Sherry Chandler

Oh for a tongue like Molly Ivins’

When last we visited Kentucky State Representative Jim Gooch, a Democrat in name and Chair of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee, he had just held a hearing on the subject of Global Warming and somehow neglected to invite any but wingnut debunkers.

This stunt got him some pretty bad press. So now Rep Gooch has decided to take action to shore up his image:

State Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence, is pushing legislation that would essentially bar editorial writers and cartoonists from the House and Senate floors.

The western Kentucky Democrat was ridiculed last year in newspapers for attempting to quash a coal mine safety bill and for claiming global warming is a hoax. One editorial cartoon showed Gooch in a hot tub with King Coal.

Gooch’s bill would list editorial writers and cartoonists as lobbyists. In Kentucky, lobbyists aren’t allowed in the House or Senate while lawmakers are in session.

Kentucky Press Association Executive Director David Thompson said Gooch’s bill is an obvious First Amendment violation that he doesn’t expect to pass into law.

“If I had to classify it, I think it’s harassment,” Thompson said.

I will remind you that Gooch owns West Kentucky Steel Construction Co., which sells mining equipment to Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and other coal companies.

Once I thought that Molly Ivins’s Texas “lege” was singularly outrageous but now I can only wish that I had a little bit of her talent for pointing out the ridiculous with sublime humor.

Meanwhile, you should know that things are maybe not that much better in Washington:

Bowing to veto threats from the White House, Congress stripped from an otherwise admirable energy bill two important provisions on alternative fuels.

One would have required states to generate an increasing share of their power from renewable sources like wind and solar energy. The other would have rolled back about $12 billion in wholly unnecessary tax breaks for the oil industry and used the proceeds to develop cleaner fuels and new energy technologies.

Whatever the outcome of the Presidential race, it is vital that we get a more reliable majority in both houses of the Federal Congress.

In spite of liberal blog support for Andrew Horne, that’s not likely to happen in Kentucky, where Mitch McConnell has the strangle-hold of a deep, deep purse and poeple like Gooch call themselves Democrats. Our newly elected Democratic governor doesn’t seem to have much in the way of coattails.

Update Feb. 18: Horne withdraws.

Possibly related posts:

More on Gooch

The incomparable Molly Ivins

from the Incomparable Molly Ivins

Molly Ivins, 1944-2007

Kentucky HB 164, The Stream Saver Bill

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