GOP Leaders Ignore Fletcher, Keep Brock As Chairman (AP) -- I Believe That The Fletcher-Patton-Pence Administration Is On Life Support And Even Their Own Crew Won't Give Them Any More Oxygen

I'm still amazed by this and admit that it caught me by surprise. I cannot fathom that a sitting governor, in the middle of his term, calls for the resignation of his own party's chairman and not only does Chairman Darrell Brock say 'no', but none of the Republicans leaders like Senator Mitch McConnell will support Governor Fletcher's request, and now his own party's executive committee wouldn't even take up his request -- not even take it up!

I love what former governors Wendell Ford and Julian Carroll had to say at the bottom of this story. They're right.

Governor Fletcher is done. So is Lt. Governor Pence, who has been 100% cowardly during this whole shameful saga. So much for the tough, ethical, law and order, former prosecutor and military judge. He's not even there for his commanding officer. Instead he has gone AWOL and has become a deserter. Nice work Colonel Stephen B. Pence. I'm sure your Army buddies are proud of the example you have set.

It appears that the Fletcher-Patton-Pence administration is about finished.

Next?

GOP Leaders Ignore Fletcher, Keep Brock As Chairman
JOE BIESK
Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Kentucky Republican leaders ignored Gov. Ernie Fletcher's call for the resignation of the state chairman on Saturday, during a meeting of the party's executive committee.

Party leaders met in private for about 30 minutes at the state GOP headquarters, just blocks from the state Capitol and the Kentucky Gov.'s Mansion. Contrary to Fletcher's wishes, party leaders did not ask for chairman Darrell Brock's resignation.

[...]

Fletcher spokesman Mike Goins read a statement from Fletcher Saturday in which the governor said he called for Brock's resignation "in light of the information that has become available to us about how the Merit System was handled when he was a government employee."

While he did not believe there was "criminal misconduct" on Brock's behalf, the governor stated he was "convinced that there were several instances of poor judgment," according to the statement.

However, Jefferson County GOP Chairman Jack Richardson IV, a member of the executive committee, said Fletcher did not submit a formal request for Brock's resignation. Therefore, Richardson said, there was nothing for the committee to act on.

"I haven't received any formal notice that the governor has asked to remove anybody," Richardson said. "A lot of things may be said, but as far as anything official coming to any member within the state executive committee, there's been no official requests."

Brett Hall, an outside political consultant hired to represent the governor, said Fletcher stood by the statement.

"The executive committee met and there's nothing (Fletcher) can say except to respect their wishes. There's nothing else to say," Hall said in a telephone interview. "He's not recanting. He's not pulling it back. He's not changing his position at all, but they did what they did."

Shirley West-Bennett, an executive committee member and president of the Republican Women's Club in Fayette County, said she was "very happy" with Brock and supported Fletcher.

However, the party operated independently from the governor, West-Bennett said.

"I support the governor and his attempt to run our government," West-Bennett said. "And the executive committee down here is separate and we just take care of our business."

While she supports Fletcher "100 percent right now" it was uncertain whether that would extend beyond the governor's current term, West-Bennett said.

[...]

"It perhaps might be an indication of the precarious nature of the governor's position," Baranowski said. "It's never a good thing if your party chair doesn't listen to you, or seems to be ignoring you. That certainly suggests a governor who is not in a particularly strong position."

[...]

Former U.S. Sen. Wendell Ford said it showed the GOP in Kentucky was "disintegrating."

"The governor is the titular head of the party and so he's asked the party to do certain things and they've told him that they're not going to do it," Ford said. "I think that tells us a lot what the future holds for this governor - it's probably his last term and they'll be looking for another candidate."

State Sen. Julian Carroll, D-Frankfort, said it showed Fletcher had lost control of the Kentucky GOP. Carroll, a former governor, said it was a "slap in the face" for the executive committee to ignore Fletcher.

"Politically, he is through. And if he doesn't know it by now, he doesn't read the tea leaves very well," Carroll said. "He got the worst slap in the face that I could imagine today when the Republican leadership of his party thwarted his desire to remove Brock as chairman."

(entire story here)

Also, here's the AP's summary box of what happened:

WHAT HAPPENED: Kentucky Republican Party officials ignored Gov. Ernie Fletcher's call for the resignation of chairman Darrell Brock on Saturday.

BACKGROUND: Fletcher said Wednesday the state GOP executive committee should seek Brock's resignation.

WHY: A Franklin County special grand jury indicted Brock, along with eight others, on misdemeanor charges for alleged violations of the state Merit System. Fletcher pardoned Brock, who had once worked for the administration, but said last week he should resign. Fletcher said he did not believe Brock committed "criminal misconduct, but was "convinced that there were several instances of poor judgment."

