BluegrassReport.org

Shocking -- More Fletcher Fraud Discovered

I think we should get used to this, as we unpeel the Fletcher onion and understand the facts, not the fictions that the Fletcher-Rudolph campaign tried to spin this year as they trailed by 20 points in the polls:

Today:

"Most notably and despite claims last summer that the Medicaid budget was balanced, the truth is otherwise," Beshear said. "We are facing a current year shortfall of $389 million." About a third of that comes from general funds.

June 2007:

Medicaid Is Back In Black, Official Says

The state Medicaid program that was bleeding cash several years ago is now in the black, largely thanks to broad reforms that are beginning to take hold, Health and Family Services Secretary Mark Birdwhistell said today.

After updating a legislative committee on the progress the Medicaid program has made, Birdwhistell told reporters from the Herald-Leader and the Louisville Courier-Journal that the state will make its budget when the 2007 fiscal year ends on Saturday without having to push back some of its costs to the next budget cycle.

“We’re going to pay all the bills,” he said. “I feel very good about where we are.”

What's even more noteworthy about this dishonesty was that Fletcher named his own Chief of Staff, Stan Cave, acting budget director in September and apparently Cave's loyalty to his boss, and desperation to keep his job, trumped providing the public with honest and accurate data about the state's finances.

Crooks.

Giuliani's Problem With The Truth -- Live From Kentucky

Last week, The New York Times splashed its front-page with a story that highlighted Rudy Giuliani's (R) repeated exaggerations of his mayoral record during his current presidential campaign.

Here's an excerpt:

Discussing his crime-fighting success as mayor, Mr. Giuliani told a television interviewer that New York was “the only city in America that has reduced crime every single year since 1994.” In New Hampshire this week, he told a public forum that when he became mayor in 1994, New York “had been averaging like 1,800, 1,900 murders for almost 30 years.” When a recent Republican debate turned to the question of fiscal responsibility, he boasted that “under me, spending went down by 7 percent.”

All of these statements are incomplete, exaggerated or just plain wrong. And while, to be sure, all candidates use misleading statistics from time to time, Mr. Giuliani has made statistics a central part of his candidacy as he campaigns on his record.

I raise this because Jefferson Poole has just posted an excellent account of Giuliani's private fundraiser yesterday in Louisville which appears to further highlight Giuliani's very problem with the truth. Jefferson cites how the fundraiser's host threw out a few statistics of Giuliani's accomplishments as he introduced him (bullet-points which most likely were provided in advance by the Giuliani camp, which in my experience is standard practice for these sorts of events):

He also commended Giuliani for bringing the murders down in New York City so drastically, from about 3,000 a year to more like 500, a figure which could be matched by St. Louis, MO.

In that simple sentence, there are three gross misstatements (and I'm going to assume that Jefferson accurately reported what was said).

First, as Times alludes to in its story above, Giuliani seems to be grossly inflating the number of actual murders in New York City during his tenure. Despite the claim of the rate going "from about 3,000 a year to more like 500," in reality it dropped from 1,946 to 661 -- still an impressive drop -- and has continued to drop during Mayor Michael Bloomberg's (I) current tenure:

• 1990: 2,245
• 1991: 2,154
• 1992: 1,995
• 1993: 1,946
• 1994: 1,561 (Giuliani sworn-in on January 1st)
• 1995: 1,177
• 1996: 983
• 1997: 770
• 1998: 633
• 1999: 671
• 2000: 673
• 2001: 661
• 2002: 588 (Bloomberg sworn-in on January 1st)
• 2003: 597
• 2004: 570
• 2005: 539
• 2006: 596

(Side note: While there's no doubt that murders fell considerably during Giuliani's tenure, it's also worth noting that the drop in NYC's murders largely paralleled a national drop. For example, murders fell nationally by 37 percent during the 1994 to 1999 timeframe (from 24,530 to 15,522), suggesting that the Clinton administration policies and a strong economy also played an important role in the decline that New York experienced.)

