STUMBO 'IS WRONG'

Regarding Attorney General Greg Stumbo's defense of his Kentucky
Bureau of Investigation (Readers' Forum, Jan. 5), he is wrong; The
Courier-Journal is right. We do not need another bureaucracy that, at
its best, could and/or would only marginally improve on the
effectiveness of existing state government enforcement
organizations.... What the proposed KBI would do is provide another
avenue for personnel advancement/enrichment at the expense of Kentucky
taxpayers. Do you think many of the Kentucky State Police (KSP) drug
task force members will retire (with full retirement and benefits)
from the KSP and become full-time employees of the KBI?... Of course,
with the passage of time, they would become another essential
department that would grow and grow. Been there, done that.

Furthermore, since we already know the who, where, when and how of the
illegal drug problem, why do we need another police force to stop it?
Hmm. I mean how hard can it be to catch marijuana farmers? After all,
they are the largest cash crop producer in the commonwealth, and we
know who they are....

I have another good idea. How about tying Stumbo's KBI to performance
standards? That is the best, if not only, way to validate performance,
isn't it? It sounds fair to me. Stumbo does want them to perform and
solve the problems he outlined in his letter, doesn't he? How about
setting goal-oriented tasks, maybe even tied to standards, based on
current conditions - all to be accomplished within a specified time
frame?

Of course, if the KBI and Stumbo, as its founder, do not perform to
the tasks, standards and conditions that he helps to develop, we fire
them. Now there is a unique idea. Firing someone for not doing his or
her job, especially a government employee.

Joseph C. Kopacz

Louisville