Comments

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye

Please stop with the "Fletcher-Patton-Pence" administration bit. Two reasons:

[1] The last thing we need if we're to win the Senate back is to have the general population holding Democrats - even some Democrats - responsible for this mess. Whether you like it or not, Patton is a Democrat.

After the Republicans managed to smear Chandler himself with Patton's scandal, in SPITE of Chandler's years-long battle with Patton's people, I'd think you, of all people, would know that associating Patton/Patton Democrats with Ernie's mess is likely to end up hurting other Democrats, including Chandler - again. (And it will convince lots of very suspicious Kentuckians that "they're all crooks," and they won't vote at all.) Let the Republicans have this one to themselves.

[2] I understand where you're coming from after the Chandler campaign and the rather ugly intra-party feud and all the rest of it. But let's try to heal the party rather than pour salt in the wounds, okay? Further divisiveness won't help us or our causes - and they are important causes.

[Sam Wise]

Those are some great points, and I probably need to think about what you said too. Off the top of my head, the one concern I would have with that is that I could see Patton aligning himself with McConnell again in the future, and if that occurs, no healing with good results for the party would happen anyway.

[Mark Nickolas]

I don't agree with the Comments below regarding the Fletcher-Patton-Pence issue. I think those that decided on the politically expedious route to damage Chandler and support Fletcher deserve everything they got and will get from me and others. The only way that the Democratic Party of Kentucky will resurrect into something strong and long-term is to banish all those who would rather trade in their backing of the party for personal gain and petty retribution against the attorney general who did the right thing.

I am not an agent of the Democratic Party nor will I answer to them and their corrupt elements. We should all learn from this sorry episode that we need to punish and banish the rats that aided and abetted this mess and we need to rebuild with people who care about this state and care about the principles of the Democratic Party.

I very much intend to go down this road and start naming names and calling out those self-serving traitors who hurt this Commonwealth so that they could keep some power and personally benefit. Until we clean house, we'll have this albatross around our neck.

Mark Nickolas

I'm sure it's tough for KY Dems that would look the other way while one of their own breaks rules (30 years of old-style unaccountable personality-cult-patronage southern-ky dem party)...

Those Dems need to swallow it... If Dems are gonna reclaim power they gotta do it with good candidates, reliable money and an 'in-the-trenches-with-the-middle-class-family' message...

Part of the 'in-the-trenches' bit means good governance; not the 'while I'm Gov it's my guy (or gal) for the party chair' mentality.. . True Dems should really stand firm with language, policies and advertisements that speak to helping the American middle class and the poor and emphasizing professional responsibility while governing...

Dems need to figure out the 'code' for these things in their ads and slogans for 2006 and 2008 in KY and the US and follow-through on such things if given the chance...

We should be proud to be the party that 'knows how to govern' not like these Repub guys who think government is a giveaway to select, private or corporate allies...

We won it for World War I, we built it back following the Depression, we won it for World War II, we won the Soviet Clash during the Cuban Missle Crisis, we aided national perspective during and after the Nixon criminal scandal, we shepherded the SALT talks and other nonproliferation ideals since discarded and we even followed through on Reagan's re-nig of balancing the budget during Clinton's term...

Take pride in cleaning up the errors of governing by the Repubs and talk about it! Instead of the Repubs being the 'daddy' party Dems should strive to present themselves as the adult party - a party that can govern effectively and hold fast to Dem ideals and also adapt to a changing world!

[Steve Magruder]

So much for the experiment with "Republican power" in Kentucky. Now, it's probably going back to Democratic control, but I have to say that, even as a Progressive, those weren't exactly halcyon days -- it's not like state government was corruption-free before Fletcher came on board. It's not like Kentucky's Democrats are anything like the national ones.

That all said, Kentucky is *nothing* compared to Ohio when it comes to scandals of national importance. Zoom out to look at what's going on in this country, and Kentucky's merit system scandal is a nothing-burger. But Fletcher should resign at any rate, because we don't want authoritarian do-nothing hacks filling that office.

[Sam Wise]

Helluva post, anonymous. Thanks for putting my brain into overtime.

I'm still struggling between the competing ideas. One thing I know for sure: If we can save Kentucky from a red-state fate, I don't give a tinker's damn about payback for plain old yellow Democrats.

Whatever else is true, this much is a fact:

From a Democratic perspective, this website is one of the best things things to happen in Kentucky in years. Thanks to the posters that make us think, and thanks to Mark for making it happen.

