Stumbo, a Democrat from Prestonsburg, told reporters that the House has no plans to resurrect the measure after its defeat in the state Senate on Thursday. And Stumbo said he has not heard from Gov. Steve Beshear, who had been pushing for its passage, about bringing it back either.

The Republican controlled Senate rejected the measure to allow casinos in Kentucky Thursday with a 16-21 vote – seven votes shy of the total needed for a constitutional amendment.

“The wording I think caused some confusion, the politics I think caused some confusion,” Stumbo said when asked what he thought about its defeat and the governor’s handling of the issue. “It got a full and fair hearing now it’s time to move on.”

In an interview recorded Thursday before the Senate voted to defeat the casino measure, Neely said this year was “certainly the best chance we’ve had in a while” to pass it. (8:00)

But when asked if it was the last best chance, he said: “I don’t think so. There are two main issues that are not going to go away. The first is, Kentuckians are going to continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars across the river. That’s not going to change. The second is our industry is going to remain in peril.”

Neely outlined the external threats from other states’ tracks that can pay higher purses and have put Kentucky’s horse industry in “crisis mode.”

Horses are now the fourth-highest-grossing segment of Kentucky agriculture with $700 million in sales, according to 2010 Kentucky agriculture figures.

But Neely said the tracks are suffering from external competition.

“I think tracks like Turfway and Ellis Park are in serious jeopardy,” Neely said, although he didn’t put a time-line on how long they would stick around. (9:00)

Neely also answered questions about the horse industry’s strategy and reason for pushing for a constitutional amendment that specifically barred free-standing casinos from being built within 60-miles of an existing racetrack.

Workman was the subject of board members’ conversations over the last week, although Gov. Steve Beshear wouldn’t say whether he was pushing for Workman’s ouster.

Larry Hayes, the state’s economic development cabinet secretary, told Pure Politics reporter Nick Storm he hasn’t had any conversations about being asked to take over the job and doesn’t plan to leave his current post.

Here’s what Hayes said about the fair board job Thursday morning after testifying about the economy to a state House committee:

Chandler calls for second opinion on Lexington postal center closure

U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, said he was “extremely disappointed” by the U.S. Postal Service announcing it would close the Lexington distribution center and seven others in Kentucky.

And Chandler said in a statement he would ask the Postal Service’s inspector general to review the decision to make sure it is “justified.”

Centers in Paducah, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, London, Somerset, Campton and Hazard are slated to be closed in addition to the one in Lexington as part of the service’s cost cutting move to save $20 billion dollars and stay financially afloat.

The closures will mean cutting 190 jobs, although many of the positions will move to distribution centers in Louisville, Knoxville and Nashville, as the Herald-Leader reported.

Chandler talked with Pure Politics in December about the prospect of the Postal Service closing the Lexington distribution center that employs 300 people.

Drug makers top January spending for lobbying Frankfort

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association spent more than five times as much as any other entity lobbying state lawmakers during the first month of the 2012 legislative session, according to the Legislative Branch Ethics Commission.

The group has been fighting against a proposal to require prescriptions for cold and allergy medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, which is a key ingredient in meth.

The group spent $194,958 on lobbying as the Leo’s Joe Sonka first reported last week.

After the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the Kentucky Hospital Association spent about $36,120 on lobbying and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce was next with $33,347.

Stivers told reporters after the Senate adjourned Thursday that he and others, including Sen. Tom Jensen of London, hope to come back with a new approach to curtail the production of meth. Pseudoephedrine is found in many cold and allergy medicines and is a key ingredient in meth.

Stivers and Jensen, the Senate judiciary committee chairman, were pushing to require that Kentuckians would have to get prescriptions for cold medicines with pseudoephedrine. But that approach was met with staunch opposition from consumers and over-the-counter drug makers.

Stivers said it was clear he would have to change tactics to get something passed.

“You have to be pragmatic and practical about what you do,” Stivers said.

March 5 is the last day for new Senate bills to be filed.

Soon after the proposed constitutional amendment to allow gambling failed in the Senate by a 16-21 votes, Republican Sen. Damon Thayer of Georgetown, who sponsored the casino bill, congratulated Senate President David Williams of Burkesville for “orchestrating” the measure’s defeat.

Williams told reporters there would be no retribution against Thayer or any of the other five Republicans who voted in favor of the constitutional amendment. He called the decision to proceed with a vote on Thursday a “caucus decision.”

Votes began to slip away when Williams made it clear that the casino bill would come to the floor Thursday despite the absence of Democratic Sen. Gerald Neal of Louisville, who would have supported the measure.

