KY inmate issue fuels tax debate

Everyone wants credit for the idea of housing inmates in Kentucky (read Enquirer story.) And although the sales tax campaign hasn’t officially started….it kinda has.

Pat DeWine, the lone Republican county commissioner, held a press conference Tuesday with State Rep. Tom Brinkman Jr. (aka the founder of COAST and opponant of the jail sales tax plan). The pair shared the podium as they proposed legislation that could allow Hamilton County to ship its overflow inmates to the Bluegrass state.

Problem is, DeWine’s Democratic colleagues on county commission said they’d already been working on this. They just hadn’t been as loud about it.

Commissioner Todd Portune discussed the issue with Governor Ted Strickland two weeks ago. Portune and Pepper were already planning to introduce a resolution Wednesday asking the governor to look into it.

So perhaps DeWine stole their thunder a little.

But they aren’t really even upset about that. What they’re upset about is the fact that DeWine is saying this law will negate the need for a new jail.

“These are the kinds of solutions we should actively be looking into,” DeWine said in a press release. “This shows that if we have the will, we can increase available jail spaces without saddling the voters with a mammoth tax increase.”

Portune and Pepper balked at this. They said that is absolutely false.

They said DeWine simply used Tuesday’s press conference as an excuse to bash the sales tax. It was another chance to tell the public the tax isn’t needed.

“Announcing it the way it was announced is more politics than policy,” Pepper said.

Added Portune: “They did this as a political stunt to say we don’t need the sales tax. That’s what’s so disingenuous abut it,” he said. “They’re not solving the problem at all. They’re just trying to win an election. Yeah, we’ll save a little money short-term. That’s why I met with the governor. But to tell the public that this will solve the problem is wholly inaccurate.”

(Here's their press release. Note the bolded sentences)

Even State Rep. Bill Seitz, who co-sponsored the legislation, agreed (he didn’t attend the press conference)

“I don’t believe that for a minute,” Seitz said of the idea that the law eliminates the need for a new jail. “Over time both (Campbell and Butler counties) will be booked up with prisoners from their own jurisdictions,” Seitz said. “I support the common-sense bill and I will work for its passage, but I don’t believe that this is a long term solution.”