Ernie Fletcher

Dear Editor: Though I was not born in Kentucky, our family has been fortunate to call Kentucky home for 13 of the last 17 years. It is disturbing to see church vans from other states coming to Kentucky on mission trips, as if we are a third-world developing country. It is time for a change. It is disturbing that Kentucky ranks 49th in the United States in high school graduation rate. It is time for a change. It is disturbing that under the current Frankfort regime, insurance companies have left Kentucky in droves and that has resulted in skyrocketing insurance costs for both individuals and businesses.

During a campaign stop in Winchester on Wednesday, Gov. Ernie Fletcher told supporters that after decades of mediocrity from Democrats in Frankfort, his Republican administration is beginning to turn things around. The incumbent, who is running against Democrat Steve Beshear on Nov. 6, addressed about 150 voters in front of Granny's Kitchen on Main Street as part of a campaign bus tour of the region. He reiterated his opposition to expanded gambling and emphasized his achievements since taking office nearly four years ago. Democratic influence in state government allowed Kentucky to remain at the bottom for decades, he said.

Ernie Fletcher is perhaps the best qualified person who has ever sought to become governor of Kentucky. He's been a jet fighter pilot in the military, an engineer, a family physician, a lay minister, a state legislator and a U.S. congressman. He's a family man, still married to his high school sweetheart, Glenna, a registered nurse. He's not a professional politician, but he's enough of a politician to have won three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and to have done an effective job in Washington.

With his latest TV ads, Ernie Fletcher has solidified his well-earned reputation for dishonesty. These ads falsely blame Steve Beshear for the collapse of Kentucky Central Insurance in 1995. Beshear's law firm, Stites and Harbison, was hired by the Kentucky Office of Insurance to work on the liquidation of Kentucky Central's assets. An independent report in 1995 (recently made public) claimed that the law firm had a conflict of interest in the case. Stites and Harbison contested the finding of the report, and the two judges in the case, Richard Revell and William Graham, ruled in favor of Stites and Harbison that there was no conflict of interest.

Dear Editor, It's hard to understand why more than 100,000 people voted for Ernie Fletcher in the last primary election. If Christians do not get to vote yes or no to casino gambling in Kentucky, and if Steve Beshear makes it his number one agenda in his bid for the governorship of Kentucky, then I suppose all Christians who oppose the evils of gambling will vote for Ernie Fletcher as governor next November. Those who are against an expansion of casino gambling have very little choice but to vote for Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

Dear Editor: That Ernie Fletcher may be the most outstanding candidate for governor in decades is no exaggeration. His past achievements demonstrate intellect, discipline, and dedication to helping others. His leadership and life experiences, both in and out of government, are ideally suited to serving the people of Kentucky. Beyond his impressive background, Ernie Fletcher is the type of individual who will restore integrity and honor to the office of governor. Democrats and Republicans agree that our state government is overdue for significant reform.

Dear Editor: I wanted to take a moment to express my support for Ernie Fletcher. I am supporting Ernie for his race for governor of Kentucky not only because he shares the same political affiliation as I, but also for several other reasons. I have known Ernie Fletcher for about seven years. He is a man of integrity and strong moral values. His belief system is very much like my own. As my congressman, he has always worked hard and effectively for those in his congressional district.

Dear Editor: Gov. Ernie Fletcher apparently likes economies for the people and not for himself. With a pastry chef on the payroll (doesn't everyone have at least one?) and a $2,2000 mattress, he is not thinking economies for himself. Tommy Ellis Liberty

Former Boyle County High School student Tagg Jefferson is blogging on Figg Alley today about the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan. May 16-22 is Kentucky Week at the Expo, so Gov. Ernie Fletcher is attending. Check out what Tagg has to say about the Expo.

Dear Editor: This is just to let the people of Kentucky know what a corrupt government we have. When Gov. Ernie Fletcher was running for governor, his main theme was that he was going to "clean up the mess in Frankfort. " When he first started in Frankfort as governor, there was a mess with his budget and with the teacher health insurance program. The driver's license fee went from $8 to $20. The state of Kentucky is deeper in debt than any time in its history. He let his hiring get out of hand by using the good old boy system.

