A response to novelist Silas House on the faux "bullying bill"

Novelist Silas House complains about legislators on a State House committee who voted down the so-called "bullying bill" (HB 336) on the grounds that the bullying law passed in 2008 already protects all students.

House says the “logic” of these legislators "falls short." Laws that protect everyone, he argues, don't protect everyone and so what we need to do is to specify who everyone is. Only then will everyone be protected.

Apparently it's just too hard for our school officials to figure out who "everyone" is.

In reality, HB 336 was a cynical attempt by a political group to use the tragedies of several students to promote their own political agenda. If groups like the Fairness Campaign want to pursue laws that benefit their constituency, they should do it with a law that’s properly labeled, not one that masquerades as something that it isn’t.

If current laws that already prohibit bulling aren’t enough, then why is one gay rights group going to schools around the state saying that current laws are enough to deal with this problem and asking schools to do so?

The chairman of the House committee refused to hear testimony from opponents of the bill and after it was voted down anyway, the leader of the Fairness Campaign made a spectacle of himself in the Capitol Annex hallway by engaging in the same threatening and intimidating behavior the bill he was supporting prohibits.

But maybe House didn’t know about these things, since the CJ didn’t report them.

Should we specify who should be protected from murder and stealing by listing all the different types of people who shouldn’t be murdered and stolen from?

That may make logical sense to House, but to us it clearly “falls short.”

Gay rights leader's rampage ignore by state's two biggest papers

The most prominent gay rights leader in the state goes berserk in a Capitol Annex hallway after a so-called "Bullying Bill" goes down to defeat after it was exposed as an attempt to write gay rights language into school law and what does the Louisville Courier-Journal do?

Runs a cartoon showing conservative Republicans going berserk.

In fact, the account of the Fairness Campaign's Chris Hartman hallway rampage went entirely unreported in the CJ's print edition. And the Lexington Herald-Leader? They just pretended it didn't happen at all.

So kudos to the Frankfort State-Journal, which apparently doesn't censor news. It not only mentioned it, but put it on their front page, as well as the AP, which even ran a picture of Hartman in mid-convulsion.

KY gay rights group says current bullying law is sufficient

Wait a minute. Remember how we were told only yesterday by advocates of HB 336, the so-called "Bullying Bill" that is really a gay rights bill, that the 2008 bullying law wasn't enough to deal with bullying in schools?

Well, apparently the Kentucky Equality Federation, a gay rights group, didn't get that memo.

The group is going after several schools it says have not dealt adequately with bullying at their schools. What is the problem? According to Jordan Palmer, the group's president, the school are paying attention to current law:

"Kentucky Equality Federation has received multiple reports from each school," said Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer. "The problem is the lack of enforcement and an lack of understanding of existing Kentucky school bullying laws."

Did we hear that right? Did Palmer really say exactly what opponents of HB 336 said yesterday in the House Education Committee where the bill went down in defeat? Let's see if we can get some clarification:

The National Bully Police gives the Commonwealth's anti-bullying laws an A++ Rating. House Bill 91 was proposed in 2008 and passed by the Kentucky House of Representatives. The Senate passed it, and it was signed into law by The Honorable Steve Beshear, governor of the commonwealth, on April 15, 2008. The law is commonly referred to as “The Golden Rule Act.”

Whoah. Palmer must be reading Family Foundation talking points. If we didn't know better, we would say that these people really didn't think we needed another bullying law like HB 336. I wonder what other members of this gay rights group say:

“It does absolutely no good to pass new legislation when existing legislation isn’t being enforced or education officials have no knowledge of the law,” stated Kentucky Equality Federation Vice President of Policy & Public Relations, Joshua Koch.

Omigosh.

Of course, this is the same group that screamed bloody murder when a Jackson County high schooler claimed she was a victim of a hate crime when it turned it was only a prank that she herself was in on. Basically everyone (including the county prosecutor) has said that this was not a hate crime, but the Kentucky Equality Federation still lists it as one.

But if these new allegations are true, my suggestion is to send Chris Hartman of the Fairness Campaign in to crack some heads.

Do we need an anti-queening law in Kentucky?

Over at Front Page Kentucky, Jake is recovering from his bout of political sobriety (in which state he opposed expanded gambling legislation) and we now have the first sign that he is back to his old self. We were beginning to worry about him, but now we feel much better.

