Time now to recap some of the big political news of the week as we go inside Kentucky politics.

And we have Abby Piper and Jared Smith, a Piper Smith government relations boutique.

And they do so much more than that.

And it's always good to have them.

Good to see you.

Thanks.

Okay.

So in the 7 minutes we have here, let's run through it.

We've got Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, size up that pick and the fact that Governor Andy Beshear was overlooked this time.

Yeah, well, you know, I don't think I'm tremendously shocked that Boshier was not the pick.

Just because you're looking for somebody who can give you some a little gas in the engine on the electoral map.

And, you know, Bush's popularity is great, but it's not going to flip the state for Harris.

And so that doesn't make a lot of sense.

I was a little surprised that they didn't choose Mark Kelly out of Arizona to leave Arizona off of the electoral map for me was a misstep.

But, you know, they they've got a good pick.

He's really qualified.

And to put him up against J.D.

Vance is going to be fun to watch.

He's kind of funny, right?

Mary, Funny, You know, and and let's talk about the J.D.

Vance pick, because I haven't got a chance to ask you publicly about that.

And some of the recent clips that have come out that have not been so flattering about him.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, J.D.

Vance, I've read his book.

There are parts of it that really resonated with me and parts that didn't, obviously.

But, you know, he's he's gone out with this childless cat lady thing, and he doubled down on it, and then he sent his wife out into the media to defend him.

It's a really bad look.

And, you know, it's not just that it was very smart because two of the most famous people I know, they're childless cat ladies are Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift, and they command an army.

So we've seen it on the ticket, on the ballots.

When you go after women and women's issues, Republicans tend to suffer.

So that was a misstep for sure.

It would be fun to watch them go up against Mr. Wallace and see where we go from here.

Yeah.

And so we know that the ABC debate is scheduled for I think it's September 10th.

But when Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and we'll see how that goes and if there's more to follow.

Yeah, the questions are going to be more to follow.

You know, Trump called a press conference yesterday where he just ranting and raving and made stuff up.

And, you know, you can tell that they are not adjusting well to Harris being the nominee or the presumptive nominee.

Now, they don't really know what to do with her.

They feel very comfortable with Biden.

You know, waltz comes on.

He brings this Midwestern, you know, I can fix anything attitude, you know, And he called them weirdos.

And that stuck.

And so, you know, I am surprised that SHAPIRO wasn't picked because at this point about the electoral map, do you take Pennsylvania off the map?

You probably win.

Now, I did hear from the Harris camp that they told her she could win with all three of them, Kelly SHAPIRO or Waltz.

And so she went with the person that she was most comfortable, comfortable with and the one that Nancy Pelosi was backing, which is Walz.

So, yeah.

So tell us a bit more about the Pelosi factor.

So Pelosi is understands probably single handedly saving democracy.

You know, she got Joe she got President Biden's step down.

There's no secret about that.

She demanded the poll numbers that they kept saying they had.

Nobody could produce the poll numbers.

You know, she she pushed for what's to be the pick.

House Dems felt kind of locked out of the White House under Biden because of his close relationship with the senators.

He never really needed to house them because he could just do it through the Senate.

So Pelosi and Jeffries were like, We kind of wants one of our own.

And so it wants, you know, sort of ten years, I believe.

Yeah.

And it's very well like so.

Yeah.

So where does this leave Andy Beshear?

Right.

I mean, he was on the short list, which that's great.

And, but could there be some possible political ascension even more for him later if there is a Harris Walz victory.

When you make it to that sort of a list, you're already vetted and you already have some sort of relationship with whomever may become president.

So it happens throughout history that those people end up being cabinet positions, you know, people to judge a foreign candidate.

You know, transportation secretary is doing a great job, you know, And so, like, I guess it's whatever the governor is interested in, you know, I mean, an attorney general, his father came very close to being Health and Family services here.

Health and Human Services have areas in the federal level, cabinet secretary in Obama's second term.

So, you know, I think there's stuff up there that's enticing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

So let's shift and talk about some more, I guess, local news.

And that concerns a Louisville Democrat, Daniel Grossberg, who is facing ethics investigate actions for misconduct or inappropriate behavior toward women.

And the caucus has temporarily suspended him.

Which the force of that is effectively what I mean not in session.

So and even if they were, he could still vote and represent his constituents.

But what does it mean, really to expel or temporarily suspend someone from a caucus?

Yeah, it's a message.

Procedurally, it doesn't mean much.

But in terms of going forward, it's a message that we will not tolerate this kind of behavior.

You know, this is not new for the Kentucky House and we've seen it over the years on both sides of the aisle, quite frankly.

And this is the reason people don't like politics and they don't trust politicians.

We've got to have people elected that are going to do a better job than than that, that they're supposed to be out there to serve us, to be in our best interests, not to be doing whatever they think that they would prefer to be doing.

And so it's it's definitely it's a hit.

Kentucky consistently ranks on the bottom of all of our states in terms of corruption.

And that's is not not the look we want.

Well, in an election year with, you know, 90 something days to go and Democrats already in really minuscule numbers.

And when it comes to the Kentucky General Assembly, this kind of news doesn't help.

Yeah, that's right.

You know, we saw this.

I think the last time this happened was Senator Julian Carroll was kicked out after that article broke about favors for art school.

And so basically he kicked out of caucus.

Made you not in caucus meetings.

So you don't you don't know what the strategy is.

You don't you know, you don't know who's going to vote which way.

But you're like you said, we're out of session.

So it's more of a message, more of a you know, it's a message, you know, represent because first of all, before due process, that's what he is.

He barely won his primary.

He does not have a general.

And so the question is, when this investigation is complete and if the allegations are are found to be true, like within the caucus, may publicly ask him to resign.

You know, especially since there seems to be in that district, there's people that already like somebody else, You know, Now, he she didn't win or he didn't win, but they got a chunk of both sides of them.

Right, right, right.

And the Kentucky young Democrats have already called for him to resign.

Yeah.

So that's you know, and just like like Abby says, like you're a legislator and I'm not saying this about some girl.

I'm just saying about in general, you're a legislator.

You should be up there to serve the needs of your people and to behave in an ethical manner.

And so, you know, the best of the best should be up there acting in appropriate ways.

The chances that the the Legislative Research Commission, the ethics commission, they would have all of this investigated and their conclusions before the session starts, you think, or before the election?

I think it's unlikely.

Here it is.

It takes a long time to investigate those kinds of things.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, this might be some maybe hanging around when session gavels in.

Yeah.

Well, a lot to watch, even still on our home front.

And of course, nationally.

So we thank you guys for given your perspective.

See you soon.

So any time.