Kentucky Judge Gives Governor Steve Beshear OK To Continue Implementation Of Obamacare In State.

 

Kentucky Medicaid expansion, healthcare exchanges proceed with judge's approval

What’s next

• Lead plaintiff David Adams said he will ask the Kentucky Supreme Court to hear his appeal of both rulings.
• On Oct. 1, Kentuckians may enroll in insurance plans for 2014 offered through the state’s healthcare exchange, which is called kynect.

FRANKFORT, KY. — The Beshear administration’s plans to expand Medicaid and begin enrollment in Kentucky’s new healthcare exchange survived their first court challenge Tuesday.
In separate rulings, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd upheld both decisions by Gov. Steve Beshear intended to expand access to healthcare to 640,000 uninsured Kentuckians under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The rulings swept aside the legal challenge by Nicholasville Tea Party activist David Adams and others who insisted that Beshear’s actions must be ratified by the legislature.
“The Kentucky Supreme Court has held that this legislative power may be delegated to the executive branch of government in these circumstances, so long as there are standards governing the exercise of discretion, and the legislature retains the authority to withdraw the delegation,” Shepherd wrote in the case upholding the expansion of Medicaid. “Those conditions are clearly met here.”

Beshear said in a statement that his administration’s work to expand Medicaid and establish the exchange have not been slowed by the litigation.
“All our systems to assist Kentuckians in finding quality, affordable health insurance will be ready to go on Oct. 1,” Beshear said in a statement.

But Adams said he will appeal both orders and ask that the case go directly to the Kentucky Supreme Court.
“Gov. Beshear had to lie in court and break state law in order to pretend to have authority specifically denied him by statute, case law and the constitution. He needed a judge to ignore these facts,” Adams said in a statement. “Now he needs four of seven who are elected in districts whose people understand and oppose Obamacare. I don’t think he can do it.”

Sen. Julie Denton, a Louisville Republican who chairs the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, said she foresees major problems as the Beshear administration proceeds.
“My overriding concern from the beginning is that Medicaid is not being run well now; they’ve never gotten their hands around managed care,” Denton said. “Do we really want to expand a broken system? And do we want the government to take on another new project like the healthcare exchanges?”

But Rep. Jimmie Lee, D-Elizabethtown and chairman of the House Health and Welfare Committee said, “I agree with the court because the governor did these things with powers we delegated to him. I’m pleased, because to lose the cases would have really been a disruption.”
Late last year, Beshear issued an executive order starting the healthcare exchange — an online marketplace where Kentuckians and small businesses can shop for insurance policies by comparing benefits, costs and provider networks.

The 2013 General Assembly failed to ratify that move. Its failure to act meant that Beshear’s order became invalid 90 days after the session. However, Beshear issued a new order this summer, making substantial changes in the structure of the exchange, Shepherd said in his ruling.

The judge said Beshear was well within his authority in issuing the order, “which does nothing more than implement a very specific section of a federal law that has been upheld against constitutional challenge by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Beshear announced last May that Kentucky would expand its Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act — a move expected to bring an additional 308,000 newly eligible Kentuckians into the health-insurance program for the poor and disabled.

At the time he announced expansion, Beshear said a study by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services predicted that the move will create nearly 17,000 jobs and have a $15.6 billion impact on the state between 2014 and 2021.

In the case challenging the Medicaid expansion, Adams challenged the constitutionality of a state law in which the General Assembly established a policy to “take advantage of all federal funds that may be available for medical assistance.”

But Shepherd said this directive by the legislature was not an arbitrary delegation of its powers to the governor.
“The goal of the statute, self-evidently, is to provide for expanded healthcare benefits for indigent citizens, which is clearly a valid state objective,” Shepherd wrote. “It is up to the legislature to determine the means by which this goal is to be reached.”

TEA Party Activist David Adams Files Kentucky Bar Association Complaint Against Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, Accuses Him Of Falsifying Court Evidence Over Obamacare.

