DAVID WILLIAMS SPEAKS FOR THE FIRST AFTER APPOINTMENT AS A CIRCUIT JUDGE BY GOVERNOR STEVE BESHEAR. WATCH VIDEO.

MORE KENTUCKY NEWS: KENTUCKY GOVERNOR, STEVE BESHEAR, MAKES AN EXPECTED MOVE AND APPOINTS HIS POLITICAL NEMESIS, SENATOR DAVID WILLIAMS, CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE. A WISE SMART MOVE FOR BOTH MEN.

Kentucky Senate President David Williams appointed as circuit judge

In a move that dramatically changes Frankfort’s political landscape, Gov. Steve Beshear on Friday appointed his political nemesis David Williams as a circuit judge.

The appointment, which takes effect Nov. 2, was made in an executive order released by the Secretary of State’s Office on Friday afternoon.

It marks the end of Williams’ 27-year legislative career and nearly 13 years where he was often Frankfort’s dominant political force as president of the state Senate.

“Senator Williams is an experienced lawyer and is familiar with the district, having represented the area in the legislature for more than 20 years,” Beshear said in a statement Friday afternoon.

The move came as a result of the unexpected death on Sept. 17 of Eddie C. Lovelace, circuit judge for Clinton, Cumberland and Monroe counties.

Williams, an attorney, is from Cumberland County. Initial speculation of Williams’ interest in an appointment to fill the vacancy, and Beshear’s interest in appointing him, evolved over the ensuing weeks into a widely accepted belief in political circles that Beshear would appoint Williams.

On Thursday a judicial nominating commission nominated Williams and two others for the appointment.

And Beshear, who had 60 days to make the appointment, pulled the trigger Friday.

The appointment is for two years remaining in Lovelace’s term.

Williams, 59, of Burkesville, was first elected to the House in 1984 followed by election to the Senate for seven terms. In 2000, he was elected by a new Republican majority as Senate president — a title he has held until Friday.

He and Democrat Beshear have clashed bitterly and repeatedly since Beshear’s first election as governor in 2007.

Last year Williams won his party’s nomination for governor and ran to prevent Beshear from winning a second term. But Beshear won re-election in a landslide, capturing 56 percent of the vote to 35 percent for Williams with the remaining 9 percent going to the late Gatewood Galbraith, an independent.

Williams’ departure from the legislature creates a vacancy both in the Senate’s 16th District (Clinton, Cumberland, McCreary, Monroe, Wayne and Whitley counties) and in the Senate presidency.

Senate Republicans, virtually certain to retain a majority in the chamber after November’s elections, will choose a new president during the first days of the 2013 regular session in January.

The governor will call a special election to fill the vacancy in Williams’ Senate seat. Candidates will be selected by Republican and Democratic organizations within the district.

Under a 2005 law that Williams supported, legislators who move on to a higher-paying job in the other branches can use the higher salary of the new job as the basis for their legislative pensions.

READ THE EXECUTIVE ORDER MAKING THE APPOINTMENT.

Editorial: Acrimony Poisons Session And Sstate

Editorial | Acrimony poisons session and state

Despite itself, the General Assembly ended the 2012 special legislative session with mission accomplished.

Lawmakers finally funded the state road plan and passed the so-called “pill mill bill” Friday after both measures died a lingering death in the final hours in the regular session. That prompted Gov. Steve Beshear to recall the legislature to Frankfort to finish the job.

And they did — promptly passing in five days what they failed to do in 60. Lawmakers even completed their work just after 5 p.m. Friday, avoiding the pointless exercise of grinding fruitlessly away until midnight, as they have done in the past.

None of this bodes well for next year.

Kentucky’s needs are urgent and well-documented.

In a state with an aging population, increasing numbers of low-income seniors go on waiting lists for basic services such as Meals on Wheels.

Health indicators are miserable, ranging from high rates of cancer, diabetes and heart disease to deplorable rates of tooth decay and disease, starting with toddlers and ending with toothless adults.

Students at public colleges and universities are enduring repeated hikes in tuition at a time when college degrees are no longer optional for meaningful employment.

And most state agencies that serve the public will face another round of budget cuts this year as lawmakers refuse even to consider tax reform that could bring the state desperately needed revenue.

Williams is fond of advising others in Frankfort to take a deep breath and calm down.

Maybe he could join them in that effort as they consider how to put the state ahead of their own petty grudges and goals. Maybe they could exhibit vision, leadership and, while they’re at it, statesmanship.

And maybe the next legislative session could end with a landmark accomplishment or two that have been sorely missing from recent legislative sessions.

And perhaps they could achieve all this in a regular session, so the taxpayers don’t have to fund special sessions at a cost of $60,000 a day.

As a result, funds will continue for Kentucky’s road projects, including critical funding for the Ohio River Bridges Project.

Kentucky now has a bill meant to crack down on the flow of addictive prescription drugs in a state where overdose deaths have reached an estimated 1,000 people per year and where the scourge of addiction is tied inextricably to crime, violence and child abuse deaths and injuries.

Gov. Steve Beshear signed House Bill 1, the pill mill legislation, Tuesday. It takes effect July 12.

And Kentucky and its citizens likely are free from further legislative mischief until lawmakers return in January.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that this year’s regular session and the special session both ended in the partisan acrimony that has poisoned the General Assembly in recent years.

The regular session collapsed on the final day at 11:59 p.m. amid bickering between leaders in the Senate, controlled by Republicans — chief among them Senate President David Williams — and Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat.

Beshear, the Democrat who beat Williams in last year’s governor’s race, accused Williams of “rank partisanship” and greed over his failed attempt to stuff extra road construction projects into his district.

Williams, in turn, called Beshear a “a small, petty, vindictive individual.” Williams closed the special session in his typical, gracious way with an angry speech, calling House Democrats “saps.”

In The FEUD Between Steve Beshear And David Williams Over Vetoed Projects In His District, Beshear Appears Victorious And Kentucky's "Annual Special" Session Ends.

