BluegrassReport.org

Rep. Geoff Davis (R) -- First-Rate Hypocrite

It's so sad that someone in the public trust would so deceive the voters into the type of congressman he would become if elected. What a fraud.

U.S. Rep Geoff Davis (R), December 2007:

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis ranked among the biggest congressional spenders of tax money to send mailings to constituents last year, which coincided with a tough re-election campaign for the Republican.

Davis, who represents the 4th District in northern Kentucky, sent out 716,803 pieces of mass mailings in 2006. His use of the congressional franking privilege carried an overall cost of $165,316 to taxpayers.

In the 435-member House, Davis was outspent on total mailing costs by four congressmen, all fellow Republicans.

Candidate Geoff Davis (R), August 2002:

At a press conference today, Boone County businessman and Republican candidate for Congress Geoff Davis issued a strongly worded challenge to Congressman Ken Lucas. Lucas has come under fire recently for using the Congressional privilege of taxpayer-funded mail, or franking, to send what amounts to full-color campaign literature.

...At the conference, Mr. Davis showed the clear pattern of increased spending during election years. Mr. Lucas spent $80,828 on franked mail in 2000 on postage alone, then only $21,389 in 2001 according to figures available at the Congressional Office of Budget and Management.

"Ken Lucas has violated the trust of Kentucky's hard working families by this obvious abuse of tax payer dollars," said Geoff Davis, Republican candidate for Congress.  "As Congressman, I will not use the hard-earned money of taxpayers to fund my campaign. I believe that the 4th District's next Congressman should help working families, not abuse their trust. In a time when many families are struggling, this shows how out of touch Mr. Lucas is with the District," remarked Mr. Davis.

Shameless hypocritical fraud.

This isn't the first time Davis has flaunted this pledge. Click here and the media's reaction here.

UPDATE (5:59 PM): Pat Crowley asks:

The mailings coincided with his re-election campaign against Dem Ken Lucas. What say you, conservative voters? Is Davis keeping his constituents informed or abusing the privilege in an election year?

Cabinet Visits Here Probed (Crowley, Kentucky Enquirer)

The probe of the Bush Administration's efforts to use official government officials to help its most vulnerable Republican candidates (see link) has now expanded to Kentucky's 4th Congress District. What a shock.

Pat Crowley has the story:

Cabinet Visits Here Probed
By Patrick Crowley, Kentucky Enquirer

In the summer of last year, Northern Kentucky Congressman Geoff Davis was popular with White House officials.

Two top members of the Bush administration - Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and drug czar John Walters - came to Kentucky for high-profile media events with Davis that were paid for by taxpayers.

But a congressional committee is now investigating whether the visits were more about politics and publicity than policy.

[...]

But Walters' visit to Kentucky is part of an investigation by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. According to documents and statements on the committee's Web site, Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is probing whether the White House violated federal laws by trying to politicize the visits.

Waxman has requested documents from, among others, Gutierrez, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Sara Taylor, who at the time was White House Director of Political Affairs.

Waxman wrote to Taylor that documents the committee has "suggest that White House efforts to politicize the activities of federal agencies may be more widespread than previously known."

"Your memo shows that John Walters, the nation's drug czar, and his deputies traveled at your suggestion to 20 events with vulnerable Republican members of Congress in the months before the 2006 elections," Waxman wrote. "The trips were paid for by federal taxpayers and ... benefited the districts of the Republican members."

Waxman said documents also show that Karl Rove, President Bush's recently departed political and policy adviser, commended the Commerce Department for "going above and beyond the call of duty" in arranging "surrogate appearances by Cabinet members."

Family Affair, Kentucky-Style

Today, the watchdog group CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) released its "first-ever analysis of the misuse of power by the chairmen and ranking members of all House of Representative committees and subcommittees, as well as top leadership positions, to financially benefit their family members. The new report names 96 members from 33 states: 44 Democrats and 53 Republicans."

Among those are our own U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (R) and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R).

