Kentucky Club for Growth

You Can Attend Tax Reform Meetings, Say No to Tax Hikes

Thu, 31 May 2012 11:46:44 -0500

The Governor's Commission on Tax Reform is hitting the road in Kentucky. You can join the meeting and present to the commission yourself. Here are the meeting dates, times and locations.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Paducah Tilghman High School Auditorium
2400 Washington Street
Paducah, Kentucky

Tuesday, June 19, 2012
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Greenwood High School Auditorium
5065 Scottsville Road
Bowling Green, Kentucky

Tuesday, July 10, 2012
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Highland Middle School Auditorium
1700 Norris Place
Louisville, Kentucky

Tuesday, July 24, 2012
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Student Union Ballroom
20 Kenton Drive
Highland Heights, Kentucky

Tuesday, August 7, 2012
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Big Sandy Community & Technical College
Gearheart Auditorium
1 Bert T Combs Drive
Prestonsburg, Kentucky

Tuesday, August 21, 2012
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Bryan Station High School
201 Eastin Road
Lexington, Kentucky

Tax Reform Has Nothing To Do with Kentucky's Spending Problem

Wed, 30 May 2012 15:07:20 -0500

We tweeted this earlier, but here is a great editorial from Kentucky Chamber President Dave Adkisson.

Much of the early rhetoric surrounding the tax commission's deliberations speaks of "tax reform"-- a phrase that is heard by many to mean "tax increase." But as a practical matter, any benefits resulting from tax reform are likely to dissipate quickly unless close and serious attention is paid to state spending.

The chamber's 2009 Leaky Bucket report and follow-up report in 2011 noted that unsustainable spending in several areas continues to pull money away from investments in education and economic development. Although progress has been made in slowing the spending increases, the growth rate in Medicaid, corrections and public employee health insurance spending continued to outpace that of the overall state budget through fiscal 2012.

Here is the bottom line: Unless this spending is brought under control, it really doesn't matter how much tax revenue is raised.

Governor Beshear Suggests Tax Reform Means Tax Hikes

Wed, 30 May 2012 12:37:33 -0500

In the Herald-Leader today, and recently in papers across the commonwealth, Governor Steve Beshear is publishing an op-ed that says very little revealing about his tax reform commission.

It begins with these cryptic lines:

We've held off modernizing Kentucky's tax code for several years now, not wanting to jeopardize the beginning stages of our recovery from the global economic recession.

With the recovery taking firm hold, however, the time has arrived to move our tax system into the 21st century.

We're admittedly reading into these possibly thoughtless lines, but they propose certain troubling assumptions.

First, we're surprised at Beshear's confidence that the recovery is "taking firm hold".

Here is a sampling of today's headlines:

Spain's worsening economic condition drags down world markets and euro

Oil prices fall to near $89 amid fears over euro

US 10-Year Treasury Yield Hits Record Low of 1.63%

Share of working-age Americans with a job is the lowest in decades

Let us hope this is just his excuse for not acting in any serious manner during his previous four (or eight) years in office, because to read it at face value is really concerning.

Taking it all together, he seems to be saying 'we could not entertain tax reform before because my tax reform contains tax hikes and we were in a recession.'

We've expressed our concern that the commission is simply a vehicle to recommend tax hikes, and the Governor's op-ed helps confirm our suspicion.

What is the Tea Party in Kentucky 2012?

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:46:33 -0500

We've written occasional posts examining just what the tea party is in Kentucky, explaining that "the Tea Party is bigger than the Tea Party," and that "the Tea Party itself contains a variety of interests centered around concern about the expansion of government."

In a post today, Mica Sims draws attention to the distinction made by 4th Congressional District nominee Thomas Massie:

My favorite part of the evening was Thomas' victory speech. I usually don't enjoy these, as the candidates are exhausted from the stress and insane hours of a long and hard fought campaign, and even those who are natural public speakers gush a bit and then fall back on the same trite and shop worn talking points that could as easily have been uttered by their primary opponents. Not this time. Thomas referred to the TEA Party several times. Even more amazing was the way he specifically called attention to the liberty movement as an entity distinct from the TEA Party on each of these occasions. Knowing this distinction was too subtle for the clueless mainstream media by four orders of magnitude, he called their attention to it and almost dared them not to cover it.

It is a real distinction between the Tea Party and the Liberty Movement. Mr. Massie actually identified three parts of his coalition in his speech. As noted in the "mainstream media":

During an interview with Kentucky Education Television, Massie characterized his win as one over the political establishment which "started trying to push me out of this race" and "the playing field kind of got leveled" by the Liberty for All SuperPAC.

