My C-J Column on Local Option Sales Tax

Sorry I forgot to link this earlier.  I am not a fan of the proposed local option sales tax. 

This will be an interesting vote in the Kentucky Senate to smoke out the RINOs, as it has done in the General Assembly.

There is no point in even controlling the Senate if Republicans are going to use their power to raise our taxes.   

Bibi: Why I'm Speaking to Congress

Great read in the New York Post, in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explains why he accepted John Boehner's invitation to speak to Congress.

He puts the lie to Democrats' assertion that this is just a stunt to boost Bibi's prospects for Israel.  Rather, this is about persuading Congress from acquiescing in an Obama - Iran deal that could lead to the destruction of Israel.

Congressman John Yarmuth, instead of boycotting the speech, should go.  Listen and learn.

The Field is Set

After weeks of rumors, we finally know the primary slate for Kentucky's constitutional offices.

I was surprised that Allison Lundergan-Grimes did not run for governor Many had speculated in recent days that her father wanted her to run against Andy Beshear, given the longstanding animosity between the Lundergan and Beshear families.  I had heard the day before Grimes lost by 16 points to Mitch McConnell that her father was already, at that time, lining up support for her to run for governor.

Plainly, she enjoyed the speculation, and therefore not only fueled it but did not extinguish it -- file for reelection -- until the penultimate day.

Jack Conway failed to draw an opponent (other than Geoff Young, more of a gadfly). Nonetheless, Conway is unlikely to win, in my opinion.  Democrats privately said as much and tried with no success to find an alternative to Conway.

Dave Adams gave me a laugh when he pointed out that Young is Buddhist. In a nod to Conway's disastrous Aqua Buddha ad against Rand Paul, Adams points out that "Conway has a pretty bad track record with the Buddha."   

I look forward to seeing what Conway's Aqua Buddha moment will be in this campaign. I view that as an inevitability, stemming from Conway taking himself way too seriously.

There will probably be some hilarity on the Republican side, now that Matt Bevin is running. Reporters will need to check his daily schedule to see if he's attending any cock fights.

Here's My CJ Column

The topic is Louisville's proposed Bike Share program.  Here's the link. Although Darryl Isaacs was not riding a Bike Share bicycle, his accident underscores my concerns about bikes in heavy traffic.  Here's wishing Mr. Isaacs a speedy recovery.

Shaking It Up In The KY House, A Little

CN/2 is reporting that Kentucky House Republicans have created a new position in party leadership: Chair of the House GOP Campaign Committee.

Rep. Jonathan Shell will fill the new role; he was elected unanimously  House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover (who was reelected despite a challenge) created the new position with a view to taking over the House majority in 2016.

I am glad the caucus recognized that it needs to try something new after November's disappointment of  Republicans failing to take the House yet again despite Mitch McConnell's 15 point win.  I'm pleased that House Republicans didn't wait to get started.

Shell, according to Hoover, is hard-working and has taken the initiative on fund-raising in the past.  He will continue to focus on fundraising as well as candidate recruitment. He points out in his interview that House Republicans raised an "unprecedented" $500,000 last election.

Raising money is not enough.  There needs to be an autopsy on what went wrong last cycle. Did the "unprecedented" money raised go to pay political consultants who promise much but deliver little?  What will be done differently this time?

Until Shell can give a sober and detached assessment of the mistakes of 2014, he will have a hard time convincing donors to give once more to "flip the House."  Indeed, we have heard so much in recent years about plans to "flip the House" that the expression has become hackneyed, sort of a code for impending defeat.

So Shell's first task should be to come up with a replacement slogan for "flip the House."

Obama Never Ceases to Amaze

It is no secret that President Barack Obama suffers no insecurity issues.  To the contrary, his sense of self-worth is wide and paved with self love.

So this story should come as no surprise, and yet it shocks me:  Obama booted off of a Hawaiian golf course two Army Captains who had planned to marry there.  They were forced to relocate their wedding to suit the president's tee time.

