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Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert appears to have given Gov. Ernie Fletcher's legal team a clear indication of his view of where any sort of criminal or civil action toward a sitting governor must take place. According to a footnote in one of Lambert's opinions in an unrelated civil case, Gov. Fletcher is immune from prosecution unless tied to impeachment proceedings by the General Assembly. In other words, the special grand jury has no power to indict the governor, only the General Assembly can seek impeachment and a trial on charges against the governor. The Governor's trial on three misdemeanors is scheduled for November. A pre-trial conference is set for next month, and already its rumored that Fletcher's defense team will try to get Attorney General Greg Stumbo's office disqualified from prosecuting the case. I figure the defense will also try to get the charges dismissed, using the arguments presented by Lambert's opinion. There's no way to know how the entire high court will view what Lambert said. I suspect we'll see a flurry of motions next month by the defense team, with dismissal of the charges the top priority. Should Fletcher have the charges dismissed, look for him to really begin campaigning in earnest. Is he electable, even if he's cleared of the charges (or the charges get dropped for whatever reason)? How committed are rank-and-file Republicans to a Fletcher reelection bid? If we see the Kentucky Congressional delegation re-embrace Fletcher as a gubernatorial candidate, then we'll know that all has been forgiven within the GOP. Until we reach that point, everyone's keeping the cards close to the vest. All of this will make the annual Fancy Farm picnic quite a spectacle (as if it wasn't already). Who wants to ride down with me? Post a comment in response: |
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