CN|2 Politics

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul announced Friday that he promoted William Henderson to be his new chief of staff, replacing Doug Stafford, who moved to Paul’s political operation. Henderson had served as Paul’s deputy chief of staff and legislative director since Paul joined the U.S. Senate in January 2011. Previously, Henderson worked as legislative director for Paul’s predecessor in the Senate, Jim Bunning, for nearly 12 years. “William is an incredible asset to our team and I am excited that he will... Read more 

UPDATED: State Rep. Jeff Greer, D-Brandenburg, pre-filed legislation this week which he says is meant to remove a “poker chip” the Senate has used during negotiations over other bills: the confirmation of the state’s insurance commissioner. Bill Request 7 would remove the power the Senate has to confirm the governor’s appointment of the commissioner of Insurance Department and the commissioner of the Department of Workers’ Claims. Both positions require re-appointments every four years. “Last session it was highly rumored the... Read more 

The decision to expand Medicaid coverage to more low-income families won’t necessarily increase access to health care and could increase the inefficiencies in the current system, said Rep. Robert Benvenuti, a freshman Republican from Lexington. Benvenuti, a lawyer who worked from 2004-2007 as inspector general of the state’s health cabinet that oversees Medicaid, said he disagreed with Gov. Steve Beshear’s move last week to accept the expansion, which will cover 308,000 uninsured Kentuckians who earn less than 138 percent of... Read more 

Agriculture Commissioner James Comer on Thursday announced the complete shut down of Richie Farmer’s cash-losing fuel lab as well as the departure of Deputy Commissioner Larry Cox, who had been heading up the lab’s closure. As announced in April the fuel testing will continue via a private laboratory at a $600,000 savings to taxpayers. A press release from the Department of Agriculture announced Larry Cox would return to retirement on Thursday. He served in the department before as executive director for... Read more 

Former IRS Commissioner Steven Miller is scheduled to testify at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the IRS scandal Friday morning after his resignation, but some in Kentucky’s delegation say that wont be enough. While there is already talk of a successor after the resignation of Miller, many in Congress have said that would be premature until a full investigation has taken place. Some are even threatening to put a hold on a nomination if the administration does not... Read more 

In his trip to Washington, D.C., last week to push for legalizing industrial hemp, Agriculture Commissioner James Comer found that he had unlikely — and influential — ally who has been lobbying House Speaker John Boehner on that for years. Comer met privately with Boehner for more than 30 minutes. And he said it was a surprise that he didn’t need to explain the differences between hemp and marijuana to Boehner. “He said that his daughter had been a proponent... Read more 

Next up in Kentucky’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act is to let uninsured Kentuckians know about the health exchange that can match them up with insurance. And Gov. Steve Beshear announced that outreach effort on Wednesday. The new public education initiative — called kynect—will be overseen by the Kentucky Office of the Health Benefit Exchange within the Cabinet of Health and Family services. Kynect allows Kentuckians to discover what kind of health coverage they are eligible for through the website, a... Read more