Another case of GWR

In case you don't know, "GWR" stands for "Governing While Republican" and it's essentially the charge that Gov. Fletcher has been battling ever since he was inaugurated.

Now another Kentucky official finds himself facing similar charges.

Morgan County Judge-Executive Tim Conley, a Republican in an overwhelingly Democrat county who was re-elected last November, was on the business end of an indictment recently returned by a special grand jury which took great pains to claim a lack of political motivation in what was clearly a politically motivated attack. Conley is well known as a man of unquestioned integrity, just as Fletcher was, so the investigation and subsequent indictment reeks of political payback.

The whole deal was suspected of being a Greg Stumbo-backed inquisition, especially since the special prosecutor was from Floyd County and had ties to the attorney general.

But one glance at the witness list, which included a staff member from Stumbo's Kentucky Bureau of Investigation, pretty much confirmed the hypothesis that this was politically motivated. Even though the investigation fired up just before last year's election as an "October Surprise" of sorts, it didn't impede Conley's victory over a political opponent who was a magistrate on the fiscal court.

Basically, Conley is accused of letting churches install county drain pipes on their property and of having the county fix a piece of his personal property (a bulldozer) which broke down while he had loaned it to the county to use in repairing county highways.

County governments all over Kentucky have traditionally worked on driveways to churches and cemeteries. If what Conley did was a crime, then it's time to convene special grand juries and indict all county judges in all of Kentucky's rural counties. This is common practice and is commonly accepted.

As for the bulldozer repairs, if the equipment broke down while the county was using it, then it only makes sense for the county to pay for the repairs. If you borrow a piece of clothing from someone and it gets ripped or stained while you are wearing it, generally you'll offer to replace it as a goodwill gesture to the owner.

When Democrats in Kentucky lose power, especially in places where they consider it their birthright (like the Governor's Office), the efforts they'll go to to get that power back are limitless. It's a shame that the reputations of good and decent Christian people like Tim Conley and Ernie Fletcher get trashed in the process, and they are forced to spend time and money to defend their good names and protect their innocence.

Thankfully Greg Stumbo will be out of public life at the end of the year, but the damage he can do between now and then is scary.