Kentucky special session ends with passed transportation budget, pill mill bill Legislators wrap up both issues left hanging earlier Written by Tom Loftus and Mike Wynn FRANKFORT, KY. — Eager to avoid a second week, Kentucky legislators ended their special session Friday after five days, successfully hammering out an agreement on a transportation budget and a bill to fight prescription drug abuse. Neither the House nor the Senate got everything it wanted, but Friday’s agreements resolved the two issues that prompted Gov. Steve Beshear to angrily call legislators back to work after the regular session collapsed April 12 over transportation funding. In the end, the Senate wasn’t able to restore Beshear’s vetoed funding for road projects in and near Senate President David Williams’ district. And the House didn’t get a provision in the prescription-drug bill that would have moved a drug-tracking system from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to the attorney general’s office. Nonetheless, the two sides that spent most of the regular session sniping at one another found enough common ground to adjourn the session on the fifth day, the minimum number needed to pass legislation. But it still cost taxpayers roughly $300,000 — about $60,000 per day. “I am thrilled, and Kentuckians should be as well, that the General Assembly joined with me in taking a giant step forward in addressing one of the biggest problems facing our people — prescription drug abuse,” Beshear said in a statement after the session ended. In the Senate’s final hours it was Williams who made the motion to drop the amendment to restore his road project funding, after the House ruled they could not be considered as part of the special session’s limited agenda. Williams, R-Burkesville, said Beshear did not have to veto the $50 million of projects that Williams had put in the plan, because he could have simply chosen not to build them. “It was just an act of vindictiveness, defiance, and maybe he’s gotten that out of his bloodstream,” Williams said. “I hope he has.” For his part, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said he had hoped a stronger version of the prescription drug bill could have passed. Still he called the approved version a “major step forward” and said he expected Beshear would use his executive powers to address issues the bill excluded. Stalled over road projects Beshear called the special session because the Senate had refused to pass the transportation budget during the regular session. The transportation budget is needed to pay for road projects and other state transportation programs when the new fiscal year begins July 1. Beshear added the prescription-pill bill to the agenda after it died in the Senate on the last day of the regular session. The antipathy between Williams and Beshear reached a head Wednesday when Beshear signed into law a six-year road construction plan passed by the legislature — but only after vetoing $50 million of projects in Williams’ district in south-central Kentucky. Beshear accused Williams of greed by bumping his projects ahead of others by changing their funding sources. Williams accused Beshear of vindictiveness and said the governor should seek counseling. During Friday’s debate on a transportation budget that would fund the road plan, Sen. Vernie McGaha, R-Russell Springs, said two of the 11 projects vetoed were in his Russell County district, which adjoins Williams’ district. “We do have Kentucky citizens living down there …,” McGaha said. “And I take great offense at (these projects) being called an act of greed.” The battle over pills The approved version of House Bill 1 to combat so-called “pill mills” was the result of a last-ditch deal that removed its most controversial provision. The House and Senate clashed for weeks over how best to use the state’s prescription tracking system — known as Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting, or KASPER — in drug investigations. Data from the program can help identify doctors who prescribe excessive amounts of pain medication, fueling a drug epidemic that kills 1,000 Kentuckians each year. The final version of HB 1 mandates that doctors who prescribe schedule II and III narcotics participate in KASPER and run regular reports on patients. It also stipulates that pain clinics be owned by licensed physicians. But the two chambers could never reach a compromise on transferring KASPER from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to the attorney general. Sen. Tom Jensen, a London Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said lawmakers were concerned in the end about giving the attorney general unlimited authority to run KASPER reports that are tantamount to “fishing expeditions.” “We want to protect innocent people’s rights and medical records,” he said. “I think it has a chilling effect on doctors that say, ‘Gosh, I’m going to be looked at every time I prescribe a controlled substance.’ ” Even so, Stumbo said Friday he expects Beshear to act aggressively to accomplish some of the goals left out in the final version of the bill. When asked by reporters if Beshear can move KASPER using an executive order, Stumbo replied that the governor has broad reorganizational powers. “The governor, I believe, is really serious about this problem,” he said.

Senate Panel Votes To Restore Road Projects In David Williams' District Vetoed By Steve Beshear, Full Senate To Follow Suit; What Will The House And Steve Beshear Do Next?

Senate panel puts Williams' vetoed projects into transportation budget
By Beth Musgrave

FRANKFORT — The Senate budget committee added about $50 million in road projects to the Transportation Cabinet's operating budget Thursday for Senate President David Williams' Southern Kentucky district.

If the changes become law, which seems unlikely, they would reverse Gov. Steve Beshear's decision Wednesday to veto the road projects from a different bill that contains the state's two-year road plan.

The committee approved House Bill 2, the Transportation Cabinet's operating budget, but added Williams' road projects as an amendment to the bill. The bill will be voted on Friday by the full Senate.

Sen. Robert Leeper, I-Paducah, said the measure was an amendment and could be defeated in the full Senate without killing the bill. The House also could choose not to accept the amendment. Or, if the House approves the changes, Beshear could again veto the projects.

Leeper, who sponsored the amendment, said that an article in Thursday's Lexington Herald-Leader showed that Democratic House leaders' districts received more money per capita in the road plan than Williams' district did.

Before Beshear vetoed the projects, a Herald-Leader analysis showed that Williams' six-county district would have gotten $1,017 per person in road spending, compared to $2,411 per person in House Speaker Greg Stumbo's district and $5,259 per person in House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins' district. After the vetoes, Williams' district will get roughly $700 per person, Williams said Wednesday night.

Adding the vetoed road projects into the transportation budget seemed fair, Leeper said. He said Williams did not urge him to sponsor the amendment.

The transportation operating budget, HB 2, was one of two pieces of legislation that the General Assembly is considering during the special legislative session, which began Monday at a cost of $60,000 a day to taxpayers.

Beshear called the special session after the Republican Senate refused to pass the transportation operating budget on April 12, the last day of the regular 60-day law-making session. Williams wanted Beshear to sign the two-year road plan before the Senate voted on the operating budget. Beshear refused to sign the two-year road plan on the 12th, saying he needed more time to analyze the 400-page document.

Beshear signed the road plan Wednesday, but not before line-item vetoing several projects in or near Williams' district.

Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, said after Thursday's vote that the legislature appeared to be heading in the wrong direction as an institution.

"I can't say this is our finest hour," Neal said. "I am hopeful that we don't extend this any more than it's already been extended."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/19/2157209/senate-panel-puts-williams-vetoed.html#storylink=cpy

But In Kentucky Despite The Veto Pen STAB, Money For Other Democratic Leader's Road Projects PALES In Comparison To David Williams'.

Money for roads in Williams' district pales in comparison to House leaders
By John Cheves

Gov. Steve Beshear blamed Senate President David Williams' "greed" last week after Williams added tens of millions of dollars in spending for his district to the state's two-year road plan. Meanwhile, Williams criticized Beshear for not signing the plan into law hours after legislative leaders hammered out a compromise version and delivered it to the governor.

A week after the regular legislative session ended in failure because of this impasse, the facts don't entirely support either man.

Though Williams, R-Burkesville, did try to fatten short-term road spending in his district, which includes six rural counties along the Tennessee state line, what he awarded himself pales in comparison to the asphalt anticipated by House Democratic leaders, who get first crack at the governor's road plan and share the governor's party affiliation.

From 2012 through 2014, the road plan the legislature approved last Thursday would have spent $115 million in Williams' district, or $1,017 per person. Floyd County, home of House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, would get $95 million, or $2,411 per person. Elliott County, home of House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, would get $41 million, or $5,259 per person.

By comparison, Fayette County would get $248 million, or $839 per person.

"They sprinkled money everywhere, and then the governor picked me out to try and demonize me," Williams said Wednesday.

"Coming out of the House, this plan had $93 million for Greg Stumbo in Floyd County. My entire Senate district — that's six counties with more than 100,000 people — I had $70 million in real money," Williams said. "It's very unfair to say that I was greedy, as if I was going to personally benefit from this."

Stumbo said most of Floyd County's money will go to build one project that has lingered in the road plan since 1996. The Minnie-Harold Connector, linking Little Mud Creek Road to nearby communities, will get $79 million.

"It is something that our residents have long needed," Stumbo said. "As projects like this move to construction, it can appear that some legislators benefit more than others in a given budget cycle, but that is not a true apples-to-apples comparison."

