Sen Chris Girdler corrects Commonwealth Journal--Continues fight for Free Enterprise
From Senator Girdler:
Commonwealth of Kentucky
Office of Senator Chris Girdler
SEN. CHRIS GIRDLER ON SENATE BILL 130:
"Setting the Record Straight"
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Feb. 13, 2015) -Government, in all its forms, is growing and intruding into areas where it simply does not belong. From Obamacare, to job killing EPA regulations, to ever increasing taxes the government bureaucrats are never satisfied. President Reagan observed, "Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, 'what greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power'. But the truth outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector."
In this day-and-age when the government has a hard time running itself, the last thing it should be doing is competing with a private business. That’s why I filed SB 130, to bring some commonsense and transparency to the operation of local government in Kentucky.
It seems Somerset’s mayor and the editors of the Commonwealth Journalhave either failed to read, or have chosen to mislead you, about what SB 130 actually does. But that is not surprising, as usual they continue to deal in falsehoods, delusions and downright untruths. The "news" paper makes it a point to try and make the news rather than report it and has turned into more of a supermarket tabloid that has become one of the single largest instigators of community angst and biggest detractors of economic development in Pulaski County.
First and foremost, I have NEVER stated that I was going to "shut down" the city's gas station. The latest article published on February 11th, is full of so many inaccuracies and fear mongering by the newspaper and the Somerset Mayor that it is hard to separate the lies from the truth. So I’ll set the record straight by addressing some of the more glaring errors in the recent coverage:
SB 130 "would stop Somerset from selling gasoline.”
FACT: Senate Bill 130 does NOT prohibit the city from selling gasoline and does NOT shut the city's gas station down.
"SB 130 could play havoc not only with Somerset's retail gasoline sales, but also with initiatives such as that supported by Hal Rogers to expand broadband internet..."
FACT: SB 130 does NOT impact any governmental service or product already authorized by Kentucky law. Congressman Rogers’ broadband initiative, which I wholeheartedly support, is exempt from SB 130 because it is already permitted by Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 147A.023.
"The way it's written, if Time-Warner wanted to stop a city or county from providing broadband service to its citizens with this bill they could stop it in its tracks."
FACT: Under current law "any legislative body of any city may provide telecommunications service," so city broadband service is NOT covered by SB 130.
“..the law could have a chilling effect on things such as natural gas sales to residential customers by municipalities"
FACT: SB 130 would have NO effect on sales of natural gas because that service is permitted by two different parts of the statutes already in place.
“..In interest of fairness, we're publishing both...statements in their entirety"
FACT: I did NOT issue a statement for use in the article in question, nor was I given an opportunity to respond to the inaccuracies before publication. What was included was an Op-Ed (Opinion Editorial) that had been submitted five days prior and instead it was buried at the end of an article as a statement. Secondly, there hasn't been an ounce of "fairness" in the coverage of this issue as it relates to the "news" paper. TheCommonwealth Journal has continued to paint a redundant picture with false headlines of "State Senator wants to nix city gas sales", or "Girdler wants to shut down Somerset's retail gasoline station". While I do not engage in social media, I'm told the "news" editor has been espousing his personal viewpoints through that platform, which is very demonstrative of a tremendous lack of journalistic integrity. I know for a fact the Commonwealth Journal was sent a press release by the national organization, "Business Coalition for Fair Competition" that ranked the City of Somerset's action of opening a retail gas station as one of the ten "most egregious" examples in the United States of unfair government sponsored competition with private enterprise. Why was this not published? Why has the newspaper not published any of my weekly columns over the last two years updating our citizens on the latest in State Government? The list of inaccurate and deceptive reporting is infinite.
One can only hope that moving forward, the Commonwealth Journalwill focus on facts when reporting the latest events in our community and ask the tough questions rather than publishing inaccurate and baseless assertions, statements, and statistics. (ie: 95% of Pulaskians are in favor of city gas sales; the filing of SB 130 raised the price of gas by 50 cents, etc)
Senate Bill 130 has tremendous support and co-sponsorship from both democrats and republicans in Frankfort. It's policy is simple to understand. Government should NOT be able to compete against a private business’s service or product unless it makes good financial sense and the taxpayers have all the facts. That’s called transparency.
So SB 130 requires a study to determine what impact a government selling a commercial product or services will have on the local economy. It’s the same kind of study any smart business person would do before starting a new company. It requires a public hearing on the proposal before its implementation allowing citizens to ask questions and understand how much tax money is required to start and operate the new “government business.” And it requires separate accounting and bookkeeping of the commercial products and services from all other government accounts or funds. This will preserve the integrity of the records and allow for any easy audit of those transactions.
I can’t imagine any freedom loving American being against legislation that requires government to do its homework, understand the amount of taxpayer money spent, and operate in full transparency. Have we forgotten the battle cry before the American Revolution about over taxation and closed door dealings? I will continue to stand up for taxpayers and free enterprise, even in the face of shrill and false accusations and slander, to make sure government is not only limited but that the legitimate functions it does perform are performed efficiently and in the light of full transparency.
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