Auditing - $2,694,084.00

Provide for compliance with the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 including, but not limited to, three year general audits by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), as well as CMS focused reviews, provide technical and educational support to identify fraud, rule out potential erroneous/fraudulent billing through clinical reviews and audits, and identify opportunities for system payment edits and audits.

TRANSPORTATION CABINET

21. 0800007385

JL Lee Engineering LLC
100 North Main Street, Suite 218
Lawrenceburg, KY 40342

Engineering - $2,000,000.00

Provide Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) based site assessments, evaluations, characterizations and remediation plans and control compliance reviews including sampling, reporting, remediation and other environmental concerns.

22. 0800007413

Corradino Group First Trust Center
200 South Fifth Street, Suite 300N
Louisville, KY 40202

Engineering - $2,000,000.00

Provide Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) based site assessments, evaluations, characterizations and remediation plans and control compliance reviews for Kentucky Underground Storage Tank regulations and the Clean Water Act including sampling, reporting, remediation and other environmental concerns.

23. 0800007414

Linebach Funkhouser Incorporated
114 Fairfax Avenue
Louisville, KY 40207

Engineering - $2,000,000.00

Provide Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) based site assessments, evaluations, characterizations and remediation plans and control compliance reviews for Kentucky Underground Storage Tank regulations and the Clean Water Act including sampling, reporting, remediation and other environmental concerns.

Now, true transparency in government would let us see these contracts before they get the legislative rubber stamp.

Also here’s an idea:

Could we cross reference the Contributor Information from the Registry of Election Finance, the Corporate Information from the Secretary of State with the database containing the above information?

Now that would be a fun site.

Steve and Jane's Big Adventure

2008-06-09T10:47:00.000-04:00

How much will this little junket cost?

What do the taxpayers of Kentucky get from Steve and Jane’s vacation?

Gov. Steve Beshear and Economic Development Cabinet Secretary John Hindman will depart Sunday for an economic development trip to Japan. The trip will mark the first visit by Gov. Beshear to Japan as Governor. Joining the Governor and Sec. Hindman will be First Lady Jane Beshear who is Secretary of the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation, Governor’s Executive Cabinet Secretary Larry Hayes, Commissioner J.R. Wilhite, of the Department for New Business Development, and Commissioner George Burgess, of the Department for Existing Business Development. Joining the delegation is Alston Kerr. Ms Kerr is Chair of the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation and Vice President of the Board of Directors of the World Games 2010 Foundation, Inc.

In Japan, the Governor will work to establish relationships with businesses considering new investments in Kentucky, and to continue to strengthen relationships with firms that are operating and growing in the Commonwealth.

Working to establish relationships?

Puhleeze.

Free the Documents

2008-06-09T10:23:00.004-04:00

Here is an example of what currently goes on in Frankfort. The Commonwealth Office of Technology maintains an online document system called GotSource.

The public can search GotSource as a Guest user. The words I searched for and some of the results are listed below. The searches were limited to 100 responses sorted by date.

“Expenditures”

20070914_PMIS_Governance_Board_Agenda.doc
Copy of att6.8_payroll.xls
Financial Report
YTD Expenditure 1-31-01
Section III - 09b - GOT IT Overview- Expenditure Comparison Chart
Revenue Expenditure Summary

“Contract”

Copier CONTRACT.doc
Alabama contract
Section III - 10 - GOT IT Overview - Major Enterprise Contracts
RE: Panasonic Toughbooks on contract

“Contractor”

Time Tracking Business Rules.xls
IT Contractor Report (january06).xls
Training for Purchasing Professionals ITN#3-908-660-B Revised 8-14-2006.doc
NIC Contract Final 2-21-03.doc

“Telephone”

Kentucky Revenue Cabinet Locations and Telephone Numbers.doc
Kentucky State Telephone Directory Tutorial
2003 NASCIO Nomination NoCall.doc

If you click on any of the links above you get this:

Not Authorized

You are currently listed as Guest, which means you are not logged in. Guests are allowed to freely browse the publicly-readable portions of this server, but do not have permission to add content, make revisions or view restricted information.