Finally, while St. Louis was named the second-most dangerous city in America for 2006, its total number of murders last year was 131, not anywhere close to the 500 that was suggested at the Giuliani event. Seems that Giuliani suffers from the same problem with the truth that Anne Northup (R) warned us had afflicted Governor Fletcher (R).

Given Giuliani's solid record on crime while mayor, you'd think he'd stick to the facts and not constantly embellish them.

Fletcher's Campaign Admits They Lied About Anti-Gaming Issue

Not that we didn't already know that Governor Fletcher (R) was lying through teeth during the campaign, but it's good to see they acknowledge it.

Here what Fletcher said in the final week of the general election on his flip-flop on the gaming issue:

Bishop, who campaigned with Fletcher in his successful 2003 governor's race and who later accepted a position as mansion director, said the governor couldn't ignore the gambling issue.

"Fletcher believes in his heart that this would not be good for Kentucky," Bishop said, "and he felt it was his responsibility as governor to take a stand."

Fletcher said Bishop is right.

"This is not about strategy," Fletcher said. "I don't think people understand that."

And here's what his campaign told the Herald-Leader in a story that came yesterday as they looked back on the election:

The campaign's first internal poll taken in early June tested possible negative messages about Democratic challenger Steve Beshear -- he favored casinos, once lobbied for the payday loan industry and worked on the liquidation of Kentucky Central Life Insurance Co. The poll respondents were then read a list of Fletcher's accomplishments and were asked to pick between the two candidates.

Even after laying out the best-case scenario for Fletcher, "we still couldn't get over 44 percent," said Marty Ryall, Fletcher's campaign manager.

[...]

What the Fletcher campaign did next was a bit unorthodox and more than a little controversial, especially among some of the governor's staunchest allies. The strategy was to change the subject, specifically to the issue of casinos upon which Beshear proudly built his Democratic primary platform.

"If we could make it a referendum on casinos instead of a referendum on the governor, we might have a chance," Ryall said. "We knew it was a long shot."

...After the campaign's June poll results came back, Fletcher's key advisers agreed on one of their weekly Wednesday conference calls that opposing casinos was the best option because the numbers showed that socially conservative voters might respond to such a message.

Convincing Fletcher, however, was the first task.

"We acknowledged that it was unconventional; it was kind of a Hail Mary," said Bill Kenyon, political director for Fletcher's media consulting firm Strategic Perception, Inc., in a phone interview from his Texas home. "Like most political figures given their preference, he would have rather talked about his achievements. That just wasn't going to put us over the goal line."

Fletcher said last month that he and first lady Glenna Fletcher looked at all the data -- poll numbers and statistics about the effect casinos have on communities --and signed off on the approach.

By late June, Fletcher had altered his public stance on the issue from staying neutral to declaring, "No casinos."

Contrary to Fletcher's assertion more than a week ago that "this is not about strategy" it seems it was all about strategy. Unfortunately, yesterday's Herald-Leader story doesn't point out how brazenly dishonest Fletcher was on this issue.

Sad Or Pathetic?

I'm not sure whether this "accomplishment" parsing on the Fletcher-Rudolph website is mostly sad or pathetic?

Governor Fletcher Has Delivered on His Promises
• More than 100,000 new jobs created between January 2004 and July 2007.

...More jobs - Kentucky has gained over 100,000 jobs between January 2004 and July 2007 (US Census, Current Population Survey, not seasonally adjusted).

Of course, his term began before January 2004 and has spanned (unfortunately) beyond July 2007. So far, only 61,200 new jobs have been created during his full-term.

But what's so shamelessly pathetic about this is that they try to get to 100,000 new jobs by 1) using "not seasonally adjusted" numbers, 2) starting the tally in January 2004, and 3) cutting it off in July 2007.

Why is that important? Well, the point of seasonally-adjusted numbers is to deal with the enormous -- and predictable -- swings in the job market that occurs at standard intervals -- like layoffs of temporary workers right after Christmas. Sure enough, Kentucky employment dropped 45,800 from December 2003 to January 2004. How convenient. (This happens every single year between December and January).

