"Blinking" at the political "Ok Corral": An analysis of the merit plea deal.

I promised to analyze the merit plea deal and I aim to keep my promise. I shall do so by first stating what the deal provides and then commenting afterwards as deemned appropriate. The plea showed that: The Gov. : (1) acknowledged strong evidence of his administration's wrongdoings with the merit system; (2) accepted responsibility for the wrong doings; (3) recognized the propriety of the AG's investigation and his constitutional duty to do so, and admitted that the investigation has benefitted the commonwealth with a view to preventing future merit system abuses, including an agreement that "[b]oth parties will place no reliance upon the Secretary of the Personnel Cabinet memorandum of May 27, 2005, purporting to validate all merit hires."; and, (4) gets the case against him dismissed WITH PREJUDICE (meaning that the charges against him can NEVER be refiled). The AG: (5) acknowledged that the administration's wrongdoings were without malice (*** Note: a key concession of great legal utility to prevent the Gov. and AG from being sued); (6) gets to be the executive and "appoint" new members of a new personnel board; and (7) ensures that the Gov.'s volunteers will be subject to Executive Board Ethics rules (the Dave Disponnett rule). Both sides agree: (8) to abide by the the provisions of KRS 61.101, et seq. (dealing with public offices and officers); (9) that there will be no more Grand Jury evidence gathering or indictments, though the Grand Jury can still issue a report; and (10) to release each other from any claims from the probe.
I still say the day the plea deal (which almost fell apart) was reached was a good day for Fletcher, as he got Stumbo (who isn't sure he saw all of the evidence) to "blink" during the "showdown". What effect the plea deal will have on Stumbo's and Fletcher's (Grayson and others are nipping at his heel) political futures remain to be seen, though many newspapers are already chimming in. Read the C-J, Hill, Alessi, AP, Beardsley, Crowley, Enquirer, Post, H-L, Cross, Hawpe, C-J2, Glasgow, Gleaner, and others (to follow).