Author
Al Cross
Ukraine vote draws lines for Senate race between Massie, Barr
Kentucky’s congressional Republicans were deeply divided on aid to Ukraine, setting the stage for their expected primary to succeed U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who led the fight for it and seems likely to retire in 2026. The loudest on each side were U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie of the Fourth District and Andy Barr of the […]
The political life and lessons of George Atkins
George L. Atkins Jr., who died April 14 at age 82, was a politician for barely a decade. But he was a touchstone for modern Kentucky politics and historical currents that go back more than a century: the corrupting force of big business, voters’ desire for reform, the influence of the news media and the […]
Did Kentucky legislators serve our common wealth?
In a republic, the form of government that the U.S. Constitution prescribes for states, the will of the people is supposed to be exercised through elected representatives. In Kentucky, we call our government a commonwealth, a term borrowed from our mother state, Virginia, meaning that it should serve the well-being of the people. The people’s […]
A trial balance on the legislature: Political agendas prevail
When the legendary Allan Trout was chief of The Courier-Journal’s Frankfort Bureau, he liked to work up “trial balances” on governors and legislatures, evaluating their performances in progress. With two days left in the 2024 General Assembly, largely to reconsider bills Gov. Andy Beshear vetoes, here’s a ledger on the current General Assembly. Economic conservatives […]
Why is McConnell for Trump? It’s business
Are you trying to understand why Mitch McConnell would endorse Donald Trump for president, after blaming Trump for provoking the Jan. 6 insurrection and after Trump insulted him and his wife Elaine Chao, the latter with racist slurs? Go back with me to when McConnell was just starting his climb to the top of Senate […]
McConnell gives way to Trump. But will he still endorse him?
When Mitch McConnell announced Wednesday that he would not run again for Senate Republican leader, he tacitly acknowledged that he doesn’t fit well in a party headed by Donald Trump — whose presidency he aided and whose candidacy he has pledged to endorse. “Believe me, I know the politics within my party at this particular […]
On Ukraine aid, McConnell acted on principle, not politics
When the Senate voted 70-29 Tuesday to send more aid to Ukraine, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was in the majority of senators — but in the minority of his own party. It was an important marker for the nation’s longest-serving Senate leader. For most of his career, the Kentuckian has been known for his use […]
McConnell meets another legacy moment
When Mitch McConnell kept the Supreme Court from going liberal, then worked with Donald Trump to remake it and other federal courts in the image of the Federalist Society and big-money political contributors, that looked like the primary legacy of McConnell’s decades in the Senate. Then Trump falsely contested his 2020 defeat, inspiring the deadly […]
Republicans, it’s time to stop sniveling
FRANKFORT – The tableau in the rotunda of the state Capitol on the year’s first day of business was, for a moment, reassuring to those of us who worry about the future of the party in which we were long registered and where its current strongman may take it and our country. The swearing-in of […]
Wrapping up ’23 with some fanciful gifts for Kentucky politicians
The notion of giving fanciful but pointed presents to public figures at Christmastime is an old one, established in Kentucky in 1981-82 by the late Ed Ryan when he was chief of The Courier-Journal’s Frankfort Bureau and institutionalized by his successors, Bob Garrett and Tom Loftus. I also inherited the enterprise, and at a time […]
Julian Carroll’s life traced decades of Kentucky politics
Every life has lessons. The life of former Gov. Julian Carroll, which ended Dec. 10, had plenty of lessons in its 92 years, including an instructive narrative in Kentucky political history. Born in the depths of the Depression, when his big family in McCracken County sometimes didn’t know where its next meal was coming from, […]
Dr. Steven Stack, MC for private swearing-in, praises Beshear, recalls their pandemic work
State Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack was master of ceremonies for Gov. Andy Beshear’s private swearing-in ceremony as Tuesday began, providing a platform for him to reflect on his and Beshear’s work during the pandemic, work that won public approval and set Beshear up for reelection. Taking the lectern in the Capitol Rotunda after Land […]