To be sure, Obama gave them 24 hours.  Anyone who has ever planned a wedding can imagine the inconvenience, outrage and panic the poor bride must have felt.  Well, maybe not panic.  She is, after all, an Army Captain and presumably resilient, courageous and used to overcoming adversity.  This was not, however, a foray by an enemy or a terrorist attack:  it was Obama, playing golf.  Something he gets to do - a lot.

Obama is the Commander-in-Chief to both this bride and groom. His rudeness in displacing any couple in these circumstances is hard to comprehend; to do so to his soldiers is disgraceful.

Obama called the couple and apologized.  Maybe he didn't know that his underlings had told the bride and groom to go elsewhere.  However, that doesn't give a lot of comfort because it simply reconfirms the perception that Obama's staff is arrogant and unchecked.  The tone is set from the top.

The fish rots from the head.  

Grimes Gives Rand a Gift

Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes might have thought she was sounding tough recently when she told Sen. Rand Paul that she will go to court, if necessary, from keeping Paul from appearing on the ballot twice.

Grimes told WHAS 11's Joe Arnold:

The law is clear,” Grimes told WHAS-TV in Louisville. “You can’t be on the ballot twice for two offices.”

“We’ll look to the court for any guidance that is needed,” she added. “And at the end of the day, we’re not going to be bullied.”

That removes a legal hurdle for Paul, a doctrine called standing, that might have been problematic for him but for Grimes's statement.  Standing is a doctrine that court's use to avoid ruling on a case.  It requires that the plaintiff have a particularized injury that could be redressed by the relief sought in the case. That allows courts to dismiss cases where the connection between the relief sought and the injury alleged is speculative.  

For Paul, standing might have been an issue if he challenged Kentucky's statute prohibiting one's name from appearing on a ballot twice.  If Paul brought suit before he had actually filed to run for both the U.S. Senate and the presidency, there is a very real possibility that the court would dismiss on either standing or ripeness.

Grimes's comments, however, make clear that Paul's injury is neither speculative nor premature.  She has, in effect, teed up his legal challenge for him by removing several possible procedural hurdles.

My C-J Column On Free Trade

In case you missed my Courier-Journal column on free trade this week, here's the link.

Jeb is Running

Jeb Bush has just announced on FaceBook that he has" decided to actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States."  This is no surprise; one of his good friends told me last March that Jeb would run. 

I wish him well.  I really do.  

But I do not want to see him become the nominee.  It is not his last name.  I think the Bush fatigue that the country experienced at the end of W's term has largely dissipated due the incompetence and mendacity of Obama.  Every day that Obama remains in office makes W look better by comparison.  (Hell, Jimmy Carter looks better by comparison).

 Jeb is by all accounts a smart and decent man.  However, he is not conservative enough on immigration or on Common Core.  

I am sick and tired of the Republican party nominating moderates.  When we nominate moderates we lose.  We saw this with Ford, Dole, Bush 41's bid for reelection, McCain and Romney.  All moderates.

When we nominate bold and unapologetic conservatives -- Reagan and W -- we win.  To my mind, Jeb would govern more like his father than his brother.

To be sure, he'd be a better president than Hillary or Fauxaontas.  If he is the nominee I will therefore support him.  I just hope that isn't the case. 

Mayor Fisher to Veto Minimum Wage Hike

Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher announced last night that he will veto the Metro Council ordinance that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10.

Fisher said that he supports a minimum wage hike on a state-wide and national basis.  The problem with just raising the minimum wage in Jefferson County, he explained, is that it would drive jobs to nearby counties.

That's the same point I made in my Courier-Journal column a few months ago. I have to commend Fisher for his courage in taking this position, for which he took tremendous heat on Twitter immediately upon announcing it.  For a Democrat, Fisher has been relatively pro-business.

Where Fisher gets it wrong is that a state-wide minimum wage hike takes the same problem and just magnifies it; jobs would flow to states surrounding Kentucky that have not raised their minimum wage. A national minimum wage increase, according to the CBO could cost America between 600,000 to one million jobs.

My youngest son, reading the rants against Fisher on Twitter, observed to me that the market is already pricing labor above the current minimum wage.  That's why he earned $9 and hour for flipping burgers.