He runs an excerpt from the Family Foundation press release yesterday in which I gave a blow-by-blow report of Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman's meltdown after his "gay rights in schools" bill went down to defeat. After spending weeks lecturing other people on how we need to have another law (we already have one) prohibiting threatening and intimidating behavior in schools, Hartman walks out into the hall and starts ranting and raving in front of a whole crowd of people (media included), stalking around yelling and cornering people and screaming in their face.

If anyone is trying to figure out what to get Chris Hartman for his next birthday, may we suggest a straightjacket?

But no problem, says Jake. It was just an "instance of queening." Oh. Okay. We get it now. We're glad Jake explained it to us: This is just how gays act.

We thought the problem was straight-on-gay violence? And Jake is now saying this kind of out of control behavior is just typical of gays? So maybe this bullying bill is going in the complete opposite direction we need to be going.

If we follow Jake's reasoning, then what we really need is an anti-queening law. It could be called the "Chris Hartman Act."

The KY Fairness Campaign is against bullying. Except when THEY do it

Anti-bullying rules for thee, but not for me.

After verbally and physically harassing Family Foundation policy analyst Andrew Walker in the hallway after the "Bullying Bill" (HB 336) went down to defeat in a State House committee, Chris Hartman, director of the Fairness Campaign denied it in today's Louisville Courier-Journal:

Hartman acknowledged that he was angry and confronted Walker after the meeting. But he said that his actions didn’t rise to the level of verbal or physical abuse and that he reconciled with Walker in a hug a few moments later.

Hartman engaged in the very behavior his groups says constitutes bullying in schools. But when he does it, it's not bullying. And after denying that's what he did (in plain sight of a whole crowd of people and causing a State Policeman to start making his way through the hallway to deal with it), Hartman went on to say the charge was a "distortion":

This sort of distortion of events is a perfect example of the type of tactics that were used to kill this bill,” he said.

Umhmm.

Maybe we need an amendment to the "Bullying Bill" that allows children to avoid charges that they were bullying if they hug the people they were bullying after they've done it.

Bullying Bill supporter harasses opponent in Capitol Annex hallway

For Immediate Release
March 13, 2012

LEXINGTON, KY—The leading supporter of the so-called "Bullying Bill" became verbally and physically abusive in a Capitol Annex hallway with an opponent of the bill after the bill went down to defeat in a House committee, attracting the attention of State Police and other observers. The Family Foundation called on the Fairness Campaign to issue a public apology for the behavior of its director, Chris Hartman.

"If you are really opposed to bullying, the last thing you probably want to do is engage in it in plain sight after a meeting in which a bill prohibiting it was just discussed," said Family Foundation spokesman Martin Cothran.

Hartman obstructed the path of Andrew Walker, who had lobbied the committee against the bill, harassing him as he was leaving the restroom after the meeting and began interrogating him in an intimidating way. Several minutes later, Hartman cornered Walker again and began verbally bullying him with charges of being opposed to student safety. After Walker and Alliance Defense Fund attorney Bryan Beauman began leaving to avoid the confrontation, Hartman began yelling threateningly to reporters and others standing in the hallway about his disenchantment with opponents of the "Bullying Bill." "If you want to know who killed this bill, there he is," he said, pointing to Walker.

The incident occurred in front of the press and others who had just left the committee meeting. A state policeman began moving toward Hartman, but backed off when Walker began to leave. "These actions were all things that, had they occurred in a school, would have constituted bullying under the present school safety laws," said Cothran. "It is just bizarre to see proponents of so-called bullying legislation using bullying tactics themselves in plain sight."

Cothran said his group was looking into the possibility of filing a formal complaint over the incident.

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David Williams' devious strategy to defeat the gambling bill

Many people are saying that David Williams sabotaged the casino gambling bill, which went down to defeat on the State Senate floor last Thursday. But that's not the half of it.

In a devious strategy to defeat the constitutional amendment to expand gambling in Kentucky that has gone entirely undetected by the media, Senate President David Williams secretly took over Gov. Steve Beshear's body and made him completely mishandle his whole legislative strategy to pass the bill, making the governor look like a blithering idiot.

Cleverly manipulating the governor's words and actions, he made him come up with a bill so bad that it even turned off expanded gambling supporters like Brereton Jones, and eventually resulted in alienating four unsuspecting  senators from Beshear's own party, who voted against the bill.