Press release:

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear's latest court filing in his bid to force Kentucky into the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion without proper legislative approval may now put his license to practice law in jeopardy.

Tea Party activist David Adams, plaintiff in two lawsuits opposing Beshear's questionable ObamaCare actions, filed a Kentucky Bar Association complaint for evidence Beshear filed in the case which clearly was manufactured to advance his pro-Obama agenda.

"All you have to do is look," Adams said. "Beshear did this to himself and he should be held accountable."

Editor's note: go here to read the Bar complaint.

Pay To Play, Kentucky Style?

Official: State contractor who made big political donations 'got what he paid for'

 

Steve Beshear 

A major Kentucky political donor "got what he paid for politically" when Gov. Steve Beshear's office weighed in for him on the subject of roadside mowing, state Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock told investigators last year.

Neal Swartz, vice president of Swartz Mowing of Bath County, lobbied Beshear and Mike Haydon, his then-chief of staff, to switch the Transportation Cabinet's mowing projects to a bid process that yielded less competition and higher prices.
Haydon called Hancock in late 2011 and told him to "look into this," Hancock said. The cabinet made the requested change, overruling its own maintenance officials, who warned it would cost taxpayers more.

Swartz Mowing subsequently saw a 23 percent jump in the value of its state contracts, from $3.1 million in 2011 to $3.9 million in 2012. Statewide, the cabinet paid $13 million for roadside mowing in 2012, up 20 percent from 2011.

On Sept. 13, 2011, the Swartz family gave $30,000 to the state Democratic Party, which supported Beshear's re-election that fall. A week after Beshear won, the family gave the party $10,000 more. Overall in the last 15 years, the Swartzes have made nearly $200,000 in political donations, including $11,000 to Beshear and $69,500 to the state Democratic Party.
"Swartz got what he paid for politically by voicing his concern and having someone voice that concern to us," Hancock told the Transportation Cabinet's Office of Inspector General in August 2012.

Inspector General Cindy James and her investigators spent much of 2012 looking into an anonymous complaint that Swartz Mowing used political influence to change the cabinet's bidding process.
James' investigators did not interview Beshear and were unable to interview Haydon, who died last August after a heart attack.

In a prepared statement to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Beshear spokeswoman Kerri Richardson said political donations do not affect the governor's decisions. The Swartz family was treated no differently than any other Kentuckian with an interest in policy, Richardson said.
"The governor and his staff hear from constituents every day with concerns and requests on any number of issues and follow up accordingly with requests and discussions with various cabinets," Richardson said.

In her report, James wrote that Roosevelt "Sonny" Swartz Jr. and Neal Swartz, the mowing company's president and vice president, respectively, approached various high-level state officials during Beshear's first term in office to lobby about their company's contracts.
James confirmed the family's political donations, the call from the governor's office to Hancock and the subsequent rise in project costs. In November, she submitted her report to Hancock and the cabinet's auditors and lawyers for their review.

She also gave it to the Executive Branch Ethics Commission upon its request, James said last week. The ethics commission said it could not comment on matters that may be pending before it.
In an interview last week, Hancock told the Herald-Leader he stood by his remark on Swartz. However, Hancock said, he already wanted to change the cabinet's mowing program in late 2011 to impose higher standards on companies submitting bids. One mowing contractor walked off the job, and another temporarily closed an interstate highway, he said.
The call from the governor's office was a request, not an order, he said.
"It was very much at my discretion to follow up as I saw fit," Hancock said.
'I'll give you this'

Neal Swartz told the inspector general in July 2012 that he lobbied Beshear personally. Eddie Jacobs, a special adviser to Beshear and longtime Democratic Party leader, arranged for him to meet the governor, Neal Swartz said.
"Asked if he thought the (family's political) donations helped him get his foot in the door and get the change he wanted, Swartz responded, 'You know, when you don't give them anything, they don't even look at you. If you will give them something, at least they will entertain something,'" the investigators wrote in their report.

