Ernie Fletcher
Encyclopedia
Ernest Lee "Ernie" Fletcher (born November 12, 1952) is a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 politician from the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

. In 1999, he was elected to the first of three consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

; he resigned in 2003 after being elected the 60th governor of Kentucky
Governor of Kentucky
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of the executive branch of government in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Fifty-six men and one woman have served as Governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-election once...

 and served in that office until 2007. Prior to his entry into politics, Fletcher was a family practice physician and a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 lay minister. He is only the second physician to be elected governor of Kentucky; the first was Luke P. Blackburn
Luke P. Blackburn
Luke Pryor Blackburn was a physician, philanthropist, and politician from the US state of Kentucky. He was elected the 28th governor of Kentucky, serving from 1879 to 1883. Until the election of Ernie Fletcher in 2003, Blackburn was the only physician to serve as governor of Kentucky...

 in 1879.

Fletcher graduated from the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

 and joined the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 to pursue his dream of becoming an astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

. He left the Air Force after budget cuts reduced his squadron's flying time and earned a degree in medicine, hoping to earn a spot as a civilian on a space mission. Deteriorating eyesight eventually ended those hopes, and he entered private practice as a physician and conducted services as a Baptist lay minister. He became active in politics and was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives
Kentucky House of Representatives
The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a House district, except when necessary to preserve...

 in 1994. Two years later he ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but lost to incumbent Scotty Baesler
Scotty Baesler
Henry Scott Baesler is a Democratic politician and former Representative from Kentucky.Baesler graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1963 and from law school there in 1966. While at the University, Baesler played basketball under legendary coach Adolph Rupp...

. When Baesler resigned to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

, Fletcher again ran for the congressional seat and defeated Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 state Senator
Kentucky Senate
The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators...

 Ernesto Scorsone
Ernesto Scorsone
Ernesto Scorsone is an American lawyer, politician and judge from Kentucky. A Democrat, he was appointed to the Fayette County Circuit Court on August 7, 2008 by Governor Steve Beshear...

. He soon became one of the House Republican caucus' top advisors regarding health care legislation, particularly the Patients' Bill of Rights
U.S. Patients' Bill of Rights
A Patient's Bill of Rights is a statement of the rights to which patients are entitled as recipients of medical care. Typically, a statement articulates the positive rights which doctors and hospitals ought to provide patients, thereby providing information, offering fair treatment, and granting...

.

Fletcher was elected governor in 2003 over state Attorney General Ben Chandler
Ben Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Ben" Chandler III is the U.S. Representative for , serving since a special election in 2004. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...

. Early in his term, Fletcher achieved some savings to the state by reorganizing the executive branch. He proposed an overhaul to the state tax code in 2004, but was unable to get it passed through the General Assembly
Kentucky General Assembly
The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky.The General Assembly meets annually in the state capitol building in Frankfort, Kentucky, convening on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January...

. When Republicans in the state senate
Kentucky Senate
The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators...

 insisted on tying the reforms to the state budget, the legislature adjourned without passing either, and the state operated under an executive spending plan drafted by Fletcher until 2005, when both the budget and the reforms were passed. Later in 2005, Attorney General Greg Stumbo
Greg Stumbo
Gregory D. "Greg" Stumbo is the Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives. Stumbo, a member of the Democratic Party, is a former Kentucky Attorney General from 2003 to 2007.-Early Career:...

, the state's highest-ranking Democrat, launched an investigation into whether the Fletcher administration's hiring practices violated the state's merit system
Merit system
The merit system is the process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections. It is the opposite of the spoils system.- History :...

. A grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...

 returned several indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...

s against members of Fletcher's staff, and eventually against Fletcher himself. Fletcher issued pardons for anyone on his staff implicated in the investigation, but did not pardon himself. Though the investigation was ended by an agreement between Fletcher and Stumbo in late 2006, it continued to overshadow Fletcher's re-election bid
Kentucky gubernatorial election, 2007
The Kentucky gubernatorial election, 2007 was held on November 6, 2007. In this election, incumbent Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher lost to Democratic challenger Steve Beshear, who therefore began serving as Governor of Kentucky in December 2007 for a term through December 2011...

 in 2007. After turning back a challenge in the Republican primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....

 by former Congresswoman Anne Northup
Anne Northup
Anne Meagher Northup is an American Republican politician from the state of Kentucky. From 1997 to 2007, she represented the Louisville-centered 3rd congressional district of Kentucky in the United States House of Representatives, where she served on the powerful House Appropriations Committee...

, Fletcher lost the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

 to Democrat Steve Beshear
Steve Beshear
Steven Lynn "Steve" Beshear is an American politician who is the 61st Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A Democrat, Beshear previously served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1979, was the state's Attorney General from 1980 to 1983, and was Lieutenant Governor from...

. After his term as governor, he returned to the medical field as founder and CEO of Alton Heathcare. He is married and has two grown children.

Early life

Ernie Fletcher was born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky
Mount Sterling, Kentucky
The Mt. Sterling-Montgomery County Library was established in 1871. The Mt. Sterling – Montgomery County Library moved to the current location, accessible from both Main and Locust Streets, in July 1984. The building was officially dedicated on September 30, 1984...

, on November 12, 1952. He was the third of four children born to Harold Fletcher, Sr. and his wife, Marie. The family owned a farm and operated a general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...

 near the community of Means
Means, Kentucky
Means is an unincorporated community in Menifee County, Kentucky, United States. It lies along U.S. Route 460 and Kentucky Route 713 west of the city of Frenchburg, the county seat of Menifee County. Its elevation is 850 feet...

. Harold Fletcher also worked for Columbia Gas
NiSource
NiSource, Inc. , based in Merrillville, Indiana, is a Fortune 500 company engaged in natural gas transmission, storage and distribution, as well as electric generation, transmission and distribution...

. When Ernie was three weeks old, Harold was transferred to Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, along the Ohio River. Most of the city is in Cabell County, for which it is the county seat. A small portion of the city, mainly the neighborhood of Westmoreland, is in Wayne County. Its population was 49,138 at...

. Two years later, the Fletchers returned to Robertson County, Kentucky
Robertson County, Kentucky
Robertson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2010, the population was 2,282. Its county seat is Mount Olivet, Kentucky. The county is named for George Robertson, a Kentucky Congressman from 1817 to 1821. Robertson is a prohibition or dry county...

, where they lived until Ernie Fletcher began the first grade
First grade
First grade is a year of primary education in schools in the United States and English-speaking provinces of Canada. It is the first school year after kindergarten...

. The family moved once more and finally settled in Lexington
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

.