The minimum wage is a terrible policy that hurts those it is designed to help:  the poor and unskilled, particularly young minorities.  Instead of increasing the minimum wage, it would be better to repeal it altogether.

 

The Obamnesty Travesty

My column in this Wednesday's Courier-Journal will address Obama's Executive Amnesty and the underpinning of Obama's legal education that in my opinion helped him rationalize that overreach.

One point that space did not permit:  Obama's Executive Amnesty will disproportionately harm blacks, the one voting block that has been most devoted to him.  Katie Kieffer makes that point on Townhall, here.  It makes me quite sad.  Obama has taken advantage of the loyalty of blacks to beef up another part of his coalition, Hispanics, that vote for Democrats but in less reliable numbers.

Those poor blacks who are struggling for employment now will find their prospects changed, alright, thanks to Obama.  He has taken these voters for granted for too long.

That's why Sen. Rand Paul's outreach efforts -- echoed locally here by Jefferson County GOP Chair Nate Haney -- offers a real alternative to voters who Democrats have failed.

Time for a Post Mortem on KY House

Bill Stone's comments to Joe Gerth in today's C-J were spot on:  the election results in the Kentucky House were not acceptable, and we need to determine what went wrong. (Apologies:  the story is not linking for some reason.  It appears in the Sunday C-J)

Money was not the problem.  Three Super PACs focused on Republicans flipping the Kentucky House. There has never been more money directed to that goal.

The political environment was not the problem.  The Republican wave Tuesday night swept in GOP candidates at all levels of government.  We didn't just reelect Mitch McConnell and win the U.S. Senate.  As Gerth points out, Kentucky is now the only state in the South where Democrats still control  a legislature.  Even West Virginia has left us behind.  Compare that to the nine (count 'em, 9) Democratic state legislative bodies that flipped to Republicans this week.

Getting out the vote was not the problem.  Thanks to McConnell running a presidential-caliber campaign,  Republicans finally used technology effectively to identify and target supporters.

So what on earth went wrong?

My hunch is that Republicans did a poor job recruiting candidates and training and supporting those once recruited.  There may be other factors, as well.

On the one hand, the Kentucky Republican Party deserves huge props for its awesome mailer  -- the hologram that morphed Obama into Grimes, with "Hope" being replaced with "Nope."  This is the first and only mailer that my kids thought so cool that they actually saved it.   This mailer was so effective that it cut through all the clutter in the last days of the campaign.  It was like an exclamation point on the election.  So well done to whoever conceived and executed that mailer.  If only some of that creativity had been directed at the House races.

Further, candidate recruitment and training also falls within the province of the state party and the Republican leadership in the House.  I echo what Bill said:  I am not calling for heads to role.

I am calling for a serious and searching discussion of what went wrong so that we can fix it.  Part of leadership is having the humility to admit to making a mistake.  This is not about pointing fingers but rather finding answers.

This Election Gets Better and Better

This made my day:  the Washington Free Beacon has obtained CIA reports showing that Iranian leaders have been worried for weeks about Republicans winning control of the Senate. It seems that the Iranian powers have access to better pollsters than, ahem, some in Kentucky.

If the Islamofascists are worried about the GOP's big wins Tuesday night, that is yet another reason to celebrate.  The Iranian mullahs do not have America's interests at heart.  And they have repeatedly threatened to wipe Israel off the map.  Their unhappiness with the election results therefore makes me happy.

The Iranians have correctly concluded that Obama will no longer be able to appease them as they make progress with their nuclear program.  Republicans understand that the point of a nuclear Iran is to bomb Israel -- not for energy.  Given Iran's access to cheap and plentiful oil,  they have no need whatsoever for nuclear energy.

As the Washington Free Beacon writes,

The eventual outcome of Tuesday’s elections prompted many Iranian commenters and officials to express concern that years of U.S. capitulation to Iranian demands might soon come to an end.

Republican gains in Congress appear to have motivated Iran to work harder toward inking a nuclear deal with the Obama administration before the lame duck legislative session concludes, according to an official analysis by the CIA’s Open Source Center authored ahead of the midterm elections.