Swartz told the inspector general that he would say to state officials, "'Hey, you know, I'll give you this or this or this, if you'll do this. Would you consider this? Would you look into this?' And sometimes they've done it."

Speaking last week to the Herald-Leader, Neal Swartz said the donations may have helped him get access to policy makers, but nothing more. Swartz said he complained about the bid process for several years before the cabinet acted.
"We've always given a lot of money to the Democrats," Swartz said. "They do see your name if you donate something to them. That's common knowledge. But I don't think there were any political favors. If there were, it sure took me a few years to get them."
Sonny Swartz, Neal's father, did not return calls seeking comment. Neither did Jacobs, now at the state Labor Cabinet.

Since the 1980s, Swartz Mowing has won Transportation Cabinet contracts for roadside mowing along interstate highways and state routes across Kentucky. Cabinet records show $19.2 million in awards to the company in the decade before the 2011 election.

The Swartzes live in the Bath County community of Olympia. In 2007, patriarch Sonny Swartz pleaded guilty to conspiracy to buy votes in the previous year's Democratic primary, where he backed incumbent Bath County Judge-Executive Walter Shrout. Shrout resigned from office and went to prison for his role. Swartz was sentenced to two years on probation and a $20,000 fine.
Federal prosecutors said in 2007 that Sonny Swartz traded political donations for favors, such as tapping the county's Federal Emergency Management Agency funds.
"Sonny Swartz provides money for Walter Shrout's campaigns, and Walter Shrout ensures that Sonny Swartz gets the lion's share of the FEMA contracts," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Taylor wrote in a pre-trial motion. "That relationship did not arise in a vacuum in 2006. It has a history of tit-for-tat exchanges between Sonny Swartz and Walter Shrout."

'I pushed and pushed'

In 2006, while Sonny Swartz conspired to buy votes, the Transportation Cabinet prepared to change how it awarded mowing contracts.
A cabinet analysis predicted at least a 10 percent savings — $2.1 million annually — if mowing were moved from the Division of Construction Procurement, or DCP, to the Division of Purchases, or DOP. The DOP did not require prequalification or bid bonds, and it did not publish a list of bidders or release the engineer's estimate showing how much the cabinet thought a project should cost.
Under the DOP, more companies were eligible to submit bids, and greater competition forced down prices.

According to another cabinet analysis, when the DCP handled mowing, the projects received an average of 2.26 bids and cost an average of $35.91 per acre. Once the DOP took over, the average number of bidders rose to 5.98 and the average price fell to $32.84 an acre.
Cabinet officials were pleased by this outcome. Swartz Mowing was not.
Neal Swartz "always complained" about the switch and wanted the projects moved back to DCP, David Cornett, assistant director of the cabinet's Division of Maintenance, told the inspector general last year.
"I suspect it was because Swartz would have encountered more competition in Purchases than in Contract Procurement," Cornett told investigators. "I have heard from other people that he boasted of having influence with the governor's office and that he was going to make sure the contracts went back to DCP."

In 2007, Beshear defeated Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher and took office.
Sonny Swartz and his family gave about $6,000 combined to Fletcher's 2003 and 2007 campaigns. Halfway through 2007, they switched and began giving to Beshear. In 2008, they started making large donations to the Kentucky Democratic Party for the first time in six years.
Neal Swartz hired Frankfort lobbyist David Whitehouse early in the Beshear administration. Together they went to see Joe Prather, who served as Beshear's transportation secretary until 2009, and made their pitch on mowing contracts.

By all accounts of the meeting, Prather was unmoved. He told the inspector general last year that Swartz "seemed very much interested in cornering the market." The cabinet didn't budge.
The inspector general's report contains few dates for meetings or calls. During Beshear's first term, Neal Swartz said last week, he met the governor at an official function, but he could not remember details. He also spoke multiple times with Haydon, the governor's chief of staff, and various others in state government.

