News from my home state of Kentucky...

Fletcher Asks Pence To Resign, But Lt. Governor Refuses

Frankfort (AP) -- Gov. Ernie Fletcher asked Lt. Gov. Steve Pence to resign his elected office, the morning after state government's second in command announced he would not support the governor in his re-election bid.

Pence told reporters Thursday he declined the governor's request.

"Number one, I think calmer heads need to prevail," Pence said. "The lieutenant governor's office does not belong to me, nor to the governor. I temporarily occupy it. The citizens elected me for four years to occupy that office and my inclination is to serve my entire term."

Fletcher spokesman Brett Hall confirmed the governor, who is vacationing in Florida, made the request. Hall said he was uncertain of Fletcher's reasoning, but said it was likely because of Pence's decision to not to be the governor's running mate in the 2007 governor's race.

Hall said Fletcher made the call to Pence Thursday morning.

Fletcher has been trying to stem political fallout from being tagged with misdemeanor public corruption charges. Now the embattled governor's political future hinges on how he handles his administration's latest crisis.

Pence announced Wednesday outside his Capitol office that he would not be Fletcher's running mate during his re-election bid. Fletcher, Kentucky's first GOP governor since 1971, has been indicted on misdemeanor counts of conspiracy, official misconduct and political discrimination.

Fletcher won the 2003 governor's race over Democrat Ben Chandler in part on a guarantee to eliminate "waste, fraud and abuse" from state government. But for the past year his administration has been grappling with a Franklin County special grand jury investigation into allegations that political supporters were illegally being handed protected state jobs.

Since the panel began its work last June, the grand jury has returned 29 indictments in the case - 14 of which remain sealed. Last August, Fletcher pardoned his entire administration and anyone other than himself who could be charged for related crimes that occurred before the pardon date.

Pence, a former prosecutor known for tenaciously targeting government corruption, has declined to discuss the pardons.

The lieutenant governor was the latest in a list of administration officials who have resigned since the probe started, including Personnel Secretary Erwin Roberts, Commerce Secretary Jim Host and Daniel Groves, Fletcher's former chief of staff.

Fletcher was unavailable for comment. He was scheduled for an arraignment next week.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Gotta love KY politics. And since I work in Frankfort (at the only fine dining restaurant in town), I get to see and hear about everything. In fact, I waited on Fletcher (as part of a larger group) just the day before he was indicted. You should've seen the day that one of the indicted officials was having lunch 4 tables down from where the man doing the investigation leading to the indicting was having lunch. Some days going to work is like working in a restaurant in a soap opera town.