NEPOTSIM

Nep-o-tism:  noun.  The practice among those with power and influence of favoring friends and relatives especially by giving them jobs.  (See Rowan County, Ky.)

OK, I added the last part about Rowan…but it’s true there and in many Kentucky counties...and it is almost a sure sign of corruption…an issue our state has long struggled with.

Veteran political writer Al Cross told me there are no state laws against nepotism. It is left up to local government ethics codes and many permit it. 

As in:

“Hiring my daughter was not nepotism, it was just good business.”

The practice originated centuries ago, mainly among the bishops and popes of the Catholic church. Ah, religion enters the picture. Surprise!

Either you believe the most qualified person should get the job, or you don’t. Appointing your Grandmother to office for the good of the party,  as Ambrose Bierce suggested, isn’t an option. And Kentucky won’t  progress until nepotism is outlawed...a topic that ought to be on the agenda of the January session (the regular session, not a special one at $60,000 plus a day.)

And yes, Kim Davis, under various names, worked for her mother, the Rowan clerk for 30 years, and when Kim became clerk, she named her son a deputy clerk---the only one who continued to refuse to follow court orders to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.

It’s all an insidious, in-bred, bastard offspring of the way we conduct politics in Kentucky...and no matter what you think of Mrs. Davis’ stand, it is past time to clean up the situation.

Or just maybe, as one protestor put it..."I’d like to earn $80,000 for not doing my job.”  Can Kentucky really afford this?

I'm just sayin'...