John David Dyche: Steve Beshear And The Two Scheming Strikers.
Steve Beshear and the two scheming strikers
"When you strike at a King, you must kill him." Consider Ralph Waldo Emerson's maxim as Gov. Steve Beshear gives his budget address to a General Assembly joint session Tuesday night with Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Republican Senate President David Williams seated behind him on the Kentucky House of Representatives rostrum.
Beshear struck at Williams politically, but failed to kill him. Williams, the most influential person in Kentucky state politics during the decade just past, emerged bolder and more powerful.
Some speculate that Stumbo will challenge Beshear for the gubernatorial nomination next year. But it is hard to see how the man whose prosecutorial partisanship helped bring down the last governor can defeat this one.
Desperate to expand gambling, Beshear sought to swing the Senate by appointing Republican senators to pension-enhancing posts. His strategy backfired when Republican Jimmy Higdon defeated Democrat Jody Haydon in last month's special election for the 14th District Senate seat despite a deluge of Democratic and horse industry dollars. Republican rumblings about Williams' leadership immediately subsided.
Williams had built his reputation as Senate president by repeatedly outmaneuvering House Democrats, protecting his caucus from politically difficult votes and holding GOP members together with very few exceptions. But sounds of disenchantment had become audible after Republicans acquiesced in raising alcohol and tobacco taxes and lost an earlier special Senate election. His leadership tenure suddenly seemed tenuous.
Having beaten Beshear at his own game, the Republican's cleverly conceived constitutional amendment — which would require passage of another amendment to expand gambling — has put the Governor in the awkward position of opposing something he previously supported. Recent statements by some Senate Democrats suggest Beshear was either badly informed or blatantly dishonest about the backing in that chamber for racetrack slots.
Already riled because he believes Beshear used Republican votes for tax hikes against them on the campaign trail, Williams understandably considers the Governer's recent pleas for bipartisanship in tackling the state's budget shortfall to be rank hypocrisy. All this is playing out against the backdrop of a decaying political picture for Democrats nationally.
So Williams has not only survived Beshear's best shot, but is stronger than before. The Governor is further from his solitary political purpose — expanded gambling — than ever. Stumbo should thus be able to commit successful regicide come 2011's Democratic primary, right? Wrong.
Aside from a more colorful personality and more liberal record, Stumbo offers state Democrats nothing better than Beshear does. They have been equally ineffective at expanding gambling, and neither can claim any meaningful victory over the cagey Williams.
Beshear enjoys considerable patronage power as an incumbent governor and is clearly willing to use it. Even as two Democratic U.S. Senate candidates beg for bucks, he has already raised over $1 million in re-election cash, much of it from political appointees.
Jefferson County boasts 18 percent of Kentucky's Democrats. Despite a problem-plagued final term as Louisville's mayor, Beshear's running mate, Jerry Abramson, remains a potent vote-getter in the state's biggest city.
Stumbo won statewide for attorney general in 2003, but Republicans were focused on the governorship and did not attack his many peccadilloes, problems and ethical controversies. Battling for political survival, Beshear would — brutally.
In 2007, Stumbo added little value as Bruce Lunsford's number two. Beshear thrashed their well-funded gubernatorial ticket by 20 percent. The fact that Stumbo deemed that race winnable calls into question his supposedly preternatural political cunning.
Stumbo revels in speculation about being a possible candidate for governor. Perhaps it adds, infinitesimally, to his clout as speaker. But he would badly err by striking at Beshear. He cannot beat him, but would wound him so a Republican — maybe Williams — could finish him off come fall.
Kentucky Educational Television broadcasts Beshear's sure-to-be-bleak budget speech at 7 p.m. EST Tuesday. The network should provide viewers with frequent wide shots showing the entire triumvirate of Beshear and the two scheming strikers poised behind him.
Uneasy, indeed, lies the head that wears this commonwealth's crown.
John David Dyche is a Louisville attorney who writes a political column from time to time in Forum. He is the author of “Republican Leader: A Political Biography of Senator Mitch McConnell.” His views are his own, not those of the law firm in which he practices. Read him on-line at www.courier-journal.com; hise-mail address is: jddyche@yahoo.com.
"When you strike at a King, you must kill him." Consider Ralph Waldo Emerson's maxim as Gov. Steve Beshear gives his budget address to a General Assembly joint session Tuesday night with Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Republican Senate President David Williams seated behind him on the Kentucky House of Representatives rostrum.
Beshear struck at Williams politically, but failed to kill him. Williams, the most influential person in Kentucky state politics during the decade just past, emerged bolder and more powerful.
Some speculate that Stumbo will challenge Beshear for the gubernatorial nomination next year. But it is hard to see how the man whose prosecutorial partisanship helped bring down the last governor can defeat this one.
Desperate to expand gambling, Beshear sought to swing the Senate by appointing Republican senators to pension-enhancing posts. His strategy backfired when Republican Jimmy Higdon defeated Democrat Jody Haydon in last month's special election for the 14th District Senate seat despite a deluge of Democratic and horse industry dollars. Republican rumblings about Williams' leadership immediately subsided.
Williams had built his reputation as Senate president by repeatedly outmaneuvering House Democrats, protecting his caucus from politically difficult votes and holding GOP members together with very few exceptions. But sounds of disenchantment had become audible after Republicans acquiesced in raising alcohol and tobacco taxes and lost an earlier special Senate election. His leadership tenure suddenly seemed tenuous.
Having beaten Beshear at his own game, the Republican's cleverly conceived constitutional amendment — which would require passage of another amendment to expand gambling — has put the Governor in the awkward position of opposing something he previously supported. Recent statements by some Senate Democrats suggest Beshear was either badly informed or blatantly dishonest about the backing in that chamber for racetrack slots.
Already riled because he believes Beshear used Republican votes for tax hikes against them on the campaign trail, Williams understandably considers the Governer's recent pleas for bipartisanship in tackling the state's budget shortfall to be rank hypocrisy. All this is playing out against the backdrop of a decaying political picture for Democrats nationally.
So Williams has not only survived Beshear's best shot, but is stronger than before. The Governor is further from his solitary political purpose — expanded gambling — than ever. Stumbo should thus be able to commit successful regicide come 2011's Democratic primary, right? Wrong.
Aside from a more colorful personality and more liberal record, Stumbo offers state Democrats nothing better than Beshear does. They have been equally ineffective at expanding gambling, and neither can claim any meaningful victory over the cagey Williams.
Beshear enjoys considerable patronage power as an incumbent governor and is clearly willing to use it. Even as two Democratic U.S. Senate candidates beg for bucks, he has already raised over $1 million in re-election cash, much of it from political appointees.
Jefferson County boasts 18 percent of Kentucky's Democrats. Despite a problem-plagued final term as Louisville's mayor, Beshear's running mate, Jerry Abramson, remains a potent vote-getter in the state's biggest city.
Stumbo won statewide for attorney general in 2003, but Republicans were focused on the governorship and did not attack his many peccadilloes, problems and ethical controversies. Battling for political survival, Beshear would — brutally.
In 2007, Stumbo added little value as Bruce Lunsford's number two. Beshear thrashed their well-funded gubernatorial ticket by 20 percent. The fact that Stumbo deemed that race winnable calls into question his supposedly preternatural political cunning.
Stumbo revels in speculation about being a possible candidate for governor. Perhaps it adds, infinitesimally, to his clout as speaker. But he would badly err by striking at Beshear. He cannot beat him, but would wound him so a Republican — maybe Williams — could finish him off come fall.
Kentucky Educational Television broadcasts Beshear's sure-to-be-bleak budget speech at 7 p.m. EST Tuesday. The network should provide viewers with frequent wide shots showing the entire triumvirate of Beshear and the two scheming strikers poised behind him.
Uneasy, indeed, lies the head that wears this commonwealth's crown.
John David Dyche is a Louisville attorney who writes a political column from time to time in Forum. He is the author of “Republican Leader: A Political Biography of Senator Mitch McConnell.” His views are his own, not those of the law firm in which he practices. Read him on-line at www.courier-journal.com; hise-mail address is: jddyche@yahoo.com.
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