Williams added one project for his district: $770,000 to build an access road for the Whitley County Industrial Park. Otherwise, he moved projects ahead by several years on the Transportation Cabinet's schedule, or he changed their funding sources to guarantee they would get a higher priority.

With his vetoes to the road plan on Wednesday, Beshear eliminated Williams' changes to funding sources. That could bump some projects, such as reconstruction of U.S. 127 in Clinton County, for which Williams had arranged federal money, back into line behind many other competing projects around Kentucky. Projects forced to rely on regular state construction money often find themselves in limbo for lack of funding.

Meanwhile, Williams' criticism that Beshear should have signed the road plan Thursday, thus eliminating the need for a special legislative session, is dismissed by aides to the governor and Democratic lawmakers.

Six of the 138 legislators, including Williams and Stumbo, finished negotiating the plan early Thursday morning. Beshear got it hours later, around the time the House and Senate voted on it.

"I had to trust the people who were running it that it was OK, that Fayette County's projects were OK," said state Sen. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington. "It's a complicated damn document. I think government works more efficiently if people actually know what they're doing before they do it."

Officials at the Transportation Cabinet this week said they needed days to study the final version of the 254-page plan and its hundreds of projects, each of which covers three fiscal years and lists one or more of two dozen possible state or federal funding sources. Simply switching a funding code from "SP" to "SPP" for a $10 million project in one town puts it on the fast track and possibly dooms projects elsewhere, officials said.

"I will not ignore the due diligence I owe our citizens to review legislation, and in this case, I'm particularly glad we combed through the bill," Beshear said Wednesday, announcing his vetoes.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/18/2156149/money-for-roads-in-williams-district.html#storylink=cpy

In Kentucky, Steve Beshear STABS David Williams In The Eye With His Veto Pen.

Beshear nixes $50 million in funding for roads in Williams' district
By Beth Musgrave

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear late Wednesday nixed nearly $50 million in funding for road projects in Senate President David Williams' south central Kentucky Senate district.

Beshear said Williams had added $152 million for road projects in his district when the Senate passed the two-year and four-year road plans during the regular session, which concluded Thursday. Williams' district includes Clinton, Cumberland, McCreary, Monroe, Wayne and Whitley counties.

By doing so, Williams shifted money away from worthy road projects in other areas of the state, Beshear said Wednesday.

"Sen. Williams has essentially moved all his district's road projects to the front of the line, forcing other projects that the Transportation Cabinet and other legislators considered high-priority to wait until additional funding becomes available," Beshear said in a written statement. "It's unfair to the citizens and it's unfair to the rest of the lawmakers whose districts will suffer."

The state's roads are built using a variety of funding sources. Beshear's original two-year road plan contained $99 million for road projects in Williams' district that had reliable funding sources. Beshear essentially removed the stable funding sources for the remaining $49.7 million for the other projects.

Beshear called on the Senate on Wednesday to pass the two-year Transportation Cabinet operating budget, the reason why Beshear had to call legislators back to Frankfort on Monday for a special legislative session.

Senate Republicans failed to pass the Transportation Cabinet operating budget last Thursday, the 60th and final day of the regular legislative session. Williams said he wanted Beshear to sign the road plan before providing the funding for it.

Beshear said he needed more time to review the 400-page document. He has 10 days to issue a veto.

Williams has said that he doesn't believe that Beshear had the authority to line-item veto the road plan since it is not an appropriations bill. But House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said Wednesday that he believes that Beshear does have that authority.

The issue might ultimately be decided by the courts.

Beshear said the Senate can pass the transportation operating budget and a bill aimed at curbing "pill mills" in Kentucky by Friday.

"The House has again met their obligations by passing the transportation budget this morning, there is no reason for the Senate to delay passing that budget and the prescription drug bill right away and end this costly special session on Friday," Beshear said.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/18/2155737/kentucky-house-approves-road-budget.html#storylink=cpy

Joseph Gerth: In Frankfort, Plenty Of Blame To Go Around. YEP.

In Frankfort, plenty of blame to go around
Written by Joseph Gerth

FRANKFORT, KY. — Before the House had even adjourned late Thursday, people were already pointing fingers.

Senate President David Williams assembled weary reporters in his Capitol office to tell them it was Gov. Steve Beshear who had caused the 2012 Legislative session to fall apart in the last hours and that the House leadership was untrustworthy, too, because they refused to override vetoes.

About a half-hour later, the governor had the same group of reporters into his office to assure them it was, in fact, the Senate president’s fault that we would all be back for a special session today, and that he had, in fact, “whooped” Williams last November.

Furthermore, he essentially blamed Williams for the death of people addicted to prescription painkillers because legislation to crack down on doctors who over-prescribe died in the Senate. And, he also implied that Williams doesn’t even live in his Southern Kentucky state Senate district but lives “here in his home in Frankfort.”

That prompted Williams, who once called Gov. Paul Patton a mouthy drunk, to summon reporters to his Capitol Annex office just before 1 a.m. to decry the sort of personal attacks Beshear had engaged in moments earlier and to further emphasize it really was Beshear’s fault that a special session to pass a highway construction budget was needed.

Later Friday afternoon, it was more of the same.

There was a Beshear press conference to say bad things about Williams and to blame him for stopping the road budget, and there was an unprecedented proclamation calling for a special session in which Beshear mentioned Williams by name three times.

And then another Q & A session in Williams’ office in which Williiams again decried Beshear’s impolitic words, blamed him for the impasse and said that Beshear’s words were putting him in fear for the safety of his wife and children.

And he blamed Beshear for the deaths of children who died on a stretch of highway that was slated for rebuilding in his disctrict before Beshear came into office in 2007 and nixed the project.


Just another fun day in Frankfort.

There are a few things we can make of this.

First, Beshear and Williams really don’t like each other.

Second, the state and the people of Kentucky are paying for this toxic relationship.

And third — and we can’t emphasize this enough — Beshear and Williams really don’t like each other.

Groundwork for the impasse really began two weeks ago when the House and Senate couldn’t pass a highway construction plan in time to leave on a 10-day hiatus, which would have given time for Beshear to veto the plan before legislators returned for a final day of the session.

That way, legislators could have voted to override the veto when they returned for their final day on Thursday.

But the House and Senate couldn’t come to terms after the Senate stuffed millions of dollars worth of road projects into Williams’ Senate district and changed the funding mechanism for the Ohio River Bridges Project.

They worked on the plan over the recess and came back on the last day of the 2012 Session and passed a plan they had finally negotiated the night before.

But the session broke down when Beshear refused to sign the state’s transportation plan, which is more than 300 pages long and spends more than $4 billion, before he had an opportunity to study it.

Williams contends that if the legislature sent Beshear the transportation appropriation bill before he signed the road plan into law, he could have then vetoed the road plan and spent the highway money however he wished.

Williams also claimed that Beshear was trying to force the Senate to pass a bill raising the dropout age by holding up the road plan, which he said the Senate was not going to go along with.

Beshear contended that he wouldn’t have been doing his job properly if he signed the bill before it had been fully vetted.

Like last year, when Beshear and House Democrats outflanked Williams and the Republicans on a plan to shore up the state’s Medicaid budget, Williams appears to have been outmaneuvered again.