Fletcher attended Lafayette High School
Lafayette High School (Lexington, Kentucky)
Lafayette Senior High School is a public high school located in Lexington, Kentucky's Picadome neighborhood. The school is one of five high schools in the Fayette County Public Schools district. It is among the largest high schools in Kentucky....

 in Lexington where he was a member of the National Beta Club
National Beta Club
The National Beta Club is an organization for 5th-12th graders in the United States, recognizing academic achievement, leadership, character and service....

. During his senior year, he was an all-state saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 player and was elected prom
Prom
In the United States and Canada, a prom, short for promenade, is a formal dance, or gathering of high school students. It is typically held near the end of the senior year. It figures greatly in popular culture and is a major event among high school students...

 king. After graduating in 1970, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

. He pledged and became a member of the Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta is a U.S.-based international secret letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded in 1858 at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, . It currently has around 125 student chapters nationwide, as well as more than 25 regional alumni groups. Its national community service...

 fraternity. After his freshman year, he married his high school sweetheart, Glenna Foster. The couple had two children, Rachel and Ben, and four grandchildren.

Fletcher aspired to become an astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

, and joined the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps. In 1974, he earned a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 degree in mechanical engineering, graduating with top honors. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

. After flight training in Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, he was stationed in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 where he served as a F-4E Aircraft
F-4 Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable,...

 Commander and NORAD
North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command is a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. Headquarters NORAD is located at Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado...

 Alert Force Commander. During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, his duties included commanding squadrons to intercept Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 military aircraft. In 1980, as budget cutbacks were reducing his squadron's flying time, Fletcher turned down a regular commission in the Air Force. He left the Air Force with the rank of captain, having received the Commendation Medal
Commendation Medal
The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration which is presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. For valorous actions in direct contact with an enemy force, but of a lesser degree than required for the award of the Bronze Star, the Valor device may...

 and the Outstanding Unit Award
Outstanding Unit Award
The Air Force Outstanding Unit Award is an award of the United States Air Force which was first created in 1954. The award is presented as a ribbon to any command of the U.S...

.

Fletcher enrolled in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine
University of Kentucky College of Medicine
The University of Kentucky College of Medicine is a medical school found in the University of Kentucky's Chandler Medical Center in Lexington, KY.-History:...

, hoping that a medical degree, along with a military background, would earn him a civilian spot on a space mission. In 1984, he graduated medical school with a Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

 degree, but his deteriorating eyesight forced him to abandon his dreams of becoming an astronaut.

In 1983, the Lexington Primitive Baptist
Primitive Baptist
Primitive Baptists, also known as Hard Shell Baptists or Anti-Mission Baptists, are conservative, Calvinist Baptists adhering to beliefs that formed out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 1800’s over the appropriateness of mission boards, bible tract societies, and temperance...

 church that Fletcher attended ordained him as a lay minister
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...

. In 1984, he opened a family medical practice
Family medicine
Family medicine is a medical specialty devoted to comprehensive health care for people of all ages. It is a division of primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, sexes, diseases, and parts of the body...

 in Lexington. Along with former classmate Dr. James D. B. George, he co-founded the South Lexington Family Physicians in 1987. For two years, he concurrently held the title of Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 of the Saint Joseph Medical Foundation, an organization that solicits private gifts to Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lexington. In 1989, Fletcher's church called him to become its unpaid pastor, but over the years, he grew to question some of the church's doctrines, desiring it to become more evangelistic. Consequently, he left the Primitive Baptist denomination in 1994 and joined the Porter Memorial Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation.

Legislative career

Through his church ministry, Fletcher became acquainted with a group of social conservatives
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...

 that gained control of the Fayette County
Fayette County, Kentucky
Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 295,083 in the 2010 Census. Its territory, population and government are coextensive with the city of Lexington, which also serves as county seat....

 Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 in 1990. (Fayette County and the city of Lexington operate under the merged Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government). Fletcher accepted an invitation to become a member of the county Republican committee. In 1994, he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives
Kentucky House of Representatives
The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a House district, except when necessary to preserve...

, defeating incumbent Democrat Leslie Trapp. He represented Kentucky’s 78th District and served on the Kentucky Commission on Poverty and the Task Force on Higher Education. He was also chosen by Governor Paul E. Patton
Paul E. Patton
Paul Edward Patton was the 59th governor of Kentucky, serving from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to succeed himself in office since James Garrard in 1800...

 to assist with reforming the state's health-care system.

As a result of legislative redistricting in 1996, Fletcher's district was consolidated with the one represented by fellow Republican Stan Cave. Rather than challenge a member of his own party, Fletcher decided to run for a seat representing Kentucky's 6th District
Kentucky's 6th congressional district
Kentucky's 6th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Based in Central Kentucky, the district contains the cities of Lexington , Richmond, and Frankfort, the state capital....

 in the U.S. House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 later that year. After winning a three-way Republican primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....

 by 4 votes over his closest opponent, he was defeated by incumbent Democrat Scotty Baesler
Scotty Baesler
Henry Scott Baesler is a Democratic politician and former Representative from Kentucky.Baesler graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1963 and from law school there in 1966. While at the University, Baesler played basketball under legendary coach Adolph Rupp...

 by just over 25,000 votes. In 1998, Baesler resigned his seat to run for the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 seat vacated due to the retirement of Senator Wendell H. Ford
Wendell H. Ford
Wendell Hampton Ford is a retired politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He served for twenty-four years in the U.S. Senate and was the 53rd Governor of Kentucky. He was the first person to be successively elected lieutenant governor, governor, and U.S. senator in Kentucky history...

. Fletcher won the Republican primary for Baesler's seat by a wide margin. In the general election, Fletcher faced Democrat Ernesto Scorsone
Ernesto Scorsone
Ernesto Scorsone is an American lawyer, politician and judge from Kentucky. A Democrat, he was appointed to the Fayette County Circuit Court on August 7, 2008 by Governor Steve Beshear...

. The Lexington Herald-Leader
Lexington Herald-Leader
The Lexington Herald-Leader is a newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company and based in the U.S. city of Lexington, Kentucky. According to the 1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, the Herald-Leaders paid circulation is the second largest in the Commonwealth of Kentucky...

billed the race as "a classic joust between the left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

 and the right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...

". Fletcher was strongly opposed to abortion, advocated a "flatter
Flat tax
A flat tax is a tax system with a constant marginal tax rate. Typically the term flat tax is applied in the context of an individual or corporate income that will be taxed at one marginal rate...

, fairer, simpler" tax system, and called for returning most federal education funding to local communities. Scorsone supported abortion rights
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....

, called a flat tax "too regressive", and favored national educational testing and standards. Fletcher defeated Scorsone by a vote of 104,046 to 90,033, with third-party candidate W. S. Krogdahl garnering 1,839 votes.

Within months of arriving in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, Fletcher was selected as the leadership liaison for the 17-member freshman class of Republican legislators. He was appointed to the Committee on Education and Workforce, and John Boehner
John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from , serving since 1991...

