Citizens in Charge

Voters in Kentucky will be asked to approve a constitutional amendment to allow casinos at five racetracks and two other sites in Kentucky under a bill unveiled by Gov. Steve Beshear on Tuesday.
 
The legislation, which is being co-sponsored by Sen. Damon Thayer, would place the issue on the November ballot in Kentucky. Under state law, any legislation proposing to amend the constitution requires a three-fifths vote in both the House and Senate.

Read more at The Racing Daily Forum.

The Northern Kentucky Tea Party wants its own expert to review records related to a petition drive to repeal the tax that funds the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission. Tuesday, Kenton County Clerk Gabrielle Summe announced that she and her staff were unable to certify the petition seeking to dissolve the Planning Commission.

 

Arguing that Campbell County Commissioner Dave Otto improperly spent his re-election campaign funds to advocate against a change of county government Nov. 2, supporters of the ballot initiative are filing a complaint with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. A mailer Otto’s re-election campaign paid for and mailed urges voters to “Vote No – Pete Garrett – Justice of the Peace Government.” Garrett is the Republican challenger who hopes to unseat Otto, an incumbent Democrat of 24 years.

Read the story from The Enquirer

The city posts all of its City Council agendas online, but staff members still must hand-deliver notices of special meetings to each council member’s doorstep. “It’s such a poor use of resources and time,” said City Council member Frost Yarnell. “People have to drive all over the city to deliver these.” So the city is asking voters in November to change the charter to allow notices to be sent by e-mail to council members. That ballot initiative, 2B, is one of three that propose minor changes to the charter.

The General Assembly may pass a bill to allow video lottery terminals at horse tracks without putting the question on the ballot for a constitutional referendum. Attorney General Jack Conway, who said he “simply followed the law” without political considerations, offered that opinion on Monday, just hours before the legislature convened in special session to consider the VLT bill offered by Gov. Steve Beshear.

Read the story from the News and Tribune

Rand has said that he will work to improve ballot-access laws at the Federal level, like his father.

Read the story from the Independent Political Report

Kentucky does not have a statewide initiative process. To bring the initiative process to Kentucky would require a constitutional amendment. Below is the process for amending the state constitution.

 

You have no statewide Initiative & Referendum rights.

Poll:

See the results of a poll on support for statewide initiative & referendum here.

Grade: F

Click here to view Kentucky’s individual report in Of the People, By the People, For the People: A 2010 Report Card on Statewide Voter Initiative Rights.

Populist State Senator J. H. McConnell of Otter Pond, Kentucky,
successfully pushed a statewide I&R bill through the state senate in 1900,
but the measure failed in the house. Kentucky initiative advocates had to
settle for a state law, passed in 1910, establishing the initiative process in
most of the state’s cities.

Paul Jacob, President of Citizens in Charge, an organization working to preserve and expand initiative and referendum rights, addressed Colorado transparency in his Common Sense column today. I have copied it, with permission, below.

Opaque Transparency