"I pushed and pushed to hopefully make 'em see what I see," Swartz said last week. Speaking to the inspector general last year, Swartz said: "I got to know the governor by face and by name, and when he got elected, he did some things for us, and a lot of things he didn't do for us. You know how it is in politics."

Surprise decision

Following the 2011 gubernatorial election and the call from the governor's office, the Transportation Cabinet moved mowing back to the DCP as Swartz wanted.
Hancock told the Herald-Leader last week that he made the decision. But State Highway Engineer Steve Waddle told the inspector general in July 2012 that it was he who made the decision while Hancock was gone on vacation. Hancock told him about the governor's office calling, but that wasn't considered a directive, Waddle said.
"It was more or less my idea because of complaints we were receiving from contractors," Waddle said.

However it happened, cabinet leaders overruled the objections of their own maintenance officials.
"It was somewhat of a surprise to me to learn that decision had been made," Cornett told the inspector general. Using the DOP allowed the state to "get good prices for mowing," he said. Cornett said he and his colleagues requested a meeting with cabinet leaders to discuss their concerns, but they were rebuffed.

The change proved to be temporary.

In 2012, with the DCP back in charge, competition for the average mowing project dropped by 48 percent (down to 3.05 bidders) and prices rose 16 percent (up to $38.24 per acre).
By the start of 2013, faced with escalating costs and an inspector general's report, the cabinet reversed itself and sent mowing projects back to the DOP with a few new restrictions, such as 100-percent performance bonds.
"We concluded after much discussion that the program for mowing is where it needs to be," Hancock said last week.

Kentucky Governor, Steve Beshear, Follows Annual Tradition And Calls "Special Session" For August 19. So Why Did I Ever Support Annual Legislative Sessions?

Gov. Steve Beshear on Thursday called the Kentucky General Assembly into special session on Aug. 19 to address legislative and judicial redistricting.“I am confident that both the House and Senate will have their plans drawn and any remaining issues resolved by Aug. 19 so the special session will last only five days and therefore minimize the expense to taxpayers,” – Governor Steve Beshear said in a prepared statement.

FOR THOSE OF YOU, WHO ARE LIKE ME, AND MISSED GOVERNOR STEVE BESHEAR'S "STATE OF THE STATE" ADDRESS, WATCH IT HERE. ENJOY, OR DESPAIR.

Watch the Republican response:

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.

IN KEEPING WITH THE DICTATES OF Federal Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act (OBAMAROMNEYCARE), KENTUCKY'S GOVERNOR STEVE BESHEAR ESTABLISHES HEALTH BENEFITS EXCHANGE.

Beshear creates health-benefit exchange; legislative panel rejects rental space
By Jack Brammer

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear signed an executive order Tuesday to create an online marketplace offering health insurance plans for Kentuckians, as called for in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Shortly afterward, the Kentucky General Assembly's Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee rejected, on a 4-3 partisan vote, a proposal by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to spend $294,540 for rental space to accommodate 210 employees associated with the health insurance exchange.

Despite the vote, Finance Secretary Lori Flanery has the authority to override the oversight committee's decision and let the rental project proceed. Beshear said late Tuesday that Flanery will sign the lease "in order to make sure that we don't fall behind on implementation and run the risk of a federal takeover of our health benefits exchange."

Sen. Bob Leeper, an independent from Paducah who usually sides with Republicans, said he could not support the rental lease because he was reluctant to put his name on anything related to "Obamacare."

He also expressed concern that the state has not yet determined whether health plans in the exchange will cover abortion and contraception. The state will have to notify the federal government of its plans by Sept. 30.

Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, said the exchanges are vital to the federal health care act, which he said was based on a Massachusetts law that was approved under then-Gov. Mitt Romney, the expected Republican nominee for president.

Leeper and three Republicans voted against the lease, and three Democrats supported it.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, appeared before the committee to question the health cabinet's authority to spend money on the lease.