Agree completely with SamWise about Mark's giving a voice to KY D's. Sadly, I think many of us have been cowed and confused by the hard and blistering right-wing turn KY's taken. We're beaten down. We've fed our brain several hours a week of right-wing AM radio; listened to our preachers talk up Bush, patriotism and the war in the context of Biblical teachings (after denigrating Clinton and Patton for their infidelities); looked on as McConnell and D. Williams (and E. Williams) clobbered their Democratic counterparts stategically and rhetorically.

The progressive political voice has been so thoroughly drowned out in these parts it has virtually ceased to exist. (Oh, there were a few in the predictable places--Universities, and editorial pages, but they have been pushed to irrelevancy, little more than a tolerated political artifact from a bygone era.)

And so, like the battered wife hiding in the cellar feeling like she's lost your right to complain or contradict her abuser, we've languished.

Then we found a website, a blog, where we could anonymously connect to a community of like-minded people and, finally, experiment with expressing our true feelings, beliefs, values and principles. And it feels good. And we're starting to remember we have the better of many (if not most) arguments, and are right on principle just as often (or more often) as Republicans. Like the Anonymous poster below, we've even begun thinking strategically again.

The Democratic party is still in shambles, but Jobtrot has emboldened many of us. It's reminded us that we can fight back (even if we're called the usual names). The usual epithets are sounding more and more hollow and irrelevant.

Maybe some new Democratic leaders with a vision (not just memories of glory days) for a future will emerge articulating Democratic principles in a relevant and appealing way.

Thank you Mark for--in the meantime-- stepping into the breach (really vacuum) and reminding us it can be filled with something useful and important. And nudging the battered spouse to leave the cellar, speak truth to power, and if the abuser threatens to strike as usual, try whacking him in the head with a frying pan for a change.

Go Mark....but I don't understand the Patton connection either. What the heck does Paul Patton have to do with any of this? There are a lot of new Democrats working hard and taking charge, who have no connection with Paul Patton. I think Paul Patton should be left out of this...he's history.

Bingo. Patton is history. Real progressive Democrats have the right message. The problem is that publicly "calling out" crooked Dems will hurt the good guys. The public will, unfortunately, have a hard time discerning the difference. We know this from hard experience.

Why help the Republicans hang this albatross about progressives' collective neck?

That said, I agree that this blog is fantastic and has given progressives in this state a place to meet and discuss and learn that we never had before. Thanks much, Mark.

[Daniel]

It's a good day for Democrats and it appears the GOP is doomed in this state.

[Willie]

Yeah, we need to rally the Democrats, instead of going back and picking at old sores. A lot of Patton people supported Chandler, even though we knew he spent 24 hours a day for eight years trying to make a name by prosecuting "crimes" he couldn't prove in court. The whole bitterness thing isn't very becoming, Mark. I like your blog, but stay focused on the future, not the past. Patton is retired and happy to be out of the "mess." He moved the state forward for six and a half years, which is six and a half more good years than Fletcher has had, and six and a half more than Chandler. Nuff said.

[Phoebe]

I would like to say, that I am a Democrat, but I voted for Ernie Fletcher. The reason I voted for him is because he sold me on the motto of cutting out of the "waste, fraud, and abuse" in Frankfort. I, also, did not feel Ben Chandler was a good, Democrat candidate; he seems too smug, and he does not seem down-to-earth at all. Fletcher is a disappointment, and I hope the Democrats can come up with a better candidate the next round. I am new to the blog, and I would like to say I like it!

[Mary Alice]

My daughter, who lives in Seattle and is a good Democrat, was here visiting and I was trying to explain the mess in Frankfort to her. It was so conplicated that I finally said,"It's without a doubt the biggest scandal to hit Frankfort since, since, well, since the last governor. The politics in Kentucky really are the damnedest.

[j.l.mitchell]

Our goverment has failed us over and over..its time for new elections for all local state and federal offcials in the country. I understand the president must be impeached and can not be recalled but what about the congress and senate? Its time for new elections with third parties and paper ballots. Why wait until terms end for those who have driven the country into the ground?Its time for new blood in goverment and the radical idea that the people repersent themselfs rather than be ruled by blue blooded familes attached mind body and soul to the muti-national companies detroying our country.Its time to vote out the republican and democratic parties,each has sold thier souls and closed thier collective minds.The world they live in is devoid of new ideas or even a basic understanding of the people they pretend to protect.Recall elections for every offical in the land! for those we can't recall at least we can try to surround them with new faces and perhaps elect those who may lack experience but bring new ideas,rational debate, and most importantly a backbone.....jlm