From its report on Rogers:

HAROLD ROGERS (R-KY): Ranking member of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security of the House Committee on Appropriations.

Rep. Harold Rogers’ campaign committee, Hal Rogers for Congress, has paid a family member and has paid fees to a company that employs his wife. Additionally, Rep. Rogers appears to have used his influence to steer federal contracts to a company that employs his son.

Cynthia Doyle Rogers (wife):
• In his 2005 personal financial disclosure statement, Rep. Rogers reported that his wife, Cynthia Doyle Rogers, is employed by The Levatino Group. In the 2006 election cycle, Rep. Rogers’ campaign committee paid The Levatino Group $16,892 for fundraising.

Tracy Rogers (daughter-in-law):
• In the 2006 election cycle, Rep. Rogers’ campaign committee paid his daughter-in-law, Tracy Rogers, $24,000 for database management.
• In the 2004 election cycle, the campaign committee paid Ms. Rogers $24,000 for contract labor.
• In the 2002 election cycle, the campaign committee paid Ms. Rogers $24,000 for contract labor.

John Rogers (son):
• In 2002, Rep. Rogers intervened in a proposed plan to create new transportation worker identification cards by inserting language into appropriations bills that pushed the government to use the existing card type and to produce the cards in Corbin, Kentucky. In 2003, Rep. Rogers again intervened adding language that required a $4 million test of both card types; the test later showed the new cards were superior. The test was conducted by a Virginia based company, which shared its business with three companies in Corbin including Senture, a call center services company. In 2004, Senture won a contract to set up a call center for testing the identification cards. John Rogers was hired by Senture about the same time the contract was advertised, but before it was awarded.
• In 2004, Rep. Rogers arranged a $4 million Homeland Security contract for Senture to field calls from truckers.
• In 2004, Rep. Rogers steered a $2.9 million no-bid contract to a tourism group that then awarded a $1.2 million sub-contract to Senture.

From its report on Whitfield:

EDWARD WHITFIELD (R-KY): Ranking member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Rep. Whitfield’s campaign committee, Whitfield for Congress, has paid his daughter.

Kate Wilson (daughter):
• In the 2002 election cycle, the campaign committee paid his daughter, Kate Wilson, $500 in consulting fees.

Noteworthy is that this report doesn't look into the millions of dollars that flowed out of Rogers' leadership PAC (HALPAC) which contained considerable more money to his family members than did his congressional campaign account -- particularly to the fundraising firm (The Levantino Group) which employs his wife.

Also, since the report only looks at leadership-level members, so it omitted the $50,000 per year that U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis (R) has been paying his wife from his campaign account.

And there's the never fully-explored situation of the $69,000 in mostly generic "travel reimbursements" that U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R) had paid himself over the past five years, which happens be 11 times greater than the average of all other Kentucky congressmen during the same time frame. Of course, unlike the Rogers, Whitfield, Lewis payments, those by Davis might be illegal...

Follow The Money

If you're interested in knowing how Kentucky's federal delegation gets its bread buttered, MAPLight.org has an update on the campaign finance breakdown for each of our state's members for the most recently completed cycle.

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R)

[organizations]
RETIRED $250,047
ATTORNEY $122,100
PHYSICIAN $91,801
FARMER $74,860
KINDRED HEALTHCARE $62,700
SELF-EMPLOYED $42,850
BROWN-FORMAN CORP $41,250
HUMANA INC $38,877
GRIFFIN INDUSTRIES $38,800
PEABODY ENERGY $35,000

[interests]
Attorneys & law firms $390,848
Retired $242,047
Security brokers & investment companies $234,949
Pro-Israel $173,735
Commercial banks & bank holding companies $168,550
Lobbyists & public relations $147,295
Farmers, in general $121,160
Hospitals $121,100
Physicians $115,177
Coal mining $108,600

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning (R)

[organizations]
RETIRED $184,175
ATTORNEY $62,770
PHYSICIAN $58,750
KINDRED HEALTHCARE $21,100
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS $20,000
BROWN-FORMAN CORP $17,050
ASHLAND INC $16,250
PAIN MANAGEMENT CENTER OF PADUCAH $15,000
FARMER $13,750
RJ REYNOLDS TOBACCO $13,500