He criticized the Beshear administration for not briefing legislative leaders about his executive order "on one of the biggest public policy changes in the history of the commonwealth."

Williams said the state has "no idea" how much it will cost to operate the health benefit exchange when it becomes fully operational in 2015. Health cabinet officials told the oversight committee they had no information on the future costs of the exchange.

Several interest groups, including the Kentucky Hospital Association, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Kentucky Voices for Health, and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, have said they want the state, not the federal government, to operate the exchange.

"Kentucky is more in tune with the unique regional and economic needs of our citizens, as well as the health insurance needs of individuals, Kentucky small businesses and non-profits," Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Audrey Tayse Haynes said in a statement.

Kentucky's exchange "will provide one-stop shopping" for Kentuckians who have had difficulty finding or qualifying for affordable health insurance, Beshear said.

The exchange, which is to begin operation Jan. 1, 2014, also will assist employers with enrolling workers in health plans, enable individuals to receive tax credits and subsidies for their insurance premiums and qualify small businesses for tax credits, Beshear said.

Beshear, a Democrat, said in May that he would issue an order establishing a state-operated exchange, provided that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal law, which it did on June 28.

Beshear's order creates the Office of the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange, which will oversee implementation and operations of the exchange. It will be housed in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Beshear said the state has received three federal grants totaling $66.4 million for planning and implementation of a state exchange.

The development and operation of the state's exchange will be financed entirely with federal dollars until Jan. 1, 2015, after which it will be wholly financed with revenues it generates, Beshear said.

Rodney Murphy, executive director of the health cabinet's administrative and technical services office, told the legislative oversight committee that the federal government will pay 95 percent of the lease for 29,454 square feet of space at 12 Mill Creek Park in Frankfort through June 30, 2015.

The remaining costs will be paid through revenues it generates, he said.

State deputy budget director John Hicks said the legislative-enacted state budget set aside $5 million in Medicaid funds that could be used for the exchange, but Williams disagreed.

Murphy said the lease agreement has a 30-day cancellation notice in case the federal health care act is repealed or changed. He said the vendor who is selected to operate the exchange probably will bring in about 100 employees. The rest will have contracts with the state.

Beshear selected Carrie Banahan to be executive director of the new state office.

A career state employee with experience in the Department of Insurance and the Department of Medicaid Services, Banahan currently is the executive director of the Office of Health Policy within the cabinet. She will remain acting executive director of health policy until a permanent replacement is named.

Beshear's order also sets up an 11-member Exchange Advisory Board. He expects to announce appointments to the advisory board by mid-August.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/07/17/2261526/beshear-creates-health-benefit.html#storylink=cpy

KENTUCKY GOVERNOR STEVE BESHEAR BELATEDLY CREATES PANEL TO REVIEW CHILD ABUSE DEATHS. BUT "THE PROOF WILL BE IN THE PUDDING" OF WHO MAKES UP PANEL, SO WE RESERVE FURTHER JUDGMENT ON MOVE.

Beshear creates panel to review child abuse deaths
By Beth Musgrave

FRANKFORT — Kentucky will create an independent panel of experts to review cases of children who have been killed or severely injured as a result of abuse and neglect, Gov. Steve Beshear announced Monday.

The decision came as the Cabinet for Health and Family Services released thousands of pages of documents Monday that detail the state's involvement with dozens of children who were killed or nearly killed as a result of abuse and neglect. Still, the cabinet continues to withhold some case files and has redacted large portions of others.

It filed an appeal Monday with the Kentucky Supreme Court after a crucial legal decision last week in a lengthy court battle between the state and Kentucky's two largest newspapers, the Lexington Herald-Leader and The Courier-Journal of Louisville. The newspapers sued the state for access to social worker case files on children who were killed or critically injured as a result of abuse and neglect in 2009 and 2010.