I’m sure there is some Home Land Defense security reason for restricting the access to the Kentucky State Telephone Directory Tutorial and the 20070914_PMIS_Governance_Board_Agenda.doc. I’m just confused at what the reason might be.

Now here is the real problem. The Governor has created a Task Force that is charged with finding ways to create more transparency in State Government. He has put Jonathan Miller in charge and appointed Steve Dooley to the Task Force.

The problem?

Steve Dooley is the Commissioner of Commonwealth Office of Technology and Jonathan Miller is his boss. Either one could remove a lot of the secrecy built into GotSource with one direct order to their staff.

Opening up GotSource doesn’t take a Task Force recommendation, an order from the Governor or Legislative approval.

All it takes is for either Dooley or Miller to make a management decision. So guys, it’s time to walk the walk.

Electronic Transparency

2008-06-08T15:07:00.002-04:00

Another thought on putting a little electronic transparency in state government. How about this as a start?

Let the public see the purchases made on state Procurement Cards.

Procurement Cards, or ProCards are government issued credit cards. I for one would like to see what is being bought with these little pieces of plastic.

Now the cards will be rejected if someone tries to buy any of the following.

Airlines
Automobile/Vehicle Rental
Hotels and Motels
Eating Places, Restaurants
Bars, Cocktail Lounges, Discotheques, Nightclubs, and Taverns – Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
Quick Payment Service – Fast-Food Restaurants
Package Stores, Beer, Wine, Liquor
Financial Institutions
Security Brokers/Dealers
Insurance Sales and Underwriting
Insurance Premiums
Insurance (Not elsewhere classified)
Lodging

So I couldn’t pay for a trip to Europe with this card, but I bet I could buy jewelry, furniture, clothes, a big screen TV (I wonder if David Williams has one of these?)

The rules say I can’t rent a car, but could I buy one?

I think the public would probably get a little bent out of shape if they found a state office furnished with solid cherry furniture or antiques.

I would love to trip through these records.

Force or Farce?

2008-06-08T14:43:00.002-04:00

Let’s give Steve Beshear credit for being able to steal a good idea even if it comes from a Right Wing Nut state legislator.

Citing the need for state government to exercise openness in how it conducts business, Gov. Steve Beshear today signed an executive order creating an eTransparency Task Force. Under the executive order, the group will bring recommendations to the governor on the creation and implementation of a “one-stop” information access tool that will include, among other things, providing information about state expenditures and state programs.

Does the following sound familiar?

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 42 to require the Finance and Administration Cabinet to create a searchable Web site to provide certain information on the expenditure of state funds; provide that the new sections shall be known as the "Taxpayer Transparency Act of 2008."

Two questions:

If this is such a great idea, I think it is, then why did it die in the legislature and who killed it? I don’t know why this died, other than most of our legislators would know a good idea if it bit them in the ass, but the guy that killed this puppy was Mike Cherry.

Cherry is the Democratic Legislator from Princeton, Kentucky and the chairman of the House State Government Committee where this bill died.

So once again the General Assembly fumbles the ball.

But I’m not so sure the Task Force will do much more than steam around in the fog and accomplish nothing.

Remember, the idea here is to recommend how to make state records accessible on the Internet. Now, this sort of thing is an unnatural act for most politicians and bureaucrats.

Take a look at the membership of the Task Force.

