'MAKING POLITICAL HAY ON THE TAXPAYERS' DIME DELETED'

By BERRY CRAIG

AFT Local 1360.

History really doesn’t repeat itself.

But when I read in the Courier-Journalthat Gov. Bevin had released what he claimed was a "comprehensive list of the purpose of official travel" on state aircraft, I couldn't help thinking of Nixon and Watergate. 

I remember seeing the president on TV in April, 1974, hunkered down at his desk with that pile of fancy, bound volumes of the secret White House tape recordings Congress wanted.

The House Judiciary Committee demanded full, uncut tapes. Nixon offered edited versions. He said he had to trim them for national security reasons. He also invoked executive privilege. 

Nixon got rid of the cuss words, too, and replaced them with "EXPLETIVE DELETED."

"...The list of flights released by Bevin's office is far from complete, as it fails to document many trips taken by the governor on aircraft owned by the Kentucky State Police for political campaign events and other reasons not related to his duties as governor that still remain a secret to taxpayers," wrote the C-J's Sarah Ladd.

Naturally, the Democrats in Frankfort pounced (like DC Dems did 45 years ago). "Matt Bevin’s office only released flight logs for his official travel while still refusing to come clean about his use of the state plane for personal and political reasons," jabbed an email from state party HQ.

Chided the KDP's Marisa McNee: “This latest stunt by Matt Bevin raises more questions than it answers. The governor needs to stop hiding the ball and show Kentuckians the respect they deserve. This is our plane and we deserve straight forward answers about where he is flying it and why, including all personal and political travel. This is just one more example of the arrogance and secrecy that has been a regular feature of Matt Bevin’s administration."

"Arrogance" and "secrecy" were also synonyms for the Nixon White House.

Anyway, history records that ultimately, the House panel got the unedited tapes-- after the Supreme Court ruled 8-zip that Nixon had to hand them over.

Not surprisingly, the tapes proved he really was a crook. Nixon henchmen went to jail; he resigned effective Aug. 9, 1974, facing impeachment and almost certain removal from office. 

If Bevin is pressured to cough up more flight logs, maybe he could borrow President Trump's black Sharpie, mark out the bad stuff, and write “JOY RIDES DELETED" and “MAKING POLITICAL HAY ON THE TAXPAYERS' DIME DELETED."