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September 5, 2010

Partisanship sure to increase during 2011 General Assembly

Staff reports The Independent The Daily Independent Sun Sep 05, 2010, 06:00 AM EDT

CATLETTSBURG — With the gubernatorial election still 15 months away, it is much too early to predict whether the Republican team of Senate President David Williams and Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer will nix Gov. Steve Beshear’s bid for re-election with Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson as his running mate, but we do know this: Williams’ early entry into the race for governor just about guarantees little will be accomplished during the 30-day 2011 General Assembly. If you think the constant partisan bickering in the General Assembly has thwarted progress in Kentucky — and it has — just wait until the man who has ruled the Republican-controlled Senate with an iron fist for more than a decade is challenging the governor’s bid for a second term.

Be assured that every major intiative Governor Beshear proposes will die in the Senate without a vote, while the Democrats who control the House of Representatives will support their governor by rejecting any Senate-passed bills supported by Williams. This has nothing to do with the merits of the proposals of Beshear and Williams and what is best for Kentucky. It is just that the Democrats in the House do not want to do anything to help Williams and the Republicans in the Senate will continue to turn thumbs down to Beshear’s major ideas.

Williams and his GOP colleagues already have sucessfully thwarted Governor Beshear’s proposals to expand gambling in Kentucky, even though expanded gambling was a major plank in Beshear’s successful campaign to unseat former Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

When Kentucky for the second time did not receive funding through the U.S. Department of Education’s “Race to the Top” program, Williams was quick to blame Beshear for not pressuring Democratic legislators to endorse Senate-approved legislation to allow charter schools in Kentucky. No doubt Senate Republicans again will be pushing charter school legislation in 2011, but with Williams playing politics with this issue in 2010, he has greatly reduced the already long chances of any charter school bill being adopted by the 2011 General Assembly.

The same can be said for Williams’ proposals on tort reform, school testing and any other issues the senator proposes. By the same token, any legislative proposals by Beshear seems certain to die in the Senate.

Partisan bickering already has caused the General Assembly to three times end its 60-day sessions without enacting a budget. Fortunately, the budget is not on the agenda for 2011.

Expect the General Assembly to accomplish nothing of significance in 2011, but legislators may find time to name bridges after constituents and debate what should be the official soft drink or candy bar in Kentucky.

The 2011 legislative session will occur while the race for governor is in full swing. While at this point Beshear and Williams are heavy favorites to win their parties’ nominations for governor, we’ve learned to take nothing for granted. After all, at this point a year ago, we thought Secretary of State Trey Grayson and Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo would be vying this November for Jim Bunning’s seat in the U.S. Senate. While we knew Attorney General Jack Conway could defeat Mongiardo in the Democratic primary about all we knew about Rand Paul a year ago is that he was th son of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., a former candidate for president.

While we don’t see any outsiders emerging to seriously challenge the nominations of Beshear and Williams, stranger things have happened. And neither Beshear nor Williams have done Conway and Paul any favors. By already launching their campaigns for governor, they are diverting attention — and campaign contributions — from this November’s Senate race and guaranteeing that the next campaign for governor will be exceedingly long.

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Editorials

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