What are they REALLY saying?: Campaign finance.
This is the continuing series in the H-L gubernatorial debate, this time the issue is campaign finance.
In this installment, Democrat Steve Beshear and Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher answer a question posed by Pol Watchers. On Friday, they'll answer a question submitted by the opposing campaign. All answers must be 100 words or less.
Question:
Do you support or oppose the following: public financing for statewide political races; mandatory electronic filing of campaign contribution and expense reports; and a requirement that donations be disclosed 60, 30 and 15 days before each election?
Fletcher's answer:
Unlike my opponent, who favors welfare for politicians by spending taxpayer dollars on campaign bumper stickers, balloons, and attack ads, I strongly oppose public financing of campaigns. Public campaign financing is not a wise use of taxpayer funds.
Additionally, I'm in favor of electronic filing and full disclosure of campaign contributions and would support the specified reporting schedule. While my opponent will ignore my compliance with the law regarding the legal fund, he conveniently disregarded public interest in disclosure when he paid $100,000 to bury a secret investigation into his ethical lapses that contributed to the collapse of Kentucky Central.
Beshear's answer:
Kentucky already has public financing of campaigns -- at least, Ernie Fletcher's. He has used taxpayer money to finance his campaign travels and campaign presentations -- not to mention taxpayer funding of high-priced lawyers to defend his administration's criminal actions. What's worse than his abuse of public funds is his private funding. He won't reveal the secret donors to his criminal defense fund and what they got in return. Fletcher is the poster child for the need to take special interest money out of campaigns and require greater disclosure.
My view? John Stamper's fact check below is enough for now.
Fact Check:
Fletcher's assertion that Beshear "paid $100,000 to bury a secret investigation into his ethical lapses that contributed to the collapse of Kentucky Central" is a double whopper with cheese.
Whopper 1: Beshear himself did not pay for the ethics investigation into his former law firm's actions in the Kentucky Central Life Insurance Co. case. The bill was paid by the law firm, Stites & Harbison, which requested that the report be kept confidential.
Whopper 2: It was a Franklin Circuit Judge, William Graham, who ultimately decided that the report should remain secret -- not Beshear. Beshear has said in recent weeks that he wants the report released publicly. The Herald-Leader and Courier-Journal have asked Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate to release the report.
The Cheese: Given the facts known today, the claim that "ethical lapses" by Beshear contributed to the downfall of Kentucky Central is, at best, an oversimplification of the issue. The state had already taken control of Kentucky Central, which had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in real-estate deals that soured, when Stites & Harbison was hired in 1993 to help rehabilitate the company. John F. Rampulla III, who was in charge of Kentucky Central's mortgage department, summed up the company's fatal errors in a Feb. 23, 1998, deposition. "Basically, they converted an insurance company into a savings and loan," he said. It is true that Beshear ultimately argued that the company should be liquidated rather than rehabilitated, but that decision was not made by him. It is also true that Stites & Harbison allegedly offered advice to the Bank of Louisville regarding the sale of $15 million in securities that presumably could have otherwise been used to help stabilize Kentucky Central. However, $15 million was a relatively small amount of money for the company, which had more than $42 billion worth of life insurance policies. Also, the state eventually recouped $27 million from the Bank of Louisville in a 2002 settlement.
Here you have it, the candidates' answers, in their own words -- deciphered, but this time it comes to you with WHOPPERS (with Cheese -- I do NOT know how John Stamper knows that my favorite hamburger is the Whopper with cheese).
In this installment, Democrat Steve Beshear and Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher answer a question posed by Pol Watchers. On Friday, they'll answer a question submitted by the opposing campaign. All answers must be 100 words or less.
Question:
Do you support or oppose the following: public financing for statewide political races; mandatory electronic filing of campaign contribution and expense reports; and a requirement that donations be disclosed 60, 30 and 15 days before each election?
Fletcher's answer:
Unlike my opponent, who favors welfare for politicians by spending taxpayer dollars on campaign bumper stickers, balloons, and attack ads, I strongly oppose public financing of campaigns. Public campaign financing is not a wise use of taxpayer funds.
Additionally, I'm in favor of electronic filing and full disclosure of campaign contributions and would support the specified reporting schedule. While my opponent will ignore my compliance with the law regarding the legal fund, he conveniently disregarded public interest in disclosure when he paid $100,000 to bury a secret investigation into his ethical lapses that contributed to the collapse of Kentucky Central.
Beshear's answer:
Kentucky already has public financing of campaigns -- at least, Ernie Fletcher's. He has used taxpayer money to finance his campaign travels and campaign presentations -- not to mention taxpayer funding of high-priced lawyers to defend his administration's criminal actions. What's worse than his abuse of public funds is his private funding. He won't reveal the secret donors to his criminal defense fund and what they got in return. Fletcher is the poster child for the need to take special interest money out of campaigns and require greater disclosure.
My view? John Stamper's fact check below is enough for now.
Fact Check:
Fletcher's assertion that Beshear "paid $100,000 to bury a secret investigation into his ethical lapses that contributed to the collapse of Kentucky Central" is a double whopper with cheese.
Whopper 1: Beshear himself did not pay for the ethics investigation into his former law firm's actions in the Kentucky Central Life Insurance Co. case. The bill was paid by the law firm, Stites & Harbison, which requested that the report be kept confidential.
Whopper 2: It was a Franklin Circuit Judge, William Graham, who ultimately decided that the report should remain secret -- not Beshear. Beshear has said in recent weeks that he wants the report released publicly. The Herald-Leader and Courier-Journal have asked Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate to release the report.
The Cheese: Given the facts known today, the claim that "ethical lapses" by Beshear contributed to the downfall of Kentucky Central is, at best, an oversimplification of the issue. The state had already taken control of Kentucky Central, which had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in real-estate deals that soured, when Stites & Harbison was hired in 1993 to help rehabilitate the company. John F. Rampulla III, who was in charge of Kentucky Central's mortgage department, summed up the company's fatal errors in a Feb. 23, 1998, deposition. "Basically, they converted an insurance company into a savings and loan," he said. It is true that Beshear ultimately argued that the company should be liquidated rather than rehabilitated, but that decision was not made by him. It is also true that Stites & Harbison allegedly offered advice to the Bank of Louisville regarding the sale of $15 million in securities that presumably could have otherwise been used to help stabilize Kentucky Central. However, $15 million was a relatively small amount of money for the company, which had more than $42 billion worth of life insurance policies. Also, the state eventually recouped $27 million from the Bank of Louisville in a 2002 settlement.
Here you have it, the candidates' answers, in their own words -- deciphered, but this time it comes to you with WHOPPERS (with Cheese -- I do NOT know how John Stamper knows that my favorite hamburger is the Whopper with cheese).
Labels: Keeping them honest
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 1:45 PM
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