30 July 2000
Messenger-Inquirer
Bet you don't know which state official makes the most money. No, not Gov. Paul Patton. You'd think he would. But the governor is tied for a mere 40th place on the state payroll, with a salary of $97,068 a year.
Messenger-Inquirer
Bet you don't know which state official makes the most money. No, not Gov. Paul Patton. You'd think he would. But the governor is tied for a mere 40th place on the state payroll, with a salary of $97,068 a year.
And Lt. Gov. Steve Henry is way down in a tie for 292nd place, with a salary of $82,521. state worker is Kevin Noland, head of the Education, Arts and Humanities Cabinet's office of legal services, according to a recent edition of The Kentucky Gazette. The newspaper reported that:
Kevin Noland, head of the Education, Arts and Humanities Cabinet's office of legal services makes $152,271 a year;
Maureen W. Khalil, a medical specialist in the Justice Cabinet, who earns $118,125 a year;
The Gazette published the salaries of 1,540 state officials who make at least $63,856 a year.
Thirty-six of them make $100,000 or more.
Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be governors. Make 'em be education, arts and humanities lawyers instead.
-- But being a lobbyist pays better than working for the government. The Gazette also published a list of lobbyist salaries last month.
James "Jitter" Allen of Frankfort, whose 18 clients paid him a total of $422,928 for the 2000 legislative session.
Former Owensboroan Richard "Smitty" Taylor was 15th on the list with $142,937 from 14 companies.
Back in April, [2000] Kentucky Democrats were singing the blues. They couldn't get anything passed in the Republican-controlled Senate, they said.
But guess which senator managed to get the most legislation passed? According to Kentucky Roll Call, it was Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman David Boswell of Sorgho. Boswell got nine bills passed.
Of course, there's an asterisk on that record. Sen. Dick Roeding, R-Fort Mitchell, also got nine bills through both houses of the legislature. But Patton, a Democrat, vetoed one of them, Roll Call reports.
And the newsletter notes, Senate Democrats passed a total of 59 bills to 58 for the Republicans.
On the House side, Majority Leader Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, passed the most bills -- 46.
Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence, who represents part of Daviess County, tied for third with Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, and Rep. Jodie Haydon, D-Bardstown, with 11 each.
Another interesting tidbit from Roll Call: The legislature sent 135 bills -- 29 percent of the total 479 passed -- to Patton on April 11, the next to last day of the session.
Can anybody up there spell p-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-e? No sense doing today what you can put off until the last minute.
I sure hope this year's political campaigns can be a little more civil than they were sounding last week.
Those Kentucky Democratic Party phone calls urging people to protest Texas Gov. George W. Bush's visit to Owensboro on Saturday were about as low-class as you can get.
The remark about showing Bush that "we don't want his kind in Kentucky" was reprehensible.
We want every candidate for national office to come to Kentucky. And we want them to come to Owensboro.
Only by seeing and hearing the candidates can voters make an informed decision on who they want to elect.
So come on to Owensboro, Al Gore. We want your kind, too.
Keith Lawrence, (270) 691-7301
kLawrence@messenger-inquirer.com
