To Special Session Or Not To Special Session

I received a letter from my state representative recently recounting her work in the General Assembly just past and asked if there were any issues on my mind. Here is part of my reply:

1---I object to spending an estimated $300,000 of taxpayers’ money for a special session on a matter—legislative redistricting—that could have been handled in a regular session.

2—Even more, I object to the way this is handled..protecting one’s turf (unless your name is Kathy Stein) rather than a non-partisan approach, as I believe some 16 states do, considering geography, citizen interests, and population. This issue is much too important to be left to those with such a strong personal interest..a conflict of interest in the extreme…in this matter. We need now, for the next time if not this year, to set up a commission of population and geography specialists to recommend a map that would go into effect unless over-ruled by a 2/3s vote of each chamber.

3—we need public hearings on proposed maps before they are finally voted on. The House has taken two years already, and should allow for voters’ comments on maps that vitally affect their districts before final passage.

I got a reply indicating, between the lines, the die was cast for this year---as indeed it is—but maybe something could be done next time (ten years down the broad.)  We shall see.

Besides an “incumbent protection bill”, which these maps are, lawmakers hope you and I will have such short memories we will forget their egregious behavior…but the time to start setting up a non-partisan commission to do this vital job is NOW..whether for the next election or the ones after the next census reports.

I find it of more than passing interest the Lt. Gov has just  said the administration has no interest in a special session to overhaul our tax code..as one more blue ribbon commission’s report urging action gathers dust, somewhere in the governor’s office. That might be a special session worth calling.

I'm just sayin'...

UNFINISHED BUSINESS FROM CARROLLTON

We’re Number One!

Yes, Kentucky, 25 years ago, had the worse DUI accident in the nation..when a drunken driver, on the wrong side of the interstate, crashed into an old school bus, converted to church use. The fire that resulted, plus the impact, killed 27 people. I hope you have been reading and watching the stories on this.

The driver served prison time and is now out..presumably still driving. The 27 are still dead, their families and friends still suffering...and the survivors continue to relive that nightmare.

The anniversary stories cited improvements since then, and there are important ones. Buses have more and better escape exits. Aisle widths are better. Fuel tanks have been moved and are better protected from impact. Church buses are supposed to be inspected more and checked for safely (though I have my doubts the state agency charged here does it often enough or well enough in our present economy).

All well and good…BUT…are there fewer drunken drivers on our highways? I doubt it. Are there fewer people driving on suspended licenses? I doubt it. Are there fewer people driving without licenses at all? I doubt it. (On at least two occasions over several years I watched people come into a Lexington courtroom, surrender their driver’s license for various offenses, leave the courthouse, get in a car, and drive off. A recent national story told how very infrequently states are enforcing anti-texting laws…and many, many drivers admit they text while driving.

We all know better, but we do it.

DUI laws need stronger enforcement, and I am persuaded from reading too many news reports it is the judges at the heart of the problem. They are just too lenient on people. Maybe we should have a large picture of the mangled school bus from Carrollton in every courtroom where drivers appear.

Cars of people who have lost their license to drive need to be marked so enforcement people will know to check them. Maybe something like the yellow bumper NASCAR uses for rookies is what is needed...maybe, but surely something.

And why haven’t most schools insisted on seatbelts for buses? Then, when they are sold to churches, the seatbelts will go along. There were none in the Carrollton buses, the aisles were narrow, there was just one escape exist available after the crash, and it was in the rear where seats were piled with baggage ,coolers,  etc..in violation of safety rules.

May a Carrollton never happen again, but Kentucky has a long way to go before the chances of that horrible event’s being repeated are slim…and none.

I'm just sayin'...

THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW...ENFORCEMENT

Not too many years ago, local media reported an unusual accident.  In one of our counties, not too far from Lexington, a man lost control of his car on a rural road. It went off the road, through a fence, across a field, up a small hill and plowed into a house, striking and killing a person inside. The story ended with "No charges are expected."

 

I was livid. No charges! A man was dead. At the very least, if not manslaughter, what about "failure to keep your vehicle under control." I urged local media to pursue this. I got nowhere, and as far as I know no charges were ever filed.

 

Many times it isn't the law, it's the enforcement.

