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Update on Sen. Bunning and VET

 John Riley

Well, for those of you who received my last email addressed to Greg Smith in Sen. Bunning's Louisville office, I am pleased to report that Mr. Smith did give me a call approximately 15 minutes after I sent that email.  Evidently, my email to him did strike some nerves, and he seemed quite upset that I would report to you what was going on, or in this case what was not going on. 

I'm not sure, but I believe he was intending to apologize to me for not returning my phone calls, although he really did not say that directly.  I was very direct in letting him know that I do not appreciate being ignored.  He said he was not intending to ignore me.  However, he did not return several phone messages which were left over a 1 1/2 week period.   

He did say "it's really just a local issue" and that he was not sure exactly what Sen. Bunning could do.  He did say that he "had forwarded some information on to Sen. Bunning".

My response was that the issue is not simply a "local issue", and since there was now a federal lawsuit involved that it certainly was a federal issue.  Mr. Smith and Sen. Bunning may not like the fact that we are asking him to take a clear and public stand on this issue that he apparently would simply like to ignore, but that is simply too bad.

Until the citizens of Jefferson County and all citizens of Kentucky can go to the polls and un-elect the EPA bureaucrats in Washington and Atlanta, then we will continue to look to our ELECTED representatives for their help, and ultimately we will hold them responsible.

On this VET issue and probably more, we will no longer be satisfied with the classic political dodge! 

There is clearly no excuse for Sen. Bunning to take a position that there is nothing he can do, and it is ABSURD to suggest that "it's really a local issue". 

When the threat of withholding huge amounts of federal funds is used as a political weapon against Kentucky to continue the VET fraud IT IS a federal issue!  When the federal court may be in a position of having to override the "WILL OF THE PEOPLE" of Jefferson County and the entire Kentucky State Legislature (which overwhelmingly voted in favor of ending the VET program in Jefferson County) it is a federal issue!

If Sen. Bunning continues to dodge, then he must be willing to take his political chances that the voters will not hold him responsible.

If Sen. Bunning were in the minority political party in Washington, we might be able to be sold on the idea that there is nothing he can do.  But with the Republican party in solid control of congress, and with George W. Bush in control of the Administration of the entire federal government (which includes the US EPA), then Sen. Bunning can no longer dodge this issue by saying "it's a local issue" and "What can I do?" 

Well, to answer that question, let me make a few suggestions!

1) Contact President Bush and let him know that the citizens of Kentucky no longer want the US EPA to continue the VET fraud in Jefferson County, Northern Kentucky or anywhere else in Kentucky.

2) Ask President Bush to use his power over the EPA to get them to understand the representative form of government and for EPA to back off of their position that Kentucky cannot end VET testing without being in violation of the "Clean Air Act".  EPA needs to issue approval to end VET immediately to void the pending federal lawsuit. 

3) Sen. Bunning may want to attempt to contact EPA himself and point out that the VET is clearly not the solution to "clean air".  He may want to inform the EPA administrator of the recent study by the National Academy of Science that reported that the benefits of VET programs are overstated by 50 to 100%, which creates worse air quality problems when the overstated benefits (EPA pollution credits) are allowed to be used to offset other sources of air pollution.

4) Sen. Bunning may want to reach out to the citizens of Northern Kentucky and let them and their representatives in the Kentucky State Legislature know that they will no longer have to worry about the threats of withholding large sums of federal money from EPA or any other federal agency if they choose to end the VET program.  (This issue will be coming up in the next Kentucky State Legislature!)

5) Sen. Bunning may want to let the citizens of Jefferson County know that he is determined to stop the EPA from running roughshod, via the federal courts, over the citizens whom he represents, and he may want have Greg Smith officially apologize for not returning my phone calls, which led to this and the previous email.  

I'm quite sure that there is plenty more that Sen. Bunning could do if he is willing, but the above suggestions may get him off in the right direction and will restore faith in his constituents that he is in Washington to represent them.  Sen. Bunning will enjoy solid support from the voters next year if he does!

However, for Sen. Bunning or for his Louisville office to simply ignore and attempt to dodge the issue altogether and to feel it unnecessary to return phone calls would be a very risky and unwise political decision indeed.

For now, I will simply request that Greg Smith get over being upset with me for pointing out my frustration in placing phone calls that are not returned.  I think he must know that I was not born yesterday, and I hope he understands that I do not appreciate being blown off and ignored.  I hope he and Sen. Bunning clearly understand that this IS a federal issue that Sen. Bunning needs to and SHOULD address and that we are serious about demanding action now!

I would much prefer Sen. Bunning be in Washington, but if he is unwilling to represent his constituents, then so what if he were to lose next November!  My sincere hope is that he will take this as seriously as the voters that elected him do.

From here on, I will simply request that Sen. Bunning or his Louisville representative (Greg Smith) respond in writing and on the record so there can be no mistake about what is said or done.  I will gladly continue to report to you on  Sen. Bunning's actions or inactions!

Stay tuned!

John Riley

Member of Stop the VET

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