“I believe under different circumstances, the vote would have been closer, but once people see the vote going a certain way, it becomes easier to vote ‘no,’” Thayer said. “I think without Senator Neal’s vote here today, I think that made it more difficult. I wish he would have been here.”

Thayer said he believed a constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling had the 23 votes at some point.

“I think there’s been an effort to convince people to vote no over the last few weeks, and the vote total showed that,” Thayer said. Here’s what else he said:

Thayer, however, said he was done with the issue for the 2012 session now that the Senate had voted.

Within minutes of the vote, Gov. Steve Beshear issued a statement expressing his disappointment that some senators “who had publicly said they would support letting the people decide did not follow through on their commitment to our citizens.”

Beshear also blamed Republican Senate President David Williams for pressing forward with the vote when one Democratic senator, Gerald Neal, was absent. However, Williams had said he would let the bill come back up on Friday if it came within one vote of passing.

In the end, it wasn’t nearly that close.

Voting yes: Republican Sens. Tom Buford, Carroll Gibson, Ernie Harris, Jimmy Higdon, John Schickel and Damon Thayer.
Democratic Sens. Walter Blevins, Perry Clark, Denise Harper Angel, R.J. Palmer, Dennis Parrett, Joey Pendleton, Jerry Rhoads, Dorsey Ridley, Tim Shaughnessy and Kathy Stein.

Voting no: Republican Sens. Joe Bowen, Jared Carpenter, Julie Denton, David Givens, Paul Hornback, Tom Jensen, Alice Forgy Kerr, Vernie McGaha, Dan Seum, Brandon Smith, Katie Stine, Robert Stivers, Jack Westwood, David Williams, Mike Wilson and Ken Winters.
Independent Sen. Bob Leeper
Democratic Sens. Julian Carroll, Ray Jones, Johnny Ray Turner and Robin Webb

“I am also disappointed that Sen. Williams chose to sabotage the chance for our citizens to decide by scheduling the vote for today, when he knew that a Senator who planned to vote ‘yes’ would not be in town,” Beshear said in a statement.

A statement from Williams’ office shot back that “from the beginning, the governor has had trouble counting votes in either the House or the Senate.”

“It is unfortunate that the governor continues to personally disparage the Senate president while Sen. Williams continues to hope that the governor will engage in a positive and productive manner,” the statement said.

Republican Sen. Damon Thayer of Georgetown, who worked with Beshear to push for the bill, told reporters after the vote that he won’t try again this session.

But the governor said the debate did offer a silver lining.

“For the very first time, we were able to get this issue considered by the state Senate, and I appreciate the bipartisan cooperation of Sen. Thayer and others, which allowed that to happen,” Beshear said. “This is a good omen for the future of expanded gaming in our state, and I look forward to continuing to work with the legislature to address this issue.”

Before the debate, Thayer, sounding as if he knew defeat was on the way, told his colleagues that he had wanted to have the bill passed over but realized after a one-hour Senate Republican caucus meeting that it didn’t have the votes.

Thayer and other supporters of the measure argued on the floor that most Kentuckians want to vote on the issue. Voters get the chance to ratify a constitutional amendment if it is approved by three-fifths of each legislative chamber.

But opponents, such as Bowling Green Republican Sen. Mike Wilson, rejected the argument of letting the people decide. They argued that the constitution requires legislators to “agree” to the wording of the amendment, which in this case would be agreeing to casinos.

One of the other Republican candidates in the race, Marcus Carey, posted on his campaign site Thursday morning that Richard Knock, a Northern Kentucky investment company executive and philanthropist told him he met with Massie and was going to form a Super PAC.

Carey, in his post, said Massie also confirmed the meeting with him. And Carey said it raises questions about whether Massie and Knock were coordinating. Campaign finance laws bar candidates from discussing strategy or coordinating with people associated with Super PACs, which are independent campaign groups that can raise unlimited money from donors and corporations.

But Massie’s campaign manager Ryan Hogan said Massie and Knock did meet earlier this month and “he is pleased to have teh support of Dick Knock.”

“But he has never requested the formation of, nor coordinated with, any
said organization. While his opponents are spending their time running a
negative campaign, Thomas is out gaining support from conservatives in
the 4th District by talking about the issues that matter in this race,” Hogan said.

Carey said in a phone interview that he has raised legitimate questions.

“If he says it didn’t happen and dines that they talked about it, I’ll leave it up to voters to decide,” Carey said.

Knock, for his part, denied talking about a Super PAC with Massie but, in a phone interview with Pure Politics, he wouldn’t say much more about his potential role in the upcoming GOP primary for the 4th Congressional District.