Some Iranians are now betting that the White House will fully lift sanctions before the new Congress assembles and that it will also sign a deal that permits Tehran to continue enriching uranium, the key component in a nuclear weapon.

Iranian hardliners are pushing to cut a deal with Obama before the lame duck session ends because they recognize that Obama will not be able to get a sweetheart deal through the Republican-controlled Senate come January.

It reminds me of Iran releasing the American hostages -- kidnapped under Jimmy Carter -- because Ronald Reagan had won the presidential election.

Have You Stopped Pinching Yourself?

It was great night, so filled with gratitude and hope at the Kentucky Republican Victory Party. I am so happy for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for his stunning reelection.  At 15 points, it is more than I could have asked for or imagined. I am still shocked at how quickly the race was called. It happened almost too fast to comprehend.

Allison Lundergan-Grimes so-called "concession" speech -- in which she could not bring herself to mention McConnell by name -- was tasteless and ill-mannered, whereas McConnell was gracious to her in his victory.  She confirmed what many women had grown to suspect over the course of the campaign: she is a mean girl.

Sure, it was disappointing that Republicans did not flip the Kentucky House. This was not a surprise, unfortunately, to most who follow the House races closely. Even with three Super PACs pouring money into flipping the House, these are inherently local races. Money cannot buy elections, contrary to Democrat sour grapes.  Money is necessary, but not sufficient.  I suspect Republicans could do a better job recruiting and training candidates.  GOP state party leaders need to look closely and honestly at what could have been done differently to achieve a better outcome in the House races. We have come close for several cycles, but it feels like we're stuck.  Let's determine what needs to change so that we can get un-stuck.

 My only suggestion on the Victory Celebration is that next time, let's hold it downtown, not in the East End.  Nate Haney and Sen. Rand Paul are making real inroads, competing for votes in the West End.  So let's hold the victory party in a location that is easier for people who rely on public transportation to get to. We have to change the way we think as Republicans.  If we are going to compete for votes everywhere, this has to be reflected in all aspects of the organization, and that includes the celebration.  Let's keep that in mind next November when we celebrate electing Kentucky's next governor.

It was wonderful to see so many local high school students in attendance.  There was a good showing from St. Xavier and from Sacred Heart and from Oldham County.  This bodes well for the future of the party; these teenagers understand that they will get stuck with the bill for the Democrats' profligate spending.  They have a keener appreciation for the financial implication of the national debt than many adults.

All in all, I am grateful for the opportunity to end the dysfunction in  the U.S. Senate.  It's time to vote on the 200-plus bills that the House of Representatives passed, that Harry Reid refused to bring to the Senate floor.  If Obama wants to veto him, let him.

Prediction Time

• Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell wins by seven.
• Republicans win control of the U.S. Senate.  We learn this tonight irrespective of Georgia and Louisiana.
• Allison Lundergan-Grimes doesn't shut down her campaign operation and converts it run for the Democratic nomination for a Governor. The Clintons encourage her in this because they own her Senate loss and need the vindication for Hillary's presidential bid.
• The Kentucky Republicans pick up a few House seats.  Not enough to flip the House but perhaps enough to tempt some Dems to switch parties.
• Matt Bevin announces he is running for the Republican nomination for governor.
• John Yarmuth wins reelection but sees GOP gains as a sign that he will be in the minority for the foreseeable future; he has had enough of that and quietly makes plans to retire.

Mitch and Rand Barnstorm Kentucky

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell winds up his campaign today, flying around the state with his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Sen. Rand Paul.

I would love to be a fly on the wall of that plane.

The day gives McConnell and Paul ample opportunity to set the agenda what Republicans can accomplish upon taking control of the Senate.  The first 100 days are critical; let's make them count.

It is extraordinary that a state as small and poor as Kentucky has two such consequential Senators:  a future Majority Leader and a future presidential candidate. As McConnell has often said, Paul has been influential in the Senate from the very outset -- highly unusual in a venerable institution based on seniority.

