# Kentuckians, Please Explain? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 30, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckians-please-explain/319294 "2005-08-30T18:07:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckians-please-explain/319294/1 "2005-08-30T18:07:56Z")
Can you explain [this](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/08/29/national/a190637D92.DTL) and [this](http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050830/NEWS0104/508300398/1008) ? Gov. Ernie Fletcher on Monday granted blanket pardons to current and former members of his administration who have been charged in an investigation into alleged improper hiring. Attorney General Greg Stumbo resigned yesterday from Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s merit system task force, saying it “cannot deliver meaningful results.” “I have grave concerns about the actions and legitimacy of the task force,” Stumbo wrote in a four-page letter to Fletcher before the governor’s announcement of pardons yesterday afternoon. Stumbo said state lawmakers likely would give “little weight” to the panel’s eventual recommendations. Erwin Roberts, Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s personnel secretary and chairman of the task force, fired back that Stumbo was a “disruptive” presence who “can’t be trusted.” I mean, I think our Governor is a Republican shill, but even she would’nt go this far? ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckians-please-explain/319294/2 "2005-08-30T18:30:08Z")
Up here in Sorthern Ohtucky, we’ve been distracted by the **POSSIBLY EXPLODING TRAIN CAR OF DEATH** for the past couple of days, so it hasn’t really been getting the play in the media that it really deserves, other than the comparisons to catching fish with your bare hands out of season. The local GOP jizzmoppers have tried to be pretty circumspect about the whole PARDONING TWO FELONIES thing, and the media airheads have been content to play along with the “noodling” angle. Also, as you should probably know by now, _The Democrats Did It Too!!! The Democrats Did It Too!!! The Democrats Did It Too!!! The Democrats Did It Too!!! The Democrats Did It Too!!_ ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckians-please-explain/319294/3 "2005-08-30T18:32:17Z")
I should probably add that one good thing _may_ come out of this - the pardoned dipshits will no longer be able to claim the 5th should they be called before the grand jury, possibly leaving Ernie open for a well-deserved assreaming. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckians-please-explain/319294/4 "2005-08-30T19:17:35Z")
Just remember, kids: IOKIARDI. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckians-please-explain/319294/5 "2005-08-30T19:44:50Z")
Explain it? Sure. Ernie Fletcher is a sleazebag with no sense of morals, ethics, honor or decency. Shame on him. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckians-please-explain/319294/6 "2005-08-30T20:34:51Z")
The timing is spectacular. The news stations are enamoured with Katrina. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckians-please-explain/319294/7 "2005-08-31T02:18:30Z")
> [@](#): > > The timing is spectacular. The news stations are enamoured with Katrina. No accident, I promise you. What’s to explain? Our senior Senator rose to prominence in the Republican party defending the role of Big Money in politics. Our junior Senator started his campaign off with commercials implying that his opponent was ripping off the taxpayers by practicing ENT surgery in one of the poorest areas of the state; when his senility later became undeniable, it took a whisper campaign about his opponent’s sexuality to eke out a victory. The less said about our GOP Congressional delegation, the better, and it doesn’t get any prettier at the local level. So it’s hard to be too surprised by Fletcher. **AugustWest** nailed it, and it’s par for the Kentucky GOP course. Fletcher has, however, reminded us of something too many people forgot in the last election–Kentucky might be chock full of flawed Democrats, but the alternative is much, much worse.