Jerry Abramson

Tax Reform Task Force out of the gates!

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March 8, 2012
By David M. F. Schankula

The Governor’s Tax Reform Task Force held its first meeting on Tuesday.

They got educated:

Greg Harkenrider, deputy executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Analysis gave definitions of terms such as “progressive,” ”regressive” and “proportional” taxation, and what he called the Holy Grail of tax reform, “economic efficiency.”

They decided they needed help:

Gov. Steve Beshear’s special commission to draft a plan to overhaul the state’s tax laws started its first day of work Tuesday by putting out a proposal to hire a consultant.

Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson, chairman of the 23-member panel, said Beshear considered it “imperative that we have someone from the outside who could lead this group through the issues” the governor considers important.

They met opposition:

Senator Jack Westwood has filed a bill for the second year in a row setting up a new commission to completely rewrite Kentucky’s tax code.

Westwood says he filed the bill again because he’s unhappy with the make-up of the governor’s commission, which includes few economists and tax professionals.

And they’re being asked to visit northeastern Kentucky:

[State Senators Robin Webb (18th) and Walter Blevins (27th)] have submitted a letter to Beshear, requesting that meetings be scheduled for both Maysville and Ashland and stating their concerns that northeast Kentucky will not have representation in the discussions, because there is only one meeting scheduled east of Interstate 75.

The Commission has launched a new website to track progress and solicit your ideas. You can sign up to be a presenter at one of their future meetings across the state, or you can submit public comment.

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‘Bout time

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July 21, 2011
By Betty Spaghetti

Attorney General Jack Conway is the first elected official in the state to step up and question the Louisville hospital merger, according to the Courier-Journal.

The C-J first reported on Sunday that despite original assertions by hospital officials, the merger will directly affect care. Specifically, women who deliver babies at University Hospital who want their tubes tied won’t be able to have the procedure done immediately upon giving birth. Instead, they will have to go to another facility, undergo a second round of anesthesia and be reopened. Because this is what efficient health care in the 21st century is all about.

“I think that as the state’s chief consumer protection official it’s appropriate for me to ask some questions,” Conway told the C-J. Ya think?

Meanwhile, Gov. Beshear and his opponent, Senate President David Williams, have remained silent. A traffic jam at a NASCAR race is apparently way more pressing to Williams than women’s access to health care. Naturally.

Merger officials, who have tried hard to take the “nothing to see here” approach until the FTC approves the merger, are shamelessly spinning this situation by saying the university, its medical school and its faculty are not part of the merger – just University Hospital. What this means is that med students won’t technically be denied the chance to learn how to perform tubal ligations, vasectomies and other procedures barred under the new Catholic rules, they will just have to do it somewhere else (a back alley, perhaps?).

But this still doesn’t solve the problem of low-income women having to unnecessarily undergo a second procedure at an outside facility to get their tubes tied.

I’d like to see the C-J pursue this story a little more aggressively. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about this merger and this story is much, much bigger than Louisville. How about some solid step-back pieces explaining why U of L, a public university, is going down this merger path (beyond the obvious $$ answer). I want to know what other ramifications there will be as a result of these new mega-hospitals that we are going to see more and more of. In general, I’d like to see more stories about the hospital industry in Kentucky, certificates of need, etc. Hospitals are big business and these moves affect every Kentuckians, rich or poor.

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Beshear currently polling Kentucky

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July 5, 2011
By Joe Sonka

I just received a tip that the Beshear campaign started polling the state of Kentucky tonight. Here were the details of the call:

  • Conducted by Hart Research, who are Beshear’s boys.
  • Asked who they would choose in matchups of: Beshear/Williams, B/W/Gatewood, and including the name of running mates.
  • Asked whether Williams or Beshear aligned more with certain qualities (leadership style, ethical, honest, etc…)
  • Went through 4 questions, saying “Beshear supporters might say this”, followed by talking about his work on prescription pills, horses, energy, GM/cars, etc…
  • Sample attack line on both Farmer and Abramson to gauge its effectiveness. The Farmer question brought up all of his spending scandals. The Abramson question referred to no-bid contracts after taking contributions.
  • Follow up question on who they are supporting for governor.

With Steve Beshear sitting on that giant pot of money, it looks like the campaign is making sure they know how to spend it. And they obviously want to find out just how much this Abramson stuff is going to hurt, if at all.

So there’s your little window into the Beshear mindset. Unfortunately, no dinosaur questions :(

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Williams campaign: Abramson threatens to "infect" Kentucky

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June 29, 2011
By Joe Sonka

David Williams says: be very afraid!