While there’s plenty of blame to go around, in the end, it was the legislature’s fault we got to this point when they couldn’t pass the road plan during the first 59 days of a 60 day session.

Moreover, the funding plan was in possession of Williams and the Senate when the clock expired at midnight Thursday.

And as we know, possession is nine-tenths of the law.

Al Cross: [Political] Meltdown Made This Session A [Near Complete] Failure. *SIGH*!

Meltdown made this session a failure
Written by Al Cross

RANKFORT, KY. — F The atmosphere was happy in the marbled-balcony halls on the third floor of the state Capitol as the sun set Thursday and legislators, lobbyists, legislative staff and journalists looked forward to the end of an often frustrating session of the General Assembly.

Redistricting was on hiatus; the budget had long been passed, on schedule; the road plan and the bill to fight prescription-drug abuse had been worked out and were awaiting final votes; and House Democrats had produced a long list of talking points to argue that the session was successful after all.

But in the paneled offices of legislative leaders in the corners of the third floor, and the governor’s office on the first, the atmosphere was sour and getting worse. And when the clock ran out at midnight, the session that could have been somewhat salvaged was mostly a frustrating failure after all.

This column was written at midafternoon Friday, when the blame game was still escalating and the facts were still being sorted out, but we knew the main protagonists in the game of legislative chicken that had no winners: Senate President David Williams and Gov. Steve Beshear, with House Speaker Greg Stumbo in the major supporting role.

By about 7 p.m. Thursday, the plan for roads had been passed — with some legislative legerdemain that seemed to violate the rules for House-Senate conference committees — but the transportation budget to finance the plan had not.

Williams was holding the transportation budget hostage for Beshear’s signature on the road plan, arguing that the governor could veto the plan after the legislature had gone home, unable to override the veto. He said later that the House agreed with that approach.

At a glance, that looks like a reasonable request, especially when the Senate president is a Republican and the governor is a Democrat who defeated him in an election five months ago to win a second term — and who scuttled a big road project in the senator’s home county soon after starting his first term. There’s absolutely no trust between these two. But in practical terms, the request was questionable.


First, Beshear probably needed more time to review the plan, and it’s hard to believe he would have done great violence to it, since it was a bipartisan product of both chambers. He says he can veto parts of it; Williams says not. We should note that the governor left a big question hanging: what he would do with the $288 million in projects for Williams’ Southern Kentucky district, many advanced in the final drafting; and that he offered to sign the plan if the Senate would pass one of his few priority bills, to eventually raise the school-dropout age to 18.

Second, the plan was subject to vetoes that couldn’t be overridden, because the legislature had failed to pass it in time — before the recess of 10 legislative days that the governor has to sign a bill, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature. Williams and his House colleagues had only themselves to blame for giving Beshear unfettered veto power.

Perhaps Williams was sore on the subject of vetoes because House Democrats had decided that afternoon not to override any of Beshear’s 45 line-item vetoes of the budget bill — contrary to what Williams said Stumbo had told him during their final negotiations on the budget, which were recorded by KET. Williams’ office couldn’t cite a specific Stumbo quote on overrides, and it’s hard to believe that Stumbo would have made such a categorical pledge — though he wouldn’t be past saying something that left Williams with that impression.

The dust-up with Stumbo also appeared to kill the most important bill still hanging fire — Stumbo’s measure to crack down on prescription drug abuse, a top priority for him and other legislators from central Appalachia, the epicenter of what has become a national epidemic.

The doctors’ strong lobby had won concessions that made some lawmakers unhappy, and others thought the compromise bill was still too strong, but it looked ready to pass the Senate on a close vote. But Williams never brought it to the floor. The same was true of the bill to fund college scholarships in the two coalfields, an outgrowth of the effort by Stumbo to bring into the state system the University of Pikeville, a school headed by former Gov. Paul Patton, who was the first Democratic governor to do battle with Williams.

The fate of the drug bill made the session, on balance, a failure. Lawmakers have plenty of time, 60 legislative days, to address the state’s problems, and the abuse of prescription drugs is a huge issue. Yes, the bill should be easy to pass in the special session that Beshear has called to begin Monday, but the need for a special session, costing about $60,000 a day, is what makes the regular session a failure.

We have seen this movie before. Time and again since 2000, when Republicans took over the Senate, they have leveraged the 60-day deadline in efforts to change policies and budgets, and more than once special sessions have been necessary. So we have become accustomed, all too accustomed, to end-of-session meltdowns. But as meltdowns go, this one was especially bad, because it was so unexpected.

Beshear, who has been in danger of being judged the least effective governor in his own lifetime, wasted no time in blaming the latest and previous debacles on Williams. And then he took their grudge match too far by criticizing him in the call for a special session. Instruments of state should not be political screeds.

Beshear’s dander was clearly up. In his news conference immediately after the session, he used language that was harsher than any attack he made during their race last year, and included a pointed reminder of the result: “I whooped him by 21 points. I think everybody in this state got the message except for David Williams.”

About half of Beshear’s margin probably stemmed from the unpopularity that Williams had amassed in the last decade, so the governor has an easy target. But Williams is on target when he criticizes Beshear for not being fully engaged with the legislature. If Beshear were more engaged, he would have more leverage among lawmakers, including Republicans who might be able to curb Williams’ competitive passions.

As the blame game began in the wee hours of Friday morning, Williams said Beshear was “playing brinksmanship” with roads. That made me laugh. Kentucky’s biggest brinksman has been David Williams.

Al Cross, former Courier-Journal political writer, is director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky. His opinions are his own, not those of the university.

Steve Beshear's Call For Kentucky's "Annual Special" Session Reveals STRONG Animosity Towards David Williams. I Suspect The Feeling Is Mutual!

Watch video below:

then read this: Beshear orders lawmakers back to Frankfort at noon Monday
By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear has ordered the Kentucky General Assembly to convene an extraordinary session at noon Monday to consider a transportation budget and a bill aimed at battling prescription drug abuse.

Beshear's call for a special legislative session came about 12 hours after lawmakers ended their regular 60-day session Thursday night without approving the Transportation Cabinet's operating budget.

In his call, Beshear blasted Senate President David Williams for blocking approval of the bills on Thursday.

Beshear said Williams refused to allow a vote on the "bipartisan" bills, "once again allowing his rank partisanship to block the path of a measure so vital to the health and well being of Kentucky's citizens, its economy and its future."

Earlier Friday, Beshear said Williams' greed for more road projects will cost taxpayers more than $60,000 a day for a special legislative session.

Beshear, speaking at a press conference at the Capitol on Friday morning, said Williams did not pass the Transportation Cabinet's operating budget late Thursday — the final day of the regular 60-day session — because he did not want Beshear to line-item veto road projects in his Senate district.

The House and Senate passed the two-year road plan late Thursday, but Williams demanded that Beshear sign the two-year road plan into law before the Senate passed the transportation budget, which would have ensured Beshear could not veto any road projects.

