Even a blind Beliles finds an acorn every now and then

In general, we are not fans of Richard Beliles and Common Cause of Kentucky. In the past, we've found Beliles and his group to be meddlesome, petty, and overly concerned with hypothetical ethical violations by Republicans.

But along the same lines of "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn occasionally" or "a stopped clock is right twice a day," we think Beliles is on to something with his shot across the bow at Greg Stumbo's ethics and conflicts of interest.

Look up "unethical" in the dictionary, and you'll probably see a photo of Stumbo. (He also gets pictured in entries for "adulterer" and "deadbeat dad" and "heavy drinker.") A story in today's Herald-Leader, written by Democrat apologist John Cheves of all people, recounts many of Stumbo's conflicts of interest; the types of so-called ethical lapses Beliles is concerned about.

For the most part, Stumbo got a pass on his behavior as the state's attorney general. There was no outrage in the press over his hypocritical behavior in prosecuting Fletcher administration officials for the same type of behavior in which he engaged as a legislator during the Patton administration. No one uttered a word when the husband of one of the grand jurors in the personnel investigation showed up on the AG's office payroll.

But with hard feelings still bubbling under the surface among Democrats concerning Stumbo's challenge to and defeat of Jody Richards as House speaker, Stumbo can expect more scrutiny.

After all, when it's Republican vs. Democrat, the press is naturally going to pimp the D's and attack the R's. But when it's an internal Democrat fight, that makes good copy.

We still aren't fans of Beliles and Common Cause, but we think they're onto something here. Keep the pressure up on the deadbeat dad from Prestonsburg. He has too many skeletons in his closet and it's time a few of them were dusted off for public viewing.