Posted by
lobo1776 on Friday, December 15, 2006 2:48:23 PM
Most people have preconceived notions on how politics works here in down south. In fact, so-called comedian and wanna-be talk show host Bill Maher said that southerners shouldn't be allowed to vote because:"they're too stupid to know how to vote". I think most people up north think that we all get together at Goober's gas station and pick people to run for office. Well they are wrong. We all meet at Andy's house cuz Aunt Bee makes some good apple pie. Yum!!! That's good eatin'!!!!
Before I go any farther in this blog, I must confess that I'm a transplanted yankee. Born and raised for my youth in the city of Chicago during the reign of his majesty the honorable Richard J. Daley. That name still is still uttered in hushed tones by Democrats in Chicago. Drop by the Daley Plaza in the Loop on any given day and you can still see the party faithful worshipping and genuflecting in front of his portrait.
Mayor Daley ran a well-oiled machine. Everyone from the assistant mayor down to the street sweepers were all registered Democrats. Cronyism and nepotism were rampant. You couldn't get a job or a city contract without being a loyal Democrat and a loyal Daley supporter. On election day you knew you had to be in two places; either at the polling places or in the city wards dragging people to the polling places. A third place, that of being in the cemeteries to drag the dead to polling places, was optional. Yes siree bub, the dead of Chicago voted, voted often, and voted Democratic.
Not that "da Boss" wasn't without his enemies. There were always newspaper people, mostly longhaired hippie college kids, FBI agents, and those pesky people at the Justice Department investigating him. But they never got him. When he was under attack, the machine surrounded him and protected him and the city kept on moving. The streets were cleaned and plowed in the winter, the garbage was picked up, and people's problems were taken care of as long as they were Democrats. His machine worked.
Which brings me to politics in Kentucky. Now how I got from Chicago to Kentucky is a subject for another blog. It should suffice for now to say that I arrived during the administration of Democratic governor Paul Patton. Gov. Patton didn't seem like to bad a governor. Your typical Democrat. He overhauled the workman's compensation laws and tinkered with state funding for education. His downfall came in the form of a sex scandal. Seems he was carrying on an affair with a woman who owned a nursing home. In 2001 she broke off the affair. Two months later, her nursing home was cited by state regulators for numerous violations of health and safety rules. By July 2002, the state had pulled all Medicare and Medicaid payments from the facility, which soon went bankrupt. She filed suit against him and the whole mess went public. In the whole mess was another allegation that Patton had used his office to help her obtain a disadvantaged business enterprise classification as a disadvantaged female minority for her former husband's construction business. Patton had plans to run for the Senate in 2004 but after the scandal, sacked the idea.
The whole scandal helped get Ernie Fletcher elected. His campaign mantra was: "you wont see any of that in a Fletcher administration". Well, he kept his campaign promise. Instead of a sex scandal, we now had a merit system scandal. According to reports, Fletcher and his buddies had a hit-list of state employees who were Democrats and started firing them for their political beliefs. This violated the Kentucky Merit Board system which says, in effect, no state worker can be fired because of their political party affiliation or beliefs. Fletcher and fifteen members of his administration were investigated and 13 were indicted. As a thankyou to his buddies, Fletcher used his position as governor to pardon the 13 indicted. Then he cut a deal with the Attorney-General's office to drop any and all charges against him. Fletcher still plans to run for governor again in 2007. Considering the climate mood in the 2006 elections, this could be seen as at best the actions of an irrational politician or, at worst, political suicide.
Compared to the political corruption I witnessed in Chicago in the 60's and 70's what both Patton and Fletcher did doesn't really amount to what we would say: "a hill of beans". But it is corruption just the same. It is two individuals who abused the power of their offices, and the faith and trust of the people of Kentucky, for their own benefit. While the cost of investigating and prosecuting their sins is tangible, what is intangible is the loss of faith in our system.
Patton and Fletcher would have done Mayor Daley proud.