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Judge Jackson and Fiscal Court

Choose To Be Deaf, Again!

By John Riley, Member of Stop the VET

    Jefferson County Judge/Executive Rebecca Jackson and Fiscal Court Commissioners again turned a deaf ear to the citizens of Jefferson County.  On Tuesday, June 25th, several members of Stop The VET and other supporters of the effort to end vehicle emissions testing (VET) in Jefferson County attended the meeting of Jefferson County Fiscal Court.  We decided to address Fiscal Court in person because of the many letters and calls to Rebecca Jackson's office that went completely ignored. 

    We had two main goals in addressing Judge Jackson.  We wanted to ask Judge Jackson to have Fiscal Court formally acknowledge the overwhelming desire of the citizens of Jefferson County to end VET testing and to refocus the efforts of the Air Pollution Control District (APCD) by requesting a resignation from Art Williams the current director.  Judge Jackson's reply as reported by the Courier Journal was "Do I allow a small group to dictate my behavior? No...". 

    Judge Jackson's arrogance is in full bloom, and she wants to be our governor!  I think not!  This issue alone should haunt Judge Jackson and the rest of Fiscal Court until well beyond their political death.

    Judge Jackson and Fiscal Court ignored the pleas of the citizens of Jefferson County to end the VET program for over 2 years.  The citizens then went to Frankfort for relief from this ineffective, money grubbing program.  Judge Jackson and Art Williams strongly opposed the citizens and tried to block our efforts in Frankfort.  They had the full support of the Courier Journal, which barely has any credibility to speak of, in my opinion.  

    The citizens prevailed!

    House Bill 618, which will end the VET program as of November 2003, passed with overwhelming support of the Kentucky Senate and House.  The bill passed in the house by a margin of 89-7 votes.  Despite the support of the citizens and of the citizens’ representatives in Frankfort, Art Williams wrote a letter to Governor Patton asking him to veto the bill.  His letter stated, "On behalf of Jefferson County and the Jefferson County Air Pollution Control District..." as if he had the support of the citizens of Jefferson County!  Judge Jackson may have authorized him to write such a letter, but neither Judge Jackson nor Art Williams had the citizens’ support to ask the governor to veto a bill that the citizens of Jefferson County worked so hard to pass. 

    Judge Jackson's reference to a "small group" is a serious political miscalculation, which should end her political career.  There is no excuse for this kind of arrogance from an elected official.  This is not a "small group" but a group that represents the view of a vast majority of all the citizens of Jefferson County. 

Consider the following questions:

   1) Would the citizens support paying Art Williams to represent them as their advocate on issues before the US EPA if they knew he also served as the president of ALAPCO a non-governmental organization (NGO) which receives much of its funding from EPA grants? 

   2) Would the citizens approve of Art Williams if they knew about his extensive travel nationally and internationally on behalf of ALAPCO supporting the United Nations agenda and the Kyoto plan (which President Bush rejected as being detrimental to the United States) when his duties as the APCD director are to serve the citizens of Jefferson County? 

   3) Would the citizens approve of Art Williams asking Gov. Patton to veto House Bill 618? 

   4) Would the citizens of Jefferson County approve of Judge Jackson's support of Art Williams if they knew he may have violated the Jefferson County ethics code which states in Chapter 21.02 (A) (4): "No county officer shall undertake any employment of service, compensated or not, which might reasonably be expected to prejudice such officer's independence of judgment in the exercise of his/her official duties."?

    5) Would the citizens approve of Art Williams spending additional taxpayer money to promote the VET program by paying for advertisements in the Courier Journal?

    6) Would the citizens approve of any ongoing effort to continue the VET program beyond November 2003?

    7) Would the citizens of Jefferson County appreciate anyone on Fiscal Court remaining silent on these issues?

    If Judge Jackson would ask herself these questions, she would soon find out that she is in fact allowing "a small group to dictate" her behavior.

    I have three additional questions:

    8) If the real concern is about the air quality in Jefferson County and the health of the citizens, why have Judge Rebecca Jackson, Art Williams and the Courier Journal remained publicly silent regarding the recent approval of the Louisville/Jefferson County Regional Airport Authority Board (which includes Judge Jackson) to expand and double the size of the airport and the air pollution that comes with it?

    9) How can Rebecca Jackson expect to lead Kentucky as our governor when she shows so much disrespect for the citizens of Jefferson County?

    10) Will you allow these questions to go unanswered?

    Please contact Judge Jackson at 574-6161 or via email judge-exec@co.jefferson.ky.us and let her know what you think.  If you would like any additional information please contact me at JRiley8609@msn.com .

For more information on ALAPCO please read the articles below.  Please feel free to copy this and forward it to anyone you might think is interested.

Who's making the laws? April 22nd, 2002

EPA hires million-dollar lobbyist.  May 4th, 2002

Thank you in advance for your support.

Sincerely,

John Riley

Member of Stop the VET

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