"It's called personal greed," Beshear said. "When Senator Williams received the road plan, it already had $266 million for his district. Over $130 million of which was to be funded in the near-term. But that wasn't good enough for Senator Williams. He made some last-minute, fine-print changes that moved another $155 million of those projects in his district ahead of those of other communities around this state. He wants to guarantee that his projects would be finished first at the expense of others."

"He was worried that I would veto those changes," Beshear said. " In other words, he was worried about himself, not this state."

Beshear also added House Bill 4, a measure that was designed to crack down on misuse of prescription drugs, to the call for the special legislative session.

The state's abuse of prescription drugs is an epidemic, he said. Recent studies show that one in three adults in Kentucky know someone with a prescription drug problem. Three Kentuckians die each day from a drug overdose, Beshear said.

HB 4 would give law enforcement more tools to crack down on rogue doctors who over-prescribe pain medications and limit the ownership of pain clinics to physicians.

"Senator Williams willfully ignored the visible misery of our communities and allowed this essential bill to die," Beshear said. "Why? Because of his road projects."

Beshear said he could not say if he would line-item veto the additional projects in Williams' senate district, which includes Clinton, McCreary, Monroe, Wayne and Whitley counties.

However, Williams has an advantage in his dispute with Beshear. House Bill 267, the two-year road plan, was delivered to the governor late Thursday. He has 10 days to veto the bill. The Senate could adjourn on Monday and wait for the 10-day veto period to expire. Or it could stay in special session until April 24, when Beshear's veto period is up, and then pass the Transportation Cabinet budget if he does not veto any projects in the road plan.

Only the governor can call a special session and set the agenda. But he does not control when the legislature leaves. It takes a minimum of five days for the legislature to pass a bill.

Beshear warned Friday that voters would not be happy if they have to pick up the tab to fuel Williams' ego or to protect Senate road projects.

"If they stay here longer than the minimum amount of days just in order to put money in their pockets or to play political games, the people of this state this fall, when these elections roll around, I think will let them know just how they feel about that," Beshear said.

Williams was not immediately available for comment Friday morning.

Late Friday night, Williams blamed Beshear for the special session. Williams said Beshear knew that the Senate wanted him to sign the road plan before they passed the Transportation Cabinet's operating budget.

Beshear said he would not add any additional measures to the special legislative session, including House Bill 260, which would tap coal severance money to establish a scholarship for kids in coal-producing counties to attend college. Beshear said that he did not want to make the special legislative session longer by adding additional bills.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/13/2149334/beshear-plans-to-call-a-special.html#storylink=cpy

Editor's note: Bills that died

These high-profile proposals did not pass the 2012 General Assembly, which ended Thursday:

■ Cooper's Law: House Bill 160 would have nullified deed restrictions on small outdoor structures deemed medically necessary for children 12 and younger. The bill was named after a Lexington boy whose parents were at odds with the Andover Forest Home Owners Association. Cooper Veloudis uses an outdoor playhouse as part of his treatment for cerebral palsey, his parents said. The association said the play house violated deed restrictions for all homes in the neighborhood. The bill passed a House committee but was never called for a vote on the House floor.

■ Human trafficking: House Bill 350 would have given law enforcement more training and more tools to crack down on human trafficking. It passed the full House and a Senate committee but was never called for a vote on the Senate floor.

■ Child abuse: House Bill 200 would have created an independent panel of experts to review deaths caused by child abuse and an ombudsmen's office to investigate complaints about child protection. The bill passed the House but died in the Senate.

■ Juvenile courts: House Bill 239 would have created a pilot project to open some of the state's juvenile courts, which are currently closed to the public. The bill passed the House but never received a hearing in the Senate.

■ Scholarships: House Bill 260 would have used coal severance tax money to fund college scholarships for kids from coal-producing counties. It passed the House and appeared to be cleared for passage in the Senate, but the Senate never took up the measure late Thursday.

■ Abortion: An assortment of abortion-related bills that would have put more restrictions on abortions in Kentucky were approved by the Senate but later defeated in a House committee.

■ Dropout age: Senate Bill 109 was intended to raise the high school dropout age in Kentucky from 16 to 18. Both chambers approved different versions of the bill, but the Senate never reconsidered the bill after it was amended by the House. The original bill would have allowed districts that had alternative programs to raise the dropout age. The House version of the bill would have made the higher dropout age mandatory statewide after 40 percent of school districts raised their dropout age.

■ Welfare drug testing: House Bill 26 would have required random drug testing of people who receive welfare and other public benefits. It received a hearing in a House committee but no vote.

Editor's note: Read the call for "special" session.

Here We Go -- AGAIN: Steve Beshear Will Call Another Kentucky "Special" Legislative Session, Blames David Williams -- But We Blame Them ALL!

Beshear to call special legislative session for Monday
By Beth Musgrave, Jack Brammer and John Cheves

Gov. Steve Beshear and other state and federal officials spoke about Kentucky's drug problems at the Kentucky Prescription Drug Abuse Summit in Lexington. HERALD-LEADER

FRANKFORT – Gov. Steve Beshear said he will call a special legislative session for Monday after lawmakers ended the 2012 General Assembly at 11:59 p.m. Thursday without approving funding for a $4.5 billion road-building plan and a measure to curb prescription drug abuse.

Beshear, after meeting with House Democratic leaders in his Capitol office, said at about 12:45 a.m. Friday that Senate President David Williams was responsible for the Senate’s failure to approve a road plan budget bill on the final day of the 60-day regular session.

“Without the transportation budget bill, you can’t fund any of the projects in the transportation plan that has been passed,” said the Democratic governor who won re-election last November in a contentious campaign against Williams, R-Burkesville.

Beshear also charged that Williams was responsible for the Senate’s inaction Thursday on a bill that would more closely regulate pain management clinics and put the state’s electronic prescription reporting system in the attorney general’s office instead of in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

“We need that bill. We need the transportation budget bill. So I’ll be issuing a call for a special session of the General Assembly,” Beshear said. “They should have and could have been passed by the Senate today.”

The governor also had harsh words for Williams, whom he blamed earlier in this year’s regular session for killing his proposal to expand gambling in the state.

For 12 years since Williams has been president of the Senate, Kentuckians have suffered under Williams’ leadership, Beshear said.

“His rank partisanship, his obstructionist attitude, have caused numerous special sessions and cost the taxpayers millions of dollars of unnecessary expenses in having to conduct those special sessions," Beshear said.

Beshear said Kentuckians last November rejected Williams “and I whooped him by 21 points. I think everybody in this state got the message except for David Williams.”

Williams called Beshear “a small, petty and vindictive individual.”

Williams said the Senate was ready to approve a road funding bill after Beshear signed into law the road plan that had strong support in the House and Senate.

The Senate wanted to be sure the road plan was signed into law with no chances of any gubernatorial vetoes before approving a funding bill, Williams said.

In the special session, Williams said, the Senate will not pass a road funding bill until the governor signs into law a road plan.

Beshear said he did not want to sign the road plan into law until he had time to review it. A governor has 10 days to review legislation, and may sign it into law, let it become law without his signature or veto it.

That means Beshear would have until April 24 to act on the road plan the legislature approved Thursday. He said he had no idea how long it will take for him to review it.

Beshear also acknowledged that he tried to link his signing of the road plan into law with legislative approval of his efforts to raise the school dropout age in Kentucky.

