New Political Thriller: Sniper Bid

OK. So, he's a lousy Republican. But he's a good Goldwater type lousy Republican, and I'm alright with that. Besides he's a friend - and my fourth semi-cousin twice removed - so we're practically family.

Good luck with the new book, Ranger!

Terra Alta—Baseball and Politics? What better combination can there be? Find out in Headline Books newest release, Sniper Bid, the latest political thriller offering from award winning author Rick Robinson.

Murder on a baseball field catapults main character Congressman Richard Thompson into the spotlight on the issue of steroids and professional sports. Thompson takes on the ‘ole boy club in this fast paced mystery of professional sports and political intrigue. As he presses the United States Congress for new standards on the abuse of steroids, someone wants him quieted. The only question is who.

Rick Robinson has thirty years experience in politics and law, including a stint on Capitol Hill as Legislative Director/Chief Counsel to then-Congressman Jim Bunning (R-KY). He draws on his Washington D.C. experiences to develop fascinating characters who involve the reader and you will think you are reading today’s headlines.

Sniper Bid, Rick Robinson's second novel of political intrigue, does far more than establish Robinson's place as a first rate writer in the genre; it secures his main character, Freshman Congressman from Kentucky, Richard Thompson, a place in the hearts and minds of the reader and leaves us wanting to see him elected again and again.

As a die-hard Democrat and a luke warm sports fan, I was riveted to the page as Robinson's Republican Congressman unravels the demons behind steroid use, faces off the political consequences of taking a stand, and blunders through the balancing act of maintaining a public/private family life.

Robinson gives us an insider's look into the hallways of Congress, the backrooms of the sports arenas and the inner sanctum of a family under political and public scrutiny. Long before the crime is solved, we're casting our vote and knowing this is the guy we want representing our interests.

Sniper Bid, Rick Robinson's outstanding sequel to The Maximum Contribution, leaves me waiting for the next one. Warren Zevon would have loved this book,” writes Crystal Zevon, author of I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: the dirty life and times of Warren Zevon.

“Its a given that political junkies will love this book," says Patrick Crowley, political writer and columnist.

Actress Robin Arcuri writes that the book is a "must read for anyone who is passionate over the preservation of ethics, integrity and honor within sports, politics and life."

Syndicated columnist, Don McNay, calls Sniper Bid a “fun and easy to read a ‘must have’ which takes us through an insider's view of Washington, baseball, pop culture and Kentucky politics."

Robinson's first novel, The Maximum Contribution, was named Finalist in Best Political Fiction in the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and earned an Honorable Mention in the 2008 Hollywood Book Festival for Best General Fiction. He has been active in all level of politics, from advising candidates on the national level to walking door-to-door in city council races. Rick ran for the United States Congress in 1988. He is currently the political reporter/columnist for http://www.onenewengland.com/.

Sniper Bid is available at your favorite bookstore and online at http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.richardthompsonforcongress.com/, http://www.publisherpage.com/.

Draud and Rasche: This Week's Comment on Kentucky

Draud's Car not quite Surplus

Rash judgements about Rasche

Tony McVeigh from Kentucky Public Radio broke the story this week on Jon Draud's plan to sell his state vehicle on eBay. Calling it his favorite story of the week, guest host Mark Hebert, invited him to appear on Comment on Kentucky. With Hebert and McVeigh were Pat Crowley of the Enquirer and John David Dyche a Louisville attorney and C-J columnist.

McVeigh: John Draud has an albatross around his neck, and its a $31,000 Chrysler 300...

The school board called him on the carpet; he apologized to the people of Kentucky for the way he handled the matter...The apology didn't seem to appease the board, they wanted to know, "What are you going to do." He said, well, I'll either make up the difference or I'll buy the car. And apparently he's going to buy the car...They're going to put it up on eBay...

...I talked to Glenn Mitchell over at Finance this week and he said they can't sell it on eBay until its surplus property so there'll be 6 months; they'll declare it surplus property in 6 months.

Pat Crowley said he drove down from northern Kentucky to talk with Draud about it and he said the only way to get the safety features he wanted was to get the bigger engine. But, we've been all through that. It was Draud's repeated insistence on the larger engine, as C-J showed through numerous emails, that drove costs up.

Hebert asked,

"Do you think he gets it?" The deal wasn't so much the car. It was the impression ...the message it was sending out there. When your teachers aren't getting any raises or anything...

Dyche quipped,

It's like flying your staff in airplanes to town hall meetings.

...a reference to Governor Beshear's recent decision to fly staffers to an eastern Kentucky town meeting.

McVey:

I think he's gets it because his first performance review is next month.

Hebert:

You think the timing might have something to do with it?

Crowley then segued into a question involving Frank Rasche's appointment this week to a legislative liasion position with KDE.

David Adams over at Kentucky Progress opined earlier this week Rasche's hiring was actually a Beshear move to get rid of Draud. His post, "Beshear makes move to behead Draud," suggested that "if Beshear plans to replace him with Rep. Frank Rasche, he is not exactly moving us forward."

I don't buy any of it - mostly because it doesn't make any sense.

Beshear didn't hire Rasche - Draud did. Now, I'm willing to stipulate that Beshear is a smart guy. But to pull off what David suggests, he would have to be some kind of hypnotic genius.

When I pressed David on this he backed down a bit saying, "Draud hiring Rasche to be policy adviser and legislative liaison may not be Beshear's move. I never suggested that..."

But PolWatchers bit. So did Crowley. Hebert didn't.

Crowley:

Mark, what do you read into the reporting this week that a legislator, Frank Rasche, may be hired by the department? Is that any kind of signal that Draud might be in trouble here?