[interests]
Attorneys & law firms $191,984
Retired $188,875
Insurance agencies, brokers & agents $164,199
Security brokers & investment companies $130,243
Other physician specialists $125,800
Commercial banks & bank holding companies $117,949
Lobbyists & public relations $94,516
Physicians $81,750
Pro-Israel $64,900
Life insurance $61,083

U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY5)

[organizations]
ATTORNEY $18,000
ADDINGTON ENTERPRISES $17,800
RETIRED $17,450
BEECHFORK PROCESSING $16,000
CONSULTANT $13,850
FIRST NATIONAL BANK $12,000
NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSN $10,000
GEO GROUP $10,000
GENERAL ELECTRIC $10,000
LOCKHEED MARTIN $10,000

[interests]
Attorneys & law firms $40,700
Engineers - type unknown $28,900
Lobbyists & public relations $25,400
Business services $25,050
Commercial banks & bank holding companies $21,000
Defense areospace contractors $21,000
Civil servant/public employee $20,750
Mining $20,000
Vegetables, fruits & tree nuts $18,900
Retired $17,450

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY4)

[organizations]
RETIRED $191,705
SELF-EMPLOYED $22,882
ATTORNEY $18,900
EMERALD COAL $16,500
INVESTOR $15,050
AMERICAN BANKERS ASSN $15,000
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE $14,100
CNG FINANCIAL $12,700
CINTAS CORP $11,600
DRS TECHNOLOGIES $11,200

[interests]
Retired $191,705
Commercial banks & bank holding companies $91,727
Attorneys & law firms $85,900
Insurance agencies, brokers & agents $70,550
Credit agencies & finance companies $53,550
Lobbyists & public relations $52,603
Security brokers & investment companies $49,432
Residential construction $41,800
Coal mining $39,050
Mortgage bankers & brokers $37,550

U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis (R-KY2)

[organizations]
SELF-EMPLOYED $52,607
RETIRED $38,010
PHYSICIAN $24,060
KINDRED HEALTHCARE $21,350
ATTORNEY $14,800
BROWN-FORMAN CORP $14,499
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE $10,250
AMERICAN PHYSICAL THERAPY ASSN $10,000
AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSN $10,000
PINKERTON TOBACCO $10,000

[interests]
General commerce $57,707
Tobacco & tobacco products $46,850
Physicians $41,060
Retired $38,010
Hospitals $36,600
Other physician specialists $33,450
Attorneys & law firms $31,150
Wine & distilled spirits manufacturing $28,077
Lobbyists & public relations $27,494
Accident & health insurance $21,500

U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY1)

[organizations]
RETIRED $33,350
PAIN MANAGEMENT CENTER OF PADUCAH $21,250
PHYSICIAN $21,200
AMERISOURCEBERGEN CORP $12,250
NATIONAL CABLE & TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSN $11,000
AT&T INC $10,000
UNION PACIFIC CORP $10,000
PFIZER INC $10,000
WINE & SPIRITS WHOLESALERS OF AMERICA $10,000
BELLSOUTH CORP $10,000

[interests]
Other physician specialists $76,785
Pharmaceutical manufacturing $38,752
Telephone utilities $35,000
Retired $33,350
Physicians $33,200
Attorneys & law firms $32,100
Railroads $25,600
Tobacco & tobacco products $23,500
Pharmaceutical wholesale $21,250
Liquor wholesalers $20,500

U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler (R-KY6)

[organizations]
RETIRED $37,600
ATTORNEY $19,300
BELLSOUTH CORP $10,500
INTL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS $10,000
NATIONAL ASSN OF REALTORS $10,000
NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSN $10,000
NATIONAL AUTO DEALERS ASSN $10,000
IRONWORKERS UNION $10,000
TEAMSTERS UNION $10,000
FARM CREDIT COUNCIL $10,000