, chair of the committee's employer/employee relations subcommittee, chose Fletcher as his vice-chair. The committee's purpose is to oversee the rules for employer-paid health plans, among other issues, and although it is rare for a freshman legislator to attain a committee leadership post, Boehner cited Fletcher's experience in the medical field and work on reforming the Kentucky health care system as reasons for the appointment. Fletcher also served as a member of the House Committees on the Budget
United States House Committee on the Budget
The U.S. House Committee on the Budget, commonly known as the House Budget Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress...

 and Agriculture
United States House Committee on Agriculture
The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, or Agriculture Committee is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The House Committee on Agriculture has general jurisdiction over federal agriculture policy and oversight of some federal agencies, and it can recommend funding...

. In June 1999, he sponsored an amendment to a youth violence bill that allowed school districts to use federal funds to develop curricula which included elements designed to promote and enhance students' moral character
Moral character
Moral character or character is an evaluation of a particular individual's durable moral qualities. The concept of character can imply a variety of attributes including the existence or lack of virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or habits...

; the amendment passed 422—1. Later, Fletcher was assigned to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce
The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more than 200 years...

 and was selected as chairman of the Policy Subcommittee on Health.

During the debate over the proposed Patients' Bill of Rights
U.S. Patients' Bill of Rights
A Patient's Bill of Rights is a statement of the rights to which patients are entitled as recipients of medical care. Typically, a statement articulates the positive rights which doctors and hospitals ought to provide patients, thereby providing information, offering fair treatment, and granting...

 legislation, Fletcher opposed a Democratic proposal that would have allowed individuals to sue their health maintenance organization
Health maintenance organization
A health maintenance organization is an organization that provides managed care for health insurance contracts in the United States as a liaison with health care providers...

s (HMOs), favoring instead a more limited bill drafted by Republican leadership that expanded the patient's ability to appeal HMO decisions. Many doctors in the Republican legislative caucus felt their party's bill did not go far enough; Fletcher and Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 Senator Bill Frist
Bill Frist
William Harrison "Bill" Frist, Sr. is an American physician, businessman, and politician. He began his career as an heir and major stockholder to the for-profit hospital chain of Hospital Corporation of America. Frist later served two terms as a Republican United States Senator representing...

 were notable exceptions. Fletcher's position cost him the support of the Kentucky Medical Association (KMA). After contributing to his campaign against Scorsone in 1998, KMA backed Scotty Baesler's bid to regain his old seat from Fletcher in 2000. However, Baesler only captured 35 percent of the vote to Fletcher's 53 percent. The remaining 12 percent went to third-party candidate Gatewood Galbraith
Gatewood Galbraith
Louis Gatewood Galbraith is an American lawyer and author from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He has been a perennial candidate for governor of Kentucky as an outspoken proponent of education as well as privacy rights and other civil liberties...

.

After the 2000 election, Fletcher crafted a compromise bill that allowed patients to sue their HMOs in federal court, capped pain and suffering
Pain and suffering
Pain and suffering is the legal term for the physical and emotional stress caused from an injury .Some damages that might be under this category would be: aches, temporary and permanent limitations on activity, potential shortening of life, depression or scarring...

 awards at $500,000, and eliminated punitive damage awards. Despite an eventual compromise allowing patient lawsuits to go to state courts under certain circumstances and heavy lobbying in favor of Fletcher's bill by President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

, the House refused to pass it, favoring an alternative proposal by Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

's Charlie Norwood
Charlie Norwood
Charles Whitlow Norwood, Jr., D.D.S. was an American politician and dentist, serving as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until his death...

 that was less restrictive on patient lawsuits.

Fletcher faced no major-party opposition in his re-election bid in 2002 after the only Democrat in the race, 24-year-old Roy Miller Cornett Jr., withdrew his candidacy. Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 Gatewood Galbraith again made the race; Libertarian Party
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...

 Mark Gailey also mounted a challenge. In the final vote tally, Fletcher received 115,522 votes to Galbraith's 41,853 and Gailey's 3,313.

2003 gubernatorial election

In 2002, Fletcher was encouraged by Senator Mitch McConnell
Mitch McConnell
Addison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell, Jr. is the senior United States Senator from Kentucky and the Republican Minority Leader.- Early life, education, and military service :...

, the leader of Kentucky's Republican Party, to run for governor and formed an exploratory committee the same year. On December 2, 2002, he announced that he would run on a ticket with McConnell aide Hunter Bates. Early in 2003, a Republican college student named Curtis Shain challenged Bates' candidacy on grounds that he did not meet the residency requirements set forth for the lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
The office of lieutenant governor of Kentucky has existed under the last three of Kentucky's four constitutions, beginning in 1797. The lieutenant governor serves as governor of Kentucky under circumstances similar to the Vice President of the United States assuming the powers of the presidency...

 in the state constitution
Kentucky Constitution
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the document that governs the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It was first adopted in 1792 and has since been rewritten three times and amended many more...

. Under the constitution, candidates for both governor and lieutenant governor must be citizens of the state for at least six years prior to the election. From August 1995 to February 2002, Bates and his wife rented an apartment in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

 while Bates was working for a law firm in Washington, D. C., and later, as McConnell's chief of staff. Bob Heleringer, running mate of Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Nunn
Steve Nunn
Stephen R. "Steve" Nunn is the former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He was previously Republican member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from Glasgow, the seat of Barren County in southern Kentucky. He is the son of the late Kentucky...

, joined the suit as a plaintiff. In March 2003, an Oldham County, Kentucky
Oldham County, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 46,178 people, 14,856 households, and 12,196 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 15,541 housing units at an average density of...

, judge ruled that Bates had not established residency in Kentucky, citing the fact that from 1995 to 2002, he held a Virginia driver's license
Driver's license
A driver's license/licence , or driving licence is an official document which states that a person may operate a motorized vehicle, such as a motorcycle, car, truck or a bus, on a public roadway. Most U.S...

, paid Virginia income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...

es, and "regularly" slept in his apartment in Virginia. Bates did not appeal the ruling because by allowing the judge to declare a vacancy on the ballot, Fletcher was able to name a replacement running mate, an option that would not have been afforded him had Bates withdrawn.

Fletcher chose Steve Pence
Steve Pence
Stephen B. Pence was the Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He took office with fellow Republican Ernie Fletcher in December 2003.-Education:...

, United States Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...

 for the Western District of Kentucky
United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky
The United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky is the federal district court for the western part of the state of Kentucky....