Beshear signed an executive order Monday to create the external review panel. The 17-member panel, which will be based in the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, will examine child deaths to determine whether state child-protection workers could have done more to protect a child and to determine causes of death.

"When a child dies or is critically injured because of abuse or neglect, we must carefully review the practices of all government entities involved to make sure that our system performed as it was supposed to — and if not, that review allows us to take disciplinary action," Beshear said Monday in a news release.

The group will meet quarterly and will prepare an annual report that identifies issues contributing to child deaths and injuries. The panel will include law enforcement, prosecutors and medical experts. The makeup of the panel will be determined by outside groups and Attorney General Jack Conway.

Cabinet officials said the panel's meetings will be open to the public, but it appears that records used by the panel would not be subject to the state's Open Records Act. Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Audrey Haynes said the panel was not created to circumvent the state's disclosure laws. Even if information used by the panel is not subject to disclosure, the cabinet's case files will be available to the public under existing law.

"This is something that the governor told me he wanted to do shortly after I arrived," said Haynes, who was named secretary of the cabinet in April. "We've been working on this for several weeks ... before the Court of Appeals decision."

Many child advocates praised the creation of the independent panel Monday, saying it will help the state develop protocols and services to prevent more child abuse deaths. Kentucky averages between 20 and 30 child abuse-related deaths per year.

"The lessons we learn by reviewing child deaths have come at an enormous price — the life of a child," said Dr. Melissa Currie, chief medical director of the University of Louisville Pediatrics Forensic Medicine unit. "This action by the governor is to be commended, as it establishes a panel that will ensure that no child's death in the Commonwealth of Kentucky will go unexamined by objective and knowledgeable eyes."

The General Assembly considered a proposal in 2011 and 2012 to create a similar external review panel. The legislation passed the Democratic-led House but failed in the Republican-led Senate in 2012. It is likely that the legislation will be re-introduced in the upcoming legislative session to codify the executive order, cabinet officials said.

Lengthy litigation

The Herald-Leader and The Courier-Journal sued the state in 2010 to obtain internal cabinet records involving the death of 20-month-old Kayden Branham, a Wayne County toddler who drank drain cleaner that allegedly was used to make methamphetamine. Both Kayden and his mother, who was 14 at the time, were under the supervision of the cabinet at the time of Kayden's death in May 2009.

Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled that the media was entitled to child-protection records when a child dies or nearly dies from abuse and neglect. All other child protection records are confidential, the judge ruled. The cabinet did not appeal that ruling.

The two newspapers then filed requests under the state's Open Records Act to obtain the case files of all children who died or nearly died from abuse and neglect in 2009 and 2010, but the cabinet at first refused to release the documents. The newspapers sued again, and Shepherd ruled in late 2011 that the newspapers were entitled to the case files.

The cabinet said Monday that there are about 140 case files from 2009 and 2010 that fall under the newspapers' request. Of those, the state had released redacted versions of 76 files. It released 43 more case files Monday.

Cabinet officials said other cases have pending court action and will be released after they have been adjudicated.

There is disagreement about what information in the files should be withheld from the public. The cabinet originally redacted a broad array of information — sometimes even erasing the names of people who had been criminally charged.

Shepherd ruled in February that the cabinet had 90 days to turn over the remaining case files. Shepherd also fined the cabinet $16,000 for withholding the records and awarded $57,000 in attorney fees to the newspapers.

The cabinet appealed that decision to the Court of Appeals, asking the court to stay Shepherd's order. In a July 9 ruling, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals refused to block the release of the documents.

Shortfalls exposed

The cabinet filed a motion Monday with the state Supreme Court asking it to stay the lower court's ruling, which would have compelled the cabinet to release the child abuse case files with limited information redacted.

"We disagree on how much personal information about the children and private individuals included in caseworker files should be made public," Haynes said in a written statement.

Kif Skidmore, a lawyer who represents the Herald-Leader, said the newspaper will oppose the cabinet's motion before the state Supreme Court.