[interests]
Attorneys & law firms $69,924
Construction unions $49,000
Retired $37,600
Manufacturing unions $30,000
Air transport unions $18,700
Farmers, in general $18,550
Express delivery services $15,499
Restaurants & drinking establishments $15,450
Liquor wholesalers $15,000
Banks & lending institutions $14,900

U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY3)
No data yet

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R) Tops All 535 Members of Congess In Payday Industry Contributions

Here's another reason why Republicans are going to have an impossible time using gubernatorial nominee Steve Beshear's (D) lobbying for the payday lending industry in the 1990s against him: U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R) leads all members of the U.S. House and Senate in the last election cycle in taking contributions from the industry.

In a comprehensive report recently done by MAPLight.org, Davis is listed in first-place among 435 House members and 100 Senators when it came to money from payday lenders (see page 9). In return for that support, you'll recall Davis' secret effort last year to fight a cap on payday loans to military personnel, at least until journalist John Cheves exposed Davis' effort in a front-page Herald-Leader story. While we knew then that Davis had received a good deal of payday contributions, little did we realize that he was 1st of 535.

Congrats to Geoff Davis for being the payday loan industry's BFF (best friends forever).

Fundraising

Last week, we learned that Senator McConnell (R) has raised nearly $6 million for his 2008 re-election.

So, I thought I'd take a look at our other federal officials.

Senator Bunning (R) raised $45,445 during the 1st quarter of 2007, leaving him with a cash balance of $113,607. So far, he's raised $256,527 toward his 2010 re-election.

Here's how the state's U.S. House members are doing:

Member	Q1 2007 Raised	Q1 2007 Spent	Cash-On-Hand
Davis (R-KY4)	$317,479	$144,531	$239,720
Yarmuth (D-KY3)	$303,892	$37,249	$292,695
Chandler (D-KY6)	$140,221	$21,686	$708,648
Lewis (R-KY2)	$110,040	$14,530	$153,072
Whitfield (R-KY1)	$56,950	$52,840	$692,987
Rogers (R-KY5)	$16,000	$46,923	$988,196

Both Davis and Yarmuth are aggressively raising funds for their 2008 re-election, though Davis' campaign finance reports shows he spent about $90,000 in various "Direct Mail Expenses."  I'm a little surprised by Lewis' paltry showing given that he should expect another serious challenge next year.

By the way for comparison, here's where things stood two years ago after the 1st quarter of 2005 filing:

Member	Q1 2005 Raised	Q1 2005 Spent	Cash-On-Hand
Northup (R-KY3)	$385,506	$37,375	$390,321
Davis (R-KY4)	$274,067	$102,895	$283,809
Chandler(D-KY6)	$123,888	$55,160	$240,021
Whitfield (R-KY1)	$96,396	$40,696	$751,123
Lewis (R-KY2)	$16,468	$29,109	$314,770
Rogers (R-KY5)	$11,000	$55,490	$896,489

USA Today/Gallup Poll: Strong Support For Congressional Investigation Of USA Attorney Scandal, Little SUpport For Executive Priviledge

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R) dismisses the U.S. Attorney scandal as "a manufactured controversy" but apparently the American public sees it very, very differently.

From the latest USA Today/Gallup poll:

GOP Talking Points On US Attorney Scandal Rings Hollow; Top Justice Official To Plead 5th

While U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R) continues to show how out-of-touch he is by shrugging-off the growing U.S. Attorney scandal as "a manufactured controversy," apparently Attorney General Gonzales' senior counsel thinks differently. She's taking following Governor Fletcher's (R) lead and planning to invoke her 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination:

Monica Goodling, a senior Justice Department official involved in the firings of federal prosecutors, will refuse to answer questions at upcoming Senate hearings, citing Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said Monday.

"The potential for legal jeopardy for Ms. Goodling from even her most truthful and accurate testimony under these circumstances is very real," said the lawyer, John Dowd.

It's amazing how clueless Davis is at times.