Here’s the transcript of the questions and answers during that phone conversation:

Q- Did you talk with Mr. Massie about forming a Super PAC?
A – No.

Q -Did you meet with Mr. Massie?
A -None of your business.

Q – Are you supporting Mr. Massie?
A – None of your business.

Q – These are pretty serious questions about coordination that another candidate has put out there.
A – Let them be out there.

Q – Are you planning to put together a Super PAC?
A -I’m going to terminate this phone call.

Q -Well, these questions are now out there. Is there going to be a …
A – I don’t know. You’ll have to talk to whoever is going to be doing that.

Q – So you are aware of one?
A – I didn’t say that.

Q – Are you aware of one?
A – You can’t find it out from me.
_________________________________

Massie and Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore answered questions from Pure Politics about whether they expected SuperPACs to get involved in the race.

Knock has been a staunch supporter of Republican candidates, especially in Northern Kentucky. And, according to campaign finance records, he also was an early supporter of Republican U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, whose decision to step down after this year opened up the 4th District.

Knock gave Davis’ campaign $2,000 in December 2001 in advance of his first bid for the seat in 2002. In all, Knock gave Davis’ campaign $15,021 over 10 years.

He also previously gave money to the campaigns of three candidates who are now running in this open 4th District GOP primary, including $900 in 2006 to Carey’s unsuccessful bid for the Kentucky Supreme Court’s 6th District.

Carey said he didn’t realize Knock had given to him.

Knock also contributed $2,850 since 1997 to Moore’s campaigns (and $1,000 to the Appeals Court campaign for Boone’s wife, Joy).

And he wrote a $250 check to Alecia Webb-Edgington’s run for the state House.

In addition to Carey, Massie, Moore and Webb-Edgington, three other candidates are seeking the GOP nomination for the seat on May 22. They include Fort Mitchell businessman Tom Wurtz, Oldham County developer Walt Schumm and Brian Oerther, a teacher who lives in Oldham County.

Williams made the concession as casino bill supporters moved to delay the vote until Friday because at least two Democratic senators who support the bill won’t be attending Thursday afternoon’s session.

Democratic Sen. Gerald Neal of Louisville had planned to be absent on business, Sen. R.J. Palmer of Winchester told Pure Politics on Wednesday.

But the vote on the constitutional amendment is set for Thursday on the floor — the day it will receive its third required public reading.

“The majority of the Senate Republican caucus wants to vote today,” said a statement issued later by Williams office. “… No excuses. The proponents have asked and demanded a floor vote. It is today.”

Lourdes Baez-Schrader, spokeswoman for Williams, said Williams will call the bill back up on Friday if it falls short by just one vote and needs Neal.

However, another Democratic senator, Sen. Joey Pendleton of Hopkinsville, plans to miss the Thursday afternoon session as well in order to attend the meeting of the Kentucky State Fair Board to support the board’s CEO and president, Harold Workman. Workman’s future is up in the air as Gov. Steve Beshear has been “in discussions” with board members about Workman’s future.

Baez-Schrader said the vote won’t wait for Pendleton because he isn’t a member of the board and “does not have to be there.”

“Everyone makes choices. They’re getting paid as legislators whether they’re here or not,” Baez-Schrader said.

Getting to 22 votes on Thursday without Neal and Pendleton looks to be a tough fight for casino proposals, especially if Eastern Kentucky Democratic senators Ray Jones and Johnny Ray Turner, are not on board. Turner voted for the bill in committee but said he reserved his right to vote against it on the Senate floor.

Williams also said in the statement that Turner will be attending a funeral on Thursday but planned to vote against the bill anyway.

Turner was not available for comment.

The latest filings with the Federal Election Commission show that Obama has collected $368,299 from the Bluegrass State compared to $356,545 for Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Romney barely edged ahead of Obama after the checks rolled in from a November fundraiser in Lexington.

Still, Republican candidates combined nearly to nearly double Obama’s fundraising. Republican presidential contenders have received a total of $728,977. After Romney, Texas Congressman Ron Paul’s presidential campaign is the only other one to crack six-figures in fundraising from Kentucky with $137,683, followed by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich at $63,790. The campaign for former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum has collected $24,840 from Kentuckians which ranks him behind two Republicans who have been out of the race for weeks: Rick Perry and Herman Cain.

Some current and former Kentucky athletes opened their checkbooks for Republican candidates, including former NBA player and restaurant mogul Junior Bridgeman ($2,500 to Romney), former NFL quarterback Tim Couch ($2,500 to Romney) and Chicago Cubs pitcher Todd Wellemeyer of Prospect ($250 to Paul).

