Another ingrate shows his (lack of) gratitude for his big break into politics

Any "pop" that the Northup campaign hoped to get out of the announcement that former Fletcher administration Personnel Secretary Erwin Roberts was endorsing her instead of his old boss disappeared when, about the same time as Northup and the latest Frankfort Judas were appearing at a press conference, news began breaking that Tubby Smith was leaving UK.

Of course, the Democrat blogs and the liberal media have had a field day with Roberts' defection from the Fletcher camp, even in the face of "all Tubby, all the time" press coverage, but at the end of the day, what does it really amount to?

Roberts was a protege of Steve Pence, who pulled his own Judas act some weeks prior.

Hardly anyone outside Jefferson County had ever heard of Pence before Fletcher picked him to be his running mate. How many people even within Jefferson County had ever heard of Roberts before Fletcher appointed him a Cabinet secretary?

These two men owe their political exposure and viability to Ernie Fletcher, yet this is how they repay him.

Both Pence and Roberts have been particularly disingenuous in their recent attacks on Fletcher, but Roberts' conduct has been the more aggregious.

When high schoolers pledge their undying eternal love for one another, no one really believes it and therefore no one is surprised when they break up 8 months later. But when an intelligent adult expresses unqualified support in a resignation letter and then barely a year later does a 180, something stinks.

Roberts didn't have to pen glowing platitudes and compliments of Fletcher the man and Fletcher the governor in his resignation letter. All he had to do was write, "I hereby resign my appoinment as Secretary of the Personnel Cabinet effective two weeks forward from this date. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve in your administration." But Roberts went much, much further than that. The Conservative Edge has a copy of his resignation letter online and you can head over there and read it for yourself to see the lavish praise Roberts heaped on Fletcher as he departed.

Now Roberts comes back and says, in effect, "I didn't mean all that?" Excuse us while we say, "bullcrap."

This is the same Erwin Roberts whose investigation into the hiring situation showed that nothing improper took place in the Personnel Cabinet regarding the qualification of job candidates and their placement on merit registers.

Now, since individual agencies do their own hiring, Roberts couldn't speak to what may have happened within Transportation or Environmental & Public Protection, but he did state unequivocably and for the record that all candidates on merit registers sent to agencies to fill vacancies were qualified according to law and policy.

Roberts was critical of the pardons Fletcher issued. Surely he has realized that he was heading for an indictment himself and that pardon probably saved him thousands of dollars in legal fees. He was also critical of Fletcher agreeing to allow Stumbo to drop the indictment of the governor with prejudice. How stupid does he think Fletcher is?

We're betting that if Roberts is ever charged with a crime (under bogus cover, especially) and the prosecutor later decides to dismiss charges, we don't think Roberts will say, "No, I don't accept this, let's go to trial and I'll take my chances.'

When Roberts resigned as Personnel secretary, his name was prominently mentioned as a candidate for attorney general. This was before Greg Stumbo opted to run for lieutenant governor instead of for re-election. At the time it appeared that Roberts was going to try carry the GOP's standard into battle to avenge Stumbo's politically-motivated prosecution.

But now, we wouldn't vote for either Roberts or Pence for dogcatcher. They have proven themselves disloyal and unworthy of public service.