Bluegrass Fraud'em Fund

And now the truth comes out.

The Bluegrass Freedom Fund, which relentlessly blistered Ernie Fletcher over the merit system hiring investigation, was really a front for the gambling interests that want to bring casino gambling to the Bluegrass State.

They had no interest whatsoever in "restoring" ethics to state government. They merely wanted to remove a key obstacle to the pot of gold they see at the end of the rainbow in Kentucky.

Had the personnel probe not happened, the Bluegrass Fraud'em Fund would have found something else with which to bash Fletcher over the head. Had he followed in the Patton/Clinton mold, he'd have been incessantly criticized for being an unfaithful husband. If nothing else, they'd have ripped him because the state airplane's transponder malfunctioned when Fletcher flew to D.C. for Reagan's funeral.

It's become obvious that the major pro-casino forces in this state have to resort to stealth maneuvers to get their message out. Had the Fraud'em Fund based its campaign on gambling, the success would have been marginal. And there have been other groups that have presented themselves to Kentuckians via a Trojan horse (pun intended).

The Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) kept its true identity under wraps at the start, introducing itself to the public with the "Horses Work" ads and gaining the support of the horse show and pleasure riding constituencies in Kentucky before unveiling a pro-casino platform.

Eventually, the truth comes out, but usually long after the damage has been done. If voters had known that the Bluegrass Fraud'em Fund was really a front for casino interests and the goal was to take out an anti-casino governor at any cost, perhaps they'd have paid less attention to what the Fraud'em Fund was saying and more attention to why they were saying it.

Disgusting. As we've become fond of saying, it's going to be a long four years.