Chair – Secretary of Finance and Administration Cabinet, Jonathan Miller;
Vice Chairs – The Honorable Todd Hollenbach, Jr., State Treasurer, and The Honorable Crit Luallen, Auditor of Public Accounts;
The Honorable Jack Conway, Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, or his designee;
The Honorable Richie Farmer, Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, or his designee;
The Honorable Trey Grayson, Secretary of State, or his designee;
The State Controller or designee;
The State Budget Director or designee;
The State Librarian or designee;
The Executive Director of the Kentucky Broadcasters Association or designee;
The Executive Director of the Kentucky Press Association or designee;
The Commissioner of the Commonwealth Office of Technology;
The Executive Director of the Office of Legal Services for Finance and Technology, Finance and Administration Cabinet;
The President of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce;
The Executive Director of the Kentucky Association of State Employees;
The Executive Director of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth; and
The Executive Director of Common Cause of Kentucky.

So, we start with 6 politicians that, to put it kindly, are pretty computer challenged.

Five of the remaining eleven members are state bureaucrats, of which only one the Commissioner of the Commonwealth Office of Technology hopefully will know what the issues are surrounding the task force’s job. Of course his job reports directly to the Chairman of the Task Force, which always fosters an open public discussion of issues.

Two members are from the main stream media. Notice they left the bloggers out, it must be a typo. While the media types may be tech savvy they are usually averse to actually working to get a story so we can’t expect a lot of effort here.

That leaves us with a business representative, I’m sure they will want all the contracts and spending records opened to public inspection.

The union representative and a couple of liberal human rights groups finish out the make-up of the Task-Force.

Oh, one final thing, eight of the appointees don’t ever have to show up. They can just designate whoever is in the office and not doing anything to go to the meetings, that is what is usually meant by “designee”.

This is a great idea, but I don’t see much chance of it working.

Clueless in Tokyo

2008-06-08T13:54:00.000-04:00

WTF

He can’t pay for essential state services but he can go to Japan on a junket?

Gov. Steve Beshear and Economic Development Cabinet Secretary John Hindman will depart Sunday for an economic development trip to Japan. The trip will mark the first visit by Gov. Beshear to Japan as Governor.

And there aren’t any details. The link goes to another press release.

How many ways can I say clueless?

Kentucky Democratic Convention

2008-06-08T13:46:00.000-04:00

A few thoughts on the Kentucky Democratic Party state convention:

First, the most notable absence from the convention was Ben Chandler. Rumor was that Ben had pissed of a number of 6th Congressional Democrat players and want-a-be players by endorsing Barak Obama and was avoiding the Convention.

Given all of the excitement at this convention maybe he was just had a better way to spend a Saturday.

Second, Steve Beshear and his administration may be a total cluster-f**k when it comes to public perception, but they were pretty smooth in stacking the state central committee with Beshear loyalists.

Supporters of Gov. Steve Beshear stacked the Democratic State Central Executive Committee during the reorganization phase of the party's state convention in Lexington Saturday.

Top backers of the governor -- including his representatives such as Dick Prelopski and Wendell Cave -- handed out to the state party delegates in each of the six rooms blue pieces of paper with suggested names for committee members. Each blue half-sheet of paper said "Please Vote For:"

Third, I wish someone would give Heather Ryan a bunch of money. She has some rough edges but she managed to bring the entire convention to a standing ovation – twice – when she spoke.

Fourth, a lot of democrats still get indigestion at the sight of Bruce Lunsford. I know the guy is a millionaire with a bad case of short guy syndrome, but his speech, in my humble opinion, pretty well sucked. Anyone, (think Mitch McConnell here), could take it point by point and tear it to shreds.

The only reason I can see to vote for Lunsford is that he isn’t McConnell.

Fifth, by up close and personal observation Jerry Lundergan is as smarmy as ever.

0 to Stupid in Nothing Flat

2008-06-05T07:31:00.004-04:00

This is about what I would expect from a former state legislator. You have to admire the Beshear administration for being consistent. Even if that consistency is how totally clueless they are about public perception.

E-mail messages obtained by a newspaper show Kentucky Education Commissioner Jon Draud approved the purchase of a new state car for his own use with $13,000 in extra options.

