Paducah Sun Takes Another WHACK At Greg Stumbo.

The Paducah Sun/Editorial
CHANGE?
Local representatives naive about Stumbo

“I’ve known Greg for a long time, and even though some of us from western Kentucky supported Jody, (Stumbo) understands that and won’t hold a grudge.”

Fred Nesler
Representative from Mayfield

We wish we shared Mike Cherry’s optimism.
The state representative from Princeton says Greg’s Stumbo’s victory in the race for speaker of the House won’t hurt western Kentucky. Even though Stumbo’s victory now means all the House leadership hails from east of the Purchase, Rep. Cherry is confident that this end of the state will still get its “fair share.” Mm-hmm.
Of course, Cherry also predicted Stumbo’s challenge would fall short. As did Reps. Fred Nesler of Mayfield and Rep. Will Coursey of Benton. All three not only supported incumbent Jody Richards, speaker since 1995, but voiced confidence that
Richards would win re-election. Handily.
Memo to the local Democratic delegation: Greg Stumbo plays to win. And he doesn’t appreciate those who stand in his way.

Nesler said, “I’ve known Greg for a long time, and even though some of us from western Kentucky supported Jody, (Stumbo) understands that and won’t hold a grudge.”
We wouldn’t bank on that. This is Greg Stumbo. He kicks you-know-what and takes names. If you don’t think he’ll remember those who opposed him, let us refresh your memory on the new king of the House.

Stumbo interrupted his long tenure in the House — he was first elected in 1980 — with four years as state attorney general. His two chief accomplishments as the state’s top law enforcement officer were: 1. Chasing a Republican governor out of office, and 2. Establishing his own police agency -— the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation — affectionately nicknamed “Stumbo’s KGB.”

The latter achievement was such a blatant abuse of law enforcement authority to advance partisan purposes that Stumbo’s successor, fellow Democrat Jack Conway, disbanded the rogue agency as soon as he took office, replacing it with the Department of Criminal Investigations, an agency that actually investigates crime.
Rep. Coursey said Stumbo’s election was “just a continuation of last year’s election when people wanted change.”

This is change?

On the contrary, Stumbo is a throwback to the bad old days of political patronage and back-room brawls, including years when he was House majority floor leader. And during his brief tenure as attorney general, he used the office to bring down a governor from the opposing party for the crime of, well, being in the opposing party. Gov. Fletcher was pursued by Stumbo for the offense of trying to hire members of his own party into state jobs for which they qualified.

Fletcher was not corrupt; he was inept, which meant he was no match for someone with Stumbo’s take-no-prisoners style. If the probe had really been about misconduct, Stumbo would not have dropped the charges against the governor but would have carried the job to completion. There was no need; the attorney general had already accomplished the real goal of his “investigation,” which was to leave the governor (whose job Stumbo later admitted he coveted) no longer electable.

The new speaker of the House was not elected because he represents change. He was elected as a reward for ousting Fletcher. Oh, and he probably picked up the votes of a few lawmakers from other parts of the state who weren’t willing to risk landing on Greg Stumbo’s bad side.

The political skills of Reps. Cherry, Nesler and Coursey are about to be tested. If western Kentucky depends on Greg Stumbo’s capacity to forgive political opposition — or even his general good will — we’re in trouble.