Who Represents the People?

Who Represents the People?

How proud we must be here in Somerset of our state senator Chris Girdler. He is a real man of the people. This is said tongue in cheek because if there is a single thing that he has done that benefits the people over the interests of business I am unaware of it. Rarely will you find a representative of the people who is more ideologically inimical to anything that prevents businesses from maximizing profits.

During the last session of the legislature he sponsored a bill that would prevent any governmental entity from engaging in private enterprise. This was in response to the City of Somerset making it's gas pumps open to the public in the face of wildly fluctuating gasoline prices at the pump. It was speculated that distributors were arbitrarily raising prices by up to 30 cents per gallon over the prices of our neighboring communities. The cause was subject to some disagreement and local distributors resisted appearing before local councils to explain the reasoning for such increases but it is difficult to refute the fact that the actions by the city have resulted in a much less volatile market for consumers. The bill failed to gain traction last year in the face of strenuous domestic disagreement but is receiving a more favorable reception after the previous election. The City of Somerset is appropriately concerned since it engages in a wide network of selling natural gas from its proprietary sources. This bill was said to be narrowly written in order to not infringe on the natural gas business of the City but City Government is concerned that it opens the door to later attacks on this enterprise. It is concerned that this bill will encroach upon that source of city income and expose it's citizens to the vagaries of the private market. In addition, the low rates that the city is able to generate are a potent boon for the attraction of industry to the area.

This session Senator Girdler has been especially busy taking care of business with Senate Bill 297 which will relieve the state agency responsible for inspecting mines of its obligations leaving the onus entirely upon federal inspectors. Not only does this remove a layer of safety precautions from the hazards of mining but it abdicates the state's rights and responsibilities to govern its own affairs. I suppose the conservative value of state's rights is only applicable when it suits ones proclivities. The state agencies have far more power to be responsive and demand accountability than does the federal agency.

In a gift to the travel and tourism industry, according to their own evaluation but not confirmed by any other independent agent, Senate Bill 50, again sponsored by our Senator Girdler, would allow school districts to change the starting date for classes to a later date. The districts will not be required to have a scheduled number of classroom days but will have to have the required number of classroom hours per year. The is to be done by allowing the schools to change the length of the school day. This being done because the evaluation of the Travel and Tourism Commission says that Kentucky is losing over $400 million by starting school too early. It does not go without notice that the district that Senator Girdler represents includes several marinas and various accommodations that are directly related to the very commission that issued the study report and, to my knowledge, there has been no other authoritative study done examining this issue. It seems that it has not been that long ago that we were actually discussing going to a year round schedule in order to make up for the shortfall of educational levels compared to other countries. In addition, with the loss of coal jobs over the last decade, re-employment of those out of work miners and employment of new workers will demand a higher skill and educational level. Once again the future is bargained off in favor of present gain.

Senator Girdler has removed himself from the constraints of having to seek re-election by declining to do so. Freed from such encumbrance he can push his (and others) agenda without fear of voter backlash. But, not to fear, there is a candidate now standing for the soon to be vacated position who is politically and ideologically prepared to pick up where Senator Girdler leaves off.

My Take is that the people should take a good look at what the candidates want to do about actual issues that they may have to deal with.  Good advice for any time.