If Steve Beshear wanted to get some public relations points he would take this little perk away from the temporary help like Draud. Make them drive their own car and pay them mileage. This is cheaper than the state buying tweaked out pseudo sports cars.

One other question, how are they going to get the state seal over that piece of trim on the doors?

God Hates Cigarette Taxes

2008-06-03T08:17:00.003-04:00

Raising the cigarette tax in Kentucky is a tax on behavior and would be immoral.

Well, Leland Conway of the Conservative Edge is half right. Raising the cigarette tax is a tax on behavior. As far as it being immoral that’s just plain stupid. I just can’t find that passage in my bible that says “Thou shall not tax cigarettes.”

Making a pseudo logical argument, Conway suggests we should tax other behaviors.

If we are going to use this line of logic then we must also conclude that we need to tax obesity, or at least behaviors that lead to it. People who are obese also have many costly health problems. Should we put a $1 tax on Twinkies?

…….But suggest raising the tax on a bottle of beer by a dollar and see what happens.

His conclusion is that:

……punishing a minority of the populace to achieve this goal is made no more acceptable. It will certainly hurt small businesses and increase untaxed black market tobacco activity. In addition, it will ultimately hurt those it was intended to help. Taxing behavior is nothing more than a sneaky way for the government to expand the size of its treasury power.

The conclusion is about a quarter right, taxing cigarettes, like any other tax, expands the size of the treasury. I don’t see how sneaky applies, after all aren’t both of us blabbering about it on blogs and isn’t in the newspapers.

A few other points:

I like a cold frosty malt beverage as much as the next guy and I could live with a tax increase on beer. Taxing a Twinkie works for me too and I’ll go as far as increasing the taxing all of those fast food emporiums that are intent on super-sizing our rear ends.

I don’t have a problem with sin taxes.

Usually the morality and small business coalition against a government action occurs when there is a vote on a locality going wet. The bootleggers and the local messengers of God rally together to stop this ungodly and unprofitable activity, thus saving the masses from paying another tax on liquor.

But that argument doesn’t play here, if we embrace the idea that increasing the tax tobacco will hurt small business and create a black market, perhaps we should reconsider the laws against cooking up meth in kitchen. After all aren’t we stifling an entrepreneur and creating a black market?

Finally let me give you another way to tax behavior. Let’s tax all of the vehicles on the road according to their emissions, not how much you paid for it. I can’t wait to hear why this is a bad idea.

Kentucky Retirement - Another Reason to Clean House

2008-06-02T12:26:00.001-04:00

I’ve not been posting lately because we have been traveling in Ireland. I hear you crying for me now, maybe you should given what the policies of the Bush administration has done to the exchange rate. But this is not a rant about international economic policy.

This one is a little closer to home.

From the minutes of the Kentucky Retirement Systems Board:

Mr. Overstreet presented the memorandum “Amendments to the Statement of Bylaws and Committee Organization and Election of Officers.”

Mr. Overstreet stated that over the last year the Board has been faced with circumstances of different reporters contacting trustees. Mr. Overstreet stated that it has been a communicated policy to the Board for a number of years to refer media inquiries to the Executive Director so that questions from the media are answered with one voice. The Bylaws as amended provide that the Board, or individual members of the Board, shall refer all news media inquiries to the Executive Director and to not discuss matters that affect the Systems or the Board generally with the news media. The role of the Executive Director is also redefined. Mr. Overstreet opined that those matters are better addressed by the Executive Director who has the information and knowledge to answer those questions.

Mr. Crall advised that it somewhat implies that the Executive Director is the one to respond on behalf of KRS to entities because the Bylaws do not specifically allow for the board members to do that. Mr. Crall advised that there are times when he is asked to do that and would use appropriate discretion in doing so. Mr. Crall stated that there are also times when he would need to respond to questions as the Governor’s representative.

It was moved by Mr. Lang, seconded by Ms. Ballenger, and carried by the Board to adopt the amended Statement of Bylaws and Committee Organization as presented.