In today’s Courier-Journal, former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson threatens to infect all of Kentucky with his record on economic development, education and government management.

*****

“Steve Beshear’s mission is to infect all of state government and all of Kentucky with Jerry Abramson’s liberal tendencies, record of mismanagement, and failures on job creation. Every voter should take a hard look at Abramson’s record and wonder if they want that sort of leadership in their community.”

I’m just thankful that unofficial Williams spokespersons haven’t been warning about Jew infiltration of Kentucky, and there’s no history of anti-Semitic rhetoric involving Jews “infecting” people.

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Williams campaign goes the Planned Parenthood route

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June 27, 2011
By Joe Sonka

David Williams’ campaign manager has an urgent warning for the voters of Kentucky: The Beshear/Abramson campaign funnels money to baby killers!

“Abramson didn’t become mayor of the most liberal city in the state by accident,” said Luke Marchant, Williams’ campaign manager. “He funneled taxpayer money to the pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood.”

He funneled it! Sure, Planned Parenthood doesn’t perform abortions in Louisville, or anywhere in the state of Kentucky for that matter (and 3% of its budget goes to abortion services nationwide), by why pass up a great opportunity to dive down into the gutter with the repugnant national GOP strategy against women’s health, right?

Yes, and it’s only June.

Oh, but Joe Gerth also talked to unofficial Williams campaign spokesperson Larry Forgy. Larry didn’t expand on his theory about Jerry Abramson’s evil plot to swing the election by bringing in Big City Jew Money, but he did mention the fact that Beshear’s probably going to die and leave Kentucky with a sodomite/abortion/gun-grabber loving governor (fyi, also Jewish):

Former GOP gubernatorial nominee Larry Forgy has repeatedly said that Williams and Farmer should attack Abramson on “the three Gs” — guns, God and gays. And he adds abortion to the list.

*****

And he said that voters won’t want to place Abramson in a position where he may inherit the governor’s office if Beshear dies, or put him in a position where he could easily run for the office four years from now.

“Now, Steve (Beshear) is a cancer survivor. He appears very healthy to me, but the fact remains Jerry may become governor by one or another means,” Forgy said.

Good stuff, Larry. You always give us something to think about.

Plenty more on Jerry in the Gerth piece, including Abramson saying he was mayor of “Jefferson County”, and how all this stuff he paid for as “Jefferson County Mayor” without anyone knowing was “used for legitimate governmental purposes”. Both are some ridiculous spin, but I’ve already allotted my 4 paragraphs of excerpts, and I wouldn’t dare want to get off message from the God, Guns, Gays and Gynecology talking points of the Williams campaign.

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Larry Forgy says more crazy things about the Jewish Bluegrass Conspiracy

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June 23, 2011
By Joe Sonka

Larry Forgy, the guy who served as David Williams’ unofficial spokesman late in the primary campaign, is doubling down on Fear of The Jews.

Yes, Larry Forgy is sticking to his guns on his theory that Jerry Abramson is calling in the Big City Jews to Kentucky so they can swing the election for Steve Beshear. Steven Spielberg! Barbara Streisand! Hedge fund managers! George Soros!

No, he literally said that:


Forgy: I said that because I believe it. Because my friends in Washington and other places say, that the die is cast with George Soros and Moveon.org, all of those people, they know the same thing I just told you. This is the big race in the nation until 2012, and there is a lot of Soros money, Steven Spielberg. I wouldn’t even be surprised if even Barbara Streisand came off the bench.

*****

Forgy: I wasn’t playing the religion card. (shocked face)

Alessi: Well, you mentioned the Jewish donors from New York?

Forgy: Well that’s who George Soros and the people so involved in these hedge funds and so forth, where this money’s coming from. It’s only a statement of fact.

No, that’s not playing the religion card at all, how dare you suggest that, Ryan?

Alessi further showed the lack of “Jew Money” showing up in KREF, oddly enough (no Streisand and Spielberg, noted evil Jews).

PS- as you can see early in the interview, Larry Forgy isn’t a fan of Ken Ham’s Giant Dinosaur Boat, which is downright shocking. Maybe he doesn’t like that Ken Ham has Already Compromised to make it compatible with all religions (in words)?

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Larry Forgy drops the J-Bomb on Jerry Abramson

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June 20, 2011
By Joe Sonka

The KY GOP was doing such a good job of scurrying up to that line, but being careful not to cross it.