 

I thought about that several times recently..once when I read a story that many states have laws, as Kentucky does, against texting while driving, but few enforce them. It is a difficult law to enforce, but it needs to be done.

 

Driving on a suspended license is another..see how many drivers involved in accidents are driving that way. It's a lot. I wonder if the cars of such drivers couldn't have their bumpers painted yellow (as rookies are in NASCAR races) to alert the public..and police. Something needs to be done.

 

The really tough call is when people are penalized by the circumstances of events--should they also feel the force of the law? In theory, yes. But what do you do to the parents of the 5 year old Kentucky boy who shot and killed his 2 year old sister recently with the fabled "unloaded" gun? Yes, it was parental negligence that left the loaded gun out for him to use..that's against the law.  But what about buying him the junior sized gun in the first place? (and, according to one story I saw, he was four when he received the gun...four!) That's probably not against the law in Kentucky..but it ought to be... or at least, there ought to be a requirement for people under a certain age to have weapons training..as adults (!) must have to get a concealed-carry permit. Is that asking too much?

 

And, yes, it probably would be hard to enforce also..but..let us begin. Lives might be saved.

 

I'm just sayin'...

 

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AND NOW A WORD FROM THE REAL I.T. PEOPLE

You know, the ones who really bring us the information the IT people then distribute by tweet or app, by TV or radio or print..I'm talking about journalists: reporters, editors, photographers..the people who gather the news to start with--those others are often just distribution.

 

First, SPJ--the Society of Professional Journalists..issued its annual awards for distinguished reporting. (UK has a student chapter on campus and the Blue Grass also has a professional chapter.) As usual the awards went to networks and major papers, and to small radio stations, and weekly papers..all of whom earned their awards by serving their communities.

 

Then, The UK Journalism alumni inducted five new members of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame..from a deceased TV manager, who greatly expanded his station's news coverage, to a lady reporter who broke the gender line covering many sports.

 

As part of those activities, Al Tompkins, a Kentuckian who is now Senior Faculty at the Poynter Institute gave the major address..richly illustrated by recent news event..including a lot of mistakes and errors by the media covering the Boston bombings. (Meanwhile a full page of problems in that coverage graced the Courier-Journal under this headline: "Dear CNN: Just Say We Don't Know.")  Speculation at such free form events has always been one of the media's problems, but the 24 hour news channels have confounded this in spades. Tompkins pointed out newspaper headlines identifying the "Bag Men"--but the 2 men shown had nothing to do with the bombs--nor did several other persons named in print, and many more online, as suspects or culprits. As Tompkins put it.."Speculation is not journalism."

 

But do not discredit the power of the media, even that old fashioned one the Associated Press..when hackers broke into AP's website with a false story of bombs at the White House, the stock market dropped 130 points in 3 minutes.

 

Al also reminded us that "seeing is not understanding", and called on his colleagues to "make sense of the news" especially after verifying the facts.

 

Talks like his, recognition of top Kentuckian journalists, and major annual awards like SPJ's serve to keep us on our toes..for journalism has a great calling in this Information Age. Journalists supply the information, hopefully factual and fair, so the rest of the digital scribners can get it out to you and me.

 

I'm just sayin'...

WEST, TEXAS AND EAST KENTUCKY

Last week's other tragedy , when a fertilizer plant blew up, killing at least 14 people, and devastating a small Texas town, has implications far beyond that area, including for Kentucky.

I've reported on such explosions over the years..and how anyone, especially government agencies  who regulate that industry, could possibly accept the firm's bland statement that "there was no risk of fire or blast" is beyond me. I can understand, though it strains belief, how a school, a nursing home, a park, various apartments would build across from the plant over the years---the plant was there first after all, when it was "out in the country." This is Texas, where minimum government is a way of life, and people don't like "zoning" regulations.

Neither do many of Kentucky's  counties, and if you think the tragedy at West couldn't happen here, think again.

With flat land at a premium, many small East Kentucky communities have homes right along the railroad tracks, where trains hauling toxic chemicals and other hazardous substances rumble through weekly, if not daily. Derailments happen. So do coal dust explosions and you don't have to drive far to see coal cleaning and processing plants and piles of dust near homes and school.

And, oh yes, what about I-64 at the West Virginia line, where it bisects a big oil refinery? I'm sure the refinery was there first. Did the road have to be routed through such a potentially dangerous area?