, as his new running mate. Heleringer continued his legal challenge, first claiming that Bates' ineligibility should have invalidated the entire Fletcher/Bates ticket and then that Fletcher should not have been allowed to name a replacement for an unqualified candidate. The Kentucky Supreme Court
Kentucky Supreme Court
The Kentucky Supreme Court was created by a 1975 constitutional amendment and is the state supreme court of the commonwealth of Kentucky. Prior to that the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky...

 rejected that argument on May 7, 2003, though the justices' reasons for doing so varied and the final opinion conceded that "[t]his is a close case on the law, and Heleringer has presented legal issues worthy of this court's time and attention". The state Board of Elections instructed all county clerks to count absentee ballots cast for Fletcher and Bates as votes for Fletcher and Pence.

In the Republican primary, Fletcher received 53 percent of the vote, besting Nunn, Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 693,604 people, 287,012 households, and 183,113 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 305,835 housing units at an average density of...

 judge/executive
County Judge/Executive
A County Judge/Executive is an elected official in the U.S. state of Kentucky who is the head of the executive branch of a government in a county. The Judge/Executive is an ex officio member of the Fiscal Court, the county's legislature...

 Rebecca Jackson
Rebecca Jackson
Rebecca Jackson is a former Republican politician from Louisville, Kentucky, previously serving as the Jefferson County Judge/Executive and also running unsuccessfully for the party nomination for governor...

, and state senator Virgil Moore. In the Democratic primary, Attorney General Ben Chandler
Ben Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Ben" Chandler III is the U.S. Representative for , serving since a special election in 2004. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...

 defeated Speaker of the House Jody Richards
Jody Richards
Jody Richards is a Democratic member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, representing the 20th District since 1976 and former speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives.-Biography:...

. Chandler, the grandson of former governor A. B. "Happy" Chandler
Happy Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and...

, was hurt in the closing days of the campaign when a third challenger, businessman Bruce Lunsford
Bruce Lunsford
William Bruce Lunsford is an American Democratic politician from Kentucky. He has served various roles in the Kentucky Democratic Party including, Party treasurer, Deputy Development Secretary, and Head of Commerce...

 dropped out of the race and endorsed Richards. Chandler won the Democratic primary by just 3.7 percentage points and was forced to reorganize his campaign. Consequently, Fletcher entered the general election
Kentucky gubernatorial election, 2003
The 2003 Kentucky gubernatorial election took place on 4 November 2003 for the post of Governor of Kentucky. Republican candidate Ernie Fletcher defeated Democrat Ben Chandler and became the first Republican governor of Kentucky in 32 years.-Campaign:...

 as the favorite.

Due to the funding from the Republican Governors Association
Republican Governors Association
The Republican Governors Association is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1963, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Republican Party.Its Democratic Party counterpart is the Democratic Governors Association...

, Fletcher held a two-to-one fundraising advantage over Chandler. A sex-for-favors scandal that ensnared sitting Democratic governor Paul Patton, as well as a predicted $710 million shortfall in the upcoming budget, damaged the entire Democratic slate of candidates' chances for election. Fletcher capitalized on these issues, promising to "clean up the mess" in Frankfort
Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort is a city in Kentucky that serves as the state capital and the county seat of Franklin County. The population was 27,741 at the 2000 census; by population it is the 5th smallest state capital in the United States...

, and won the election by a vote of 596,284 to 487,159. In all, Republicans captured four of the seven statewide constitutional offices in 2003; Trey Grayson
Trey Grayson
Charles Merwin "Trey" Grayson III is the director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, a former Secretary of State of Kentucky and a candidate in the 2010 GOP primary to replace Jim Bunning, losing to Rand Paul.-Early years and career:A product of the Kenton County public school...

 was elected Secretary of State
Secretary of State of Kentucky
The Secretary of State of Kentucky is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is now an elected office, but was an appointed office prior to 1891. The current Secretary of State is Democrat Elaine Walker, who was appointed by Governor Steve Beshear to fulfill the...

 and Richie Farmer was elected Commissioner of Agriculture. Fletcher resigned his seat in the House on December 8, 2003 and assumed the governorship the following day. Fletcher's victory made him the first Republican elected governor of Kentucky since 1971, and his margin of victory was the largest ever for a Republican in a Kentucky gubernatorial election.

Governor of Kentucky

Fletcher made economic development a priority, and Kentucky ranked fourth among all U.S. states in number of jobs created during his administration. One of his first actions as governor was to reorganize the executive branch, condensing the number of cabinet positions from fourteen to nine. He dissolved the former Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and instead created the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority to promote and regulate the state's horse racing industry. To improve the state's management of Medicaid
Medicaid
Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...

, he rolled back some of the program's requirements and unveiled a plan to focus on improvements in care, benefit management, and technology. Fletcher also launched "Get Healthy Kentucky!," an initiative to promote healthier lifestyles for Kentuckians.

2004 state budget dispute

Throughout Fletcher's term, the Kentucky Senate was controlled by Republicans, while Democrats held a majority in the state House of Representatives. Consequently, Fletcher had difficulty getting legislation enacted in the General Assembly. Early in the 2004 legislative session, he presented a plan for tax reform that he claimed was "revenue neutral" and would "modernize" the state tax code. The plan was drafted with input from seven Democratic legislators in the House, none of them in leadership roles, leading to claims that Fletcher was trying to circumvent House leadership. As the session wore on, Republicans insisted on tying the tax reform package to the proposed state budget, while Democrats wanted to vote on the measures separately. Despite last minute attempts at a compromise as the session drew to a close, the Assembly passed neither the tax reform package nor a state budget. The contentious session ended with only a few accomplishments, including passage of a fetal homicide law, an anti-price gouging
Price gouging
Price gouging is a pejorative term referring to a situation in which a seller prices goods or commodities much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. In precise, legal usage, it is the name of a crime that applies in some of the United States during civil emergencies...

 measure, and a law barring the state public service commission
Kentucky Public Service Commission
The Kentucky Public Service Commission is a public utilities commission, a quasi-judicial regulatory tribunal, whichregulates the intrastate rates and services of investor-owned electric, natural gas, telephone, water and sewage utilities, customer-owned electric and telephone cooperatives, water...

 from regulating broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...

 Internet providers beyond what restrictions were put in place by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

.

The 2004 session marked the second consecutive session in which the General Assembly had failed to pass a biennial budget; the first occurred in 2002 under Governor Patton. When the fiscal year ended without a budget in place, responsibility for state expenditures fell to Fletcher. As it had been in 2002, spending was governed by an executive spending plan created by the governor. Democratic Attorney General
Attorney General of Kentucky
The Attorney General of Kentucky is an office created by the Kentucky Constitution. . Under Kentucky law, he serves several roles, including the state's chief prosecutor , the state's chief law enforcement officer , and the state's chief law officer...

