Bless His Heart, our guv vetoes some
things he needed too, and didn’t others..for which Thanks. Because the
GOP controlled legislature couldn’t get its act together (as many Dem
controlled legislatures before them) the guv was able to veto some things that
can not be overridden. He could have been a “dog in the manger” and
vetoed the necessary “clean up language” for the important budget and pension
bills..where his early vetoes were overridden, but he did not. (This is another
lesson for both parties..don’t wait til the last minute to put hundred page
bills before each chamber when no one can read them and catch mistakes.)
Our governor did veto the “incumbent
protection bill” which would have moved the filing date from late January to
early January. But don’t hold your breath. Now the legislature will just past
this lousy idea early enough next year to allow for an overide..unless you
voters complain to all the candidates during this year’s elections.
The Courier-Journal also reported
recently on the latest on the guv’ new home near Anchorage. He claimed it was
worth $1.6M when he apparently bought it from a friend who does business with
the state..and made that price stick. That was last year; this year the PVA has
valued the house&grounds at $2.9M, up a “mere” $1.6M. Stay tuned, you
haven’t heard the last of this cozy deal yet.
(Since Lexington media have not
covered this new wrinkle well..check out the CJ story “Bevin’s home worth $2.9M”
on 4/28.)
Another major story not
covered well by local media, if at all, was the Peabody award (broadcasting’s
highest) to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and Louisville
Public Media for their 5-part series on church leader (?) and state lawmaker
Dan Johnson---who had lived a life of fraud and deceit—and who committed
suicide shortly after the series started. That was a sad ending, but the
two groups stressed the necessity of holding elected officials accountable with
the facts.
(You can also check the
CJ’s story “Peabody Award honors local public media series” on May 1)
Investigatory journalism
is one of the prices the media pays for protections of the First Amendment. All
too few of our present day media seem willing to pay this price. WKYT (NB-my
old station) is the only tv here doing it; The Herald-Leader does so
occasionally, but not as much as in the past..and the Kentucky Kernel as well.
But here student newspapers are facing serious odds to continue, often because
of financial pressures brought on by public budgetary problems. I don’t believe
the UK administration, or most state legislators would lose any sleep if the
Kernel, and other student papers, just disappeared...and that would be a real
pity. They are the training grounds for future mainstream media..as they were
for Kuralt, Murrow, and so many others.
You may also have
notice, despite lousy local coverage, ISIS bombs in Afghanistan killed 9
journalists recently. It is not a field for the faint of heart.
We certainly make our
share of mistakes. The annual White House Correspondents Dinner was one of
them. I was glad to see the first woman of color named to be the head “roaster”
altho I had not heard of Michelle Wolf before. Now I don’t care if I hear of
her again. Even with the President a no show, it’s just not necessary to trot
out frequent use of the “F” word. Your points and your humor don’t need that. I
would not urge the WHCD to even consider censoring its guest roaster, but maybe
a little more research would be appropriate in future years.
I'm just sayin'...
No comments:
Post a Comment