This year's gubernatorial elections are likely to be a wash: Republicans captured Louisiana, but the Democrats are almost certain to win Kentucky, thanks in large part to Governor Ernie Fletcher's appalling ethics record.

Fletcher took office following the ethically challenged administration of Democratic governor Paul Patton, and called himself an ethics"reformer." In what's certainly the year's most biting political ad, a Kentucky good-government group contrasts the rhetoric with the reality.

David J Merkowitz - 10/30/2007

Fletcher fell prey to that most unfortunately tendency which often befalls those who finally defeat an entrenched power structure. KY State Gov't had been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party for more than a generation and really for most of the century. Instead of following the reform orientation that got him elected, instead he decided to play the same game the Dems had done for so many years, but did it in such a way that revealed a lack of serious about reform.