 Greg Stumbo
Greg Stumbo
Gregory D. "Greg" Stumbo is the Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives. Stumbo, a member of the Democratic Party, is a former Kentucky Attorney General from 2003 to 2007.-Early Career:...

 filed suit asking for a determination on the extent of Fletcher's ability to spend without legislative approval. A similar suit, filed after the 2002 session ended in deadlock, was rendered moot when the legislature passed a budget in a special session prior to the conclusion of the lawsuit. A judicial review by a Franklin County circuit court judge approved Fletcher's spending plan but forbade spending on new capital projects and programs. In late December 2004, a judge ruled that Fletcher's plan could continue to govern spending until the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2005, but "thereafter" executive spending was to be limited to "funds demonstrated to be for limited and specific essential services."

On May 19, 2005, the Kentucky Supreme Court
Kentucky Supreme Court
The Kentucky Supreme Court was created by a 1975 constitutional amendment and is the state supreme court of the commonwealth of Kentucky. Prior to that the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky...

 issued a 4–3 decision stating that the General Assembly had acted unconstitutionally by not passing a budget and that Fletcher had acted outside his constitutional authority by spending money not specifically appropriated by the legislature. The majority opinion rejected the lower court's exception for "specific essential services", saying "If the legislative department fails to appropriate funds deemed sufficient to operate the executive department at a desired level of services, the executive department must serve the citizenry as best it can with what it is given. If the citizenry deems those services insufficient, it will exercise its own constitutional power — the ballot." Chief Justice Joseph Lambert dissented, claiming the executive spending plan was necessary. Two other justices, in a separate opinion, disagreed with the majority that federal and state constitutional mandates should still be funded in the absence of a budget. In their dissent, they argued that the threat of a government shutdown would act as an impetus for the General Assembly to engage in timely budget-making. The decision took no retroactive steps to change the actions it ruled unconstitutional, but it served as a precedent for any future cases of budgetary gridlock.

Legislative interim and 2005 legislative session

In June 2004, Fletcher's aircraft caused a security scare that triggered a brief evacuation of the U.S. Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...

 and Supreme Court building
United States Supreme Court building
The Supreme Court Building is the seat of the Supreme Court of the United States. It is situated in Washington, D.C. at 1 First Street, NE, on the block immediately east of the United States Capitol. The building is under the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol. On May 4, 1987, the Supreme...

. Shortly after takeoff en route to memorial services for former president Ronald Reagan, the transponder
Transponder (aviation)
A transponder is an electronic device that produces a response when it receives a radio-frequency interrogation...

 on Fletcher's plane malfunctioned, leading officials at Reagan National Airport
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport located south of downtown Washington, D.C., in Arlington County, Virginia. It is the commercial airport nearest to Washington, D.C. For many decades, it was called Washington National Airport, but this airport was renamed in 1998 to...

 to report an unauthorized aircraft entering restricted airspace. Two F-15 fighters were dispatched to investigate, and Fletcher's plane was escorted to its destination by two Blackhawk helicopters
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk
The UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System competition in 1972...

. The plane, a 33-year-old Beechcraft King Air
Beechcraft King Air
The Beechcraft King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation...

, was the oldest of its model still in operation. An investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...

 (FAA) found that the crew of Fletcher's plane maintained radio contact with air traffic officials and received clearance to enter the restricted air space. The investigation determined that miscommunication by air traffic controllers sparked the panic, and in the aftermath of the incident, the FAA adopted policies to prevent future errors of a similar nature.
In July 2004, Fletcher announced a plan to unify the state's branding to improve its public perception. Shortly after the announcement, late-night comedians Craig Kilborn
Craig Kilborn
Craig Kilborn is an American actor and talk show host. He was the original host of The Daily Show, a former anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter, and Tom Snyder's successor on CBS' The Late Late Show. On June 28, 2010, he launched The Kilborn File after a six-year absence from television...

 and Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...

 made some tongue-in-cheek suggestions for the new slogan on The Late Late Show
The Late Late Show (CBS TV series)
The Late Late Show is an American late-night television talk and variety show on CBS hosted by Craig Ferguson since 2005. It immediately follows Late Show with David Letterman and is produced by Letterman's Worldwide Pants Incorporated...

and The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...

, respectively. In response, Fletcher wrote a letter to both comedians taking exception to the jokes and was invited to appear on both programs. Citing Leno's larger audience and earlier time slot, Fletcher agreed to appear on The Tonight Show, where he presented Leno with a Louisville Slugger
Hillerich & Bradsby
Hillerich & Bradsby Company is a company located in Louisville, Kentucky that produces the famous Louisville Slugger baseball bat. The Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in downtown Louisville features a retrospective of the product and its use throughout baseball history...

 baseball bat and traded jocular barbs about the relative advantages of Kentucky and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 where The Tonight Show is filmed. Eventually, four slogans were chosen to be voted on online as well as at interstate travel centers. In December 2004, "Kentucky: Unbridled Spirit" was chosen as the winning slogan and was printed on road signs, state documents, and souvenirs. A 2007 study determined that 88.9% of Kentuckians could correctly identify the slogan and its logo. Further, 64% of those surveyed across a ten-state region recognized the slogan and logo, higher than any other brand tested in the study.

In the second half of 2004, Fletcher proposed changes to the health benefits of state workers and retirees. Fletcher's plan provided discounts for members who engaged in healthier behavior, which he called a transition from a sickness initiative to a wellness initiative. Acknowledging that out-of-pocket expenses would rise, Fletcher proposed a 1% salary increase to offset the additional costs. State employees, particularly public school teachers, broadly opposed Fletcher's plan, and the Kentucky Educators Association called for an indefinite strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

, to begin October 27, 2004. To address the opposition, Fletcher called a special session of the legislature to begin October 5, 2004. Although the state was still operating under an executive spending plan, Fletcher did not include the budget or his tax reform proposal in the session's agenda, a move praised by both parties, allowing them to focus only on concerns over the health plan. In a fifteen-day session, the General Assembly passed a plan that allocated $190 million more to health insurance for state workers and restored many of the most popular benefits in the previous insurance plan. Immediately after the session adjourned, the Kentucky Educators Association voted to cancel their proposed strike.

On November 8, 2004, Fletcher signed a death warrant
Execution warrant
An execution warrant is a writ which authorizes the execution of a judgment of death on an individual...

 for Thomas Clyde Bowling, who was convicted of a double murder in 1990 and sentenced to death by lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...

. A group of doctors requested an investigation by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure to determine whether Fletcher's medical license should be revoked for that action. Kentucky requires doctors to follow the guidelines of the American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...

, which forbid doctors from participating in an execution. On January 13, 2005, the Board of Medical Licensure found that Fletcher was acting in his capacity as governor, not as a doctor, when he signed the warrant and ruled that his license was not forfeit by that action.