Question: What do oil and water and Kentucky's governor and lieutenant governor have in common? Answer: They don't mix. Follow-up answer: Oil and water have a better chance of mixing than do the state's governor and lieutenant governor. There is a long tradition of Kentucky's governor and lieutenant governor not getting along, and that tradition apparently now will be continued thanks to recent comments purportedly delivered by our current No. 2 guy. A political firestorm was ignited in the state's capital last week with the posting by a blogger on YouTube.

The case involving state funding for a new pharmacy school at the University of the Cumberlands has reached the Kentucky Supreme Court. The state Court of Appeals Dec. 18 granted Cumberland's appeal of a decision handed down last March that prohibited the Baptist-affiliated university from receiving $10 million in state funds to construct a pharmacy school building at the Williamsburg campus. Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Roger Crittenden ruled that the funding and an additional $2 million appropriated for scholarships violated the state constitution as "a direct payment to a non-public religious school for educational purposes.

There hangs a framed certificate on my office wall declaring that "The Honorable Don White is commissioned a Kentucky Colonel. " Prior to about 10:35 a.m. on Nov. 24, I'd never taken the honor seriously. Maybe it had something to do with the fact I'd been commissioned a Colonel by at least three Kentucky governors prior to the latest from Ernie Fletcher. Near as I could tell, being a Colonel, even one commissioned multiple times, hadn't done anything to enhance my life.

Kentucky's legislative and gubernatorial approach to the current budget crisis is disturbing. Their own arguments for raising the cigarette tax contradict themselves. Because of an apparent $456 million budget shortfall, the governor and many members of the legislature are trumpeting the arrival of the long-awaited increase in cigarette tax as the solution to all of our problems. We need to make clear that this budget shortfall does not mean that the state is out of money.

Dear Editor, We must be serious and responsible in facing the threat of global warming. Climate change means drought, diminished food supplies, expanding deserts, violent storms, loss of the coral reef, extinction and forced migration of people. Leland Conway's claim that the threat of global warming is "trumped up" to "scare us into paying higher taxes" and "lining the pockets of Al Gore's green hedge fund," is both implausible and irresponsible. If Conway wants to contradict the conclusions of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, the president, as well as almost all of the major scientific institutions and governments of the world, he ought to name the scientists and studies he is using to draw his conclusions.

During Gov. Steve Beshear's first round of the Frankfort Follies, legislators basically ignored him. So he's been traveling the state trying to ensure that he becomes more relevant before the 2009 General Assembly convenes. The problem: He sounds more and more like his one-term predecessor, Ernie Fletcher. The former governor made similar hops throughout the state during his bid for re-election while sounding a refrain similar to Beshear's: "State government needs more of your hard-earned dollars.

When Basil Turbyfill was pardoned for whatever role he may have played in former Gov. Ernie Fletcher's hiring scandal, the Danville resident believed those matters were behind him. But the Executive Branch Ethics Commission has brought four complaints related to the hiring scandal against Turbyfill, and the former Fletcher official has asked Boyle Circuit Judge Darren Peckler to order them dismissed. "The pardon prevents the ethics commission from going forward with these proceedings," said Turbyfill's attorney, Patrick Nash of Lexington.

You don't need a creative chamber of commerce to tout the historical, cultural and political significance of Boyle and Mercer counties. And you don't need an imaginative tourism person to come up with names for this little piece of the commonwealth. Danville has long billed itself as the "city of firsts" because, among other things, it is where Kentucky's first constitution was developed. Harrodsburg seemingly forever has been known as the "first white settlement west of the Alleghenies.

More than a year ago, I accurately predicted that the 2007 gubernatorial election would be about expanded gambling. Even though our new governor tried to change the subject on the campaign trail, he barely had time to warm his new chair before the wheels of the gaming machine started turning. In fact, it is probably more accurate to say that they had been turning for some time. Before the end of his first week in office, at least one bill had been pre-filed by a legislator to expand gaming and build casinos in Kentucky.