He said the win was not just a Tea Party win but a victory for a coalition of three groups his campaign brought together.

"What happened tonight is that we built a coalition of three separate groups. I would call them the Tea Party group, the Liberty Movement and then your grassroots Ronald Reagan Republicans," Massie said.

When the Tea Party is discussed, sometimes the term refers to this coalition, and other times it refers to only those who organize themselves as a 'Tea Party'.

For electoral politics, it is the broader coalition that elects candidates.

For what it's worth, here's what the national Club for Growth PAC had to say about Mr. Massie's victory:

"The Club for Growth PAC congratulates free-market champion Tom Massie on his impressive victory," said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. "Tom Massie will fight to cut spending, limit government, and restore the constitution. The Club for Growth PAC was proud to play a role in Tom's victory tonight and we look forward to seeing him in Congress next year."

Primary Day in Kentucky 2012

Tue, 22 May 2012 16:22:47 -0500

Today, there are 38 primaries for 36 seats in the Kentucky House and Senate.

In the Senate, four Republican incumbents are being challenged, and there are two Republican primaries for open seats. One Senate Democrat is being challenged in a primary, and there is one Democratic primary involving an open seat.

In the House, there are seventeen Republican primaries and thirteen Democrat primaries. Eighteen primaries are against incumbents (10D, 8R), seven are for open seats (2D, 5R), and five are for the opportunity to challenge an incumbent from the opposite party (1D, 4R). Here's a look at two dozen that we find interesting.

In today's newsletter, we made quick notes on 24 of them.

Read the whole analysis here.

Sen. David Givens Did Raise Taxes

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:36:54 -0500

The bill is RS2009 HB 144.

It was a $158 million annual tax increase.

Here's his "Yes" vote:

Here's the fiscal note describing the $158 million tax increase.

Givens may wish he had never voted to increase taxes, but he did. Then he voted to approve HB 143, the measure that spent the revenues from that tax increase.

If preventing tax increases is important to you, you should ask Sen. Givens why he voted to raise them.

If honesty is important to you, you should ask why he's denying this matter of public record.

House 48 Challenge an Opportunity for Conservatives

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:11:06 -0500

In our previous post, we mention that Rep. Bob DeWeese is a pledge-breaker.

If you search our site for Bob DeWeese, you find that he voted for HB 299, a bill that radically increases legislative pensions then voted against its repeal.

Looking at our scorecards, you can find that he is regularly one of the lowest-ranking Republicans in the House, regularly scoring below 50% and regularly ranking behind some Democrats.

He is the most liberal member of a moderate Republican leadership team in the House.

In a CN2 report, DeWeese explains that he wants to be reelected because he could be a part of a new Republican majority.

DeWeese faces a primary challenge from Tea Partier Scott Reed, who is also interviewed in the article. Reed draws a hard line on debt and makes pension reform and Right-to-Work legislation a priority.

It is rare to primary an incumbent, but conservatives have an opportunity in the 48th.

Broken Their Pledge Not to Raise Your Taxes

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:00:13 -0500

Kentucky is woefully short of politicians who have signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge to not to raise taxes on Kentuckians. The pledge states:

I, ____________, pledge to the taxpayers of the _____ District of the State of _________ and to all the people of this state, that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.

Kentucky only has 4 Senators and 22 House Members who have signed the pledge. Of those, 10 have violated it by voting for 2009's HB 144! It's one thing to raise taxes. It's another thing entirely to raise taxes after pledging to you constituents that you never would!

These legislators have broken their signed pledge not to raise taxes:

Rep Bob Damron (D-39)	General Election Opponent: Matt Lockett
Rep. Bob DeWeese (R-48)	Primary Election Opponent: Scott Reed
Rep. Danny Ford (R-80)	Retiring
Rep. Jim Gooch (D-12)	Primary Election Opponent: Jim Nance
Rep. Keith Hall (D-93)	Unopposed
Rep. Melvin Henley (D-5)	Retiring
Rep. Jeff Hoover (R-83)	Unopposed
Rep. Lonnie Napier (R-36)	Retiring
Rep. James Stewart (R-86)	Unopposed

The only Kentucky legislators who have pledged not to raise taxes and have upheld that pledge are:

Sens. Tom Buford (R-22), Julie Denton (R-36) and Katie Stine (R-24); and Reps. Julie Raque Adams (R-32), Kevin Bratcher (R-29), Tim Couch (R-90), Ron Crimm (R-33), Jim DeCesare (R-21), CB Embry (R-17), Joe Fischer (R-68), Wade Hurt (D-37), Thomas Kerr (R-64), Kim King (R-55), Stan Lee (R-45), Brad Montell (R-58) and Marie Rader (R-89).

Senate 19 Leans Way Left

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:41:44 -0500

Kentucky's 19th Senate district is very Democratic. There are four candidates to replace Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, and they are all Democrats, and mostly liberal.

A recent article by the LEO reveals that there are varying degrees of very liberal.

One candidate, Morgan McGarvey, received the endorsement of the Courier-Journal, labor unions and several prominent Democrats.

Morgan McGarvey received the endorsement of The Courier-Journal today, which is not yet hidden by their pay wall. The C-J said that Cunningham and McGarvey were the top two candidates, but what put McGarvey over the top was his "unequivocal support for the Ohio River Bridges Project."

The C-J joins the long list of big name endorsers for McGarvey, including a plethora of labor unions, Crit Luallen, Adam Edelen, Jack Conway and Tim Shaughnessy -- all of which are touted in McGarvey's new TV ad, hitting airwaves in Louisville now.

Apparently, what precipitated the C-J's endorsement was that McGarvey wasn't so liberal that he opposed all growth whatsoever. Which seperates him from his opponent Sarah Lynn Cunningham.

Cunningham is uncertain about the need for new bridges in Louisville, and concerned about what horrors might ensue from better roads.

The C-J said that Cunningham and McGarvey were the top two candidates, but what put McGarvey over the top was his "unequivocal support for the Ohio River Bridges Project." and Cunningham's "reservations about the second bridge because of her doubts about funding, potential sprawl and lack of plans for expanded public transit."

Yes, Cunningham is a full-fledged member of the anti-growth loony left, and has the endorsements to prove it.

Cunningham also has two new endorsers on her website: Metro Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh and one of the most respected liberal legislators in Frankfort, Rep. Jim Wayne.

Sarah Lynn Cunningham announced this weekend that she received the endorsement of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth's New Power PAC, the liberal activist group that has strong representation throughout the district. Cunningham was already endorsed by the Sierra Club.

There you have it.

If the left had any sort of Tea Party equivalent, Cunningham might have a chance, but it seems that McGarvey has it locked up.

McGarvey has a huge money advantage in this race (if our calculations are correct, double the rest of the field combined) and will most likely be the only candidate with any significant TV presence.

Sounds like the next Senator from the 19th District.

Rep. Rita Smart Begs to Raise Taxes

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:49:06 -0500

Most of us know that Frankfort has a spending problem, but Rep. Rita Smart (D-81) doesn't. Rep. Smart is so disappointed that Kentuckians aren't taxed enough to fund the spending she so desperately wants. From a Richmond Register article:

Smart said while it’s important to be efficient and not waste taxpayers’ money, the blame for the budget cuts rests solely on the shoulders of the state’s “antiquated” tax system.
“There’s just not enough income from tax revenue to support the things we need in our city and state,” Smart said. Legislators struggled to create a budget that would keep the state running despite the state’s Budget Office prediction of a $742 million gap between revenue and spending over the next two years.
Smart realizes that budget cuts in the judicial branch will hurt a lot of people who are already struggling in the slow economy. “Sometimes when (legislators) do things, we don’t realize the consequences,” she said.
Smart strongly advocates revamping the state tax system so the government, one of the biggest employers in Madison County, can prevent service cutbacks and furloughs. Legislators and experts in Frankfort have been examining the problem for several years, and Smart hopes that action will be taken soon.
“We just have an inadequate revenue stream,” Smart said.

She is clearly continuing the liberal tax-and-spend tradition of her predecessor Harry Moberly In the general election, Smart will face Republican Mary McGill Long, who doesn't seem serious enough to have a website or facebook page.

The Kentucky Club for Growth will continue to be an advocate for taxpayers in Frankfort.

Rep. Bill Farmer Speaks the Truth on Tax Reform

Fri, 11 May 2012 14:49:22 -0500

As the Tax Reform Commission's consultants begin to compile data, Lt. Governor Jerry Abramson seems to dream of the commission recommending tax increases.

Non-voting commission member Rep. Bill Farmer points out that tax hikes are non-starters:

Another member, Rep. Bill Farmer, R-Lexington, said the chances of the General Assembly passing major reform that raises new revenue "are about a step shy of impossible. If they are looking to raise significant sums of money, that's going to come up against a serious roadblock in the (Republican-controlled) Senate, and it may come up against a serious roadblock in the (Democratic-controlled) House."