In my absence the mainstream media have picked up on this act by the KRS board. The Governor is talking special session to deal with current mess and has appointed a working group to figure out what to do.

Given the composition of the work group, no state employees or retirees, I have a feeling which group is going to end up on the short end of any recommendations.

The proposed changes are pretty cosmetic and don’t deal with the real problems of chronic underfunding by the legislature and the ballooning cost of medical care.

Proposed changes:

Raising retirement ages for future hires;
Lowering the cost of living adjustment to 1.5 percent;
Requiring new employees to contribute 1 percent of their salary to the health insurance fund;
Reforming the practice of double-dipping, in which government retirees return to government jobs while still collecting a state pension.

But I digress; let’s get back to the KRS board and the smelly sock that is stuffed in their collective mouth. The KRS Board is the governing body of the Kentucky Retirement Systems. These people are not doing their job. If Steve Beshear needed a reason to clean house this is it.

Whatever happened to transparency in Government? Does the Executive Director think his board is too stupid to talk to the media? Is it possible that if more than one of them answered a question the answers would be different?

The only reason for an action like this is to keep the story straight. If only one person is stonewalling or telling a lie then it’s easier to keep the story straight.

If the Governor really wants to instill ethics in state government then cleaning out this sad excuse for a Governing Board at the Kentucky Retirement Systems would be a great way to start. I would like to see people appointed who cared more about doing the job they were supposed to do than the next tax payer paid junket they were taking.

Bully From Burkesville

2008-05-17T08:31:00.000-04:00

One great thing about the court system in this country is that any idiot can file a law suit.

Senate President David Williams sued Gov. Steve Beshear Friday, claiming the governor's veto of a $3.8 billion state highway spending plan is unconstitutional.

This is grand standing, and an exercise in money wasting, by David Williams. The bully from Burkesville just doesn’t like it when someone shoves back.

All Williams will accomplish here is to keep his name in the news and waste a few more of our tax dollars.

And the guys in the General Assembly wonder why no one loves them.

Bozo's In Frankfort

2008-05-14T10:25:00.002-04:00

The Herald-Leader has a story that Kentuckians are dissatisfied with the state Legislature.

Two of every three Kentucky voters don’t like the way the Kentucky legislature is doing its job, a new poll shows.

We needed a poll to tell us this? But here is the zinger.

The higher disapproval rating of 66 percent now suggests the public saw little accomplished in the 2008 General Assembly, Dugi (Don Dugi, political science professor at Transylvania University) said.

He added that polls of job satisfaction with the U.S. Congress usually are low, but are high for individual members of Congress. “I would imagine that most Kentuckians think more highly of their local state legislator than they do the legislature as a whole.”

I don’t think very highly of the job done by either my Representative or my Senator. Between them, their performance has generally been intellectually AWOL.

Neither one is a prize but at least they are not an idiot like “No Global Warming” Jim Gooch.

Hyperbolic Bluff

2008-05-14T10:08:00.000-04:00

The Herald-Leader editorializes on the hyperbolic bluff by President Michael McCall of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

McCall warned that the council's action, on top of a 6 percent cut in state funding, would produce a revenue crisis and require reducing enrollment by 6,000 students……

The budget for KCTCS central administration is as large as that of the largest community college. There have to be efficiencies there that can be achieved without barring access to instruction.

I think what the Herald-Leader is trying to say, in a somewhat diplomatic way, is that a guy who has a salary and benefit package of $610,000 is threatening to screw the students he is supposed to be educating because he is not getting the pet projects he wants.

This is a perfect example of reason number three for the problems in Higher Education in Kentucky.

Obama and the Two Foot Lens

2008-05-13T10:46:00.007-04:00

Yesterday my daughter and I went to the Obama event in Louisville. We were there as part of the press, the campaigns are trying to reach out to the bloggers. So they give press credentials to anyone that asks for them.