But perhaps the most information from these campaign donation filings is who is donating, specifically to Romney. He has collected donations already from prominent Republicans. That includes at least seven who served as delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention, including:

*Kelly Knight, Lexington 11/7/2011, $2,500 (Knight serves as a campaign finance co-chair in Kentucky for Romney and co-hosted the November fundraiser).
*J. Scott Jennings, Peritus Senior Strategist, 11/14/2011 $2,500
*John R. Triplett, Inez, attorney Triplett Law, 11/28/2011 $1,500
*Shirley Wiseman, home builder Lexington, total of $2,105 (9/13 – 12/29)
*Ellen Williams, lobbyist and former Republican Party of Kentucky chairman, Lawrenceburg, 11/9/11 $2,500
*Laura Owens, JYB3 Group and former Kentucky Education Cabinet Secretary, 11/21/2011 $500

• (alternate to the convention) Hunter Bates, Bates Capitol Group and former chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, 11/16/2011 $2,500

Also giving money to Romney were Jim and Linda Booth, of Matrix Energy LLC and Interstate Lodging Inc. Interior Design from Inez who gave in November. Both were big supporters of Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear.

And former Democratic state Senate candidate Rex Smith of Paducah gave $1,000 to Romney in late November.

Romney has raised the most money out of the Lexington area, collecting nearly $91,000, according to the FEC reports. Obama’s top fundraising base has been Louisvile, where he’s collected about half of the total money from Kentucky — more than $181,000. Paul’s best area has been Northern Kentucky where he’s brought in more than $32,000 so far this cycle.

In all, Kentuckians have donated more than a million dollars collectively to 2012 presidential candidates.

Four years ago at this time, Obama led all candidates in fundraising from Kentuckians with $588,684 raised through January 2008 compared to $455,320 for Hillary Clinton amid that competitive primary.

Also in 2008, Ron Paul was the top Republican fundraiser around this time, collecting $128,978 through January followed by John McCain, the eventual GOP nominee, with $92,562.

Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, and Sen. R.J. Palmer, the Democratic leader from Winchester, told Pure Politics that they asked Republican floor leader Robert Stivers not to call Senate Bill 151 for a vote on Thursday.

Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, will be out of town on business and Sen. Joey Pendleton, D-Hopkinsville, won’t be in Frankfort on Thursday either, Palmer said.

Palmer said Neal had a business trip planned and wouldn’t be back until Friday morning at the earliest. Palmer said he believe Senate Republican leaders would wait until at least Friday to call the measure up for a vote.

“They have been true to their word about having an open process so far. I don’t know why they would make this any different,” Palmer said.

But a spokeswoman for Senate President David Williams said the vote on the casino bill is scheduled to happen as planned.

“It will have had its three readings,” said spokeswoman Lourdes Baez-Schrader.

As sponsor of the constitutional amendment, Thayer said he made a personal appeal to Stivers to wait until at least Friday for the vote. Stivers was “non-committal,” Thayer said. “He said he would take it under advisement.”

“All I’m asking for is a fair floor vote with all members present,” he said. “This issue is too important. The people of Kentucky deserve to know that this was a fair vote.”

Thayer said his first move will be to request that the bill be passed over. A majority of senators present could vote to pass it over until Friday. He said beyond that, “all options are on the table.”

Casino supporters could stage a walk-out to prevent the Senate from having a quorum. But that would take at least 20 senators because a quorum requires a majority of the elected senators. The Senate has 38 members.

The proposed constitutional amendment to allow expanded gambling in Kentucky now calls for seven casino licenses open to any entity but leaves in place the buffer barring free-standing casinos from being 60 miles from a horse racetrack.

Voting for it: Republican Sens: Jimmy Higdon, John Schickel, Damon Thayer
Democratic Sens. Walter Blevins, Gearld Neal, R.J. Palmer, Johnny Ray Turner
(However, Turner said he would reserve the right to vote against it on the floor.)

Voting against it: Republican Sens. Tom Jensen, Alice Forgey Kerr, Dan Seum, and Robert Stivers.
Democratic Sens. (none)

The bill already has had its first reading on the Senate floor so it could face a vote by the full senate as early as Thursday.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Damon Thayer, said after the vote he didn’t know if the measure had the necessary 23 votes to pass but that Gov. Steve Beshear would be lobbying senators.

Beshear testified on behalf of the measure. And he fielded several questions from Republican senators about the 60-mile buffer provision, as Pure Politics previously reported.

Beshear’s overarching argument and that of other supporters was to allow voters to decide the issue and put it to rest once and for all.

“We’ve hemmed and we’ve hawed while states around us moved forward,” Beshear said.