Paul and McConnell have very different yet complimentary skill sets. McConnell understands the rules and procedures of the Senate better than anyone.  Paul has a political instinct that  discerns not just where public sentiment is now, but where it can go. I think their friendship is genuine. McConnell should take the opportunity between campaign stops to pick Paul's brain and prioritize what a Republican Senate majority can accomplish. First on that list should be the Keystone Pipeline.

Paul's boldness plus with McConnell's realism can combine to produce votes on bills that can demonstrate that Republicans are serious about governing, not obstructing.  Of course, Obama will probably veto most of the bills we'd like to see become law.  Let him.  Force him to go on record.

Paul and McConnell should also take this opportunity to plan for the contingency of what Obama may try to do by Executive Order in the lame duck session after the election but before the new Congress is sworn in.  If, for example, Obama tries to achieve amnesty through Executive Order, Republicans need to be ready to seek an injunction.

McConnell Takes 48-43 Lead in new Bluegrass Poll

A New Bluegrass Poll, commissioned by The Courier-Journal, WHAS-11, The Lexington Herald-Leader and WKYT, was released today showing Senator McConnell up by five points with less than a week until election day. This is the same poll that was previously dead even when other polls showed McConnell up by several points.

The poll also finds that only 27% of Kentuckians view President Obama favorably. As Obama's Kentucky Candidate, it's no surprise that Grimes is struggling to find support in a state that has been so disproportionally harmed by Obama's policies. Kentuckians also understand the significance of Senator McConnell potentially becoming the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, a position that no Kentuckian has held since 1947. As Governor Huckabee pointed out last week at the Turn Kentucky Red Rally, every other state, big or small, would do anything for the influence that comes from having the majority leader as its senator. On November 4th, we have the opportunity to make our voices heard and restore this nation, starting by reelecting Senator McConnell.

No There There in Alison's Job Plan

Alison Lundergan-Grimes showed up to the KET debate with a prop:  her supposed job plan.  She clutched it and waved it at very points; she has done this on the campaign trail, as well. But she never says much about what's in the plan.

So I checked out her website for the specifics.  Like the entire Grimes campaign, it's just platitudes. She asserts that Kentuckians are hurting.  This is not news. Grimes attempts to pin that pain on McConnell rather than the Obama economy -- just like Obama has spent the last six years blaming everything on George W. Bush.  At some point, Obama and Grimes cross the line of reality.

She promises to cut red tape.  I am all for cutting red tape. Yet when was a Democrat ever in the history of the two parties better at cutting tape than a Republican?  Not even Bill Clinton can triangulate that issue.

She says she will remove " federal regulation of Kentucky's energy sector, allowing our state to create new middle-class jobs across the state."  This cannot be squared with the EPA regulations that Obama has issued by Executive Order.  Not only do those regulations make it impossible to build a new coal plant, regulations to be implemented in the coming months call for 18 coal plants, including in Kentucky, to be closed.  That is, Democrats plan to take the depression that plagues Eastern Kentucky and bring it to Western Kentucky, as well.  Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told the coal miners of Western Kentucky to not think they'd evaded the scrutiny of Obama's EPA:  they are coming for you.

Even if Grimes sincerely opposes what Obama's bureaucrats in the EPA are doing, she will have no seniority, no clout to stop them.  None.

Grimes says she wants to bring manufacturing back to Kentucky through tax reform.  Again, this is cheap advice.  McConnell has pointed to tax reform as an area where Congress might be able to get something done, if Obama moves to the center.  The difference between Grimes and McConnell, however, is that he will not use "reform" as a pretext for a tax increase.  America's corporate tax rate is now the highest in the developed world. No wonder corporations look to other countries to base their operations.

 It is the same within this country as states compete with other states:  jobs flow to the lowest tax rate.  That's why Kentucky is losing out to Tennessee.  That's yet another reason why Kentucky must #fliptheHouse.

The McConnell - Lee Greenwood Show

I attended Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's rallies in Somerset and Liberty to see not just McConnell but Lee Greenwood, best known for singing "Proud To Be An American." McConnell and Greenwood hit 14 cities in two days. I don't know how they have the stamina.

