Shell game
Billy Harper's recent ad dealing with pork barrel spending and the alternative minimum tax is pretty entertaining.
It's made more effective when you watch the General Assembly slowly and quietly backtracking on the AMC issue. A month ago, lawmakers were prepped to repeal the tax. Jody Richards called the tax "unAmerican," but more recently has said that the General Assembly probably won't get around to repealing it in this legislative session.
Harper claims in his ad that he'll cut pork barrel spending and eliminate the AMC. The great thing for Harper is that by this time next year, he might get that chance. It's unlikely that lawmakers will be willing to give up the huge revenue boost the AMC provided. The big spenders would rather spend money, keep the tax and send Fletcher to defend his signature on all that pork.
As to the pork barrel spending, Harper's claim sounds good, but he'll have to explain how a Kentucky governor with such a weak line-item veto power can actually stop any popular spending. Then again, Fletcher will have to explain why, when given a unique opportunity to strongly veto all of the pork barrel spending in Kentucky's budget, he chose to keep almost all of it in.