But if you're Three Card Ernie, you try to offer the voters the sleight of hand by making them think you got sworn-in in January 2004 -- not at the beginning of December 2003 -- use unadjusted raw numbers to pick-up a quick gain of 45,800 jobs, and then cut-off your count in July 2007. And then Bam!...100,000 new jobs appear to have been created.

Thankfully, the voters aren't dumb enough to re-elect this guy.

Oh, and by the way, the new job numbers just came out in the past day or so and the number of employed Kentuckians keeps dropping -- down 6,000 since March 2007 alone. Only 60,600 new jobs have really been created during his failed term. But who's counting?

What Happened To Those Democratic Endorsements Governor Fletcher (R) Promised He'd Roll Out?

In September, after a number of prominent Republicans like former U.S. Rep. Larry Hopkins (R) and former State Rep. Steve Nunn (R) endorsed Steve Beshear (D), we were promised by Governor Fletcher (R) that would be rolling out his group of prominent Democratic supporters very soon thereafter, presumably demonstrating that he too had bi-partisan support. What ever happened to that?

Have we become so conditioned to Fletcher lying that no one bothers to follow-up on his assertions any longer?

I suspect so...

A Week To Go And Fletcher Still Lies About His Administration's Corruption And Law-Breaking

You'd think that with a week until the elections and polls showing him down 23 and 24 points, that Governor Fletcher (R) might try to salvage a molecule of integrity (if any remain) and stop lying about his administration's corruption and law-breaking, especially those parts of it that have been well-documented by evidence.

But then if Fletcher thought that way, he might not be looking a record-breaking loss on Tuesday.

Fletcher's Comment On 'Hit List' Promotions Wrong, Records Show
By Tom Loftus, The Courier-Journal

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- During a debate Monday night, Gov. Ernie Fletcher said the so-called "hit list" that surfaced during the investigation of his administration's hiring practices was actually "more of a promotion list."

"More people were promoted that were on the list," said Fletcher, a Republican. But a review of state personnel records shows that's not so.

The list, drawn up inside the Transportation Cabinet on April 18, 2005, named 23 individuals to be fired or transferred. Three were fired; a fourth was removed from a non-merit-system post but was able to revert to a merit-system job. Three were promoted.

Among the others, nine retired or resigned, and seven remain in state government but have not received promotions.

[...]

It listed the names of nine people who had already been fired or transferred, and then the 23 "pending actions."

Along with each name is the person's Democratic credentials, including any contributions made to Fletcher's 2003 opponent, Ben Chandler, now 6th District congressman.

The list recommends that nine on the list be fired, and that others be transferred.

When The Reality-Based World Doesn't Help, Fletcher Just Makes Things Up

This is so symptomatic of Governor Fletcher's (R) disastrous term -- if the facts don't fit, just make them up.

From Mark Hebert:

There were a couple of interesting tidbits from Fletcher's breakfast speech this morning. He told the audience that there's a quiet, but sizable crowd that's going to turn out for him on election day. Fletcher cited a tuesday morning stop in Whitesburg for a rally that he says produced more democrats for him than an entire Beshear rally across town at the same time. Just one problem. Beshear wasn't in Whitesburg on Tuesday, according to his campaign staff, and there was no Whitesburg stop on his publicly released schedule. Beshear was in Paducah for a rally Tuesday night, despite claims by Fletcher folks that he didn't show up.

...Beshear says he doesn't know why Fletcher is claiming in speeches and in a news releases that Fletcher outdrew Beshear in Whitesburg when Beshear wasn't even there. Beshear guesses it's an act of desperation. When I asked Fletcher about his evidence that Beshear was in Whitesburg on Tuesday he said that was the information that the campaign had. An aide to Fletcher says the whole town was abuzz because the two candidates were in the same place at the same time. It just wasn't true.