He even had the governor hold off on his media campaign until just days before the vote, making it completely ineffective.

Using advanced ventriloquistic techniques, Williams also made Beshear announce that he had the votes he needed to pass the bill, making it look like the governor was so incompetent that didn't know how to count votes.

And then, to make it look like he had nothing to do with, Williams had Beshear blame Williams for the defeat.

Beshear is apparently still unaware of what happened, although he has questioned his aides regarding soreness in a part of his anatomy with which many ventriloquist's dummies often have trouble.

His physicians, however, unaware of William's involvement, concluded that he just got is butt kicked.

"Is the gambling bill in trouble in committee?" asks family group

For Immediate Release
February 16, 2012

LEXINGTON, KY—The Family Foundation said today that not only has Gov. Steve Beshear's gambling bill lost majority support in the State Senate, but it may be in trouble in the committee to which it was assigned. "The support for this bill is crumbling so fast, it may not even make it out of committee," said Martin Cothran, senior policy analyst for the group.

"The governor just got finished launching his casino bill, and in less than 24 hours it was already starting to look like the Voyage of the Damned."

Cothran said even though the Senate State and Local Government Committee, where SB 151 has been assigned, is the most pro-gambling committee in the Senate, the governor's bill is now hanging on by only one vote. "The bottom is falling out of the expanded gambling effort," he said. "If this bill is in danger in this committee, then it's even deader than we thought, and we thought it was pretty dead."

Cothran noted that the bill, which the governor had weeks to get right, seems to have gotten it all wrong. "This was the best chance anyone has ever had to pass a casino bill," he said. "And the governor blew it."

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Bloggers who need a backbone on the gambling issue

Mica Sims, a libertarian blogger in Kentucky, is waving the white flag on the gambling legislation, just as the legislation has died a quiet death. She argues that we should put the issue on the ballot, she says. Why? Because she's "honestly sick of this issue."

Hmmm.

We're supposed to pass legislation because libertarian bloggers with an apparent lack of fortitude get tired of an issue?

Oh, and her phrasing is very interesting: We need to "put it to the people," she says. Well, the people will certainly have it "put to them" by the gambling industry when they start lining their already formidable pocket books with it.

PRESS RELEASE: Group says Beshear “lacks confidence in his own legislation," challenges Governor to “stop playing politics” and file the gambling bill

For Immediate Release
February 6, 2012

LEXINGTON, KY—The Family Foundation said today that Gov. Steve Beshear's decision not to file his proposed constitutional amendment to expand gambling until after the filing deadline for legislative candidates indicated that he had serious doubts about support for it among Kentuckians. The Family Foundation opposes the legislation and claims the Governor does not have legislative support to pass the bill.


Cothran pointed to claims from the Governor and wealthy gambling interests that Kentuckians supported the legislation by a wide margin, as well as to the Governor's claim that he had the votes in the Senate to pass the bill and asked why, if these things were true, there was any reason for Beshear to wait to file the bill.


"If Kentuckians overwhelmingly support this bill and if he really has 23 votes in the State Senate to the extent he claims," asked Martin Cothran, spokesman for the group, "then why does he have to wait until after the filing deadline to introduce it? He obviously lacks confidence in his own legislation."


"The Governor needs to stop playing politics with this issue and introduce his legislation," said Cothran. "How can you blame other people for the failure of your own legislation, as this Governor has done, when you don't even have the courage to file your bill?"


Cothran said last week that the Governor was bluffing. "This is just further proof that the Governor and his wealthy casino supporters don't have the support they claim."

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PRESS RELEASE: Governor trying to "shift blame" on doomed gambling measure

For Immediate Release
January 31, 2012

LEXINGTON, KY--"The Governor is trying to shift blame from his own inept handling of the now doomed gambling bill so that he can blame it on someone else," said Martin Cothran in response to Beshear's comments today accusing Senate President David Williams of "intimidation." Beshear is trying to blame David Williams for the demise of the constitutional amendment to expand gambling, said Cothran, "but the fault lies squarely with the Governor."

Cothran said the Governor's delaying tactics are what has ultimately doomed the legislation. "He said he would have a bill out three weeks ago. Instead, he keeps delaying. He originally said he would have it out in early January. Now we're into February. He keeps saying 'next week' and 'in a few days.' He's done this so many times now that lawmakers are having a hard time taking him seriously."