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) uses the "I" word: impeachment:

In the April edition of Esquire magazine, Hagel described Bush as someone who doesn't believe he's accountable to anyone. "He's not accountable anymore, which isn't totally true. You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment. I don't know. It depends on how this goes," Hagel told the magazine.

I suppose Hagel is manufacturing that too...

Geoff Davis

...speaking of the Fox News mentality...

Hey Mark,

Wanted to let you know about a call I got tonight...my phone rang and when I answered it I heard a recorded message:  (paraphrasing) "You are invited to join a conference call with Congressman Geoff Davis. To join the call, press 1."

After I pressed 1, I heard the call in progress. Geoff was in the middle of a long-winded answer to a question I hadn't heard. After his response, he explained to everyone that we were listening to a conference call, and if we had a question to ask we could press "pound 3" to let a staff member know that we had a question. I pressed pound 3 but they never took my question.

Geoff really didn't have anything new to say from what I heard.  We heard the same ol' same ol' about Iraq, global warming, posting the 10 commandments in government buildings, etc. Some Fox News fan asked Geoff about the Nancy Pelosi/jet airplane "scandal" but Geoff didn't dismiss it (as the White House itself did).

More than anything else, I was struck by the very tactic of making the conference call to begin with. I'm not sure who received the invitations tonight. My guess is that I wound up getting the call due to the fact that I sent Davis an email recently. But that's purely a hunch. It might have been more widespread than that.

Hebert: Erwin Roberts To Endorse Northup

Mark Hebert is reporting:

The former Personnel Cabinet Secretary for Governor Fletcher will be endorsing the candidacy of one of Fletcher's opponents on thursday.

Several sources have confirmed to WHAS 11 News that Erwin Roberts is the former Fletcher administration official who will endorse Anne Northup at a 2 p.m. news conference in Frankfort.

Roberts is a former federal prosecutor who was originally hired to work in the governor's office. Fletcher moved him to the head of the Personnel Cabinet and named him chairman of a blue ribbon task force on the merit system after the jobs scandal erupted, crippling the Fletcher administration.

While Roberts' endorsement is helpful to Northup because it advances the narrative that former Fletcher supporters are jumping ship and endorsing his primary opponent, I don't view this as a weighty endorsement.

Unless Roberts is prepared to say that Fletcher indeed acted criminally in the Merit scandal, I fail to see how Northup otherwise benefits from receiving support from a central figure in the investigation who himself was named an unindicted co-conspirator and who's not a well-known public figure in the first place and who admittedly aspires to office himself.

I think the value of the endorsement will lie in Roberts' comments, not Roberts himself. This seems to be a second-tier endorsement at best. I'm keeping my eyes on what U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R) does.

That's my gut political instinct on this development.

US Rep. Geoff Davis (R) Needs To Watch Something Other Than Fox News

Get the sense that U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R) gets too much of his information from Fox News?

Today's Kentucky Post:

On other topics, Davis said:

The uproar over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, allegedly for political reasons, is a manufactured controversy.

The latest Newsweek poll on the controversy:

A clear majority of the public believes the Bush administration’s firing of eight U.S. attorneys was politically motivated,  according to a new NEWSWEEK poll. And the survey showed only weak support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed-–including 45 percent of Republicans-–say the ouster of the federal prosecutors was driven by political concerns.

...unless Davis meant the controversy was "manufactured" inside the White House...

2007 Congressional Power Rankings

Congress.org just released its 2007 Congressional Power Rankings and Rep. Ben Chandler's (D) move to a majority member of the Appropriations Committee has landed him at the top spot among Kentucky's six House members, even leaping ahead of Rep. Hal Rogers (R):

UPDATE: Just found the previous years' rankings in their respect chambers:

2007 ranking (2006 ranking) (2005 ranking)

McConnell 5 (4)(7)
Bunning 64 (69) (63)

Chandler -- 143 (381) (413)
Rogers -- 194 (14) (20)
Whitfield -- 281 (252) (190)
Yarmuth -- 316 (no previous ranking)
Lewis -- 332 (202) (235)
Davis -- 397 (100) (168)

2006 Congressional Vote Ratings

National Journal just released the 2006 liberal-conservative vote ratings of each member of the U.S. House and Senate.

