Free Republic

Many current or former Senators and Representatives appear to have taken illegal Congressional salary payments during the current Congress, prior to the October recess. The chronically absent list is well-represented by candidates who ran for higher office, including those who ran for President or Vice President: Senators John Edwards (D-NC), Bob Graham (D-FL), John Kerry (D-MA), and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), and Congressmen Richard Gephardt (D-MO) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). Senate candidates Brad Carson (D-OK), Mac Collins (R-GA), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Pete Deutsch (D-FL), Joseph Hoeffel (D-PA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Chris John (D-LA), Denise Majette (D-GA), George Nethercutt (R-WA), and Patrick...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Senate Republicans asserted their power in a disputed election Friday and seated Dana Seum Stephenson as a senator, acting quickly to swear her in and attach a large bronze nameplate to her desk.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Senate Republicans asserted their power in a disputed election Friday and seated Dana Seum Stephenson as a senator, acting quickly to swear her in and attach a large bronze nameplate to her desk.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- A national advocate against taxes brought his message to Kentucky Thursday with a twist - casino gambling is not covered by the anti-tax pledge. Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform said his organization has signed pledges from 34 Kentucky House members and 17 senators against raising taxes. Gov. Ernie Fletcher, too, has signed the pledge. Norquist said Fletcher's pledge is intact as long as any tax proposal he makes does not raise any more money than it cuts. "So long as it's revenue neutral, it is perfectly consistent with the governor's pledge," Norquist said.

Newsflash: The election was about power. Two gangs of politicians and their supporters fought again over control of appointments to the Supreme Court. The one was mainly dependent on anti-abortion constituents, the other mainly on pro-abortion constituents. The pro-lifers won. Even though our gang took this round handily, it's time for us to really roll up our sleeves. The members of the democrat gang being addicted untrammeled power (the most powerful of drugs), they aren't about to give up, no matter how powerful the repudiation they have received at the polls. At least not yet. During the next few years,...

KENTUCKIANS FOR TAX REFORM SET TO EXPOSE ‘KENTUCKY’S LEAST WANTED’ WILL SINGLE OUT LEGISLATORS AS ENEMIES OF THE TAXPAYER FOR THEIR REFUSAL TO VOTE ON A STATE BUDGET LOUISVILLE, KY – Kentuckians for Tax Reform, the state chapter of Americans for Tax Reform, famous for the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge”, has called a press conference for Tuesday, October 5th, in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building in Frankfort, Kentucky. The press conference is scheduled for 10:30 till 11:00 a.m. The KTR press conference will expose “Kentucky’s Least Wanted” legislators, who have obstructed, delayed and refused to pass a state budget during...

The top general at the North American Aerospace Defense Command was on the telephone and prepared to order an F-16 fighter to shoot down an unidentified plane that turned out to be carrying the governor of Kentucky to President Ronald Reagan's funeral last month, according to two federal security officials briefed separately about the incident. The tense incident June 9 ended after the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air carrying Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) turned to land at Reagan National Airport. But the close call caused officials to reassess safeguards for the airspace around Washington and prompted calls to expand the no-fly...

FRANKFORT, KY - Today, Governor Ernie Fletcher (R-KY) issued the following statement, addressing John Kerry's visit to Kentucky: "Kentuckians have a clear choice this November. I am confident people across our great state will again put their trust in our President; a man who has provided solid, steady leadership for our country in today's changing world. The hard working people of Kentucky appreciate the historic tax cuts which have provided relief for our families and they value President Bush's commitment to healthcare. "John Kerry, on the other hand, has a long political career in Washington filled with doubletalk and empty...

State Senator Ray Jones' months-long personal attacks against the Governor, the Senate President, the Senate President's wife, and anyone who disagrees with him are a case-study in the failed policies of the left-wing of the Democratic Party. Senator Jones invokes insidious words like 'blackmail' and 'extortion', as well as threats of legal reprisal against all those who oppose him. Desperate to re-elect himself and advance his political career, Mr. Jones throws one tantrum of name-calling after another in the press and on the Senate floor against those who are putting partisan differences aside and forging a bipartisan approach to solving...

