Posted October 29th, 2009 12:17 am

The baseball analogy in the Courier-Journal editorial headline was fitting. After all, while some tactics in baseball are part of the game even if they are against the rules (such as the beanball), a pickoff move is based on besting the baserunner within the rules. The editorial states:

Yes, no matter the official explanations, Gov. Steve Beshear’s appointment of Republican Sen. Dan Kelly to a Central Kentucky circuit court judgeship was a political maneuver to position the Democrats to pick up another seat in the state Senate. And, no, it isn’t the best way to fill judicial vacancies.
But governing effectively sometimes requires doing what’s necessary to overcome unyielding obstruction. In this case, the Governor in good faith had exhausted other, less drastic options to combat the unwillingness of Senate President David Williams to permit the full Senate to debate and vote on expanded gambling — the one achievable measure with the potential to offer state government meaningful financial relief and to reverse devastating harm to the state’s signature horse industry
…
Furthermore, no one forced Sen. Kelly — or before him, GOP Sen. Charlie Borders, who resigned to accept appointment by the Governor to the Public Service Commission — to take the jobs. Maybe their loyalty to the party, or their fealty to Sen. Williams’ intransigence, doesn’t run as deep as Sen. Williams would like Kentuckians to believe.
If Sen. Williams and other Republican leaders want to halt the raiding, they could start by allowing full and overdue consideration of an issue Mr. Beshear has a popular mandate to pursue.

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