"Public Policy Made In Private".
Public policy made in private
For anyone who has spent a few frustrating hours sorting out a home budget, it's a little hard to figure how members of the Kentucky House of Representatives were able to get a handle on the $3.7 billion road plan developed in secret and presented to them only a day before they were asked to vote on it.
But apparently that wasn't cause for concern as it zipped through Friday morning, 94 to 3.
Score 1 for asphalt and political deal making; 0 for accountability, transparency and rational decision making.
Powerful leaders got pet projects; compliant followers who support leadership got plums for their areas, and the rest of us pay the bill although we can only guess how it came into being.
There's blame in this secret spending plan for the administration of Gov. Steve Beshear, too. Transportation Cabinet officials, who just a few months ago were touting their "practical solutions" approach to building and upgrading only what we need, not what some politicians want, were part of the secret deal-making. So, suddenly a change order on a project in the district of Sen. President David Williams, R-Burkesville, that had been approved in the waning days of the Fletcher administration only to be canceled by Beshear's Transportation Cabinet, is back on track. It went back in at $16 million although it was slated at $11.9 million in January 2008, when Transportation Secretary Joe Prather balked at the cost.
New House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, who campaigned for his leadership post promising change and openness, benefited from the closed-door haggling, too. His home district picked up a $20 million project when the dust settled.
As Prather noted when he rolled out "practical solutions," building the roads we need where we need them — as opposed to lavish, overbuilt projects in places with little traffic — is about saving lives as well as money. If the discussion about which projects would land in this $3.7 billion building spree had been about cost, safety and traffic counts it could have been in the open. We could all have watched an honest discussion about what Kentucky needs and what it can afford.
But that's not the way it worked. Score 0 for us.
For anyone who has spent a few frustrating hours sorting out a home budget, it's a little hard to figure how members of the Kentucky House of Representatives were able to get a handle on the $3.7 billion road plan developed in secret and presented to them only a day before they were asked to vote on it.
But apparently that wasn't cause for concern as it zipped through Friday morning, 94 to 3.
Score 1 for asphalt and political deal making; 0 for accountability, transparency and rational decision making.
Powerful leaders got pet projects; compliant followers who support leadership got plums for their areas, and the rest of us pay the bill although we can only guess how it came into being.
There's blame in this secret spending plan for the administration of Gov. Steve Beshear, too. Transportation Cabinet officials, who just a few months ago were touting their "practical solutions" approach to building and upgrading only what we need, not what some politicians want, were part of the secret deal-making. So, suddenly a change order on a project in the district of Sen. President David Williams, R-Burkesville, that had been approved in the waning days of the Fletcher administration only to be canceled by Beshear's Transportation Cabinet, is back on track. It went back in at $16 million although it was slated at $11.9 million in January 2008, when Transportation Secretary Joe Prather balked at the cost.
New House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, who campaigned for his leadership post promising change and openness, benefited from the closed-door haggling, too. His home district picked up a $20 million project when the dust settled.
As Prather noted when he rolled out "practical solutions," building the roads we need where we need them — as opposed to lavish, overbuilt projects in places with little traffic — is about saving lives as well as money. If the discussion about which projects would land in this $3.7 billion building spree had been about cost, safety and traffic counts it could have been in the open. We could all have watched an honest discussion about what Kentucky needs and what it can afford.
But that's not the way it worked. Score 0 for us.
Labels: Keeping them honest, Kentucky politics
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 9:13 AM
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