Politics

In Kentucky's Fourth District congressional race, Democratic candidate Bill Adkins is demanding Republican Thomas Massie renounce a super PAC over its executive director pleading guilty to driving under the influence.

Earlier this week, The Courier-Journal reported that Liberty For All leader Preston Bates faced DUI charges from an incident in July 2011. The police report said Bates crashed his car into a fence, told officers he was an "anarchist" and had a blood alcohol level of 0.121 percent, which is above the .08 percent legal limit.

Bates's attorney entered a guilty plea for the 23-year-old on Wednesday. He will pay a fine and have his driver's license suspended for 30 days.

In the crowded GOP primary, Bates led the Texas-based super PAC, which put in over $500,000 to support Massie over his opponents.

In a statement, Adkins says Massie needs to tell the group to get out of Kentucky and argues their positions are "un-American" due to Bates' comments.

"I call upon Tom Massie to disavow the Ron Paul/Texas Liberty For All SuperPAC Tell them to leave Kentucky and stay out of this race for Congress," he says. "Liberty for All and its leaders are far out of touch with the values of Kentuckians in the Fourth District. Their executive director is a confirmed anarchist. Anarchists do not believe in any authority, anarchists have no respect for government and anarchists often use violent means to achieve their goals. Their positions are un-American."

A relatively new economic think tank in Kentucky has released a report that pushes back on calls to cut the state's pension benefits.

The report from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy says the idea that public pensioners are well-compensated compared to their private sector counterparts is a myth.

“If you fairly compare what public workers receive at this point in Kentucky, compared to the private sector in total compensated, wages and benefits, you find that they are actually somewhat under-compensated," says KCEP director Jason Bailey.

Citing concerns with outdated and contradictory regulations, Governor Steve Beshear announced Wednesday the creation of a task force to study of Kentucky's alcoholic beverage control laws.

"Many groups, including licensees, state regulators, law enforcement and private citizen shave called for statutory reform of our alcoholic beverage laws. They agree that Kentucky’s current laws do not adequately account for a 21st Century economy and standard of law," Beshear said in a news release. "A task force that includes members from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and professions is best suited to identify the problems, debate policy and make recommendations for improvements."

The state has over 13,000 licenses issued to manufacturers, distributors, and retailers for alcoholic beverages, with more than 70 different license types to regulate those operations.

Supporters of instant racing in Kentucky are once again trying to take their case to the state supreme court. Instant racing games allow players to wager on previously-run horse races using slot-machine like-devices. The Franklin Circuit Court previously ruled that the games are legal, but an appeals court sent the decision back, saying  the anti-gambling Family Foundation should've been allowed to gather evidence in the case.  Now horse industry officials are appealing that decision in hopes of taking the case to the state supreme court.