Meet another average Kentuckian

In light of how the press and the Democrats are trying to dismiss the dismissal of an ethics complaint against Gov. Fletcher as motivated by partisan politics, we feel it's time to introduce you to another average Kentuckian.

George S. Smalley, a/k/a Scott Smalley, is a network analyst III with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. In 2006, he earned $47,120 through his state salary in a merit system position.

During Gov. Fletcher's term, the decision not to give the customary 5 percent annual increment to state merit system employees has cost Smalley more than $9,000.

Scott Smalley was a member of the special grand jury that considered charges against members of the Fletcher administration and the governor himself for nearly two years. Although the bulk of the investigation concerned the Transportation Cabinet, there were allegations of hiring improprieties within CHFS.

Smalley is another person who was financially impacted by the decisions of the administration of which he voted to return indictments and issue a scathing final report. When his $9,000 loss over a four-year period is coupled with the $16,000 that forewoman Rachel Auxier did not receive in annual increments, that's 25,000 reasons to be angry at the governor and to indict him.

The media is happy to give loudmouths like Cynthia Stone a forum in which to allege bias in the decision, yet the same press will not address the obvious conflicts of interest that members of the special grand jury had.

If they won't, we will. In the meantime, we think it's fair to question just how objectively Ms. Auxier and Mr. Smalley could evaluate the evidence presented by a politically biased prosecutor (remember, Scott Crawford-Sutherland gave $2,000 to Ben Chandler in 2003) given their financial situation.