Greg Stumbo's Accomplices in the GOP

Greg Stumbo must be smiling from ear to ear.

The attorney general, who has taken the lead for his party in the assault against Gov. Ernie Fletcher through his politically-motivated hiring investigation, has been getting aid and comfort from the most unlikely of sources.

It's not enough that the relentless persecution of several present and former Fletcher aides, and the indictment of the governor himself, has dominated the news for well more than a year.

Now Fletcher is having to deal with assaults from within his own party.

First there was Senate President David Williams, who publicly expressed reservations about Fletcher's re-electability.

Then the Jefferson County GOP chair, Jack Richardson, weighed in with his own asinine comments.

Finally, Secretary of State Trey Grayson -- who is in office only because of Fletcher's coattails in 2003 -- floated a trial balloon about a possible governor's run at Fancy Farm, getting in a gratuitous and unnecessary slam at his governor in at the same time.

Memo to Williams, Richardson and Grayson: Fletcher is not the enemy. He's on your team. Greg Stumbo is the enemy, not the governor.

Instead of complaining about Fletcher's chances in his re-election bid, you need to be doing something to improve them. Don't be giving Stumbo and the Democrats more ammunition. There's plenty of ammo to be used against Greg Stumbo -- starting with the letters he wrote on House of Representatives letterhead in an attempt to politically influence hiring decisions within the Patton administration.

Grayson's remarks about Fletcher engaging in the same kind of conduct as the Democrat administrations did for years ring hollow, considering that those who routinely violated personnel laws now have the audacity to accuse someone else of wrongdoing.

The dominant media in this state have equated Sen. Mitch McConnell's silence on the Fletcher matter as abandonment. While it's true that the federal delegation could have done a lot more to support one of their former colleagues, recent information has come to light that indicates the state's GOP DC contingent hasn't waved the white towel just yet.

Reps. Ron Lewis and Ed Whitfield, both known to be close to McConnell, have issued statements of support of Fletcher. Bless them for their loyalty.

We need more like them. Unless Richardson, Grayson and Williams are trying to be political opportunists seeking to further their own goals at the expense of Ernie Fletcher, it's time they stopped helping Greg Stumbo and started helping the governor from their own party -- a governor who has done everything the party has asked of him since he took office.