"This is the longest drum roll we have ever seen," said Cothran.

The group said Beshear would not be alienating Senate President David Williams unless he had already given up on his own bill. "You don't insult the head of the chamber you're counting on to pass your bill unless you have already given up on it yourself," said Cothran. "If there was any doubt that the gambling bill was already dead, his comments today should have settled it."

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PRESS RELEASE: Governor "bluffing," gambling bill is dead

For Immediate Release
January 31, 2012


LEXINGTON, KY--"If the Governor thinks he has the votes he needs, he ought to tell us who they are," said Martin Cothran, spokesman for The Family Foundation, after Gov. Steve Beshear's claimed Monday that he had 23 Senate votes to pass a constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling. "The Governor says he sees 23 votes. We think it's a mirage. I've had legislators who are in favor of this bill tell me they don't think it has the votes.

"The Governor is bluffing," said Cothran.

"The clock has run out on the gambling bill," he said. "As far as we can tell, this thing is dead. The Governor has waited too long to introduce it and we don't see how he can resuscitate it at this point."

"Support for this bill has been slipping away for several weeks. If he introduces it now, it will be the first time a new model has been unveiled just as the wheels were falling off."

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PRESS RELEASE: Family Foundation files open records requests with Governor's office, State Police

For Immediate Release
January 31, 2012

LEXINGTON, KY--The Family Foundation today filed open records requests with the office of the Governor and the Kentucky State Police asking about meetings and correspondence between the Governor's office and casino interests in the formulation of a constitutional amendment to expand gambling in the state.

"We think there should be full disclosure about the individuals and the wealthy corporations who may have been involved in the attempt to rewrite Kentucky's Constitution," said Martin Cothran, spokesman for the group.

Cothran said he thought many Kentuckians would find it disturbing if it turned out that wealthy horse tracks and casino corporations were heavily involved in changing the Constitution in a way in which they stood to financially benefit. "People don't want their laws written in smoke-filled back rooms by millionaire businessmen whose names they don't even know," he said. "This process needs to be out in the open."

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Group calls for Governor to release names of those involved in "secret meetings on gambling legislation"

For Immediate Release

January 30, 2012

LEXINGTON, KY--The Family Foundation today asked for Gov. Steve Beshear to release the names of the people involved in negotiations on the constitutional amendment to legalize gambling. "We think the Governor needs to tell Kentuckians who has been involved in the secret back room meetings to rewrite Kentucky's Constitution," said Martin Cothran, spokesman for the group.

"We think the public needs to be reassured that there were not wealthy casino interests involved in writing themselves into our state's Constitution," he said. "We need to keep corruption and cronyism out of this process."

Cothran said he thought that if horse tracks were involved in writing a bill in which they had a financial interest, it could doom the bill altogether. "This legislation is already in trouble," said Cothran. "If we were to find the fingerprints of some wealthy casino corporation like Churchill Downs on this legislation, it could drive a steak through the heart of this bill."

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"Gambling bill may already be dead," says anti-slots group

For Immediate Release
January 25, 2012

LEXINGTON, KY—A spokesman for the Family Foundation today predicted that if the Governor did not release his expanded gambling proposal by the end of the week, the issue would effectively be dead this session. "By the time the Governor and his friends in the gambling industry finish divvying up all the millions of dollars they think they're going to pocket through this legislation and come out of their smoke-filled room over in the Capitol building, this whole thing will be over," said Martin Cothran, spokesman for the group. "In fact, the gambling bill may already be dead."

"Support for the gambling legislation is collapsing faster than a ten dollar tent in a hurricane."

"They didn't have the votes to begin with, and now what little support they have is deteriorating by the day," Cothran said. He said there was a widespread impression among lawmakers that the expanded gambling effort has been plagued by confusion and dissension among expanded gambling supporters. "I think a lot of people are just fed up with the infighting and lack of action and want to move on to other things."

"A lot of legislators, even those who would otherwise support it, are already moving on," he said. "Of course we oppose this bill, but if we were supporters, we would be wondering who was in charge here and what happened. Why was an initiative that seemed like a sure thing when the session started all but fallen apart? This should have been introduced three weeks ago. We're trying to imagine what it's going to look like when a page from the Governor's office comes running down the Senate aisle with a bill draft in his hand just as the President of the Senate is gaveling the 2012 session to a close. They have only themselves to blame."