Beshear, during his testimony, also repeated the case he has made in speeches and public rallies earlier this year: that Kentuckians have spent $451 million at casinos in other states and that Kentucky’s horse industry is “under attack” and needs a boost casino gambling can give it.

Besides the governor, Republican Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, Chamber of Commerce President Dave Adkisson and horse owners.

Members of the Kentucky Family Foundation, including Stan Cave, a former Republican lawmaker and one-time chief of staff to Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

Cave said “the process has been perverted” by hammering out the latest draft of the bill in secrecy over recent days only to be unveiled at the start of the committee meeting at noon Wednesday.

Rev. Hershael York of the Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort recounted how a parishioner of his was convicted for embezzling $100,000 in order to feed a gambling habit.

At one point, Democratic Sen. R.J. Palmer of Winchester got into an exchange with Cave and York about whether the Kentucky constitution calls for lawmakers to “agree” with a proposed constitutional amendment if they vote for it, as opposed to just voting for it to put it on the ballot for general election voters to ratify.

The meeting also brought lobbyists, horse track officials, other legislators such as Republican Rep. Lonnie Napier of Lancaster to watch the proceedings.

The crowd included casino supporters wearing colorful shirts with names on the front of surrounding states that have casinos, such as Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, West Virginia and Illinois. On the backs, they read: “Getting lucky because of Kentucky.”

The audience remained mostly quiet until Kerr said during one of her questions that Beshear had said he would have a bus taking college students to the casino. In fact, the governor, during an exchange with Kerr, noted that Lexington has a bus line going to Keeneland in Lexington.

A bloc of senators are prepared to vote against casino gambling in any form. That includes Sen. Tom Jensen, a Republican from London.

- Video produced by Don Weber

“I know that various fair board members have been discussing Mr. Workman’s future and the future of the fair board,” Beshear told Pure Politics and WHAS-11’s Joe Arnold after the governor testified in favor of a bill to allow casinos on Wednesday.

But when asked repeatedly whether Beshear, himself, supports the removal of Workman, all Beshear would say was: “We’re continuing those conversations about his future.”

The board is scheduled to meet Thursday. The Courier-Journal first reported the discussions on Tuesday.

And it could affect the fate of the casino bill after at least one state Sen. Joey Pendleton, D-Hopkinsville, pledged to defend Workman, who is popular among the agriculture community.

Beshear also wouldn’t say why Workman’s future has come up now — at a crucial time for his proposal to allow casinos, especially if it might jeopardize some senators’ support.

“The state fair board and the future of the fair board is an independent issue,” Beshear said.

The first draft called for up to five licenses for tracks and two other free-standing casinos.

But the latest version of the measure, which is being debated in the Senate state government committee Wednesday afternoon, keeps in place a buffer so that no casino can be built within 60-miles of a track. And that was the subject of much of the early discussion from Republican senators who seemed skeptical of that provision.

Sen. Dan Seum, a Louisville Republican, has voiced support for the concept of a constitutional amendment before. But he has expressed reservations about the current proposal.

“I’ve got a group of people in downtown Louisville who would very much like to have a casino in downtown Louisville right by our new arena,” Seum said.

Beshear said they would have to “get with Churchill Downs” under the language of the proposed constitutional amendment.

Three other Republicans, Sen. Robert Stivers, Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr and Sen. John Schickel of Union, asked Beshear why the 60-mile buffer was necessary. Schickel is among the Republican senators casino supporters are hoping to convince to support the bill both in committee and on the Senate floor if the measure gets that far.

Stivers said he was concerned it gives preferential treatment to private entities, in this case the race tracks.

“If we allow a free-standing casino to go into one of our communities that has a race track that’s not connected, you can say goodbye to your racetrack,” Beshear said.

Beshear said it wouldn’t take any rights away from anyone because casinos aren’t allowed now. He said Ohio’s constitutional amendment to allow casino specifically named four cities in which casinos could be built.

Stivers also asked Beshear whether the language of the constitutional amendment – if approved by voters – requires, rather than allows, the General Assembly to create the framework for casino gambling.

“With this language if the people of this state vote in favor … the General Assembly is going to have to step up and do it. It won’t be discretionary,” Beshear responded. “That makes sense to me.”

Currently, Kentucky has eight horse race tracks across the state.

“The 60-mile radius eliminates most of the state,” Beshear said. One area “there would be a possibility of a free-standing casino” would be in southern Kentucky near I-75, the governor added.

Beshear also told Kerr that casinos wouldn’t take away from racing. Instead, he said, they would add to the purses for the races to compete with those in states that allow casinos.

One of the candidates, Lewis County Judge-Executive Thomas Massie, said he had heard “rumors” of potential deep-pocketed donors looking to start independent campaign groups to get involved in the race in support of a particular candidate, potentially even for him.