Is this akin to the mirages people see after days in desert without water? Instead of no water, Fletcher is finding little support for the shame and corruption he's brought the state and must create these little fictions to make himself (and his sycophants) believe all is well and God still plans to intervene just before Election Day and save him.

Either that or Fletcher is hearing little voices in his head.

Fletcher Tries To Weasel His Way Out Of Those Pesky Pro-Amnesty Votes He Cast In 2002

It's one thing for Governor Fletcher (R) to constantly flip-flop on issues, but he should at least have the courage of admitting it when he does so.

Case in point: Recall yesterday's latest shameless Fletcher flip-flop where Fletcher's desperation now has him jumping on the illegal immigration bandwagon, despite his 2002 support of amnesty for some illegal immigrants. Instead of acknowledging that his position has changed, Fletcher instead sends out his mouthpiece to simply lie to the voters on his behalf and claim he didn't vote for amnesty.

Unfortunately for Fletcher, this thingee called the Internet allows us to look at what really happened -- not simply accept his dishonest spin. You see, there are a number of organizations that track immigration-related legislation in Congress and how members of Congress vote on the issue. Here's one of the many that tracked then Congressman Fletcher's immigration positions and votes.

And here's an image from the site on Fletcher and his amnesty votes:

Governor, why must you lie all the time? Don't you know that the voters don't like lying hypocrites?

As Predicted, Fletcher Lied

Remember a post last month about dueling fundraisers that Governor Fletcher (R) and Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R) held at the same time in Northern Kentucky? At the time, Trey said he raised $141,000, but Fletcher stated he topped that by hauling in $150,000?

Then I stated, "Five bucks says Fletcher is again exaggerating and Grayson outraised him."

Well, Trey hasn't reported his numbers yet, but we know from Fletcher's report filed yesterday that he was every bit the liar I expected:

What a petty little man. He only raised $103,500, a whole lot less than $150,000. Is there anything our ordained-minister-turned-politician won't lie about?

Well, That One Didn't Work Out Like They Had Hoped Either...

Another day, another desperate gambit by Governor Fletcher (R) falling from his house of cards.

One of the more pathetic claims by Fletcher has been that a Beshear-Mongiardo administration will erode gun rights for law-abiding Kentuckians. We all know it's another desperate lie by Fletcher but this time the National Rifle Association provides us some guidance.

While the incumbent Fletcher continues to garner the NRA's endorsement (no surprise there), check out how "scared" the NRA is of Steve Beshear (D):

Pretty scary, huh? Beshear only gets an "A" from the NRA.

P.S. -- This should kill any hopes by Fletcher that the NRA intends to step into this race and spend any money to help stop his bleeding in the form of independent expenditures. They've effectively said both candidates are perfectly fine to them. It must suck to be a Fletcher supporter right now...

Fletcher's Echo Chamber At The Paducah Sun

One of the most discredited of the countless fictions that Governor Fletcher (R) has tried to sell the public was the claim that he inherited a $1 billion deficit when he took office. Earlier this year, the media finally took him to task for his continually dishonesty over the assertion, one that Anne Northup (R) regularly used to demonstrate the depth of Fletcher's dishonesty:

Fletcher's flier again falsely claimed that the governor turned a $1 billion deficit into a surplus.

The campaign points to a 2003 study by former Gov. Paul Patton that said the state would need $700 million in extra revenue in the coming years to achieve certain goals in lowering university tuition and meeting education and health care needs.

But the budget deficit Fletcher faced when he took office was $262 million.

But lo and behold, guess what showed-up in Sunday's Paducah Sun in a piece about Fletcher's campaign and his accomplishments?

Fletcher must find a way to motivate voters about the successes of his administration...The state also was facing a $1 billion budget deficit when Fletcher took office, and Patton said it could only be resolved by increasing taxes.

What a shame.

