Fletcher Fiasco

I know we don't normally get into state politics on this blog, but I just couldn't believe my eyes when I read the Lexington Herald-Leader headline this morning.

Our illustrious Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher has been under investigation for questionable hiring practices in his first-term administration. It's complicated, but the gist of it is that a number of higher-ups in the Fletcher government made hiring decisions based purely on politics. Not an unheard-of event in Kentucky government, but evidently they crossed some legal lines, and nine people have been indicted by a special grand jury.

Fletcher has poo-pooed the whole thing from the start, claiming that Democratic Attorney General Greg Stumbo is on a "witch hunt." But then Fletcher started withholding subpoenaed documents and refusing to provide the necessary funding for the investigation. He was called to testify before the grand jury this afternoon. Then last night, the whopper: Fletcher issued a blanket pardon for all nine of the indicted cronies, and then went in and pled the Fifth to the grand jury!

Were it not for Hurricane Katrina, this thing surely would have been on the national news tonight. While I was only mildly annoyed by the whole "PersonnelGate" thing, as it has come to be called, I am completely disgusted by Fletcher's behavior. He is a disgrace to the state of Kentucky, and local politicos like my Republican state representative Jim DeCesare, who claims he "can kind of see both sides," need to hear from us that not only are Fletcher's actions unacceptable, but so is the wishy-washy attitude of Republican lawmakers about this whole deal.
-G