But tax-and-spend Governor Lt. Jerry Abramson dreams otherwise:

Abramson said, "We'll see. ... We'll take the final recommendations, analyze the do-ables, and try to package them in a way that would create a more fair, a more competitive, a more simple, a more elastic and a more adequate revenue stream and then present that to the legislature."

"More adequate revenue stream" is liberal-speak for tax hikes.

We will continue to watch the commission carefully.

A Note on Sen. Damon Thayer's Record

Thu, 10 May 2012 11:16:46 -0500

The Kentucky Club for Growth was mentioned in a Lexington Herald-Leader article about the race for the 17th Senate District.

Thayer, 44, responds by calling Hostetler "a little desperate." Thayer touts his conservative support from U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the National Rifle Association, the pro-business Kentucky Club for Growth (which ranks him best among 38 state senators) and the anti-abortion Kentucky Right to Life.

Last year, we wrote:

Every year, the Kentucky Club for Growth compiles a scorecard ranking our legislature according to how they have voted to address Kentucky's challenges and protect Kentucky's taxpayers. In the history of our scorecard, no Senator has opposed unnecessary spending and held the line against tax increases more often than Damon Thayer....His record isn't perfect, but his commitment to government transparency, low taxes and controlled spending is unmatched in the Senate.

Thayer's record holds today. He is not only one of the few Senators dedicated to truly standing up for taxpayers, he is the most likely to break with his leadership to do so.

In the 2009-2010 cycle, he was the only Senator to score over the threshold of 70%, with a 73% combined for the cycle (168 out of 231 possible points).

We have received questions about whether his score in 2010 deserves scrutiny, but we must repeat the caveat we place on every Senate scorecard:

NOTE: It is always difficult to fully evaluate the Senate. We can only score recorded votes. While the House often takes votes on new spending and taxes, often the Senate defeats these efforts without a vote to score.

It is important to consider the context when reading the Senate scorecard. In 2010, the Senate stopped tax increases, advocated reducing spending and limiting debt, and all scores except one range from 68-48. In 2009, the Senate helped the House push through five new taxes and tax increases. In 2009 a few individuals voted against the tax increases leading to a greater variance of scores.

Sen. Thayer was one of a dozen Senators to stand against the Williams/Beshear tax hikes in 2009, and earned a high score for it.

His scorecard results are a success. Characterizing them any other way is a distortion of a fine record.

Thu, 10 May 2012 05:18:12 -0500

Lexington Herald Leader 5/10:

"Thayer, 44, responds by calling Hostetler "a little desperate." Thayer touts his conservative support from U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the National Rifle Association, the pro-business Kentucky Club for Growth (which ranks him best among 38 state senators) and the anti-abortion Kentucky Right to Life."

Tea Party First Effort to Oppose Obamacare in Kentucky a Success

Tue, 08 May 2012 14:00:25 -0500

Yesterday, Governor Beshear held his first (and apparently last) meeting on Obamacare implementation in Kentucky.

Two things were evident in the forum:

that Obamacare is plainly unpopular; and
that Beshear has already decided to embrace it.

Attendee Kathy Linzy put it this way:

"Clearly their eyes were glazing over when the folks at the mic asked questions," Linzy said. "The panel did say these were not the questions they were looking for. What they were looking for was info and ideas on how to implement the health care exchange."

David Adams has a full report here.

Adams concludes it with a call to action:

A single, simple demand is necessary. Conservatives and tea partiers should call Governor Beshear and demand that he return the $60 million in federal grant money Kentucky has received to implement an ObamaCare. His number is (502)564-2611. Further, please call your state Senator and Representative and demand that they publicly call on Beshear to send the money back and discontinue all efforts to create an ObamaCare health insurance exchange in Kentucky.

Today, Adams reports that Beshear learned that he doesn't want to discuss Obamacare in public anymore.

Governor Steve Beshear yesterday called a halt to what was to be a series of open-to-the-public meetings on ObamaCare implementation in Kentucky.

Let's keep it going!

A History of Tax Reform Reports and Efforts in Kentucky

Tue, 08 May 2012 13:32:08 -0500

As a part of presentations to the Governor's Tax Reform Commission, Greg Harkenrider of the State Budget Office inventoried previous tax reform reports and efforts in Kentucky. You can view a PowerPoint of the presentation here.

Aside from his assumption that a more progressive tax is inherently a more 'fair' tax, it's a good study.