Governor

Staff reshuffling in the office of Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) continued today, with the announcement that communications director Dick Brown will be replaced by Jay Blanton.

Blanton comes to the position after a nearly four year tenure as executive director of marketing and public relations for the University of Kentucky. Prior to that job, he served as deputy communications director for Louisville's Democratic mayor, Jerry Abramson.

He also worked with the public relations firms Guthrie-Mayes and Preston-Osbourne.

The switch in the office comes seven months into Beshear's first term as governor and just a week since an earlier change by Beshear brought Adam Edelen in as chief of staff.

MURRAY -- Touted by many in the area as the second biggest western Kentucky political event for Democrats behind the legendary Fancy Farm picnic, the Purchase Area Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Murray on Monday night brought out many of the area's leading Democratic politicians, as well as some prominent statewide figures. However, it was two absent Democrats who was the object of much of theLt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo (D-Hazard) in Murray on Monday: Politicker photo evening's discussion - presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Lexington).

The 1st Congressional District - in which Murray is firmly entrenched - went to Obama's Democratic primary opponent, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), 71 to 22 percent in Kentucky's May 20 primary election. Statewide exit polls indicated one in five white voters said "race" played a role in their choice that election, leaving some to question whether these same white Democrats will support Obama in the general election.

"We like our primaries, but we come out stronger and unified after those primaries," Democratic Party of Kentucky Chair Jennifer Moore said in her remarks at the event. I urge you, no matter what side you were on in this presidential primaries, now is the time that we come together and we make sure we work hard to elect Barack Obama as our next president of the United States."

The lexicon in the office of Governor Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) may be changing with the arrival of Adam Edelen, who took the helm as Beshear's new chief of staff last week.

In an interview with PolitickerKY.com conducted last Friday, Edelen says he is bringing the lessons of his experience in the private sector with him into Beshear's office, noting he wants the administration to become more "customer service oriented" in its dealings.

"It's important to note I am not a political professional. I would bristle at the term," Edelen said. "I am a businessman who has been involved in politics and not the other way around."

Edelen joins Beshear's staff after a stint heading Kentucky's Office of Homeland Security. With Beshear already having faced a fair share of struggles in his first 6 months in office - including stalls in the legislature on his proposed expanded casino gaming and tobacco tax initiatives - Edelen has his work cut out for him in the high-pressure chief of staff role.

Still, the 33 year-old University of Kentucky graduate - who began his career working as an aide to former Democratic Governor Paul Patton - says his business training and his close relationships with many of Frankfort's prominent faces will help him push Beshear's agenda forward.

In the interview below, Edelen says he plans on helping Beshear "invert the pyramid" of traditional leadership models by having the governor bring his policies to the people of Kentucky more frequently, with the expectation that Beshear will be increasingly visible across the state

The special session in the Kentucky state legislature seems to have passed without a hitch, as Governor Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) signed pension reform legislation this afternoon, ending five days of overtime for state legislators in Frankfort.

"The quick action by House and Senate leadership has brought about the intended results I outlined when I first challenged the General Assembly on May 29 to act on this issue," said Beshear, in a statement released after he signed the bill.

The pension legislation sailed through the state legislature during the session, passing the Democratically-controlled House 98-0 on Wednesday and the Republican-controlled Senate today, 35-1.

Gov. Steve BeshearFRANKFORT -- With progress on the passage of pension reform legislation moving quickly during this week's special legislative session, Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) told a joint session of the state legislature that successful policy making over the next five days could foster hope for cooperation in the divided state government.

"I am optimistic about the future," said Beshear. "A quick and successful special session can signal the beginning of a new era in Frankfort, one where cooperation on critical public policy is the norm and where politics and partisanship are reserved for campaigns."

Today, the draft pension legislation agreed upon by House and Senate leadership prior to the anticipated five-day special session met a successful vote in the House state government committee. It could now find its way to a Senate vote by Thursday.

The progress comes after negotiations on pension reform collapsed in the last days of the regular legislative session. For Beshear, that stumble was one of several during the session on priority legislation. His initiative to significantly raise the state tobacco tax failed to pass muster with the Republican-controlled state Senate while a vaunted constitutional amendment on expanded casino gaming failed to see a vote even on the floor of the Democratic state House.

Gov. Steve Beshear's office confirmed this morning that his chief of staff, Jim Cauley, has decided to leave his administration to start a political consulting business.

Cauley will be replaced in the position by Adam Edelen, who is presently serving as the executive director of the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security.

"With his political acumen, strategic mind and never-failing good humor, Jimmy has been an integral part of my team and will be sorely missed," Governor Beshear said in a statement released today. "Without him, I would never have been elected. We know this was a tough decision for Jimmy, but we understand that this is the right time in this talented young man's career to move on to other opportunities."

Cauley previously served as campaign manager for Beshear's succesful 2007 governor's run. That position brought him back to Kentucky after he ran Barack Obama's 2004 bid for the open U.S. Senate seat in Illinois.

Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) made it official this afternoon - the Kentucky state legislature will meet for a short special session to consider the pension reform package upon which House and Senate leadership are said to have largely agreed.

"The current condition of the public employee pension systems in Kentucky puts the retirement of Kentucky's teachers, firefighters, police officers, emergency workers and city, county and state employees at risk," said Beshear in a statement released today. "These people have worked hard and earned the right to be financially secure when they retire. The reforms that the House and Senate leadership and I have agreed to will go a long way toward placing the pension systems on a sound financial footing."

Gov. Steve BeshearCalling the governor's mansion in Frankfort "the people's house," Republican Party of Kentucky Chair Steve Robertson attacked Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) for using his official residence for a late June fundraiser.

"Using the Governor's Mansion for political fundraisers does not represent the kind of ethical and moral leadership the people of Kentucky deserve," said Robertson. "Governor Beshear has said that his administration should be held accountable and that it starts at the top with him. I call on Governor Beshear to make real ethics reform part of the special session call."

Invitations to join the "Capitol Club" via attendance at a June 24 fundraiser at the mansion and a coinciding golf open - entitled the "Beshear Open" were dispatched this past weekend.

With leaders from the state House and Senate reaching an agreement on pension reform legislation, it now appears likely the whole of both those bodies will reconvene in Frankfort for a five-day special session to consider the legislation.

"My staff and I will be working with the House and Senate leadership to finalize the details of a draft bill. Assuming that these final details are ironed out I will issue a call for a special session of the General Assembly on June 23, 2008, to quickly pass that legislation," said Governor Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) in a statement released today.

BOWLING GREEN -- Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R-Richwood) has been one of Governor Steve Beshear's (D-Lexington) more vocal critics in recent months. On Saturday, Grayson told PolitickerKY.com he has been encouraged to challenge Beshear when the Democrat's first term ends in 2011, and the idea does intrigue him.

"Today, already a few people have talked to me about that," said Grayson of the 2011 race, while outside of Saturday's Kentucky Republican convention in Bowling Green. "I'm not going to deny interest."

"I will figure out what the next steps are," Grayson added. "I don't have any plan, now, or any kind of timetable."

Grayson also said he would continue to "focus" on his current position.

Still, while in that position, Grayson has taken several opportunities to target the governor and his policies, adding fuel to the fire of speculation about his future.