The equivalent in the newspaper world of the “Oracle at Delphi,” otherwise known as the Louisville Courier-Journal, in its hugely superior wisdom has studied, philosophized, researched, and editorily-strained mightily to bring forth this 24-carat gem of wisdom: Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo should appoint a special prosecutor to pursue the apparent abuses of the merit system by Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration. … He should do it for two reasons. First, the public deserves the concentrated efforts of the best, most experienced prosecutor available to protect the integrity of its civil service from the kind of rank, spoils system manipulations that state whistleblowers have alleged . Second, the administration, after intially acknowledging error, is now circling the wagons, stalling for time and using Mr. Stumbo's own political ambitions as a smokescreen, accusing him of conducting a self-serving and partisan probe. … A high official in the Transportation Cabinet's personnel operation turned whistleblower and delivered to Mr. Stumbo a substantial body of evidence of seeming illegality.
WOW! Admittedly, one has to wait for a while until nearly uncontrollable laughter has subsided upon reading wisdom of this magnitude and rising from one’s collapse upon the floor at being exposed to such high-mindedness and gathering one’s traumatized wits from near oblivion in order to recognize the unmitigated genius that brought forth this declaration, complete with explanations so that the lowly reader can understand the gravity of the matter.
Although involving, if found, only misdemeanor-catalogued activity, the C-J, ever watchful for fair dealing and public disclosure of dastardly republican deeds, must surely be given kudos for recognizing the need for a special prosecutor. This suggestion places whatever the scandal is on a par with Nixon’s Watergate and Clinton’s Whitewater/Travel-Agency/Monica/IS-is perjury stuff. This definitely is not to be sneezed at! Or, could it be that a reporter saw someone in the governor’s office flushing the C-J down the toilet? Would that be reason enough for a newspaper to begin a campaign for impeachment?
Whether it intended to or not in its first explanation, the C-J pointed out unmistakably that Attorney General Stumbo is not up to the task of ferreting out serious misdemeanors. What this says about Stumbo’s ability to handle something on the level of a felony is…well…not kind, to say the least. In its second reason, the C-J does not deny that Stumbo has his own political ambitions as a smokescreen, [the administration] accusing him of conducting a self-serving and partisan probe. The least the editorialist might have done would simply have been to suggest that Mr. Stumbo has no political agenda, would absolutely choke upon experiencing a smokescreen, is not self-serving, and (gasp) has no partisan tendencies. But, he/she/they didn’t. H-m-m-m.
And the whistleblower? Gimme a break. This guy has been in the Transportation Cabinet doing something or other for 30 years or so…has been a cog in only democratic administrations all those years. A far bigger surprise would have been that no one came forth with shady accounts of (sorry, another gasp) patronage activity. The democrats have been at this business since time immemorial in Kentucky. The various democrat factions have perennially knifed each other in the back as part of the game, the devil take the hindmost. The wonder is that Doerting waited so long, although, considering the peccadilloes rampant in the Transportation Department in just the last democrat administration (and the jail terms), the wonder is that anyone from that agency would say anything about anything.
So…in great ultra-liberal tradition, the C-J is proposing a huge outlay of cash (say at least 25 lawyers at $250 per billable hour -- $50,000 per day or a million bucks a month for the next year-and-a-half), at which time there might be a great hullabaloo about two guys in Lincoln County who still had to shovel asphalt instead of being timekeepers. Gotta hand it to the C-J…they’re looking out for you…or is that O-Reilly’s line?
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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