Fletcher, Beshear hint at possible legislative agendas
By BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear's favored priorities include expanding preschool and offering health coverage to all Kentucky children. Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher's wish list for a possible second term includes his own health-care and education initiatives.
Whoever wins the Nov. 6 election will have little time to savor the victory. The winner will have about two months before presenting an agenda and budget to lawmakers in the 2008 legislative session.
While touting the virtues of early-childhood education on Friday, Beshear wouldn't guarantee that his plan to expand preschool programs would be part of his legislative agenda next year if he's elected.
“Any legislative agenda for next year is going to depend upon the budgetary situation that we find,” Beshear told reporters while promoting his education plan for pre-kindergarten through high school.
Beshear, who had a double-digit lead over Fletcher in two recent polls, mentions other priorities - such as providing health coverage for Kentucky's uninsured children and helping eligible seniors with prescription costs. Yet he's been mostly tightlipped in offering specifics about what he'd propose to lawmakers.
Joe Gershtenson, director of the Center for Kentucky History and Politics at Eastern Kentucky University, said that's a smart political move by the challenger.
“From a candidate's perspective, there's some danger in making too many promises and being too bold,” Gershtenson said, adding that it can expose a candidate to more attacks.
The governor has offered insights into his agenda if he wins a second term.
Fletcher recently said he would seek $100 million in bonding authority for the “Bucks for Brains” program, which matches public money with private donations to attract top researchers to Kentucky universities.
Fletcher has proposed an extra $15 million in the next two-year state budget to help the elderly by bolstering the Meals on Wheels program, adult day care and home care. Other priorities in a possible Fletcher second term include expanding access to health coverage and making college more affordable.
“Governor Fletcher has focused on improving the quality of life for every Kentuckian, and he will continue to do so in a second term,” Fletcher campaign spokesman Jason Keller said.
During his appearance Friday at a Louisville child-care and education center, Beshear said he doesn't have anyone working on a legislative agenda and said his attention is focused on defeating Fletcher.
“I'm going to spend the next six weeks making sure I win the race,” Beshear said.
Beshear has said he would push next year for a constitutional change allowing limited casino gambling in Kentucky. He said his election would signal that Kentuckians want the issue on the ballot so they can decide.
Two polls indicate that most Kentuckians want their opinions heard on the issue.
In The Courier-Journal's latest Bluegrass Poll, 78 percent said they favor putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot letting them decide the question, the Louisville newspaper said on its Web site Friday.
A recent Lexington Herald-Leader/Action News 36 Election Poll found that 82 percent of Kentuckians want to vote on the casino gambling issue.
Beshear favors opening 10 to 11 casinos, mostly at horse tracks, and says Kentucky would reap about $500 million a year in extra tax revenue that would go for education, health care and economic development.
Fletcher has made his opposition to casinos the centerpiece of his re-election campaign, and has run a series of television ads vilifying casinos.
In touting his education plan, Beshear said he wants to ease income qualifications to allow more 3- and 4-year-olds to attend state-subsidized preschool. His ultimate goal, he said, is to make it available to children from higher-income families, with fees set on a sliding scale.
Jacqueline Unseld, director of the child center, liked Beshear's emphasis on early-childhood education. She said it would pay off by helping more children during their most formative years.
“If children don't get a good start, ... they rarely catch up,” she said.
Keller said that Fletcher has compiled a strong record on early-childhood education.
During Fletcher's term, he said, income standards already were eased to make more children eligible for preschool programs. Also, the administration's early literacy program has helped many youngsters, he said.
In discussing education, Beshear said he wants to raise teachers' pay to put it on equal footing with the national average. But he called it a “big-ticket item” and said it will have to be done gradually.
“Until we see the budgetary situation that we're going to inherit, we won't know exactly how fast we can phase that in,” Beshear said.
In the current two-year state budget, Kentucky teachers received a 2 percent pay raise in the first year and a flat $3,000 pay raise in the second year.
Story created Sep 22, 2007 - 00:56:06 EDT.
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