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Advocacy group calls expanded gambling effort "badly handled"

LEXINGTON, KY—All seems quiet on the gambling front, a phenomenon that has one group wondering how the effort to bring casino-style gambling to the state seems to have stalled, and possibly died altogether. "At first we were worried about an all-out assault from the gambling industry, but now we're wondering if a bill is ever going to materialize," said Martin Cothran, spokesman for The Family Foundation.

"This started out looking like it was going to be The Empire Strikes Back, but now it seems more like Waiting for Godot."

Cothran said this was "one of the most badly handled legislative initiatives we have ever seen." He said his group is thankful for the Governor's mishandling of the effort, but he is still surprised nothing has happened given all the money the gambling industry has already spent trying to throw its weight around.

"By the time this bill gets introduced, it will be past its expiration date. We are now into the fourth week of the legislative session. If this bill had been introduced two weeks ago, it may have had a chance. But we think their window of opportunity is gone." He said he thinks the session has already "passed this issue by."

“Not only do they not have the votes in the Senate, but they are losing support by the day."


"Gov. Beshear and his friends in the gambling industry have had a whole year to try to put something together for legislators to look at. But here we are, into the fourth week of the General Assembly, and they can't even decide what they want. They're essentially jerking lawmakers around. We think the patience of most legislators has run out."

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Pastor prays against gambling before Governor's speech to advocate it

Rev. Herschel York, a Frankfort, KY pastor and the former head of the Kentucky Baptist Convention gave the prayer tonight before the Governor's budget speech. He prayed for help for Kentuckians to "to foster salaries, not slot machines, to build cars, enable jobs, not license casinos." That was just before the Governor argued for fostering slot machines and licensing casinos.

Oh, and State Sen. Kathy Stein (D-Lexington) didn't like it. As opposed, of course to all the prayers given before sessions of the General Assembly that she does like.

Anti-slots group calls governor's gambling plan a "get rich quick" scheme

For Immediate Release

January 17, 2012

LEXINGTON, KY--The Family Foundation tonight called Gov. Steve Beshear's call to pass gambling in order to solve the state's budget problems a "get rich quick" scheme. The comments came in response to remarks in the Governor's budget address. Martin Cothran, spokesman for the group, asked why it was, in light of the sorry state of the Commonwealth's finances, that Gov. Steve Beshear was spending valuable political capital trying to bring gambling to the state when he should be spending it on trying to fix the state's broken tax system.

"The Governor is acting like some guy who thinks that by spending the family milk money on Lottery tickets, he's going to solve his financial problems," said Cothran. "The Governor needs to drop his get rich quick scheme and work on real solutions to our problems."

Responding to the Governor's appeal tonight to pass gambling legislation, Cothran said, "Instead of rolling up his sleeves and doing the hard work of rethinking our tax system, he wants to roll the dice on an unreliable source of revenue. This is just not responsible fiscal leadership."

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Jack Abramoff speaks to a KY legislature about the corrupting power of big money

Although he (or she) is probably getting chewed out right now, whoever it was who invited Jack Abramoff to speak to state legislators at their annual ethics session to begin this legislative session deserves a pat on the back.

Abramoff is the perfect voice for legislators to hear in a session in which the chief issue (once again) is casino gambling. Abramoff went to jail for three and half years in a corruptions scandal that involved lobbyists, congressional aides--and even reached into the White House.

Much of it involved casino money.

Abramoff was convicted in 2,006 for fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy in connection with his lobbying activities on behalf of Indian tribes who paid him over $80 million for lobbying for their interests in Washington. He even bilked the tribes he was working for. He was also indicted in 2005 for his involvement in the purchase of a Florida casino.

His presence in Kentucky is fortuitous, since the gambling industry has given millions in campaign contributions to legislators, many of whom plan on voting for a constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling in the state--and for the present governor who is pressing their cause.

The last big legislative scandal in the state was BOPtrot, another gambling related scandal. Time will tell whether lawmakers listen to Abramoff's warnings about what big money can do to those who set policy for the state.

It makes you wonder...

Gambling industry already spending big bucks on lobbyists

I am quoted in the following story today from WDRB-TV in Lousville on the casino gambling industry-funded poll on casino gambling: