Joseph Gerth Has Asked The Question On Many People's Minds: Is [Kentucky House Speaker] Stumbo Aiming Higher?
Is Stumbo aiming higher?
By Joseph Gerth
FRANKFORT, Ky. — This column was shaping up to be about how gleeful Senate President David Williams was after the Rev. Hershael York, who campaigned in 2007 for former Gov. Ernie Fletcher, preached against expanded gambling when he gave the invocation before Gov. Steve Beshear's State of the Commonwealth address last Wednesday.
It probably would have talked about the speech Sen. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, delivered on the Senate Floor on Thursday, excoriating York, whom Williams had invited to speak. And it might have even compared the prayer to being invited to a backyard cookout and then lecturing the host about killing animals for food.
All of that changed in the minutes after Beshear's speech, when the governor was wounded by one of his own, with harsh words that undoubtedly sent a chill wind rushing down to the Capitol's first floor.
It's not unusual for Williams, the Cumberland County Republican who has been nicknamed “The Bully from Burkesville,” to beat up on Beshear.
But what was interesting on Wednesday was a press conference with Williams and House Speaker Greg Stumbo. It had the feel of a tag-team wrestling match.
Call him “The Prestonsburg Pulverizer” or maybe, “The Floyd County Flogger.”
It was Stumbo — the Democrat from Eastern Kentucky's mountains — who delivered the hardest blow to Beshear.
He did it in responding to Williams' claim that Beshear “hasn't developed a relationship that I've seen in the House or the Senate to where he is an effective person.”
Stumbo didn't disagree with Williams and went on to liken Beshear more to former Gov. Brereton Jones (who famously couldn't get along with legislators) than to former Gov. Paul Patton (who could), and he refused to endorse Beshear for a second term.
Patton “ran the governor's office like an old county judge's office. … You didn't have to have an appointment to get in, you could call him and he'd answer your questions,” Stumbo said. “He began developing a consensus early on, on key issues. … This governor obviously has a different style.”
And he said Beshear is more like Jones than Patton and former governors Wallace Wilkinson and Martha Layne Collins, who he said had some “sort of reaching out to the legislature.”
Of Beshear, he said, the governor has “ruffled some feathers, which one would have to have blinders on to say that he hasn't.”
And then came the hardest shot of all.
When asked if Beshear had earned a second term, Stumbo fidgeted and said, “I don't have any comment on that.”
It wasn't the first time that Stumbo has undercut Beshear with his public statements. And it wouldn't be his last.
He recently said the legislature needs to look at comprehensive tax reform, just days after Beshear has ruled it out. And then on Thursday, Stumbo suggested that he would offer his own plan to spend revenue from expanded gambling if Beshear includes money from slot machines at race tracks in his budget.
All of that has heightened speculation that Stumbo is gearing up to challenge Beshear in the 2011 Democratic primary for governor.
Stumbo denied he has any interest in taking on Beshear — hiking up his suit pant leg to show off his new, custom-made alligator skin cowboy boots that have the Kentucky state seal and the word “Speaker” embroidered on them. “I can't afford another pair of boots like this,” he said, reluctant to say flat out that he would not run. “I have no plans at all to run for the governor's office.”
But by refusing to say if Beshear has warranted a second term, Stumbo appears to be keeping his options open. And a “no” from Stumbo doesn't always mean “no.”
Three months before he launched his effort to unseat Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, as House speaker, Stumbo said this: “A lot of people talk to me privately about seeking that position. … But I don't have any plans to run against Jody at this time.”
By Joseph Gerth
FRANKFORT, Ky. — This column was shaping up to be about how gleeful Senate President David Williams was after the Rev. Hershael York, who campaigned in 2007 for former Gov. Ernie Fletcher, preached against expanded gambling when he gave the invocation before Gov. Steve Beshear's State of the Commonwealth address last Wednesday.
It probably would have talked about the speech Sen. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, delivered on the Senate Floor on Thursday, excoriating York, whom Williams had invited to speak. And it might have even compared the prayer to being invited to a backyard cookout and then lecturing the host about killing animals for food.
All of that changed in the minutes after Beshear's speech, when the governor was wounded by one of his own, with harsh words that undoubtedly sent a chill wind rushing down to the Capitol's first floor.
It's not unusual for Williams, the Cumberland County Republican who has been nicknamed “The Bully from Burkesville,” to beat up on Beshear.
But what was interesting on Wednesday was a press conference with Williams and House Speaker Greg Stumbo. It had the feel of a tag-team wrestling match.
Call him “The Prestonsburg Pulverizer” or maybe, “The Floyd County Flogger.”
It was Stumbo — the Democrat from Eastern Kentucky's mountains — who delivered the hardest blow to Beshear.
He did it in responding to Williams' claim that Beshear “hasn't developed a relationship that I've seen in the House or the Senate to where he is an effective person.”
Stumbo didn't disagree with Williams and went on to liken Beshear more to former Gov. Brereton Jones (who famously couldn't get along with legislators) than to former Gov. Paul Patton (who could), and he refused to endorse Beshear for a second term.
Patton “ran the governor's office like an old county judge's office. … You didn't have to have an appointment to get in, you could call him and he'd answer your questions,” Stumbo said. “He began developing a consensus early on, on key issues. … This governor obviously has a different style.”
And he said Beshear is more like Jones than Patton and former governors Wallace Wilkinson and Martha Layne Collins, who he said had some “sort of reaching out to the legislature.”
Of Beshear, he said, the governor has “ruffled some feathers, which one would have to have blinders on to say that he hasn't.”
And then came the hardest shot of all.
When asked if Beshear had earned a second term, Stumbo fidgeted and said, “I don't have any comment on that.”
It wasn't the first time that Stumbo has undercut Beshear with his public statements. And it wouldn't be his last.
He recently said the legislature needs to look at comprehensive tax reform, just days after Beshear has ruled it out. And then on Thursday, Stumbo suggested that he would offer his own plan to spend revenue from expanded gambling if Beshear includes money from slot machines at race tracks in his budget.
All of that has heightened speculation that Stumbo is gearing up to challenge Beshear in the 2011 Democratic primary for governor.
Stumbo denied he has any interest in taking on Beshear — hiking up his suit pant leg to show off his new, custom-made alligator skin cowboy boots that have the Kentucky state seal and the word “Speaker” embroidered on them. “I can't afford another pair of boots like this,” he said, reluctant to say flat out that he would not run. “I have no plans at all to run for the governor's office.”
But by refusing to say if Beshear has warranted a second term, Stumbo appears to be keeping his options open. And a “no” from Stumbo doesn't always mean “no.”
Three months before he launched his effort to unseat Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, as House speaker, Stumbo said this: “A lot of people talk to me privately about seeking that position. … But I don't have any plans to run against Jody at this time.”
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