"GOVERNOR FLETCHER PRESENTS MORE THAN $3.1 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR CLAY COUNTY COMMUNITY PROJECTS"
"GOVERNOR FLETCHER PRESENTS MORE THAN $3.1 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR KNOX COUNTY COMMUNITY PROJECTS"
"GOVERNOR FLETCHER ANNOUNCES SIGNIFICANT HIGHWAY INVESTMENT FOR ADAIR COUNTY"
Every day I wait and hope to see Harlan County in one of the headlines, because we all know that Harlan County's needs are as great as anyone's.
I've almost given up hope, at least during the current administration, because it appears the governor has forgotten about Harlan County.
The last time he was in Harlan, Gov. Ernie Fletcher stopped by the Enterprise office and said he was still committed to completing U.S. 421 to the Virginia line, affirming previous comments that the road would be completed.
Nothing has been mentioned about the road or any other project in several months, from either the governor or any of our legislators.
It's difficult to determine who is at fault for the lack of action - the governor and the leadership in the General Assembly or our local leaders and legislators for not working hard enough to secure funding.
The only (unconfirmed) reports I've received from the action in Frankfort is that we have elected leaders who are supposed to be helping actually working against Harlan County.
It seems too strange to be true, but it may explain why it's been so easy for our county to be ignored.
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Even though Fletcher has certainly made some mistakes as governor, he doesn't deserve the treatment he's received from Lt. Gov. Steve Pence.
Former governor Julian Carroll, now a state senator, blasted Pence on the Senate floor earlier this week and called for his resignation, saying he "has nothing to do."
"He's become a Brutus to the people of Kentucky," Carroll, a Democrat, said of Pence, according to an Associated Press report.
Carroll's comments reportedly drew standing applause from both Republicans and Democrats.
"I don't think he is serving a practical purpose and is being paid by the taxpayers," said Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown. "I think it would be wholly appropriate for him, in service to the state, to step down."
Sen. Jack Westwood, R-Crescent Springs, said Carroll "said some of the things that I was thinking to myself."
Pence has every right to criticize Fletcher for his administration's hiring practices, which led to an Attorney General investigation and numerous pardons by the governor.
But if he is going to turn his back on the man he was elected to serve alongside, Pence should have resigned.
Pence, however, said he wouldn't leave his post, arguing the "citizens elected me for four years." He doesn't seem to understand, however, that he was elected as part of a team, and if he doesn't want to be part of the team he should step down.
First, Pence said he wouldn't be Fletcher's running mate in his re-election bid, then recently endorsed former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup in the race for the Republican nomination.
Pence called Carroll's comments "politics in Frankfort at its worst," but if Carroll was looking at the issue in partisan terms he would want the circus around the administration to continue. Pence's lack of loyalty, while still drawing a check as Fletcher's second in command, is a boost for the Democrats' hopes to reclaim the governor's office.
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