Our Ordained Minister Turned Governor Again Shows His Dishonesty To Kentucky Voters

It's kind of sad watching Governor Fletcher's (R) dispense with all the lessons he taught his former Baptist congregations as an ordained minister about living an honest and virtuous life as he morphs into just another desperate and dishonest politician who has lost his way.

Thankfully, the voters aren't buying his snake oil.

From Joe Gerth's Ad Watch in today's Courier-Journal concerning Fletcher's recent gaming ad:

Like the economic development ad, which featured anti-casino activist Mark Andrews but identified him only as a "retired business owner," the Shanholtz ad doesn't give key information about him.

He, too, has been active against casinos in the same group Andrews heads, lobbying the Missouri legislature not to repeal a $500 loss limit in casinos. It also doesn't say that Shanholtz embezzled $70,000 from his law firm because of his gambling addiction. He was disbarred, sentenced to five years' probation and ordered to repay the money he stole.

Fletcher has to trot out criminals to make his ads. How deplorable. But then, what's the saying about "birds of a feather"?...

How About Some "Three Card Ernie" To Start The Week

As we get closer and closer to the November 6th election, it's remarkable just how mealy mouthed Governor Fletcher (R) has become, particularly on the issue of which corporations and state contractors have given to his private legal defense fund.

I want to highlight a particularly painful parsing that Fletcher told the media following a Northern Kentucky event last week when asked whether any contributors to his legal fund are doing business with the state:

"The people that I'll accept donations from, at least up to this point, are not doing business with the state," Fletcher said after participating in an economic development announcement in Kenton County. "If anybody wants to see the people that have donated, all they have to do is look at my donors in the primary; they're there."

The thing that jumps out is his carefully worded "at least up to this point" comment.

Seems to me that Fletcher just telegraphed that he's waiting until after the election before actually taking money from state contractors? It's so disappointing that the media isn't hitting Fletcher hard for this pathetic shell game and pressing him for his clear refusal to offer a direct and clear statement, rather than the tortured mangling of the English language that he offered us last week at the KET debate (click here).

However, regardless of when Fletcher takes their dirty money, the concern is whether a quid pro quo exists is what angers the public. Whether Fletcher is playing some game with his state contractor cronies, asking them to wait until after November before tendering their checks, isn't any solace whatsoever. In fact, it's even more offensive that he'd be that much more dishonest about this important issue.

Of course, the easiest explanation for all this is that Fletcher is simply lying to us, again. But as I wrote last week, we're going to have long memories if we find out he lied.

Another Reason Never To Believe Anything Senator McConnell Says

Recall that on August 30th, Senator McConnell (R) publicly uttered this nonsense:

"The governor is closing this race rapidly," Sen. Mitch McConnell said today after speaking to law students at the University of Kentucky.

Well, you can add that to the growing list of dishonest statements offered by our senior senator. As you can see from the inclusive list below, there never has been a closing of this race whatsoever -- especially not in late August when he made the statement:

Pollster	Date	Tested	Beshear (D)	Fletcher (R)	Spread
AVERAGE			54.3%	36.0%	Beshear +18.3%
Bluegrass Poll	Sep 13-18	667 LV	55%	35%	Beshear +20%
H-L/WTVQ	Sep 10-13	600 LV	56%	39%	Beshear +17%
Survey USA	Sep 8-10	553 LV	58%	39%	Beshear +19%
Survey USA	Aug 4-6	613 LV	58%	37%	Beshear +21%
Lane Report	Jul25-Aug2	600 LV	49%	31%	Beshear +18%
Survey USA	Jul 14-16	560 LV	59%	36%	Beshear +23%
IA/MO	Jul 8-9	693 RV	41%	38%	Beshear +3%
Rasmussen	May 24-25	500 LV	51%	35%	Beshear +16%
Survey USA	May 23-24	609 LV	62%	34%	Beshear +28%

Wouldn't it be nice if politicians (of all political stripes) just stopped lying to us in hopes of supporting their own unsupportable claims? It's one thing to be pie-in-the-sky optimistic. It's entirely another thing to make-up things from whole cloth -- especially when I'm told his own polling data confirmed Fletcher was trailing by 18 at the time.

So shameless. It's just all a means to an end for these jokers.

Herald-Leader Points Out Failure Of Fletcher Administration's Economic Policies

Yesterday, John Stamper had an excellent story in the Herald-Leader documenting the failure of Governor Fletcher's (R) economic policies as Kentucky continues to falls in the national rankings on the most basic levels of economic growth during his four years in office -- a topic that we've discussed at length here at BGR (see here, here and here as examples):

Under Fletcher, Kentucky's economy has grown, but at a rate slower than the national average. The number of jobs in Kentucky has grown by 3.41 percent since Fletcher took office in December 2003, an increase of 61,200 jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nationally, jobs increased 5.94 percent over that period.

[...]

On the campaign stump, Beshear goes through a litany of national economic rankings that show Kentucky backsliding during Fletcher's tenure. In a new economy index, Kentucky went from 42nd to 45th. In high-tech jobs, Kentucky dropped from 42nd to 44th. In industry research and development, Kentucky slipped from 39th to 43rd.

"When you look at all the various economic indexes that measure states and their efforts to compete in this world economy, almost every one of them shows either a stagnation or a decline when you look at Kentucky," Beshear said. "It's time to turn that around."

And while the Bureau of Labor Statistics has never shown Kentucky getting anywhere close to the 100,000 new jobs Fletcher repeatedly claims to have been created during his tenure (a claim repeated earlier this month), Stamper points out that even Fletcher's own preferred-statistic to back-up that claims shows he has badly failed:

Fletcher also claims to have made good on his 100,000-job promise, since one of two main job-counting indexes used by economists did show in March that Kentucky had created 103,344 new jobs since December 2003. "I think we've been on target with that promise," he said.

However, even that index now shows Kentucky with only 76,394 new jobs as of July, the latest data available.

If that's the case, why does Fletcher continue to lie to the voters, as he did just two weeks ago in Paducah?

Fletcher said in the past four years, state tourism has increased 33 percent, school funding has grown 25 percent and more than 100,000 jobs were created.

Is there anything this desperate man won't lie about?

This Will Bite Fletcher In The Ass If He's Lying, Again

Clearly under pressure for suggesting at this week's gubernatorial debate that contributors to his private legal defense fund were doing business with the state, Governor Fletcher (R) made the following statement later in the week:

Fletcher said yesterday after the debate that he never said he had accepted money from anyone with state business and, in fact, had checked a list of donors and found no state contractors on it.

He refused to say, however, if he had accepted contributions from anyone he appointed to a job, board or commission. By law, Fletcher doesn't have to release the names of contributors until after the Nov. 6 election.

While his political career is over, it's hard to imagine that the 54-year-old Fletcher is going to leave the scene and not try some public rehabilitation in the coming years in some capacity short of elective office.

However, if Fletcher has lied to the public during this campaign, and state contractors do show-up on his legal defense fund disclosure that he is required to file at the beginning of 2008, he will have an impossible time shaking-off the effects of such a lie. If he has taken the easy road but denying something that only he knows to be true -- and we won't know until next year since Fletcher has shown the lack of courage and character to come clean and disclose them during his re-election campaign -- I can't imagine the public forgiving him for such a deception, after all he has put them through during his four years.

My prediction: once a liar, always a liar.

Governor, Why Do You Lie So Much? Isn't Lying A Sin?

Apparently, Governor Fletcher (R) still has no problem lying to the public, or simply making-up his own statistics.

Here's what he told a small gathering in Paducah earlier this week:

Fletcher said in the past four years, state tourism has increased 33 percent, school funding has grown 25 percent and more than 100,000 jobs were created.

What a truly shameless liar. Wouldn't it be nice if reporters actually called him on some of these things, rather than just serve as stenographers?  As we've discussed over and over and over again, the state has seen barely 60,000 new jobs during his miserable term.

But it gets better.

In just the last two weeks, it seems that tourism in Kentucky during Fletcher's term has skyrocketed from the 24 percent increase he told folks in Richmond two weeks ago (see below) to 33 percent he told Paducah residents this week (see above):

Since then, 100,000 new jobs have been created and tourism has grown by 24 percent, he said, adding that at the same time, the number of state government employees dropped by 2,000.

Yep, Fletcher just makes things up as he goes along. The more desperate things look for him, the more dramatic his self-described accomplishments.

Hello? Media?

Even More Fletcher Dishonesty In Pushing His Anti-Gaming Theme

It's so sad that Governor Fletcher (R) continues to be so dishonest with Kentucky voters on his hypocritical anti-gaming message -- that appears to be having no impact on this race.

A new example has just popped-up. In his fourth television ad on the subject, Fletcher trots out the sad story of a man named Mark Andrews who is able to talk about the problems casinos have brought Missouri. Fletcher describes Andrews as "a retired business owner from St. Louis."

Sadly -- but unfortunately typical of Fletcher -- what he doesn't tell the voters is what Mark Andrews currently does for a living.

A quick Google search reveals that Andrews is the chairman of a group called Casino Watch which describes itself as:

We are a single-issue, volunteer-driven organization, opposing the expansion of gambling since 1993.

Here's Andrews own bio on his Casino Watch site:

Apparently, Fletcher would rather mislead the voters and call Andrews a retired business owner and not tell the truth that Andrews is the chairman of an anti-gaming organization. But then that would require Fletcher to care about things like the truth, which we've sadly learned isn't something that concerns our ordained-minister-turned-politician.

Fletcher = Fraud.

(Thanks to a reader for this tip).

Update (12:53 pm): Just noticed that according to Andrews own bio he was an "executive of a manufacturing corporation" while Fletcher tries to pass him off in the ad as a "business owner." Was this just another shameless Fletcher lie?

The Man With Nothing Positive To Say

The most remarkable thing about this gubernatorial race has been how the Fletcher-Rudolph campaign has only offered attacks on Steve Beshear (D) and the singular theme of opposition to expanded gaming...and nothing else. Nothing positive. No issues. No discussion of their abysmal record. Nada.

Sadly, this desperate campaign -- and its equally desperate national party -- have launched another smear on Beshear, again doctoring photos to try to convince voters of their lies. (BlueGrassRoots has the scoop).

But what's so audacious about Fletcher's current desperate tactics is the 180 they've done since the primary when they blasted Anne Northup (R) for only attacking and not offering any substance -- just like they are doing now.

Here's a look back at the two-faced lectures from these crooks:

January 19:

Fletcher's campaign manager denied the allegations and said they set a dire mood for an election the campaign hoped would focus on ideas.

They are "unfounded," Marty Ryall said. "It would be nice if we could hear what her plans for the future are, what her vision for the future is."

"She's been in the race only 24 hours and already has the sound of a desperate candidate," he said.

March 5:

"Ann Northup has been on a negative rampage against Gov. Fletcher since entering this race," Ryall said in an e-mail. "She has no ideas or agenda other than to tear down our first Republican governor in 32 years.

March 12:

'The voters deserve better than what they're getting out of the Northup campaign,' Ryall said. 'All we've seen from them is attacks.'

March 23:

In response to questions today, he told reporters he wouldn't get involved in "the politics of destruction" and said "I'm not going to comment on my opponent".

You can almost smell the desperation, can't you?

Governor Fletcher's (R) "Larry Craig" Problem

I couldn't help but notice how Governor Fletcher (R) and U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R) seem to share one pretty repugnant trait: both are willing to formally admit to wrongful conduct but then deny it publicly.

As we saw with Craig, while he willingly pled guilty to criminal charges, once that admission became public, he quickly reverted to denials (he's not gay), excuses (they accidentally touched feet), and accusations of wrongful conduct by the police officer's behalf (entrapment).

With Fletcher, we constantly see the same thing.

