Lexblogging: Ernie Fletcher and Novel Political Theory
By The most suprising thing about Kentucky has been the sectarian violence. I am told that they hunt Lexingtonians for sport in Louisville. My students and I were recently drafted for a search and destroy mission in Appalachia, during which we massacred a small village.
Kentucky governor Ernie Fletcher has arrived at a novel solution for this problem. When he’s not too busy appointing his unqualified cronies to high state office, he apparently does a lot of thinking. The answer, of course, is to build a sports arena in Louisville.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher sees a proposed $299 million Louisville arena as an opportunity to score points for state unity.
Fletcher on Friday urged Kentucky’s regions to get behind the project, which he said would reap economic benefits for the entire state. His comments came as he accepted a task force report that recommended building the 22,000-to-24,000-seat arena downtown near the Ohio River. The governor wants to commit $75 million in state support that would come from bonds.
Fletcher said he has promoted the project while speaking from one end of Kentucky to the other—in such places as Paducah and Harlan. He said he brought up the arena proposal as an example of how Kentuckians should support worthwhile projects in other regions.
I am impressed.
Typically, politicians restrict their claims regarding the economic benefit of new sports facilities to the cities and neighborhoods in which suchs facilities are built. In this case, we have a facility (which is not, apparently, connected to any particular team) that costs $75 million in tax payer money and is supposed to benefit the ENTIRE state of Kentucky. Even better, the arena will promote “unity”. Really, why stop there? If the facility will benefit Paducah, Ashland, and Middlesboro, then it certainly will benefit the much closer states of Indiana and Illinois. Ernie should be off trying to shake down. . er, I mean, CONVINCE the good people of Indiana to pony up.
Moreover, I think that Governor Fletcher has happened upon a truly stunning solution for our difficulties abroad. If a $300 million arena in Louisville will bring Kentuckans together, then surely a $1 billion stadium in Baghdad will do the same for Iraqis. Why, they could use it to attract the Oakland Raiders. . .