If you want a fairly accurate account of the event check out Ryan Alessi’s story in the Herald-Leader.

And now for a sort of Gonzo Journalism moment:

The media email on the event said the doors opened at 5:00 pm, so being part of the official media for once we arrived about 4:45. The line to get in was strung around three sides of the Louisville convention center and the police had on street blocked off. Of course there was no warning the street was blocked thus causing the mandatory traffic screw up such an event demands.

After paying five bucks to park the car across the street we found the first person wearing an official “CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN” helper badge and asked where the press check-in was located. The wanted to know if we were “special guests.”

“No ma’am we’re the press”, so we were told to go to the end of the building and take a right to the press entrance. After hiking around the building we ended up as the same place without finding a press entrance.

We asked a second helper the same question and got the same answer. They looked confused when we told them they were wrong, so they went for backup with helper number three. Number three actually didn’t know where the entrance was either but he had seen the TV station vans on the street so he guessed the entrance was near them.

Good guess.

After getting past two state troopers by forcefully saying “We’re the Press” (they were underwhelmed), we found two guys sitting at a table under a metal stairway.

The stairway guys wanted to see our Press ID’s; quickly thinking I pulled out a business card with the web site on it. My able assistant said I was too cheap to give her business cards. That coupled with the huge camera she was carrying, the one with the 2 foot lens, did the trick, they knew we were the press.

So, with our press passes safety pinned to our shirts, up the stairs we went to the next level of security. On the landing were a small female officer with the magic airport wand, a large male officer and an even larger dog. After being appropriately frisked by the female guard and assessed as possible dinner by the dog we were allowed into the press section.

The press section covered the rear area of the hall on two sides. There were two sets of risers on each side with two levels on each riser. The one with the best view was given to the national media. The only lights were on the stage and the only bathrooms in the place were in the press section.

Was that a commentary on the media, in the dark and full of it?

Tables were set up for the media, there was no WIFI and the bloggers were at the last table in the corner of the room. The usual gang of suspects was there, PageOne, Bluegrass Roots and Barefoot and Progressive.

Rock music was blaring from the PA system as the mainstream media posed for their cameramen; it was a Ted Baxter moment.

After paying $2.50 a bottle for water, (where was the free beer, wasn’t this a Democratic event), we scoped out the best place to watch the show.

We decided that standing beside the national media riser and pretending to be national media gave us the best view. It is amazing the credibility a camera with a two foot lens can give you.

Then we discovered that not only were the national press guys closer to the stage but they were setup behind the seating for the physically challenged.

As the Seating Nazi who commanded this area told a helper, “If they aren’t in a wheel chair, walker or on crutches don’t let them in.” She did an admirable job of policing her area and allowing only the disabled and one companion was to sit in the area and everyone had to sit down.

After watching the place fill up, signs distributed, a couple of t-shirts flung into the crown, and the petite blond secret service agent, (if everyone in the hall knows what you do, how secret is it?) patrol the stage the show started with Ben Chandler.

After strolling down the runway to the stage Chandler got the crowd riled up, and made a couple of plugs for John Yarmuth and worked the crowd as he left the stage. By the way where the hell was Yarmuth anyway?

Next on the program was Mark Dowd, at least that what I think his name was, anyway we’ll call him Union Guy. Union Guy provided the aw’ shucks factor for the evening. He talked about the cut backs at Ford in Louisville and provided Obama with his union label and did the introduction.
Barack Obama is one hell of a public speaker. Of course it’s easier when you are preaching to the choir. He hit some of the main notes he had previously used in Lexington and some new ones, check out the Herald-Leader story.

During his speech two people fainted. After gently lobbing a $2.50 bottle of water in the general direction of the first casualty, the second one didn’t get the souvenir bottle of water just the EMT’s, he didn’t miss a beat in the speech.

Obama wrapped up the evening with a cheering crowd.

Being in true journalist mode we wrapped up the evening in an Irish Pub.

More photo's here.