"The Governor's executive order has no impact on our positions in the pending litigation," Skidmore said. "The Cabinet violated the Open Records Act by its wholesale refusal to allow inspection of the child fatality and near-fatality records and continues to violate the act by its insistence on redactions that are far beyond what the Open Records Act allows."

The records released by the cabinet so far have exposed shortfalls in the state's child-protection system.

For example, Judge Shepherd blasted the cabinet's handling of the case of Amy Dye, a 9-year-old girl who was killed by her adoptive brother in February 2011. Shepherd said the cabinet failed to protect the girl even though Todd County school officials had contacted the cabinet multiple times in the two years before Dye's death with concerns about possible abuse. The Todd County Standard, a weekly newspaper, successfully sued the cabinet to get access to Dye's records.

The cabinet said it did not investigate those complaints because the abuse was not at the hands of a parent or guardian.

In the case of Kayden Branham and his mother Alisha Branham, records show that social workers asked Alisha Branham's mother, Melissa Branham, to come in for drug tests at least 24 times. The difficulty in getting Melissa Branham to take drug tests should have prompted caseworkers to take a closer look at whether the state should remove Kayden Branham, child protection experts have said.

Alisha Branham later told authorities that she moved to the trailer where Kayden died because her mother did not have food for her son to eat.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/07/16/2260408/beshear-creates-panel-to-review.html#storylink=cpy

LOUISVILLE COURIER JOURNAL EDITORIAL: "Call Off The Dogs, Mr. [Steve] Beshear. Comply With This [Kentucky Appeals] Court’s Order." AND WE WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE!

Editorial | State needs to comply with courts' orders to open abuse records

The Kentucky Court of Appeals has given yet another victory to the children of Kentucky and another loss to state welfare officials who have fought in court to keep records of their actions in child abuse and neglect cases from public scrutiny.

The three-judge panel ruled Monday that the public’s interest in knowing how the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services does its job outweighs any need for privacy in cases that result in death or near-fatalities.

It’s time — make that past time — for the cabinet to turn over those records.

The Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader sued the cabinet for access under state open records law to internal child fatality review reports following the deaths of numerous children who were known by state welfare officials to be at risk.

Scrutiny increased following the death of Amy Dye, a 9-year-old Todd County girl, who was beaten to death by her adoptive brother in February 2011. In that case, Amy’s teachers repeatedly warned child welfare officials that they believed Amy was being mistreated at home, but state social workers failed to act.

Since then, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled repeatedly that the cabinet should release the records.

And each time, despite a promise of transparency from Gov. Steve Beshear, the cabinet has waffled, wobbled and then thrown up more road blocks to obtaining the information.

The cabinet’s legal team is headed by Christine Heavrin, the agency’s top lawyer, who is known for her refusal to give in when the fight is lost — even when taxpayer money is at stake.

Ms. Heavrin, you may recall, was the lawyer for Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson when he was mayor of Louisville Metro, and she was behind the seemingly endless losing appeals in cases involving firefighter pensions and police take-home cars that ultimately cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

Under her guidance, the cabinet has been ordered to pay nearly $100,000 in legal fees to the newspapers’ lawyers.

But money is not the issue here. The safety of Kentucky’s children is.

The public needs to see how those entrusted with protecting the state’s most vulnerable citizens do their jobs.

The people of Kentucky need to see what’s happening so they can call for specific changes to the state’s child protection system in order to correct the problems that have led to deaths of infants and toddlers so more children don’t needlessly suffer.

And Gov. Beshear needs to be a man of his word and provide the transparency he promised last November.

Call off the dogs, Mr. Beshear. Comply with this court’s order.

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.

As You Read This Post, Kentucky's General ASSembly Is In An "ANNUAL Special" Legislative Session, Sent There By Governor Steve Beshear. Hear Me, Folks: Kentucky Gets What It Deserves -- Or Wants! NOT GOOD, At All!

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!