But grumpy ole Larry Forgy doesn’t like your rules. From the Mr. Brammer:

Lexington attorney Larry Forgy, a Republican who lost the 1995 governor’s race against Democrat Paul Patton, said the only reason Beshear picked Abramson to be his running mate was “to attract New York and Hollywood Jewish money” for the campaign.

“There’s no other reason why to pick a big-city, liberal mayor to run for lieutenant governor in a rural, conservative state like this,” Forgy said.

Rabbi Kline said Forgy’s comments are “the most bigoted I’ve heard so far in this campaign.”

Miller called Forgy’s remarks “absurd and offensive. Jerry Abramson is one of the most qualified candidates ever for lieutenant governor. Forgy is playing on stereotypes that rich Jewish folks run the country.”

Well isn’t that just adorable.

Pro tip for Mr. Forgy: the only Abramson money you should be talking about is this and this.

Or, you could just shut your mouth and stay out of Kentucky politics once and for all. How’s that sound, Larry? Besides, John David Dyche can probably pick up the J-Bomb slack for you.

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Louisville business community lining up behind Beshear/Abramson

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April 26, 2011
By Joe Sonka

Why did Steve Beshear choose Jerry Abramson? Besides Beshear’s blind and often reckless sense of loyalty, it was mostly due to Abramson’s ability to raise money in Louisville from the top hat crowd.

Ed Green at Louisville BizBlog shows how that’s working out so far:

A quick search for some of the most prominent Louisville companies turned up these results:

• 34 Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) employees support Beshear, and one supports Williams;

• Three United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) employees support Beshear, and two support Holsclaw;

• Contributors to the Beshsear-Abramson campaign include seven employees of Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: HUM), four employees of Brown-Forman Corp. (NYSE: BFB), 22 Kindred Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: KND) employees, six Phamerica Corp. (NYSE: PMC) employees, and eight employees of Papa John’s International Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA). No employees of these corporations have donated to any other campaigns.

Not bad.

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KY Facebook War 2011! Williams or Beshear?

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March 17, 2011
By James T. Dogen

Poking around on Facebook recently, I thought it’d be a good idea to check in on the two main gubernatorial slates and see how they were faring among facebookers. Here’s what I found:

951. Not too shabby, I suppose. But let’s check in on Williams and Farmer, shall we?
Sweet jesus! 9,556! Nearly ten times as many supporters on Facebook as the incumbent governor?

Well, ok, ok, let’s calm down. At least the gubnah can breathe a sigh of relief and know that he’s doing better on Facebook than, Gatewood Gal–
Oh come on! Really? Gatewood? Hmm.
So the question is, does Governor Beshear really not have even 1,000 people who support him on Facebook? Actually, he does:
We all know that Facebook is certainly not a guarantor of political success, but it is one of the many metrics for evaluating the viability and competence of a campaign.
I’ll leave it to you, dear reader, to do the scoring on that count.
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Jerry Abramson doesn’t sound like he’s a Flintstone Truther.

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December 22, 2010
By Joe Sonka

Outgoing Louisville mayor and gubernatorial running mate of Steve “Dino” Beshear was on WFPL yesterday and took a question from a caller about Kentucky’s new theme park that will teach children the scientific accuracy of a 600 year old man herding dinosaurs onto a big boat 4,00 years ago. With $37.5 million in tax breaks.

The caller said that this was a regressive project that will make us the laughingstock of the world and further Kentucky’s hillbilly image, wanting to know Abramson’s opinion of it.

Abramson said he was not consulted, hardly containing his chuckle. Then he went on to say that he’s in the dark about their application and only knows what he’s read in the paper. He said that he guesses from what he’s heard that they’ve met the legal requirements of the bill, prefacing each reference with “I guess”.

Kredens (wonderfully) asked the follow up question that the caller wanted to get to, which was whether actively supporting this project hurt the image of Kentucky.

He finally relented from the talking points and said that he probably agreed with the caller’s insight and analysis about the issue of this hurting the image of Kentucky. However, he said there’s no image requirement in the law, and unless the law was changed, they met their requirement. Or at least that’s the way it was explained to him.

Of course, that doesn’t explain why it’s appropriate to stand side by side with insane people at a press conference and spout their ridiculous numbers as the gospel truth, while trying to get brownie points for “creating jobs” and sucking up to the far, far, far right for votes next year. I’d love to know whether Abramson thought that was appropriate.

But at least he agrees that Ark Encounter will make us Kentucky a laughingstock and reinforce our hillbilly image. That’s a start.

Here’s the interview. The dineysore talk begins at 38:00.

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