“We’re certainly not directing one or encouraging anybody to do one, but I think there may be folks that see my message — my small government message — and might get behind it independently,” Massie said.

Super PACs emerged after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January 2010 in the Citizens United case. They can raise unlimited money from donors — but cannot coordinate with candidates or their campaigns.

Super PACs have played key roles in this spring’s Republican primary for president.

Another candidate, Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore, started to say that he didn’t think voters wanted Super PACs “coming in and telling …” before rephrasing to: “Super PACs shouldn’t choose the next congressman in the 4th Congressional District.”

Moore and Massie are competing with state Rep. Alecia Webb-Edgington, Fort Mitchell businessman Tom Wurtz, lawyer and blogger Marcus Carey, Oldham County developer and school board member Walt Schumm and Brian Oerther, a teacher who lives in Oldham County.

It’s the first seven-candidate primary since the 1998 Democratic primary in the 6th Congressional District.

Patton testified before the House Education Committee armed with a host of statistics showing the gulf in educational attainment in the area surrounding the 1,100-student college. But some legislators on the panel, which did not take a vote on the proposal Tuesday, still maintain that what trumps the statistics Patton quoted is another set of numbers: dollars.

House Bill 260 would bring the university into the state university system using unallocated multi-county coal severance tax dollars of between $10 million and $13 million a year, at first. But the bill leaves open the prospect of using general funds that the other universities share — a point of contention among some, including leaders at Morehead State University.

But Patton outlined the need for a public university to serve 12 counties in southeastern Kentucky: Johnson, Martin, Magoffin, Breathitt, Floyd, Knott, Perry, Leslie, Bell, Harlan, Letcher and Pike Counties. And the need, he said, can be measured by:

• The percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher in the 12-county area is 9.1 percent which is below the state average of 17.1 percent and the national average of 24.3 percent.
• 64 percent of 2010 high school graduates in the 12-county Southeastern Kentucky Educational Attainment District attended community colleges compared to 38.1 percent for the rest of the state.
• 17.2 percent attended in-state universities opposed 49.1 percent for the rest of the state.
• 18.8 percent attended in-state independent colleges compared to 12.8 percent for the rest of the state.

One of the bill’s sponsors, Democrat House Speaker Greg Stumbo of Prestonsburg said the reason that so few attend four-year state universities is because there are no state universities in that immediate area.

A 2005 study showed that students in the 12-county Southeastern Kentucky district
who received a bachelor’s degree was 11.7 percent which was 86 percent lower than the rest of the state which was at 21.8 percent.

Under the plan, tuition at the University of Pikeville would drop from the current $17,050 to about $7,000 which is about the same as the state comprehensive universities. By comparison, UK is at $9,955, Eastern Kentucky University is $6,955 while Morehead State is $6,816.

But state Rep. Jim DeCesare, a Republican from Rockfield near Western Kentucky University, had a number of concerns with the cost of the University of Pikeville coming into the state university system.

Under the bill, the University of Pikeville would work with local school districts in the 8th grade to get all students committed to complete high school and go to college. The program would include working with school counselors to educate students about the fact that in today’s economy they need to go to college, they can afford to go to college and they can succeed in college.

Other goals would include the establishment of an extension campus in every county in the Southeastern Kentucky Educational Attainment District.

Among his first stops will be Tuesday’s opening of the new Fleming County judicial center in Flemingsburg — a $13. 5 million project funded by the state government bonds.

Barr has criticized government spending and debt, specifically the federal stimulus money through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that Congress passed in 2009.

He is running for the GOP nomination to again face Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, who defeated Barr by 648 votes in 2010. Chandler voted for the stimulus bill and has defended it for helping to prevent the recession from going deeper.

In a telephone interview, Barr said the Fleming County courthouse opening is “a big deal” for Flemingsburg, and he will be attending major civic events as well as meeting with small business owners across the 6th District counties.

“Clearly what they need here is more private industry,” Barr said in a telephone interview. “I’ll be going to these counties for all their community events whether it’s the opening of a courthouse or factories. But we’re not seeing a lot of those things. That’s really the point of the job tour.”

Barr wouldn’t say whether he thought the economy would be worse in the nation, Kentucky or even these counties had it not been for some of the stimulus funds or borrowed state money to invest in construction projects.

Instead, he said Washington continues to jeopardize future infrastructure projects.

“We’re not going to be able to make these investments in roads or courthouses or bridges … if we continue to have this kind of debt crisis,” Barr said.

Barr said he’s still working on the schedule of campaign stops that will take him through the seven new counties to the 6th District — Bath, Menifee, Nicholas, Robertson, Wolfe and Fleming counties and part of Harrison County — as well as Clark, Montgomery, Powell and Estill counties. Those last four remain in the 6th District after the once-a-decade reapportionment process to make sure the populations of the districts are even.

All 11 of the counties have unemployment rates that are higher than the 8.3 percent national average. Harrison (8.4%), Robertson (8.8%), Clark (9.1%), Nicholas (9.4%), Fleming (9.6%), Estill (9.9%), Montgomery (10.3%), Powell and Bath (11.7%), Wolfe (12.6%) and Menifee, which has the district’s highest rate at 13.7%. (Figures according to the Kentucky Department of Workforce Training)

The direct mailings from the Kentucky Alliance for Jobs target Republicans who have previously expressed publicly their willingness to vote for a constitutional amendment allowing casinos. The constitutional amendment process requires approval of three-fifths of each chamber of the legislature and ratification by voters.

And the mailers urge voters to call their senators and thank them for expressing previous support for wanting to go the constitutional amendment route that allows voters to have the final say. It provides the Legislative Research Commission phone number and encourages the voters to thank their senators for “support of allowing you to decide the future of expanded gaming in Kentucky.”

For instance, Sen. Dan Seum, a Louisville Republican and the Senate GOP caucus chairman, said on “Pure Politics” on Aug. 9, 2011, that he is “all for putting it on the ballot and have been all along.”

But Seum told the Courier-Journal he couldn’t support the initial draft of the measure unveiled a week ago by Gov. Steve Beshear and Republican Sen. Damon Thayer. Specifically, he said he was concerned that the constitutional amendment language was too specific by limiting five licenses to horse racetracks, which he said would reduce competition, and thus the price, of such licenses.

Thayer told Pure Politics in a brief phone interview Monday that he and the governor are continuing to work on changing the measure’s wording but “I’m not prepared to say anything publicly yet.”

“It could get broader,” he added.

The list of GOP Senators whose voters will receive mailers gives an indication about who might be on the fence — and whose votes might make or break the casino proposal.

They include Seum, Northern Kentucky Republicans Katie Stine of Southgate, John Schickel of Union and Jack Westwood of Erlanger, as well as Sen. Jimmy Higdon of Lebanon, Ernie Harris of Crestwood, Jared Carpenter of Richmond and Paul Hornback of Shelbyville. Carpenter and Hornback, two of the newest state Senators, both expressed their support for putting “this issue on the ballot” during their 2010 campaigns. Higdon told WHAS-11 in Louisville shortly after winning a special election for the 14th District that he would back the measure to allow for voters to ultimately decide the issue. He repeated that last fall on Pure Politics.

The Kentucky Alliance for Jobs announced its public campaign on behalf of allowing casinos in the state on Feb. 9 in a press conference at the rotunda, featuring speakers such as Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President Dave Adkisson.

But with just three months until the May 22 primary and a race featuring seven candidates — all of whom start with less than 5 percent name recognition, as one of them put it — Northern Kentucky Republicans might want to enjoy this period of detente while it lasts.

Six of the seven candidates showed up to the Shelby County Lincoln Day Dinner at Claudia Sanders Dinner House on Saturday. Shelby County is one of the newest areas of the 4th Congressional District after lawmakers included it in the recently-approved redrawn congressional map.

Each candidate got five minutes to introduce themselves to the roughly 250 GOP faithful in attendance.

And all of them underscored their desire to go to Washington to do some combination of the following: reduce government spending, curtail “over-regulation,” impose term limits, empower the free market and bring business principles to government. All of them played up their respective backgrounds, particularly the parts that enabled them to qualify for “outsider” credentials whether they currently serve in elected office or not.

As a result, the reviews from Shelby County GOP voters were largely positive, if non-committal. Mandy Connell, the 84-WHAS radio host who served as keynote speaker for the dinner, described the candidates as “an embarrassment of riches.” Shelbyville’s state Rep. Brad Montell also called it a “rich field” and noted that he’s staying neutral — he serves in the state House with Alecia Webb-Edgington but his son is going to work for Gary Moore’s campaign.

A breakdown of the main messages from each of the candidates:

• Tom Wurtz, a business consultant and tea party activist, spread his frustration at government beyond the ripe target of Congress, for which he is running, to the General Assembly in Frankfort:

• While diminutive in stature, State Rep. Alecia Webb-Edgington of Fort Wright, highlighted her penchant of standing up to big guys. And she laid out her platform of calling for term limits (five two-year terms for U.S. House members and two six-year terms for senators) and a “flatter” tax code. She later said that meant closing loopholes — not one flat income tax rate.

• Lewis County Judge-Executive Thomas Massie highlighted his job creation as an M.I.T.-educated entrepreneur before entering politics in 2010. Massie, who has been in the race for more than a month, gave his standard stump speech. Afterward, he said in an interview that he expects to have the three tools a successful candidate needs:

• Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore mentioned his 30 years in the private sector, although he has served as the top official in Boone County since 1999. He said in an interview after his speech that he believes he highlighted a set of values that others didn’t play up:

• Walt Schumm, an Oldham County developer and realtor, filed just before the 4 p.m. candidate filing deadline on Friday. In his first speech as a candidate, he outlined his background and outsider credentials, although he serves as vice chairman of the Oldham County School Board. He said in an interview that one of the reasons he filed relatively late was that he saw an opportunity when the new map added Shelby, northern Spencer and Eastern Jefferson counties to the 4th District:

• Brian Oerther, like the others, took a fair share of jabs at government, although he does draw a paycheck from taxpayers as a teacher in Jefferson County (though he lives in Oldham County). Oerther blasted “crazy checks” — a reference to Social Security benefits for children who have disabilities, including Attention Deficit or Hyperactivity Disorder.

A seventh candidate, lawyer and conservative blogger Marcus Carey, did not attend the dinner.

The seven candidates are vying to replace Republican U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, who decided not to seek a fifth term this year. Two Democrats also have filed for the district, which is a reliably Republican-performing district.

UofL is putting out a request for proposal for hospital networks, including out-of-state based systems, to team up. And among those potential suitors could be Catholic Health Initiatives — the entity that owns St. Joseph Health Care system and was involved in the proposed three-way merger until Gov. Steve Beshear scuttled UofL taking part in it. (7:15 of the interview)

But Ramsey said Monday on Pure Politics that the UofL Hospital needs a financial partner to continue paying nurses and doctors and buying needed equipment. But he wouldn’t put a deadline on the move.

“Right now is a very difficult time for the University of Louisville Hospital,” Ramsey said (8:00). “We’ve just been through the worst economic times since the 1930s — the Great Depression. And at one point, 30 percent of the customers who came in to the University of Louisville Hospital … did not have health insurance. … We didn’t turn anyone away.”

This time, however, the potential deal won’t seek a full asset merger, which was the main sticking point for the governor.

“The control will be with the University of Louisville Hospital,” Ramsey said (6:35)

Ramsey said he and a team initially chose the approach of a full merger with Jewish Hospital and CHI against the advice of consultants because that path was the “highest risk but greatest reward.”

“We were actually advised not to pursue that, but we thought that was the greatest reward and had the greatest probability of really enhancing health care for all people in our community — low income, high income,” Ramsey said (1:10 of the interview).

He said UofL went down that road because of “resources and number two, the resources would be used to provide better care.”

Ramsey said he understands the “legitimate concern” Beshear had with approving the merger but he disagrees with the governor and Attorney General Jack Conway’s conclusions that the university’s hospital is a public asset.

“It has a public agenda,” Ramsey said when asked if he believed the hospital was a public asset (2:20 -5:40). “… We have a public purpose and whether you call it owned and a public asset or a tax exempt entity just like Nortons and Baptist and Jewish (hospitals), we have a public purpose and we will not walk from that purpose.”

“We strongly OPPOSE this proposal because Kentucky should not tie itself to an unreliable, regressive revenue stream and because professional gambling will have a profoundly harmful effect on many of those persons we serve who live in poverty,” said a letter signed by Rev. Patrick Delahanty, executive director of the Catholic Conference.

Delahanty wrote that he was writing on behalf of Kentucky’s four bishops and the 400,000 Catholics in the state and would be lobbying against the proposed constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling when it comes up before the Senate state government committee on Wednesday.

Delahanty wrote that the church doesn’t oppose gambling on moral grounds. Instead, the Catholic leaders argue that casinos are “more likely than other gambling options to lead to bad decisions and catastrophic losses for patrons.”

The letter cites a University of Kentucky Survey Research Center study that estimated that 0.3 percent of adult Kentuckians are compulsive gamblers, 1.7 percent are problem gamblers and another 6.2 percent are at-risk to become compulsive gamblers. Based on those estimates, Delahanty wrote, a total of 249,000 Kentuckians are compulsive or problem gamblers or at risk.

“Senate Bill 151 is not a dream but a nightmare that is regressive in nature as a revenue source,” Delahanty wrote. He also will be circulating to lawmakers on Wednesday an article written by the Herald-Leader’s John Cheves that outlines how states that allow casinos didn’t fare any better during the recession that other states.