Published: October 23, 2009 10:22 am      

RONNIE ELLIS COLUMN: They're playing politics? Really?

FRANKFORT — Can you believe it? Gov. Steve Beshear and Senate Democrats think constitutional amendments proposed by Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, and Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, might be politically motivated.

Talk about an epiphany – I would never have thought it possible Frankfort politicians might act out of political motive rather than public good. Beshear and Senate Democrats, of course, would never engage in politics rather than pursuing the best public policy.

Well, you know, unless there is an opportunity for a Democratic governor to offer a Republican Senator a plum job. Talk about bi-partisanship.

No doubt, Charlie Borders, the former Republican Senator from the 18th District in northeastern Kentucky, is qualified to serve on the Public Service Commission. But for Beshear, Borders’ primary qualification may have been his nay vote on a slots-at-the-tracks bill. He’s since been replaced in the Senate by Democrat Robin Webb who voted for the bill in the House before she won the special election to succeed Borders.

As this column is written on Friday, we await nominations from a judicial nominating commission for an open circuit judgeship. Since gambling is the only subject in Frankfort these days, would you want to give odds on whether Republican Sen. Dan Kelly of Springfield will be on the list of three names and the one chosen by Beshear for appointment?

Should that happen and Democrats win a third successive special election for a Senate seat, Beshear will be credited with a deft political hand by supporters of expanded gambling and others. Fine, but spare us the criticism the other side is playing politics.

They are of course.

Williams is a master of politics and this is a crafty move on his part. He knows the public wants to vote on gambling and he knows Beshear promised such a vote when he ran for governor. He also knows the horse industry and Beshear no longer want an amendment, thinking they can pass expanded gambling by simple statute. And Williams knows, too, that Democrats fear a conservative flood of voters who might vote Republican next fall if they come out to vote on a gambling amendment.

There’s a more serious question if Beshear appoints Kelly, however.

It’s one thing for Beshear to factor political calculus into his choice for a Public Service Commissioner. Appointing a judge whose rulings can determine the life, liberty and property rights of citizens is another. I’m not an attorney or an expert on the law. I don’t know whether Kelly is a good attorney or if he’ll make a good judge. I don’t know who the other possible nominees may be or how well they know the law or whether their judgment and temperament are appropriate to sit in judgment of others.

Judges are elected in Kentucky and anytime an election determines who sits on the bench, politics come into play. Kelly has said he intends to run for the seat when it is next on the ballot. But at least the people who live in that circuit and who may face that judge in court will make that decision. And they will have a choice between two candidates.

But it’s a bit disconcerting to think someone who sits in judgment of those accused – sometimes falsely – of crimes which can lose them their liberty and property, might have gotten there because a governor wanted another vote for gambling.

Yes, Williams and Thayer are playing politics with their amendments. But the governor and Democrats are in no position to criticize them for that.

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.