Recall that Fletcher agreed to a deal where he signed a document admitting wrongdoing in exchange for the charges against him dismissed:

(3) The Governor acknowledges that the evidence strongly indicates wrongdoing by his administration with regard to personnel actions within the merit system.

(4) Further, the Governor hereby states that these actions were inappropriate and that he regrets their occurrence, and accepts responsibility for them as head of the executive branch of government...

(5) The parties recognize that the Attorney General's investigation and prosecution of this matter were necessary and proper exercises of his constitutional duty. The investigation and prosecution have benefited the Commonwealth and ensured that abuses of the state's merit system will be eliminated.

But just like Larry Craig, all we get from Fletcher today are denials (he's not a criminal), excuses (previous administrations did the same thing), and blaming others (it was a political witch hunt).

Ernie Fletcher and Larry Craig: two peas in a pod.

Another Tall Tale From Senator McConnell (R)

Prior to last November's election, Senator McConnell (R) made a number of predictions that proved to be very wrong:

• "In Kentucky we're going to win the state Senate, stay roughly where we are in the state House and re-elect our Republican congressmen. If there's something going on out there, I don't think it's going to happen here," the Louisville Republican told reporters after a speech. (link) They kept the state Senate, but lost five House seats and one big congressional seat (Northup).
                       
• Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he does not think any GOP House members in Kentucky will be looking for new jobs Wednesday morning. (link) Wrong again, see Northup.
                    
• U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said several of this year's Senate races are close but he's not expecting Republican candidates to be negatively affected by the Internet scandal involving a former Florida congressman. (link) Wrong again.

So, you might want to take his unsupported boast today with a grain of salt:

"The governor is closing this race rapidly," Sen. Mitch McConnell said today after speaking to law students at the University of Kentucky.

Of course, McConnell isn't telling the truth. Fletcher trails by an average of 18 points in all the public polls and the gap only seems to be getting worse. McConnell must be taking lessons from RPK Chairman Steve Robertson hoping that if you keep making the same false statement people will start believing you, eventually.

But then McConnell has never let facts get in the way of his talking points before. You might recall these gems as well:

• called Bush "one of the great presidents in the history of the United States." (link)            
• said the war in Iraq has been an "extremely successful undertaking." (link)
• called Rumsfeld “a spectacular secretary of defense, one of the best in American history." (link)

C-J's Steitzer Calls Out Fletcher Admin For Scrubbing Statistics From Website Which Sharply Contradict One Of Their Favorite Talking Points

Since the inception of BluegrassReport.org in June 2005, I've constantly harped on the dishonesty of Governor Fletcher (R) and his fellow band of wing-nuts (e.g., David Williams, Damon Thayer, Stan Lee) who have knocked themselves silly trying to convince the public that we need to give-up our constitutional guarantee to a civil trial because doctors have been fleeing the state. I even created a category of these posts called "Legal Reform Lies."

Time and again I've demonstrated how the state's own statistics contradict everything these political hacks have been saying, which they've done simply to placate some of their top financial patrons -- the insurance lobby and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

This afternoon, Stephenie Steitzer has quite a find on the Courier-Journal's blog, as she noticed how the state has scrubbed statistics which have shown a clear increase in the number of practicing physicians in the state for a number of consecutive years:

Data Scrubbed From State Website?

The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure previously kept statistics regarding the number of licensed physicians with Kentucky practice addresses going back to previous years.

It was a quick and easy place to learn that physicians are not leaving the state in droves as the governor and pro-tort reform legislators continue to assert.

...Those numbers, however, are no longer being kept on the Web site, http://kbml.ky.gov/

...Brenda Knopp, the Web site manager, said the old statistics were removed when the Web site was redesigned about a year ago. She said she has "absolutely no idea" why they removed and does not remember who ordered them removed.

"We just don't put them on there anymore," she said.

Knopp said the numbers are still available to anyone who submits an open records request.

Excellent work, Stephenie.