Asked if he would have signed the road plan into law had the legislature raised the dropout age, he said, "It never got to that point."

The upcoming special session could complete its work in five days, Beshear said. But Williams declined to put a deadline on it.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, blamed the Senate for not acting on the road funding bill despite a compromise the two chambers had negotiated on the road plan.

Williams did not communicate with him once throughout the evening, Stumbo added.

The House opted Thursday not to try to override any of Beshear's 45 line-item vetoes in a more than $19 billion, two-year budget.

Some House Democrats were concerned with the Beshear veto that removed from Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes’ office a “one-stop business portal” to help businesses with state records.

But Beshear, who has a longstanding political feud with Grimes' father, Lexington businessman Jerry Lundergan, later pledged to keep the system in Grimes’ office.

Williams said Thursday night that House Democratic leaders had pledged in budget negotiations last month that the House would override any gubernatorial vetoes.

Stumbo said that was not the case.

Legislative leaders were relieved in late March when they passed the two-year state budget on time. It was the first time since 2006 that the legislature had passed a two-year budget without having to be called into a special legislative session.

Legislators thought that there may not be any special legislative sessions in 2012 but the 11th-hour stand-off between Beshear and the Republican Senate dashed those hopes.

The state road plan includes plans to widen Leestown Road and advance the Newtown Pike extension in Lexington.

The measure passed the Senate unanimously earlier on Thursday. But the bill -- always contentious -- met with more resistance in the 100-member House.

Some House Republicans objected to the plan because they said several road projects were tucked into the bill at the last minute by legislative leaders.

The conference committee that was supposed to iron out differences between the original House and Senate plans never actually met, and under legislative rules, no projects were supposed to be added at this stage, said House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown.

"The way we conduct public policy is important," Hoover said in a floor speech. "The bottom line is, about three people have controlled what you see in this road plan."

Stumbo later said the road plan was negotiated under a general suspension of legislative rules, which means that they were allowed to add more projects. Those projects were supposed to be in the plan from the start but inadvertently were omitted, Stumbo said.

The plan authorizes two new bridges over the Ohio River in Louisville.

Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, protested the plan because he said the bill's language endorses tolls eventually being placed on three of the city's four bridges to pay for the projects.

Tolls are a "regressive tax" on poor and working-class people who must commute over the bridges daily, Wayne said. He suggested instead a higher gas tax or a reallocation of the road fund to favor urban areas. Both proposals drew scattered boos from the House chamber.

Rep. Sannie Overly, D-Paris, who helped draft the road plan, responded to Wayne by saying the legislature does not have the responsibility for establishing a financing method for the bridges. It assigned that job to the Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Authority, Overly said.

Later, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet issued a statement saying it has not been decided whether the existing Sherman Minton Bridge in Louisville would be tolled to pay for new construction. "That is a decision that will be made by a future generation of policy makers," the cabinet said. The two new bridges would be tolled, the cabinet said.

The House passed the road plan by a 77-to-16 vote. The Senate approved it 37-0.

Beshear vetoed many sections of the two-year budget bill that would restrict how he can balance the state's books, including provisions that would require any surplus funds to be deposited in the state's "rainy day" fund.

Beshear also vetoed key projects placed in the budget by legislators -- such as $1 million for the Allen County Industrial Authority, $150,000 for the International Mystery Writers Festival in Owensboro and $100,000 for Actors Theatre in Louisville.

Beshear said he vetoed the projects because the legislature did not provide funding for the earmarks.

Beshear explained his vetoes to the House Democratic caucus in a closed-door meeting Thursday afternoon. After Beshear left, the caucus met for more than an hour behind closed doors. But Stumbo said there was ultimately not enough support to override any of Beshear's vetoes.

It takes both chambers to override gubernatorial vetoes. Once House Democrats decided not to override the vetoes, it was pointless for the Republican Senate to try to override the vetoes.

Leaders in both chambers said earlier Thursday that they felt that had an agreement on House Bill 4, which would help crack down on the over-prescription of pain medications. But the Senate failed to vote on the compromise bill.

The bill would move the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting system, or KASPER, to Attorney General Jack Conway's office.

The compromise bill would delete a provision that would require all physicians to pay a $50 fee to use the KASPER system. That provision was taken out after the Kentucky Medical Association objected to it. House Bill 4 would also limit the ownership of pain clinics to physicians.

Stumbo predicted that if HB 4 was signed into law ,the number of rogue doctors over-prescribing pain medications and the number of "pill mills," or doctor's offices set up solely to prescribe pills, would plummet.

"Once it's adopted, we're going to see this problem immediately start to resolve itself," Stumbo said. "These people who are engaged in this particular type of endeavor will leave. My only regret is that we didn't put their sorry butts in jail before they left the state."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/13/2149334/beshear-plans-to-call-a-special.html#storylink=cpy

Editor's comment: Kentuckians elect people in office who are just like them, and that's NOT always a WISE choice to make, as we ALL suffer the DIRE consequences of the errors in judgment!

Al Cross Meant To Say: Senate President David Williams Handed Governor Steve Beshear An Embarrassing Defeat On Casino Gambling Amendment. I Have Said It For Him!

Gov. Beshear stumbled on casino measure
Written by Al Cross

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Steve Beshear’s victory over David Williams lasted just a few hours short of 107 days.

The Republican president of the state Senate, who lost badly to the Democratic governor in the Nov. 8 election, outmaneuvered him last week to administer an embarrassing defeat to Beshear’s central cause, a bill to allow casinos at Kentucky racetracks.

The bill’s defeat proved that Williams remains the master of space and time in the Senate, and suggested that Beshear lacks the ability to push anything big through the legislature despite his 20-point re-election victory. And that does not bode well for him or the state during the three years and 9½ months left in his term.

A cogent observer on the second floor of the state Capitol might have heard a distinct sucking sound Thursday afternoon, as a good dose of power evaporated from the governor’s office on the first floor to the legislative chambers on the third floor — and not just to Williams, but to House Speaker Greg Stumbo, who helped kill the bill too.

Beyond the pure politics of it all, the episode also shows that legislators are willing to ignore the wishes of their constituents, who clearly wanted to vote on the question of expanded gambling and probably would have passed some form of it, according to polls taken before the legislative session.

And it also shows that a skilled legislative leader can stop a bill that could have passed with a change or two. Williams himself said before the session that the idea might have enough votes in the Senate.

Williams’ key maneuver was scheduling a vote on the bill when he knew at least one Democrat, Louisville’s Gerald Neal, would be absent, leaving it at least one vote short of the 23 needed to approve a constitutional amendment. Once some senators knew it would lose, they didn’t feel obliged to vote for it. And the racetrack interests didn’t have time to sell a compromise, such as removing their proposed regional monopolies on casinos. In the end they got only 16 votes.

Even masters of space and time need willing instrumentalities, and Williams had some. Sen. Carroll Gibson, R-Leitchfield, who had appeared with Beshear at the governor’s only news conference to tout the bill, didn’t show up for a meeting of the Rules Committee, which scheduled the bill for a vote. That and another move eliminated the tracks’ chance to stall for time.

