So what did state lawmakers do down here this week?

        Fight over the naming of a bridge, and then just fight.

        What is with Frankfort this year?

        It's always a little partisan, a little goofy.

        But is the cafeteria staff cutting the turkey/beef/chicken/something brown casseroles with bourbon or drugs or both?

        How else do you explain a week-long siege over taking away the Girl Scouts' name from a Licking River bridge?

        More on that later.

        First, the mother of all fights in the state Senate.

        Just two weeks into the session, the Senate was in full battle over the flow of bills, Democrats accusing Republicans of sitting on legislation regulating telemarketers.

        After Senate Republican leader Dan Kelly gave a limp speech on bipartisanship, liberal Lexington Democrat Ernesto Scorsone rose and hit the GOP with this zinger:

        “It strikes me ironic ... that members of the Republican Party would attempt to lecture us on respect of each other, and lecture us on order and bipartisanship.

        “I mean, a sharper irony would have been if officials from Enron or Arthur Andersen would have been here giving a workshop on ethics.”

        Cue Senate Republican President David Williams, who tried to shout and gavel Mr. Scorsone into silence, rolling out some arcane legislative rule and threatening the Democrat with censure because he didn't like the reference to Enron.

        No one could ever remember any lawmaker being censured — which is a fancy way of telling someone to shut their pie hole — and Mr. Williams backed off the threat a day later.

        The surprise here is that Mr. Williams used to enjoy throwing around some great political jabs of his own.

        But, I guess you give a guy a gavel and a title and he gets a little mad with power. Or maybe just mad.

        In the fierce debate over the censure, Mr. Scorsone gave a wonderful speech, bringing applauding Dems to their feet.

        He came off like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington while Mr. Williams looked like Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny.

        Our gang from Northern Kentucky spent the week embroiled in a dispute over the new Licking River 12th Street bridge between Covington and Newport.

        Some Senate Republicans have been pushing for more than a year to have the bridge named for the late Dr. Alvin C. Poweleit, a war hero and prominent local doc who deserves to have something named for him.

        But in December, the state named the bridge for the Licking Valley Girl Scouts.

        Instead of letting it go and finding something to name for the good doctor, the Republicans kept up the fight, trying to pass a resolution that would have removed the Girl Scouts moniker from the span.

        Brilliant.

        Who advises these people on political savvy, James Traficant?

        Finally, the Republicans relented and — guess what? — decided to find something else to name for Dr. Poweleit, which is what they should have done in the first place.

        The moral here: Don't mess with the Girl Scouts.

        Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics. He can be reached at (859) 578-5581, or by e-mail at pcrowley@Enquirer.com.
       

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