During the General Assembly's 2005 session, Fletcher again proposed his tax reform plan, and late in the session, both houses passed it. The plan raised sin tax
Sin tax
A sin tax is a kind of sumptuary tax: a tax specifically levied on certain generally socially proscribed goods and services. These goods are usually alcohol and tobacco, but also include candies, soft drinks, fat foods and coffee, while services range from prostitution to...

es on cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...

s and alcohol, as well as upping taxes on satellite television service and motel rooms. Businesses were also subjected to a gross receipts tax
Gross receipts tax
A gross receipts tax or gross excise tax is a tax on the total gross revenues of a company, regardless of their source. A gross receipts tax is similar to a sales tax, but it is levied on the seller of goods or service consumers...

. In exchange, corporate taxes were lowered, as were income taxes for individuals who earned less than $75,000 annually; 300,000 low-wage earners were dropped from the income tax rolls altogether. The Assembly also passed a budget for the remainder of the biennium, abolished the state's public campaign finance
Campaign finance
Campaign finance refers to all funds that are raised and spent in order to promote candidates, parties or policies in some sort of electoral contest. In modern democracies such funds are not necessarily devoted to election campaigns. Issue campaigns in referendums, party activities and party...

 laws, and passed new school nutrition guidelines.

Merit system investigation

In May 2005, Attorney General Stumbo began an investigation of allegations that the Fletcher administration circumvented the state merit system
Merit system
The merit system is the process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections. It is the opposite of the spoils system.- History :...

 for hiring, promoting, demoting and firing state employees by basing decisions on employees' political loyalties. The investigation was prompted by a 276-page complaint filed by Douglas W. Doerting, the assistant personnel director for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is Kentucky's state-funded agency charged with building and maintaining U.S...

. Fletcher, who was on a trade mission
Trade mission
Trade mission is an international trip by government officials and businesspeople that is organized by agencies of national or provincial governments for purpose of exploring international business opportunities. Business people who attend trade missions are typically introduced both to important...

 in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 when news of the investigation broke, conceded via telephone news conference that his office may have made "mistakes" with regard to hiring that stemmed from not having a formal process for handling employment recommendations. Upon his return from Japan, Fletcher denied that the "mistakes" by his administration were illegal and called the investigation by Stumbo "the beginning of the 2007 governor's race", an allusion to Stumbo's potential candidacy in 2007. Stumbo denied any plans to run for governor in 2007, although he eventually became gubernatorial candidate Bruce Lunsford
Bruce Lunsford
William Bruce Lunsford is an American Democratic politician from Kentucky. He has served various roles in the Kentucky Democratic Party including, Party treasurer, Deputy Development Secretary, and Head of Commerce...

's running mate in the election, losing in the Democratic primary.

A grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...

 was empaneled in June 2005 to investigate the charges against Fletcher's administration. By August, the jury had returned indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...

s against nine administration officials, including state Republican Party chairman Darrell Brock Jr.
Darrell Brock Jr.
In April 2005, Brock received unanimous support from Kentucky's elected leaders including Senator's Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning as well as the Congressional Delegation to serve as the Chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky...

 and acting Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert
Bill Nighbert
Bill Nighbert is a Republican government official in the U.S. state of Kentucky.Nighbert served as mayor of Williamsburg, Kentucky for three terms...

. All of the indictments were for misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...

s such as conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...

 except those against Administrative Services Commissioner Dan Druen
Dan Druen
Dan Druen was a Kentucky Transportation Cabinet official in the administration of Republican Governor of Kentucky Ernie Fletcher. Druen joined the Fletcher administration in 2004 and was appointed to the post of Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services...

, who was charged with 22 felonies
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...

 (20 counts of physical evidence tampering
Falsified evidence
False evidence, forged evidence or tainted evidence is information created or obtained illegally, to sway the verdict in a court case. Also, misleading by suppressing evidence can be used to sway a verdict; however, in some cases, suppressed evidence is excluded because it was found hidden or...

 and 2 counts of witness tampering
Witness tampering
Witness tampering is harming or otherwise threatening a witness, hoping to influence his or her testimony.-Witness tampering in the USA:In the United States, the crime of witness tampering in federal cases is defined by statute at , "Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant"...

) in addition to 13 misdemeanors. On August 29, Fletcher granted pardons to the nine indicted administration officials and issued a blanket pardon for "any and all persons who have committed, or may be accused of committing, any offense" with regard to the investigation. Fletcher exempted himself from the blanket pardon. The next day, Fletcher was called to testify before the grand jury, but refused to answer any questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...

 right against self-incrimination.

In mid-September, after Fletcher issued the pardons, a Courier-Journal poll found Fletcher's approval rating at 38 percent, tying the lowest rating reached by his predecessor, Paul E. Patton, during the sex scandal that tarnished his administration. On September 14, 2005, Fletcher fired nine employees, including four of the nine he pardoned two weeks earlier. The firings were praised by Fletcher critic Charles Wells of the Kentucky Association of State Employees, who said: "When all else fails, the governor did the right thing." However, Democratic state senator and former governor Julian Carroll
Julian Carroll
Julian Morton Carroll is a politician from the US state of Kentucky. A Democrat, he is presently a member of the Kentucky Senate, representing Anderson, Franklin, Woodford, and part of Fayette counties. From 1974 to 1979, he served as the 54th Governor of Kentucky, succeeding Wendell H. Ford, who...

 criticized Fletcher for not firing the indicted officials when he issued the pardons. Fletcher also called for the firing of state Republican Party chair Darrell Brock, Jr. due to Brock's role in the merit scandal. The state Republican executive committee met on September 17, but did not act on Fletcher's call to fire Brock.

The grand jury continued its investigation, issuing five more indictments after Fletcher issued his blanket pardon. Two were returned against members of Fletcher's staff, and two were against unpaid advisors to Fletcher. The fifth was issued against Acting Secretary Nighbert for retaliation against a whistleblower
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...

. Only the additional charge against Nighbert was alleged to have occurred after Fletcher issued the pardon. On October 24, 2005, Fletcher filed a motion asking Franklin Circuit Court Judge William Graham to order the grand jury to stop issuing indictments for offenses that occurred prior to the blanket pardon; only the names of indicted officials could be included in the jury's final report. On November 16, Graham ruled that the grand jury could continue issuing indictments, but in a separate ruling, dismissed the indictments against Fletcher's staff and volunteer advisors on grounds that they were covered by the pardon. Graham did not rule on the latest indictment against Nighbert. The Kentucky Court of Appeals
Kentucky Court of Appeals
The Kentucky Court of Appeals is the lower of Kentucky's two appellate courts, under the Kentucky Supreme Court. Prior to a 1975 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky....

 affirmed Graham's ruling on December 16. Immediately after the Court of Appeals' ruling, Fletcher announced his intent to appeal the ruling to the Kentucky Supreme Court
Kentucky Supreme Court
The Kentucky Supreme Court was created by a 1975 constitutional amendment and is the state supreme court of the commonwealth of Kentucky. Prior to that the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky...