In Kentucky (2005 rating in italics):

Sen. McConnell (R): 84.3% conservative/15.7% liberal (84.8-15.2)
Sen. Bunning (R): 91.8% conservative/8.2% liberal (89.2-10.8)

Rep. Lewis (R): 87.3% conservative/12.7% liberal (91.2-8.8)
Rep. Whitfield (R): 80.2% conservative/19.8% liberal (73.0-27.0)
Rep. Rogers (R): 79.2% conservative/20.8% liberal (81.8-18.2)
Rep. Davis (R): 76.7% conservative/23/3% liberal (80.7-19.3)
Rep. Northup (R): 72.2% conservative/27.8% liberal (74.7-25.3)
Rep. Chandler (D): 40.7% conservative/59.3% liberal (42.3-57.7)

Noteworthy is that Bunning re-defines wing-nut ranking as the second most conservative Senator, trailing only Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) who scored a 92.5%. In contrast, Orrin Natch (R-UT) scored a 73%, and both Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Rick Santorum (R-PA) a 70.3%. McConnell was the 12th most conservative of his chamber.

On the House side, Chandler was more conservative than 178 members of his caucus and more liberal than just 23 of them. Notably, Chandler was more conservative than Jack Murtha (D-PA)(40%), Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN)(33.7%), and now Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D-OH)(30.2%).

Finally, Whitfield turned hard wing-nut in 2006, going from 73% conservative in 2005 to 80%.

Bunning Predicts More High-Ranking GOP Endorsements For Northup (Barrouquere, AP)

Is Senator Bunning (R) telegraphing that U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R) is next up to endorse Northup-Hoover? That's my guess.

Bunning Predicts More High-Ranking GOP Endorsements For Northup
Brett Barrouquere, Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning predicted that Kentucky's second in command won't be the only high-ranking Republican to throw support to an opponent of Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

...Bunning wouldn't say who might endorse Northup, only that "some very high profile Republicans" are likely to endorse the former congresswoman from Louisville in her bid to unseat Fletcher.

"It is an indication of the dissatisfaction with the Fletcher administration," Bunning said. "It's disappointment more than dissatisfaction."

[...]

Bunning, who has already endorsed Northup, said the hiring scandal has tarnished Fletcher because it contradicts the message he ran on in 2003. Fletcher ran on a platform that he would "clean up the mess in Frankfort," but ended up with "as big a mess" as his predecessor.

"When you settle the case and say the Attorney General had every right to do what he did, that seems to me to be the wrong approach to take if you're the governor of the commonwealth."

Noteworthy is how Bunning and Lt. Governor Pence (R) are mimicking each other with their criticism of Fletcher. This appears to be a well-coordinated assault.

Also, notice the subtle, but unmistakable, shift in the GOP criticism of Fletcher from (and I'm paraphrasing) "he can't win" to "he failed to deliver on his campaign promises to clean-up the mess." They've moved from arguing he can't defeat the Democratic nominee to a much more problematic argument (for Fletcher) that he's not deserving of another term based on performance.

The danger here for Republicans is that they've now effectively guaranteed Fletcher's defeat in the fall, should he survive the primary. Bunning and Pence are now making the precise case against Fletcher that Democrats will make in the general election. Exactly the same. The Democratic nominee wouldn't ever have to go negative himself, instead he could run ads of what Pence and Bunning are now arguing. I'm sure they (GOP) are praying Fletcher loses because there's no way off this ledge for them in the fall if Fletcher survives. They've now made the record and signed the death warrant.

It's over for Fletcher. He's truly an idiot for prolonging the inevitable.

UPDATE (12:49 PM): Here's another example of Pence making the future Democratic nominee's case against Fletcher (from the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer):

After the speech, Pence said he disagreed with Fletcher's decision to issue blanket pardons to anyone who had been indicted, or would be indicted, in the personnel investigation.