As we pray for the poor people of West, Texas, let's add the hope that government will do a better job of monitoring and keeping such industries safe, even if government's biggest problem is often selling local citizens on the need to have such controls in order to keep them alive. 

I'm just sayin'...

THE REAL SCANDAL

THE REAL SCANDAL 

is NOT the "bugging" (which wasn't bugging) of Sen. McConnell's headquarters in Louisville by a couple of inept Kentucky "liberals"..though that is what Mitch has tried to make the main issue..but, instead,  the content of that  meeting.

We learned (1) candidates do "opponents research", not surprising and legal IF done by staffers on their own time and NOT in public facilities--which the senator's office is. This could be a law violation, which is why the Senator doesn't want to talk about it.

(2) Among the "whack-a-mole" items discussed (a laundry list of items so that if a new candidate pops up, you hit them with the "op research.")  Included here was Ashley Judd's well known (because she disclosed it in her own book) bouts with depression. Much laughter from those attending as to how her serious, distressing problem could be used against her.  Mental health advocates and all you citizens whose family members have suffered depression take note: does our senior senator really see this condition as (a) humorous and (b) something to be used to destroy the unfortunate individual who suffered from it?

(3) While Kentucky law permits one party to a conversation to tape it, legally, some news stories indicated Kentucky has a law against eavesdropping!  Shirley you jest! How can such a law be enforced, even if it can be interpreted honestly..and why?

(4) Many of my news media colleagues fell right into the Senator's spin by  (a) focusing on the alleged "bugging", which later turned out to be wrong, instead of the content of the meeting, and (b) allowing the senator to assume it must be "liberals" doing the dastardly deed..(which turned out to be right, after several days investigation, during which time many of us wondered if the culprits just might not be Tea Party members of the GOP who have stated their opposition to McConnell.)  Another jumping to conclusions, prodded vigorously to do so by Mitch, which the media ate it up without enough skeptical questions, so far as I can tell,  in the early days of this "scandal."

Of course this is the modern version of character assassination, which has kept good people from running for years (and we wonder why office holders rate so low in surveys!)

Later it was revealed GOP officials have already secured 5,000 (!) pages of public documents, including Kentucky Colonel requests from the office of Sec. of State Grimes, another possible Mitch opponent.

Where's the Democratic equivalent of a 2013 "hound dog" to tree Mitch with the truth...and a media that just doesn't accept his views without a much more skeptical approach?  Hey, this is about a guy who votes on gun control (and votes contrary to all the latest surveys) and mental health and might get to vote for war against North Korea. These are not small matters.

I'm just sayin'...

BUT WAS THERE A QUID, PRO QUO???

The Legislative Ethics Commission reports lobbyists spent $77,000 entertaining our lawmakers during the two months of the just concluded legislature. One party alone ran $15,000.

The "good government" crowd is wringing their hands; those who have the gold to make the rules say its "democracy in action." Indeed lobbyists are citizen-voters too and have every right to try to convince legislators to see things their way..including throwing "lavish" parties for them.

Richard Beliles, head of  Common Cause of Kentucky, doesn't see it that way. AP quoted him that "the public is definitely not benefited by all those parties."

How did the public suffer? As is often the case, depends on your point of view. The Kentucky Beverage Association spent a mere $3500 on a party, but the legislature did away with a Prohibition period law against selling booze on election day. Maybe it was time; maybe the state's long bourbon tradition finally kicked it. Not the way I would have voted, but...

And the coal industry groups ( plus the competing oil and gas lobby (!!) jointly did a big event and, surprise, the legislature did nothing about ending mountain top removal.  Not my position either...but given this state's long blinders-on view of coal, hardly surprising.

Maybe what Beliles and others such as Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and  social workers, and the mental health people, and the abolish-the-death-penalty crowd need to do is...throw their own party--by getting together, polling their meager funds and hold one big soiree where they, too, get "face time" with lawmakers.

Right now it is scattered "rallies" at the Capitol, appearances in the rotunda, and a few meetings in the corridors. No one really knows if these parties produce the desired  lobbyists' results..but as long as these events are the "culture" of Frankfort...maybe Common Cause can rally the truly "good government" folks together for one, big "lavish" party of their own.

I'd drink to that.

I'm just sayin'...