An unnecessary expense

We've been silent for awhile, quite honestly, because we've become disgusted with the Kentucky political scene. The thoughts of the Senate race make us sick. We have honestly found none of the announced or speculative candidates to be worthy of support. All have fatal flaws, ranging from disloyalty to their party's governor (Bunning and Grayson) to outright kookery (Paul). We'd almost as soon see Mongiardo or Conway win one term and then replace them in six years with a Republican who truly knows what it means to be a conservative Republican.

But what fired us back into blogging mode was the recent special session call by Gov. Beshear. He is about to put the state through an unnecessary and expensive legal battle over his plan to approve slot machines (or video lottery terminals, as they like to call them) at Kentucky's horse racing tracks without benefit of a constitutional amendment approving the expansion of gambling beyond the lottery and betting on horse races.

A lawsuit has already been promised should the legislation pass, and really there's no guarantee of its victory.

Beshear would have been better served to systematically make his case for expanded gambling to the people of Kentucky and the members of the General Assembly, then have a constitutional amendment introduced in next year's biennial session.

This special session call accomplishes nothing, and the session itself won't either. Despite what gambling proponent Greg Stumbo opined when he was attorney general, it's generally believed that expanding gambling without a constitutional amendment is unconstitutional and such a law will be overturned.

But no one ever accused Beshear of having a clue. When even a number of yellow-dog Democrats say they wish they'd never voted for him and would prefer Ernie Fletcher to the current governor, you know times are bad. Beshear may not have supported President Obama in last year's primary, but they both have something in common: They can look forward to being one-termers.