<p>FRANKFORT, Ky. - The state capital said goodbye to Louie B. Nunn yesterday, remembering the former governor as a tenacious and courageous politician, as a demanding and inspiring boss, and as a tender and tough father.</p> <p>"Our father, to me, was the John Wayne of Kentucky politics - always doing what he thought was right, never afraid to take a stand," Nunn's son, state Rep. Steve Nunn, said at a Capitol rotunda service for his father, who died Thursday.</p>

Fletcher's brother's wife hired at cabinet MOVE REQUIRES WAIVER TO HIRING FREEZE By John Cheves HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER FRANKFORT - Gov. Ernie Fletcher's sister-in-law reports to work Wednesday as a political appointee at the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet. The move smacks of nepotism and hypocrisy, a representative of state employees said. The appointment of Rachel Fletcher, 60, to be one of three executive secretaries to LaJuana Wilcher, the cabinet's secretary, will require a waiver in the state-wide hiring freeze Fletcher ordered shortly after he took office. The $25,000-a-year job is "considered critical" though, so it should be filled, said...

The battle for Congress in central Kentucky begins in earnest Thursday. Attorney General Ben Chandler is expected to announce for the Democrats at 2 o'clock at his versailles home. He's widely believed to have a virtual lock on the nomination. State Auditor Ed Hatchett is the only other Democrat offering himself as a candidate. Republicans will choose their candidate on Saturday in Frankfort. That contest features state senator Alice Forgy Kerr and state representatives Stan Lee and Lonnie Napier. Senator Mitch McConnell has already thrown his support behind Kerr. The special 6th district election to replace Ernie Fletcher who resigned...

There will be a live broadcast in East Kentucky Broadcasting Network from the Pike County Courthouse this Thursday at 8:30 a.m. featuring Democrat County Judge-Executive Teresa Elliott. She is from Franklin County and has endorsed Fletcher and heads up his Democrats for Fletcher organization. Everyone is invited to attend this event or tune in to one of the EKB stations.

Dear Friends, I am writing with great reservation about this year’s governor’s race. As someone who’s represented you in Northern Kentucky over the years, I feel a great deal of responsibility to be honest with you about my concerns about the election. For the first time in 32 years, we have an opportunity to elect Republicans to statewide office. As I’m sure you are, I’m excited about the possibility of taking several of these offices – particularly our own Trey Grayson and Adam Koenig. As a Republican woman, one of the reasons I’m most proud of our party is that...

The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Wednesday Republican Ernie Fletcher can remain on the May primary ballot. Candidate Steve Nunn's running mate -- Bob Heleringer -- challenged the legality of Fletcher's candidacy, saying the ticket was invalid when Fletcher picked an ineligible running mate, Hunter Bates. A judge ruled Bates did not meet residency requirements. But other judges ruled the Fletcher candidacy was still legal. The Kentucky Supreme Court decision Wednesday affirms those rulings. In addition to Nunn, Fletcher faces former Jefferson County judge-executive Rebecca Jackson and State Senator Virgil Moore in the May 20th primary.

<p>FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The federal prosecutor who played a leading role in an investigation of corruption in the General Assembly became Ernie Fletcher's new running mate today.</p> <p>Stephen B. Pence, who last week resigned as U.S. attorney for the western half of Kentucky, was registered on Fletcher's Republican slate, according to forms filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. The two candidates planned a joint news conference Monday morning in Lexington.</p>

<p>FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The federal prosecutor who played a leading role in an investigation of corruption in the General Assembly became Ernie Fletcher's new running mate today.</p> <p>Stephen B. Pence, who last week resigned as U.S. attorney for the western half of Kentucky, was registered on Fletcher's Republican slate, according to forms filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. The two candidates planned a joint news conference Monday morning in Lexington.</p>

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A Republican candidate for lieutenant governor said Thursday he would step aside after a judge ruled he had not lived in Kentucky long enough to run for the state's second-highest office. Hunter Bates has been the running mate of Ernie Fletcher, a congressman and a leading GOP candidate for governor. Bates, 35, has spent most of the last six years in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. The state constitution requires candidates for lieutenant governor to live in Kentucky for six years preceding an election. Bates, a former chief of staff to Sen. Mitch McConnell , has...

<p>FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Hunter Bates, running mate of Republican gubernatorial candidate Ernie Fletcher, has not lived in Kentucky long enough to qualify as a candidate, a judge ruled today.</p> <p>The ruling by Oldham County Circuit Judge Paul Rosenblum said Bates' name must be removed from the ballot for the May 20 primary election.</p>

FRANKFORT - U.S. Rep. Ernie Fletcher of Lexington officially launched his campaign for governor yesterday and tapped Hunter Bates, an aide to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, to be his running mate in next year's Republican primary election. The move signaled a potentially heated Republican primary next spring, and disappointed state Rep. Steve Nunn, a Glasgow Republican who also plans to run for governor. Nunn said McConnell had told him he would remain neutral in the GOP primary, but Fletcher's selection of Bates "gives the appearance that McConnell is right in the middle of all this, and it's contrary to what...