At the time, a grand jury was investigating the hiring practices of the Fletcher administration. Although Fletcher was indicted, the indictment was dismissed. The grand jury report, however, said Fletcher had been involved in a plan to skew the state's hiring practices.

"We would have used this as an example of what the 'good old boy' system was about," Pence said.

Sorry to be repetitive, but it's over for Fletcher.

Republican Gubernatorial Support

Here's the current scorecard of where the top Kentucky Republican leaders stand as far as their support in the gubernatorial primary between Governor Fletcher (R) and former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup (R):

• Lt. Governor Pence (R):  Endorsed Northup.
• U.S. Senator Bunning (R): Endorsed Northup.
• U.S. Senator McConnell (R): Officially neural, but privately his allies are backing Northup. I'll list him as Lean Northup.
• U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (R): So far neutral, but given long relationship with Hoover, would seem to lean towards Northup. Lean Northup given their relationship.
• U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R): Being actively courted by Northup. While not showing his cards, I would peg Davis as Lean Northup with likelihood of eventual formal endorsement. 
• U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R): No word, but I'd list him as Neutral to Lean Northup.
• U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis (R): There was chatter that Lewis was going to endorse Fletcher. He's the only federal member that might be foolish enough but nothing confirmed as yet, but I'll list him Lean Fletcher because of the chatter.
• Senate President David Williams (R): I'd put him in the McConnell camp. He probably won't publicly support Northup (certainly not before the end of the General Assembly since most of his caucus supports Fletcher), but he's considered a behind-the-scenes supporter. Lean Northup.
• House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover (R): Northup's running mate.

Not good news for Fletcher. Here's what he had to offer yesterday:

Fletcher said he still has the backing of a large number of supporters, including 24 county judge-executives, most Republicans in the state Senate and a number of Republican mayors.

Considering that Fletcher was the first Republican governor in 32 years, that's about as weak a group of endorsements for a sitting incumbent governor as one could imagine. It's laughable considering what Northup has already obtained in the month she's been in the race.

Is Lt. Gov. Pence (R) Set To Endorse Anne Northup (R) Over Gov. Fletcher (R)?

Lots of chatter over at the conservative blogs this evening about speculation that Lt. Governor Steve Pence (R) is set to endorse the Anne Northup-Jeff Hoover ticket against his former running mate, Governor Fletcher (R), on whose ticket he served until jumping off the ship last year. I don't know if the chatter is true. I've not heard from my own sources that it is, but I fully expect that Pence will eventually stick the dagger into Fletcher's heart and endorse Northup, even if not next week.

While the Fletcher supporters are trying to argue that a Pence endorsement is no big deal (just as they did with Senator Bunning's (R) endorsement of Northup), they're living in denial while wearing rose-colored glasses. A Pence endorsement would be very big for Northup. No doubt about that. However, the real question is whether the endorsement registers a 6.0 on the political Richter Scale, or a 7.0.

If Pence simply argues that Fletcher can't win, then it's an important endorsement, but not earth-shattering. But if Pence comes out swinging and says that Fletcher has failed to live-up to the promises they made to the voters in 2003 on things like cleaning-up the mess in Frankfort, ending the good ol' boy system, restoring fiscal discipline, etc., then it's devastating.

UPDATE: David Adams (who posted the first chatter of a big endorsement) is speculating that it's not Pence but U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R). If it is Davis, it's definitely a 7.0, big time.

But my guess is that it's too soon for Davis. Pence seems more likely since he's here in the state and can be very helpful on the campaign trail for the next few months. Davis is more limited by being in Washington and probably more reticent to get in the middle of a primary fight too early.

Wingnuts Resort To Fabricating Abraham Lincoln Quotes To Defend Iraq War Stance

How much longer before U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R) follows his colleague's lead and offers us a fabricated Abraham Lincoln quote to defend his certifiably yahoo position on the Iraq War?