Sherry Chandler

and what defines a Democrat in Kentucky from today’s Lexington Herald-Leader:

But, despite the grumbling of some rank-and-file lawmakers, Democrats said, they don’t plan to remove Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence, as chairman of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee, where he has defended the coal industry and stopped environmental reforms for years.

Gooch, 56, and his brother own West Kentucky Steel Construction Co., which sells mining equipment to Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and other coal companies.

Gooch, who consistently wins re-election in his district with about 75 percent of the vote, has taken at least $11,750 in coal-related donations for his modest campaigns since 1998.

Environmentalists said Gooch habitually blocks their attempts to limit destruction caused by coal mining, refusing to hear bills that would establish waterway protections or restrict mountaintop removal mining. In fairness, they added, Gooch is only the latest coal-connected chairman chosen and supported by House Democratic leaders to head the environmental committee.

The committee’s current Democratic vice chairman, Keith Hall of Phelps, also owns a business tied to coal, Benetech Mining Materials.

“Historically, that committee has been chaired by individuals who have strong ties to the coal industry,” said Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council. “The coal industry prefers to have an ally in charge of that committee, and the House leadership does what it can to appease them.”

To give the Dems their due, coal pulls a lot of purse-strings in Kentucky, provide a lot of jobs in a state that is job hungry.

I spent last week-end on retreat with the Green River Writers at the Kavanaugh Life Enrichment Center in Oldham County. Here is some of what I saw there. It was a lovely November weekend, a little overcast sometimes, a bit nippy, but the place was still gloriously lovely. There were writers everywhere, walking, taking photos, scribbling away at the picnic tables.