Sen. Johnny Ray Turner, another Rules Committee member, voted against the bill though its backers had counted him as a likely vote. Turner is a Democrat from Prestonsburg, and so is Stumbo. That may be instructive.

Stumbo has favored allowing casinos by a statute, not a constitutional change, and was decidedly cool to this year’s version of an amendment. He cited what he said were House members’ “concerns about giving these constitutional guaranteed licenses to private businesses.”

That rang a bit hollow, since Stumbo has long been a proponent of expanded gambling, and supported a 2009 bill to let the racetracks have slot machines. One of the major mysteries in Frankfort last week was just how much Stumbo was doing behind the scenes, and why.

The simplest theory was zero-sum: that whatever hurts Beshear hurts Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson, a potential rival of Stumbo in the Democratic primary for governor in 2015. And casinos would generate money for Beshear to do things in his second term, with Abramson holding the golden shovels at the groundbreakings.

Abramson may have figured in the clumsy, ill-timed effort to oust Harold Workman as president and chief executive officer of the Kentucky State Fair Board, a big player in Louisville, where Abramson was mayor. The Workman flap cost Beshear the vote of Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, who probably would have voted for an amendment without guaranteed regional monopolies.

That also figured in the “no” vote of Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, who voted for the 2009 slots bill as a House member. The tracks’ proposed 60-mile buffer zone would have made her Ashland-area district a prime target for a non-track casino. And the fact that she was not harmed by the Senate redistricting plan didn’t hurt the opponents’ cause, either.

The opponents, largely on the religious right, ran a strong, focused campaign. They emphasized the fact that a vote for the amendment was not just to put it on the ballot for voters to decide, as some supporters contended, but an agreement to the amendment itself.

The opponents showed a passion that the other side did not. The state has been cutting its budget for five years now, and education and other programs are suffering. We need more money, but Beshear never really emphasized that argument in his re-election campaign or his casino campaign (if you can call it that) or mobilized the interests that want more revenue.

The tracks’ December poll asked registered Kentucky voters to name positive things about the casino amendment; 32 percent said it would provide revenue for the state or help the economy, 10 percent said it would help education, and 11 percent said it would keep in the state money that is gambled at casinos in bordering states. Only 3 percent volunteered that it would help horse racing.

Beshear’s failure to mobilize potential allies left the casino idea looking too much like a favor for the tracks, not a measure to protect the state’s signature industry — horse breeding, not racing — or a step toward restoring the public services that Kentuckians need for their future.

Al Cross, former Courier-Journal political writer, is director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky. His opinions are his own, not those of the university.

Steve Beshear Signs Redistricting Bill Into Law, But Blames David Williams For Kathy Stein Ouster From Senate; David Williams Says He Should Not Have Signed Bill If He Didn't Like It.

Beshear signs into law redistricting plan that moves Stein's Senate district
By Jack Brammer

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear signed into law Friday the controversial legislative redistricting bill that moves the district of Democratic Sen. Kathy Stein out of Lexington to northeastern Kentucky.

The bill, which has an emergency clause, takes effect immediately.

Beshear said the Republican-led Senate's decision to move Stein's 13th District "goes beyond partisanship" and reflects "personal vindictiveness."

Still, Beshear said he signed the bill because the Jan. 31 deadline for candidates to file to run for the Kentucky General Assembly is looming.

"I am signing House Bill 1 today so that all citizens interested in filing for any of these seats will know what House or Senate district they are in and have time to get their filing papers in order to file for office," he said in a statement.

Beshear blamed Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, for moving Stein's district.

"Redistricting is always a partisan process, and the current situation is no exception," Beshear said. "However, the action directed by the Senate President to move Senator Kathy Stein's district in Lexington to northeast Kentucky in order to keep her from being able to run for re-election, and moving western Kentucky Senator Dorsey Ridley's district to Lexington, goes beyond partisanship. It reflects a personal vindictiveness that should have no place in this process"

Beshear added that the situation with Stein "reinforces my belief that before redistricting occurs again in Kentucky, some type of non-partisan, citizen-based group should be created to participate in the process."

Williams, who was unsuccessful last November in stopping Beshear from a second, four-year term, said in a statement that the governor should realize the campaign ended in November.

"As with most legislative matters, he was not involved in the process and doesn't have any evidence to support his allegation," Williams said. "If the governor truly believed that HB 1 is such an egregious piece of legislation, he should have the courage of his convictions to veto the plan. As usual, though, he prefers to cast aspersions instead of taking responsibility for his own actions or inactions, thereby continuing to make Frankfort more partisan than it already is."

Senate State and Local Government Chairman Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, said Stein's district was moved to ensure that the people of northeastern Kentucky would not be left unrepresented.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/20/2036305/beshear-signs-into-law-redistricting.html#storylink=cpy

As I Predicted EVERYWHERE, David Williams Retains Post As Senate President.

You can read more here, and rejoice -- or pout!

Political Group, Restoring America, Received $4.1 Million From David Williams' Father-In-Law, Terry Stevens. Now That's A GREAT Father-In-Law. I Wonder If He Has Another Daughter (Just Kidding)!

Political group received $4.1 million from David Williams' father-in-law
Written by Mike Wynn

FRANKFORT, KY. — A conservative political committee that supported Republican David Williams in this year’s gubernatorial election raised $830,000 in the closing weeks of the campaign, thanks largely to contributions from his father-in-law.

A 30-day post election report filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance on Wednesday shows that Terry Stephens, a Russell Springs businessman, contributed more than $1 million to Restoring America Inc. on Nov. 1.

The group was formed this summer in an effort to shield the identities of donors to the Restoring America campaign committee, which bought widespread ads to promote Williams’ candidacy and criticize his Democratic opponent, Gov. Steve Beshear.

Stevens has given the group more than $4.1 million, most of which was transferred to the campaign committee for the election. Another group, Building A Better Ohio Inc., also gave Restoring America Inc. close to $200,000 on Nov. 1.

The committee’s report noted that funds for activities outside the jurisdiction of the Registry of Election Finance were not transferred to the committee from Restoring America Inc. and were not included in Wednesday’s $3.6 million total for the committee.

Campaign committees like Restoring America are allowed to collect unlimited funds from individuals and corporations, but state law caps individual contributions to specific candidates at $1,000 and prohibits corporate donations.

Restoring America’s efforts in the election served as the largest funding stream in support of Williams, and the campaign committee had argued that revealing identities of its corporate backers was not required.

The Kentucky Democratic Party fought that assertion in a lawsuit, eventually prompting the group to disclose its donors.

Williams’ report to the registry Wednesday shows that he raised $49,000 in the final two weeks of the campaign, bringing his total for the election to $1.1 million. He spent all but $24,000.

Beshear fared far better, collecting $217,000 in the final weeks and increasing his general election total to more than $7 million, of which he spent close to $6.9 million. He raised more than $10 million, including funds from his uncontested primary.

Independent candidate Gatewood Galbraith reported raising $6,200 for a total of $178,000 during the election. He reported an ending balance of $2,000.

BEFORE You Go Vote In Kentucky's General Election In Two Weeks, You Owe It To Yourself To Watch This Video Of David Wlliams' Interview With Louisville Courier Journal Editorial Board. As Soon As I Have Steve Beshear's, I'll Also Post It Here. Enjoy.