.

2006 legislative session

On February 12, 2006, shortly after the beginning of the General Assembly's legislative session, Fletcher was hospitalized with abdominal pain. Doctors at St. Joseph East hospital in Lexington found a gallstone
Gallstone
A gallstone is a crystalline concretion formed within the gallbladder by accretion of bile components. These calculi are formed in the gallbladder, but may pass distally into other parts of the biliary tract such as the cystic duct, common bile duct, pancreatic duct, or the ampulla of...

 in his common bile duct
Common bile duct
The common bile duct is a tube-like anatomic structure in the human gastrointestinal tract. It is formed by the union of the common hepatic duct and the cystic duct . It is later joined by the pancreatic duct to form the ampulla of Vater...

 and also diagnosed him with an inflamed pancreas
Pancreas
The pancreas is a gland organ in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as a digestive organ, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that assist...

 and gallbladder disease. After surgery to remove the gallbladder, Fletcher developed a blood infection that slowed his recovery, but was discharged from the hospital on March 1. Days later, he returned to St. Joseph's with a blood clot which had to be dissolved, resulting in another five-day stay in the hospital. Fletcher staffers insisted that his absence did not have a negative impact on his ability to get legislation passed during the session. A right-to-work law
Right-to-work law
Right-to-work laws are statutes enforced in twenty-two U.S. states, mostly in the southern or western U.S., allowed under provisions of the federal Taft–Hartley Act, which prohibit agreements between labor unions and employers that make membership, payment of union dues, or fees a condition of...

 and a repeal of the state's prevailing wage
Prevailing wage
In government contracting, a prevailing wage is defined as the hourly wage, usual benefits and overtime, paid to the majority of workers, laborers, and mechanics within a particular area. Prevailing wages are established by regulatory agencies for each trade and occupation employed in the...

 law – both advocated by Fletcher – failed early in the session, but both had been considered unlikely to pass before the session started. Among the bills that did pass the session were a mandatory seat belt law
Seat belt legislation in the United States
Most seat belt legislation in the United States is left to the states. However, the first seat belt law was a federal law which took effect on January 1, 1968 that required all vehicles to be fitted with seat belts in all designated seating positions...

, a law requiring children under 16 years old to wear a helmet when operating an all-terrain vehicle
All-terrain vehicle
An all-terrain vehicle , also known as a quad, quad bike, three wheeler, or four wheeler, is defined by the American National Standards Institute as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, along with handlebars for steering control...

, and legislation allowing the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...

 to be posted on Capitol grounds in a historical context.

The Assembly passed a biennial budget, but did not allow enough time in the session to reconvene and potentially override any of Fletcher's veto
Veto
A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...

es. In an attempt to avoid "excessive debt", Fletcher used his line-item veto
Line-item veto
In United States government, the line-item veto, or partial veto, is the power of an executive authority to nullify or cancel specific provisions of a bill, usually a budget appropriations bill, without vetoing the entire legislative package...

 to trim $370 million in projects from the budget passed by the Assembly. Although falling far short of his initial prediction of vetoing $938 million, Fletcher used the line-item veto more than any other governor in state history. One project not vetoed by Fletcher was $11 million for the University of the Cumberlands
University of the Cumberlands
University of the Cumberlands is a private, liberal arts college located in Williamsburg, Kentucky, with an enrollment of approximately 3,200 students...

 to build a pharmacy school
Pharmacy school
The basic requirement for pharmacists to be considered for registration is an undergraduate or postgraduate Pharmacy degree from a recognized university. In most countries this involves a four- or five-year course to attain a Master of Pharmacy...

. LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 rights groups had asked Fletcher to veto the funds because the university, a private Baptist school, had expelled a student for being openly gay.

One of Fletcher's priorities that was not resolved during the session was the correction of unintended tax increases on businesses that resulted from the tax reform plan passed in 2005. Fletcher called a special legislative session for mid-June so that the legislature could amend the plan and also authorize tax breaks designed to lure a proposed FutureGen
FutureGen
FutureGen is a US government project announced by President George W. Bush in 2003; its initial plan involved the construction of a near zero-emissions coal-fueled power plant to produce hydrogen and electricity while using carbon capture and storage....

 power plant to Henderson
Henderson, Kentucky
Henderson is a city in Henderson County, Kentucky, United States, along the Ohio River in the western part of the state. The population was 27,952 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Evansville Metropolitan Area often referred to as "Kentuckiana", although "Tri-State Area" or "Tri-State" are more...

. Republican Senate President
President of the Kentucky Senate
President of the Kentucky Senate is an office created by a 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky. The President of the Senate is the highest ranking officer of that body and presides over the Senate.-History of the office:...

 David L. Williams
David L. Williams
David Lewis Williams is a lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. A Republican, he has represented Kentucky's 16th district in the Kentucky Senate since 1987. When Republicans gained control of the state senate in 2000, Williams was chosen as President of the Senate, and he has held...

 asked Fletcher to include tax breaks for other businesses as well, but Fletcher insisted on a sparse legislative agenda. The session convened for five days and passed the tax breaks and amended tax reform plan unanimously in both houses. Fletcher applauded the legislature's efficiency.

Investigation concludes

As the Kentucky Supreme Court prepared to hear Fletcher's appeal on whether the grand jury could continue to indict people covered by his blanket pardon, two of the court's seven justices recused themselves from the case, citing conflicts of interest
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....

. Kentucky's constitution provides that, in the case of more than one recusal on the court, the governor is to appoint special justices to replace them. Accordingly, Fletcher named two replacements, but one of those – Circuit Judge Jeffrey Burdette – declined to serve on grounds that he had contributed to Fletcher's 2003 gubernatorial campaign. Fletcher then named another special justice to replace Burdette, consistent with a precedent set by former Democratic Governor Brereton Jones
Brereton Jones
Brereton Chandler Jones is a horse breeder and politician from the US state of Kentucky. From 1987 to 1991, he served as lieutenant governor of Kentucky and from 1991 to 1995, he was the state's 58th governor...

. Stumbo challenged this third appointment, claiming that Burdette's refusal to serve created only one vacancy on the court, and that the case could be tried with six justices. The Kentucky Supreme Court sustained Stumbo's complaint. In a 4–2 ruling issued May 18, 2006, the Kentucky Supreme Court barred the grand jury from issuing further indictments against individuals covered by Fletcher's blanket pardon, reversing the Court of Appeals. The ruling did not affect indictments for crimes allegedly committed after the pardon was issued. The Supreme Court also held that the grand jury could issue a general report of its findings at the conclusion of its investigation, but left open the question of whether the names of unindicted individuals could appear in the report. A later decision by the Court of Appeals found that unindicted individuals could not be named in the report.