Hebert:

I don't think he's in trouble. He and Rasche are buddies. They were on the Education Committee together and I think that's where that came from. You know, Frank Rasche is a pretty respected legislator. I think, if Draud's smart, he wants to hire some more folks around him who he trusts and has known for a while.

The voice of reason.

EduPoliComment on House Bill 91

Ferrell Wellman, the recently crowned regular host of KET's Comment on Kentucky lead a delightful discussion of Senate Bill 91 Friday night. (Backstory) With Wellman were H-L's Ryan Alessi, Pat Crowley from the Enquirer and the always insightful Mark Hebert from WHAS.

Alessi had made some remarks about the Senate majority, and then...

Ryan Alessi:"Meanwhile in the Democratic... Senate minority; they tried to get a discharge petition to get the Bullying Bill (HB 91) out. And, Senator Scorcone, the one who pushed it, Democrat from Lexington, he said the petition didn't work, but hey, we were able to leverage it by screaming publicly for it.

Ferrell Wellman: Let's talk quickly about the Bully Bill, and there's some line of thought that possibly, the bill that passed the senate, was - Can you believe it? - designed to maybe kill the bill?

Mark Hebert: Oh you think? (laughing) The Republican Senate leadership has been against a Bully Bill for - and I'm not real sure exactly why - but for the last four years. They finally agreed to hear it in committee. [Senate President] David Williams had a committee substitute. Put it out there. Basically it criminalizes any kid who, on the first time, is accused of bullying another kid or...

Wellman: It criminalizes teachers too.

Hebert: It could criminalize teachers. What it does is that it forces teachers and principals to report to police, within 48 hours, if they hear any incident of a kid harassing or trying to humiliate another kid. And the police are required to investigate. If the teachers and the principal don't report, they could be subjected to a Class B misdemeanor for failure to report. So the bottom line is - this is just too tough for anybody to swallow. David Williams said Oh. No You know, we need to take care of these kids that are bullies and get them out of our schools and into our court system. But in reality, he's just trying to kill the bill and - because it is too tough - it might end up in a conference committee. Mike Cherry, the sponsor of the original Bully Bill said, Hey, at least I got it through the Senate. We can now get into a conference committee and we might be able to pass something.

Wellman: Because, what you're talking about is taking any discretion, really, away from teachers and principals, and they may think that they've actually solved the problem...

Hebert: Right.

Wellman: ..but if they don't report it the next step they face Class B misdemeanor and that's enough to keep a teacher from getting a job.

Hebert: Absolutely.

Pat Crowley: I thought any bill David Williams supported was a bully bill... (laughter) he's always being accused of being such a bully.

Alessi: Well, this one actually bullies the bullies. (laughter)

Hebert: The bullies; yes, it's tough on the bullies.

Wellman: Alright. Let's move on to slots.

More Kentucky blogs begin to moderate comments

When Kentucky School News and Commentary began there was a problem to resolve. How does one manage the natural conflict between free speech (a very good thing) and the abusive name-calling (a bad thing that detracts from the public debate) that can dominate the comments section of a blog.

Should KSN&C allow anonymous comments and take whatever we get? And if we do, would that drive the tone of the blog into the mud and undermine legitimate authority?

Or is it better to require all commenters to identify themselves, perhaps stiffling legitimate comments from insiders who may have something to lose when commenting on matters of public policy, or politics?

I chose to moderate the blog.

Recently, I've noticed several other blogs ("liberal" and "conservative") following suit.

Over at PolWatchers, John Stamper wrote,

"We've had to spend way too much time the past few days deleting comments that don't comply with our comment policy. It's getting old. Therefore, those who comment must now submit a valid e-mail address before their comment will be published."

Pat Crowley noticed the same problem at his Northern Kentucky Politics blog and wrote,

"I busted five posts this morning. I'm going to do my best to kill the comments [w]here public officials and potential candidates are called "morons" and are the focus of gossip and rumors. Not going to happen. I'll allow criticism all day, but every comment I busted made some decent points except for the name-calling and rumor-mongering. It's a few days before Christmas folks. Make your points, but don't be so darn nasty."

Earlier in the week at vere loqui, Martin Cothran said,

"I'm instituting a new policy on comments, which is that I'll let your comment run as long as you don't needlessly insult someone or call into question someone's honesty or integrity without some kind of justification. There are people who want to post on this blog without giving their names and want to hide behind their anonymity while calling other people's integrity into question.

What's particularly ironic is when, while using anonymity to avoid responsibility for their own behavior, they accuse me or someone else of hypocrisy. I'll just call it hypocrisy squared."

Naturally, I applaud these decisions - much as I applaud anyone who agrees with me on just about anything. My hope is that the overall tone of public debate in Kentucky will achieve a kind of civility that is far too often missing on too many blogs. Rather than advancing useful ideas, "flaming" seeks the most outrageous expression of dissent, that is often personally destructive, whether it advances a legitimate argument or not.

Will this kind of decision reduce the sum of comments received on the blogs? Probably. But I'm OK with that, if in turn we get a more reasoned tone that creates a free space for expression without creating fear that one's comments might produce personal retaliation.

KSN&C continues to invite comments whenever a reader is moved to contribute one. Make a strong point if you wish - all we ask is a professional tone. We also invite tips, copies of official memoranda or other documents that illustrate official practice. Feel free to email the moderator - but take care to indicate if you wish your identity to remain anonymous on the blog.

Some may consider this censorship -not government censorship - but censorship nonetheless. In a literal sense, I suppose that's true. There are blogs out there that seem to invite personal attacks. If that's what you're looking for, you can find it. But not here.

Draud apparent front-runner for education

FYI - Pat Crowley posted this at his N Ky politics blog:

"Several sources in Frankfort are telling me that state Rep. Jon Draud, R-Edgewood, has a strong chance of being named commissioner of education."