This week was the first time many Kentuckians got to take a real look at our new governor. You don't see a lot from New Hampshire around here, so locals paid attention.
New Hampshire is known as the Granite State. It's most famous landmark, the Old Man of the Mountain, was a perfect profile naturally formed in the granite cliffs of Cannon Mountain. Was being the key word in that particular sentence because it crumbled off eleven years ago.
The state also has the best motto in America. 'Live free or die' are words most Kentuckians can get behind no matter the interpretation. LIving free comes at a cost eventually, though. Maybe that's what brought Bevin here.
Being hard on the evil government is what Governor Granite is all about and everyone expected the hammer to be dropped on a few state agencies.
But the sky didn't fall and the budget proposed isn't as heavy handed as many feared. A state tax code written in the 21st century could do wonders but getting the commonwealth into the 20th century was hard enough.
There are some oddities in the governor's budget and program proposals. A twenty million dollar renovation of the Wildcat Coal Lodge shows what a premium we put on 18 year olds passing through on their way to the NBA. More of coals hidden costs I guess. And our state parks get budget cuts but a privately owned Ark Park gets fifteen million dollars in tax incentives. The governor's all about private sector, especially the evangelical flavor.
For those of you who haven't been paying attention, Governor Granite is a conservative who believes, among other things, that the states can do things better than the federal government. That's pretty much a core conservative belief.
Except when it comes to spite. Cutting off your nose to spite your face is also a core conservative belief and often it runs full speed into and over all the other core beliefs. It's the trump card.
That's why the son of the Granite State will be taking down KyNect, the most successful state run online insurance exchange, and force all Kentuckians to use the federal exchange. Taking KyNect will cost the state millions. But the cost doesn't matter because Obamacare.
To bring this all home, and by home I of course mean beautiful downtown Elkhorn City, what all this makes me think is maybe we missed the boat.
A few years ago we had a great plan to build a whitewater park in the river downtown. We were well on our way with feasibility studies, agency approvals, and some coal severence seed funding. But administrations changed, interests fell by the wayside, and the severence funds vanished.
Maybe we needed something bigger. Maybe we needed something grand and inspirational. Something that attracted few beer drinkers and more believers. Something that required fewer skills and more blind faith.
What we needed was the Russell Fork Rolling Ark Whitewater Park.
Why didn't I think of this seven years ago? I bet Governor Granite and more local electeds would go right for it!