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Editorial: Poll boosts Fletcher's efforts to improve state government

February 12, 2004

Despite the recent outcry from Democrats and various special interest groups across the state, it appears that Kentuckians as a whole support Gov. Ernie Fletcher's handling of the state budget crisis.

The Louisville Courier-Journal's Bluegrass Poll released over the weekend showed that 61 percent of Kentuckians favored the governor's plan for cutting the state budget rather than raising taxes. Only 26 percent favored raising taxes.

On another issue that was a centerpiece of Fletcher's campaign for governor - limits on awards in medical malpractice cases - the Bluegrass Poll also showed strong public support. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed for the poll favor limits, according to The Courier-Journal, while only 24 percent said there should be no limit.

Actually, these figures should come as no surprise. It was only three months ago that Kentuckians gave Fletcher an overwhelming victory, and they should have had no doubts that he would work to make state government more efficient and that he was in favor of a constitutional amendment to limit malpractice awards.

The governor's critics, however, have done their best over the past month to make the argument that Fletcher didn't have a mandate to hold the line on taxes and state government spending. A recent letter writer said Fletcher should listen to what the "majority" of Kentuckians want. It would appear that that majority is opposed to increasing taxes.

To be fair, the Louisville newspaper's poll also indicated that Kentuckians do not want to see cuts in education and Medicaid funding - an unrealistic expectation in the light of the fact that those two areas consume nearly half of the state budget. By the same token, we would admit, it also might be unrealistic to expect the state to get through the current budget crisis without a tax increase.

But elections have to mean something. The Bluegrass Poll is further confirmation that when Kentuckians sent Fletcher to Frankfort they were voting for a change in the way the state does business. It would be a violation of the trust the voters placed in him if he abandoned efforts to improve the operations of state government the first time he started to take some heat from some Democrats and special interest groups.

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