168. The Energy Give-Away in Frankfort and thanks to the Ten Who Voted No

The other day while visiting the Kentucky State Fair, as opposed to the day on which I volunteered, I stopped by the booth sponsored by the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. In their booth they had postcards people could sign to send to State Senate President David Williams and House Speaker Jody Richards. The card to Williams called for an easing of voting restrictions on felons who have completed their sentence, a controversial measure which I tend to support. The card to Speaker Richards called for a NO vote on the Special Session's giveaway to Peabody Energy, a Saint Louis based company, widely known in Kentucky as Peabody Coal, which has proposed to think about maybe at some undetermined point in the future investing up to $3,000,000,000.00 in a plant here in the Commonwealth. A lot of dominoes will have to fall before such plant might be built, the first one being a $300,000,000.00 tax incentive approved by the legislature and signed by the governor - such a plan to be approved in a Special Session of the General Assembly so called by the Governor of the Commonwealth. I signed the cards to each of them - yes on felons being regranted the privelege of voting, and no on the Peabody tax giveaway. On the card to the Speaker, I crossed out the formal salutation and manually wrote over it "Dear Jody."

I've complained both here on the blog and in person to several legislators, including the Speaker, that I do not think the Democrats in Kentucky's House of Representatives have handled their summer's legislative duties very well. I've disagreed constitutionally over how they've handled the governor's Special Session calls, saying to anyone who would listen that I believe they had a constitutional duty to act upon the legislation constitutionally presented by the governor in the call, irrespective of whether the legislation presented is purely political, as the governor's has been.

In the two sessions called so far by our incredibly-less-than-credible-or-ethical governor, the House Democrats have chosen paths which are seemingly just as less-than-credible. In the first session, they simply refused to do what they are hired to do, which is to go in and vote up or down on the legislation at hand, whether in its introductory form or as amended. The Senate did vote in the first one while the House simply adjourned.

Now the governor has called a second Special Session and the legislators have this time gone to Frankfort and at least taken votes on the matter presented by the governor, the matter as described above being an incentives package for an energy company, as if energy companies need tax breaks and business incentives. Yesterday, the House voted 87-10 to give Peabody Energy up to $300,000,000.00 in tax incentives, or breaks. To be sure, there are other measures in the bill, all of which could have waited for a regular session, not that regular sessions are orchestrated and choreographed any better than a Special one. But wait we did not.

So, the bill having passed the House will go now to the Senate where it will easily pass and then be signed into law by Governor Fletcher. The House members have acted irresponsibly.

But, I wish here to give credit where credit is due. Ten members of the House, two Republicans and eight Democrats, voted against the measure. Good for them. One of them is among those to whom I have complained about this summer's actions. Another is one who just last Friday I commended her for continuing to be the conscience of the House. Three more are Democrats in whose districts I have lived over the years, including the person who currently represents me. Another of the group is the Dean of the House and one of the very truest of compassionate souls on the planet. The others I do not personally know but here I wish to commend them all. They are Louisville Democrats Jim Wayne of the Preston Highway corridor, Tom Burch of Buechel, Mary Lou Marzian of the Highlands, Tom Riner representing downtown (where I live), and Reginald Meeks representing Old Louisville, Parkland, and Clifton; also Lexington Democrats Ruth Ann Palumbo and Kathy Stein; and Owingsville Democrat Carolyn Belcher. The Republicans are David Floyd of Bardstown and Jimmy Higdon of Lebanon. Again thanks to all of you.

Here is some insight on Peabody Energy, lifted directly from their webpage:

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) is the world's largest private-sector coal company, with 2006 sales of 248 million tons and $5.3 billion in revenues. Our coal products fuel approximately 10 percent of all U.S. electricity generation and more than 2 percent of worldwide electricity. We serve global coal demand from electricity generators and steelmakers, and we're growing to serve new global customers and emerging "Btu Conversion" markets.

Peabody is known in Kentucky in part because of well-known lines from a John Prine song anyone in Kentucky has heard (or sung) at some point in their lives, "And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County Down by the Green River where paradise lay? Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking, Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away." It is the plant many of us have seen off to the left as one drives west on the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway, crossing over the Green River bridge into Muhlenberg County.

By the way, there are rumors out there that Governor Fletcher isn't through. He still wants the domestic-partnership insurance battle to happen and will likely call a Third Special Session closer to the election. He is simply pitiful and must be defeated.

*****

Below are the complete lyrics to Prine's song:

When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.

And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.