Watch David Williams' Interview With Louisville Courier Journal Editorial Board. Betcha He Won't Get The Endorsement Over Steve Beshear.

One Thing You Can Say About David Williams (Like Him Or Not), He Does Have A "Plan To Make Kentucky Best State In The Nation To Create Jobs". Read More.

Williams Releases Plan To Make Kentucky Best State In The Nation To Create Jobs

(Frankfort) David Williams has released his plan to make Kentucky the best state in the nation to create and retain jobs. The Williams-Farmer campaign released a bold, specific plan that contains the most detailed set of ideas for job creation from any candidate for governor in Kentucky's 2011 election.

>>>> CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PLAN <<<

"I am offering these ideas to the people of Kentucky for debate and consideration," Williams said. "This race should be about the future. I want a real debate on how to create jobs and truly deliver prosperity to the people of Kentucky. These specific ideas offer a framework for a debate that voters deserve to hear."
Williams released his plan on the same day that yet another forum in front of job creators - the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce - was canceled because Gov. Beshear refused to participate.

"With the unemployment crisis we have in this state, it is imperative we talk about bold ideas to get people back to work. I am willing to do that, but Steve Beshear apparently is not," Williams said.
The plan covers comprehensive tax reform that includes a complete elimination of the state's personal and corporate income tax. It also outlines a series of tax "jumpstarts" that would be enacted while an expert commission draws a new tax plan. It also follows on Williams' idea for a commission of experts to design a new tax code for the entire state.

"I think we can jumpstart the economy in the short term, and then create sustainable prosperity through comprehensive tax reform in the long term," Williams said. "We must make serious tax changes to be competitive with states in our region."

The plan also discusses energy policy, unemployment insurance and public pension reform, promoting Kentucky agriculture, and innovative proposals for local options on right-to-work and prevailing wage policies.
"Kentucky is very diverse. Some parts of the state would jump at the chance to go right-to-work immediately. What I am proposing moves the ball forward on critical issues that would assuredly make Kentucky more competitive for job creation. If someone wants to join a union I think that's fine. But nobody should be forced to join or pay union dues against their will," Williams said.

Williams is also proposing a program to help those receiving unemployment benefits find new jobs.

"We've got hard working Kentuckians who want to work but simply need a hand up. This program gives them new skills and new relationships to move them back into the workforce," Williams said.

David Williams: Pro Life.

Williams Picks Up Key Pro-Life Endorsements
Beshear Once Called Pro-Life Activists "Extremists" & Compared Them to Oklahoma City Bomber!
(Louisville) David Williams has picked up two key pro-life endorsements while Steve Beshear's troubling views on pro-life Kentuckians are re-surfacing.

In a press conferences in Louisville and Owensboro, Kentucky Right to Life PAC conferred its endorsement on Williams, as KRLA Executive Director Margie Montgomery called Williams "the most significant leader the pro-life movement has ever had in Frankfort.

"David Williams has a 100% pro-life record. He is a champion for the cause of protecting life and Kentucky needs him as its next governor," Montgomery said. "Steve Beshear and Jerry Abramson have troubling views on abortion. Beshear once called pro-life activists 'extremists' and compared them to terrorists who bombed a government building. And, as Mayor of Louisville, Abramson funneled hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to the pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood. If you are pro-life, there's a clear choice in this race," Montgomery said.

The Williams-Farmer ticket has also picked up the endorsement of Northern Kentucky Right to Life PAC, another influential organization.

"The Republican candidates, David Williams and Richie Farmer, both made 100% Pro-Life answers to the questionnaire. In addition, Mr. Williams has a strong and long Pro-Life record as a member of the Kentucky legislature for many years. Accordingly, NKRTL-PAC endorses the ticket of Williams and Farmer," NKRTL President Bob Cetrulo said in a statement.

Williams and others on his campaign attended pro-life events this past weekend, including in Louisville, Lexington, and Northern Kentucky. Williams also talked about the importance of being pro-life at the St. John's picnic in Paducah, another event where Beshear refused to show up. Williams said he was honored to have the endorsements, and that Beshear cannot be trusted to protect life.

"I will stand up for every unborn baby. I will fight for their right to live, to get a good education, and to give them a state where they can find a good job and raise their own family," Williams said. "My opponent and his running mate believe abortion should be legal. They hold those of us who are pro-life in low esteem. They will spend the next four years doing absolutely nothing to protect life, and in fact have extremely troubling views about those who are pro-life," Williams said.

In a previous campaign, Steve Beshear told the media what he really thought of pro-life activists. He compared them to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh! From the Lexington Herald-Leader, October 18, 1996:

Asked why he lumped abortion opponents and accused terrorists into the same group, Beshear said, "There's lots of different types of extremism in our country, and we ought to be denouncing all types of extremism."

"Most people I know can tell the difference between a pro-life patriot and a terrorist," Williams said. "Well, everyone except Steve Beshear, apparently."

Beshear/Abramson: A Troubling History of Opposing Life
Beshear Steve Beshear once compared pro-life activists to the "extremists" who bombed the Oklahoma City federal building. - "Senate Candidates Clash on Role of Abortion Foes," Lexington Herald-Leader, October 18, 1996.
Steve Beshear believes "abortions should be legally available." He also supports Roe vs. Wade. - www.ontheissues.org.
As Mayor of Louisville, Jerry Abramson used taxpayer money to fund Planned Parenthood, even bypassing the Metro Council to do it. - "Rule change aids Planned Parenthood; Metro budget altered wording on contracts," Louisville Courier-Journal, June 29, 2005.
David Williams: Pro-Life Champion
KY Right To Life Leader Margie Montgomery Praised David Williams' Pro-Life Record. "David is one of the strongest pro-life leaders in Frankfort," [Margie Montgomery] said in a statement. "He has worked tirelessly to pass legislation ranging from the fetal homicide bill to informed consent. Without his unwavering voice, the cause of protecting the unborn would be much further behind. In David Williams, pro-life citizens have a proven leader they can trust to stand up for our values." - "Williams gets Kentucky Right to Life endorsement," Associated Press, April 13, 2011.

Meanwhile, Ethics Board Dismisses Ethics Complaint File By Kentucky Democratic Party Against David Williams. HEY Ethics Board: When Are You Going To Start Sanctioning Folks For Filing FRIVOLOUS Complaints, EH!?

Ethics panel dismisses complaint against Williams on gambling winnings
By Jack Brammer

FRANKFORT – The Legislative Ethics Commission dismissed a complaint Tuesday filed by state Democratic Party Chairman Daniel Logsdon accusing Republican gubernatorial candidate David Williams of not reporting his gambling winnings to the watchdog agency.

Meanwhile, the Kentucky Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Executive Branch Ethics Commission about the use of taxpayers’ dollars to buy a refrigerator for Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer’s house.

Farmer is running for lieutenant governor on the ticket with Williams against Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and his running mate, former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson. Lexington lawyer Gatewood Galbraith is running as an independent with Frankfort marketing consultant Dea Riley.

The candidates’ political parties have been busy this year filing ethics complaints against their opponents.