GOODBYE, TO KBI

The marriage of convenience that Gov. Ernie Fletcher and Attorney General
Greg Stumbo have consumated is, all things considered, good for the rest of us.

Mr. Stumbo seems to be in the process of abandoning his misguided campaign
pledge to create a Kentucky Bureau of Investigation as part of his
anti-drug effort. Good for him.

Instead, he'll work cooperatively with Lt. Gov. Steve Pence, who will lead
the Fletcher administration's campaign against Western Kentucky meth labs,
Eastern Kentucky prescription drug abuse and the drug-related problems that
afflict all parts of the commonwealth.

In this deal, Gov. Fletcher's budget gives Mr. Stumbo more money and
people. Gov. Fletcher gets a political bonus - the opportunity to have
newspapers report that he is helping Mr. Stumbo deal with issues left over
from the tenure of the previous attorney general, Ben Chandler, who just
happens to be the Democratic candidate for the congressional seat Gov.
Fletcher gave up.

Mr. Chandler, according to polls, is leading in the race, and anything the
Governor can do to prevent a Democrat from scoring an embarrassing (for the
GOP) victory is bound to look good to him.

More important in this instance, it's good public policy.

Mr. Stumbo and Dr. Fletcher have been allies before. In the 1996 General
Assembly session, the former bought into the latter's ideas for scaling
back the 1994 health care reforms.

On the other hand, Mr. Stumbo has moved ahead with an appeal of the awful
U.S. Court of Appeals decision invalidating several Kentucky laws aimed at
curbing political corruption. This will not make him especially popular
with some Republicans, including Kentucky's top GOP leader, U.S. Sen. Mitch
McConnell, who never saw a campaign constraint that he really liked.

This is only the beginning of the budget process. There is still time for
Sen. McConnell to pull the strings at his disposal, and jerk the rug from
under the Fletcher-Stumbo deal.

Kentuckians should hope he doesn't.