Did taxpayers pay for state workers to attend Clinton rally?

Last week, Brett Hall at kypolitics.org reported that Gov. Beshear was getting pressure to grant state employees leave time to attend Bill Clinton's appearance at a Frankfort political rally in support of his wife's presidential bid.

We know of no executive order that was issued allowing state workers to attend without using vacation or comp time, but we have heard that a number of the state employees who attended Tuesday's campaign event did so on state time and did not use leave time.

We can only imagine the uproar that would have ensued had this occurred in Ernie Fletcher's administration and this had been George H. W. Bush rallying for John McCain.

As it is, though, we doubt we'll hear a peep from anyone about this incident. The attorney general won't investigate, neither will the auditor, and the press won't look into it at all.