I'm waiting — and I darn well know Republicans are waiting — for the Kenton County Fiscal Court to do something, anything, right.

        I'm not saying they haven't. But I can't say they have, either.
       

Another new jail plan
        Tell me something they can run on next year, something that will inspire some confidence in voters, something the Democrats won't use against the GOP next year.

        Is there anything? Somebody, help me out.

        I keep thinking it can't get any worse. But then, of course, it does.

        This crew goes through jail sites like my 12-year-old daughter goes through friends on her Internet buddy list.

        There's always a new one popping up.

        Just think if two years ago the court just would have stayed with the site along 3L Highway, also known as Ky. 17 and Madison Pike, in south Covington.

        The darn jail would be halfway done, or at least under construction.

        But some Edgewood residents who really weren't living anywhere near the proposed jail threw a tantrum and the court folded like a dot-com running out of venture capital cash.

        The proposed site then went from Elsmere to downtown Covington and now to Peaselburg, a Covington neighborhood near Interstate 75 that doesn't want it, either.

        County Commissioner Barb Black got snippy at a meeting last week and tried to turn the fiasco on Covington with a little dig at the city commission.

        “Does this (jail site) get your endorsement? Are you going to stand behind anything? ... I am not going to sit here and be second-guessed after I've asked for input countless times,” Mrs. Black said.

        After the meeting, Covington Mayor Butch Callery responded: “The city did give them a site — the 3L site. We've never wavered from that.”

        Touche.        

Preston Building incident

        Let's go to taxes, which the fiscal court raised.

        And then there was the deal for the Preston Building in Covington. The court said it needed the office space, but instead of leasing, the county bought the building.

        In the process a couple of Republican Party leaders who owned the building and handled the real estate deal made big bucks.

        It's still not clear if the taxpayers got hosed.        

Real estate questions

        And now there's this little gem from the Kentucky attorney general, who issued an opinion last week basically saying that the Kenton County Fiscal Court violated the state's Open Records Act.

        A Fort Mitchell Democrat, Nathan Smith, wanted some records dealing with the aforementioned real estate deal. So he put in a request under the Open Records Act.

        But it seems as if the county didn't come through.

        The AG's office said the court “fell short of the legal requirements of the Open Records Act” and that the custodian of the records did not make “a good-faith effort” to search for all the records Mr. Smith requested.

        Jump into a questionable real estate deal and then hold out when somebody — even a Democratic Party operative — wants to see the records.

        Excuse me, and this is the party former Democrat and Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmondson wanted to join?

        Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for the Enquirer. He can be reached at (859) 578-5581. or at pcrowley9@home.com.

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