At 72, Greenwood's voice is still clear and powerful. He had the entire audience singing by the end, many moved to tears. That song has always given me chills, ever since I first heard it on the Reagan '84 campaign trail.

As McConnell pointed out, Greenwood's composition encapsulates conservative American values, beyond the lyrics. That song conveys American exceptionalism, pure and simple, in a way that no book or speech or think tank ever could.

Greenwood singing "Proud To Be An American" was a fitting epilogue to McConnell's speech.  Although McConnell hit hard on the damage that the Obama-Reid Democrats have done to the country, McConnell encouraged the audience not to give up hope.  It is not too late:  we can turn this around, save our country.  The only concrete action we can take this year, however, is to make Mitch McConnell Senate Majority Leader.

Greenwood and McConnell stayed and met with every person in the audience who wanted a photo or an autograph.  Both seemed to enjoy interacting with the crowd.

A note about the crowds at these rallies and the liberal narrative that McConnell's support was astro-turf.  Many people, like me, had taken the day off of work to hear McConnell and Greenwood.  Despite the rumors that McConnell was paying people to attend, I certainly have yet to receive a check!

I would expect and hope that the campaign staff who set up the microphones and the like were paid; they appeared to be working hard. When liberal media refer to McConnell campaign staff attending every rally, this is to whom they are referring.  It is no different than any other campaign I have seen.  Indeed, I would expect that Alison Lundergan-Grimes has paid campaign staff to set up her podium at every stop.  We wouldn't want her to chip a nail.

Grimes Insults KY Women

When I  went through the mail last night I was astonished to saw that Alison Lundergan Grimes had sent me a campaign mailer, addressed to me. I could not decide if she is desperate or  just not very smart. Of course, these two explanations are not mutually exclusive.  And there is a third possibility:  she is a rich girl accustomed to Daddy getting her whatever she wants -- even a campaign bus! No need to pinch pennies!

Asking around, it became apparent that Grimes is sending direct mail to women who are registered Republicans.  Apparently she is so awash in money that she can squander it on people who will never, ever vote for her.  If Grimes is this bad a steward of her own campaign's resources, imagine what she would do with a federal budget.

Even more bizarre, Grimes is mailing Republican women who live in the suburbs.  To the extent that Mitch McConnell has not closed the gender gap among women of all ages, it is beyond dispute that married women overwhelmingly prefer McConnell.  Memo for Grimes:  registered Republican women who live in the suburbs are more than likely married.  They are McConnell voters. Again, she is just profligate with her own resources in total disregard of common sense and reality.

It is insulting that Grimes thinks that Kentucky women will vote for her simply because she is a woman.  Her invocation of the so-called war on women will not work.  She keeps accusing McConnell of opposing equal pay for equal work in disregard of the fact that pay discrimination based on gender has been illegal since the 1960's.  

Grimes is so busy purporting to solve phony issues that she ignores the biggest issue of the election:  the Obama "recovery" stinks.  Those of us who are parents are worried about our children's future. We worry that what Obama has done to this country is on the brink of becoming irreversible.

If Grimes wants to show what a "strong Kentucky woman" she is, how about starting by standing up to Daddy Lundergan.  How about asking him why he objectifies and demeans women  with his "Hugh Jass" burger restaurant.  Perhaps Grimes should request Daddy Lundergan to take off the menu "Charlotte's rack"  -- the name of her own mother's breasts.  Grimes's sister gets a shout-out on the menu as "Abby's hugh ass."  

If a Republican did that, the Democrats would be screaming about misogyny.  Where are the feminists to complaint about this sexism?

It is insufficient for Grimes to respond that it is not her restaurant.  She is the company's lawyer.  If any of my clients publicly referred to my mother's breasts, I would give them a peace of my mind pro bono.

Then there is Grimes's hypocrisy about the minimum wage.  She wants to raise it, but her family restaurant pays its waitresses a whopping $2.13 an hour.  So much for charity beginning in the home.

I just hope that Grimes doesn't run for governor after she loses next week. As McConnell has said, she is a "new face for the status quo."  That is true regardless of what office she sets her sights on.