Red meat, hot air — and a few small signs of hope. The Frankfort Week in Review.
It’s going to be a very long session.
Judging by the first week in Frankfort, a swirl of smoke and mirrors and empty rhetoric, there will be much ado and not much else. The Republican Senate spent most of its time flinging red meat at its base with “top priority”’ legislation that is at its best, unnecessary, and at its worst, punitive and discriminatory.
They started with Senate Bill 1, a bill filed in a fit of pique this summer because Paducah Republican Sen. Danny Carroll was mad at Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton for saying that Lexington police help federal immigration authorities only with a court order. The bill’s language banning sanctuary cities (and I guess sanctuary sentiments?) is squishy at best, making grand pronouncements about state-funded agencies obeying federal immigration law, as though Gorton and other notorious liberals, like university presidents, are hiding refugees under their desks.
Senate Bill 1 is marginally better than the House version, House Bill 240, which tries to punish said universities from enrolling undocumented students. It got the dubious honor of being part of our inaugural #BadBillWatch, along with a ridiculous attempt to control who goes to the bathroom where.
So two questions: Why don’t legislators talk to constituents who need much more legal immigration to help Kentucky’s agricultural economy? Why don’t they pressure their federal counterparts to pass real immigration reform? Well, I guess it’s not as much fun as riling up the base with nonsensical threats of foreign hordes taking away .. what? Jobs that aren’t being filled? Federal benefits that Kentuckians get at a greater proportion than most other states?
Speaking of getting riled up, I guess Robert Stivers took offense at my colleague Daniel Desrochers for pointing out that Clay County is 94 percent white, and at me for asking how Senate Bill 1 helps his district, which is made up of some of the poorest counties in the entire country. Stivers is one of the smartest, most able politicians in the state who knows perfectly well the General Assembly needs to do more substantive work, so this protesting too much is not a good look.
And speaking of disingenuous politicians, we also got Senate Bill 2, the Voter ID bill, which will do nothing to curb non-existent voter fraud, but could do a lot to keep poor, minority and rural residents from voting.
Before we get too depressed about the state of our government, this week did have some bright points. New Attorney General Daniel Cameron decided he should step in to do the work the General Assembly is apparently uninterested in, like the appalling fact that Kentucky ranks first in the nation for child abuse. He vowed to take a new, coordinated approach between social services and law enforcement to make a start at solving one of Kentucky’s worst problems.
Cameron also joined Gov. Andy Beshear in a more coordinated approach to sex trafficking. We’ll see how far this kind of cooperative bipartisanship lasts, but it’s certainly appreciated for now.
Speaking of Gov. Beshear, he made far fewer headlines with a small but important initiative: Making the GED free, so more students can get a high school equivalency diploma. This is the kind of substantial, thoughtful policy that can help Kentucky move its dismal educational rankings forward.
Not that Beshear had a perfect week. The administration announced that Jamie Link would take over Kentucky Wired, the scandal-plagued internet program started by Papa Gov. Steve Beshear. Link has an impressive resume of overseeing the World Equestrian Games, the Kentucky Horse Park and serving as a deputy chief of staff for Papa. But surely to remove any shadow over the program, you pick a new technology expert, not an old political hand.
Next week, the General Assembly will at least have to discuss an important issue: Whether the state’s dire revenue situation could be helped by the passage of Rep. Adam Koenig’s sports gaming bill. Until then, to steal a line from the great Charles Pierce: This is your democracy, Kentucky. Cherish it.