Just prior to the Supreme Court's ruling, the grand jury handed down indictments against Fletcher for three misdemeanors – conspiracy, official misconduct, and political discrimination. Fletcher did not appear at his arraignment on June 9 because he was on vacation in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

; his attorney entered "not guilty" pleas to all three charges on his behalf. On August 11, 2006, Special Judge David E. Melcher ruled that because the personnel violations were allegedly committed while Fletcher was acting in his official capacity as governor, he was protected by executive immunity and could not be prosecuted until he left office. Melcher asked that the two sides work together to reach a settlement in the case. On August 24, Fletcher and Stumbo announced such an agreement. Under the settlement, Fletcher acknowledged that evidence "strongly indicate[d] wrongdoing by his administration" but did not admit any wrongdoing personally. Fletcher also acknowledged that Stumbo's prosecution of the case "[was a] necessary and proper [exercise] of his constitutional duty" and ensured that abuses of the merit system would be ended. In addition to dropping the charges against Fletcher, Stumbo conceded that any violations by Fletcher's administration were "without malice". Four members of the state Personnel Board who were appointed by Fletcher were required to step down. Their replacements would be chosen by Fletcher from a list provided by Stumbo.

The grand jury issued its report on the investigation in October 2006, and a judge ordered it released to the public on November 16. The report categorized the Fletcher administration's actions as "a widespread and coordinated plan to violate merit hiring laws." It charged that "This investigation was not about a few people here and there who made some mistakes as Governor Ernie Fletcher had claimed," and lamented that the blanket pardon issued by Fletcher, coupled with Fletcher taking the Fifth, made it "difficult to get to the bottom of the facts of this case....As a result, [the grand jury was] in part forced to rely on documentary evidence to piece together the facts of the case." Fletcher opined that the allegations in the report were inconsistent with his settlement with Stumbo, which acknowledged that Fletcher's administration acted "without malice."

2007 gubernatorial election

In early 2005, Fletcher announced his intent to run for re-election. Shortly after Fletcher was indicted by the grand jury in 2006, Lieutenant Governor Pence announced that he would not be Fletcher's running mate during his re-election bid. Fletcher asked for Pence's immediate resignation as lieutenant governor. Pence declined, but did tender his resignation as head of the Justice Cabinet. Fletcher named his executive secretary, Robbie Rudolph
Robbie Rudolph
Robbie Rudolph is a Kentucky businessman who was also a Kentucky government official and Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky during the term of Ernie Fletcher as Governor of Kentucky...

, as his new running mate.

Although Fletcher's agreement with Stumbo to end the investigation was announced in late 2006, the scandal continued to plague his re-election bid, and he drew two challengers in the Republican primary – former Third District Congresswoman
Kentucky's 3rd congressional district
Kentucky's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kentucky encompassing nearly the whole city of Louisville, which, since the merger of 2003, is contiguous with Jefferson County...

 Anne Northup
Anne Northup
Anne Meagher Northup is an American Republican politician from the state of Kentucky. From 1997 to 2007, she represented the Louisville-centered 3rd congressional district of Kentucky in the United States House of Representatives, where she served on the powerful House Appropriations Committee...

 and multi-millionaire Paducah
Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah is the largest city in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Region and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, halfway between the metropolitan areas of St. Louis, Missouri, to the west and Nashville,...

 businessman Billy Harper. Senator Mitch McConnell
Mitch McConnell
Addison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell, Jr. is the senior United States Senator from Kentucky and the Republican Minority Leader.- Early life, education, and military service :...

, the consensus leader of the Kentucky Republican Party, declined to make an endorsement in the primary, but conceded that Northup was "a formidable opponent". Northup campaigned on the idea that Fletcher's involvement in the hiring scandal had made him "unelectable". Northup secured the endorsements of Jim Bunning
Jim Bunning
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and politician.During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1955 to 1971, most notably with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies. When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career...

, Kentucky's other Republican senator, and Lieutenant Governor Pence. In the primary, Fletcher garnered over 50% of the vote and secured the party's nomination. His rival Northup struggled with name recognition and found few areas of support outside the Louisville district she represented in Congress. She garnered 36.5% of the vote, with the remaining 13.4% going to Billy Harper. Democrats nominated former Lieutenant Governor Steve Beshear
Steve Beshear
Steven Lynn "Steve" Beshear is an American politician who is the 61st Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A Democrat, Beshear previously served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1979, was the state's Attorney General from 1980 to 1983, and was Lieutenant Governor from...

 to challenge Fletcher.

In the midst of the primary campaign, the 2007 General Assembly convened. Among the accomplishments of the session were raising the state's minimum wage
Minimum wage in the United States
, the federal minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 per hour. Some states and municipalities have set minimum wages higher than the federal level , with the highest state minimum wage being $8.67 in Washington. Some U.S. territories are exempt...

 to $7.25 per hour, increasing the speed limit
Speed limit
Road speed limits are used in most countries to regulate the speed of road vehicles. Speed limits may define maximum , minimum or no speed limit and are normally indicated using a traffic sign...

 on major state highways to 70 mile per hour, and implementing new safety requirements for social workers and coal miners. Additional legislation stalled after negotiations over how to make the state's retirement system solvent reached an impasse. Fletcher indicated that he would consider calling the Assembly into special session later in the year. In July, Fletcher called the session and included 67 items on its agenda. Democrats in the state House of Representatives maintained that none of the items were urgent enough to warrant a special session. They claimed the call was an attempt by Fletcher to boost his sagging poll numbers against Beshear, and the House adjourned after only 90 minutes without acting on any of Fletcher's agenda. Fletcher denied the claims and insisted that a tax incentive program was needed immediately to keep the state in the running for a proposed coal gasification
Coal gasification
Coal gasification is the process of producing coal gas, a type of syngas–a mixture of carbon monoxide , hydrogen , carbon dioxide and water vapour –from coal...

 plant to be built by Peabody Energy
Peabody Energy
Peabody Energy Corporation , previously Peabody Coal Company, is the largest private-sector coal company in the world. The company is headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri....

. After negotiating with legislators, Fletcher called another session for August; the session included only the tax incentive program, which the Assembly passed.

In the general election campaign, Fletcher attempted to make the expansion of casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...

 gambling, rather than the merit system investigation, the central issue. Beshear favored holding a referendum on a constitutional amendment to allow expanded casino gambling in the state, while Fletcher maintained that expanded gambling would bring an increase in crime and societal ills. The gambling issue failed to gain as much traction as the hiring scandal, however, and Beshear defeated Fletcher by a vote of 619,686 to 435,895.

After the election, Fletcher founded Alton Heathcare, a consulting firm that helps healthcare providers make efficient use of technology in their practice. He has served as CEO of the company, which is based in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

, since 2008.

Ancestors



External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK