By Charles Wolfe
The Associated Press

FRANKFORT - The state chairman of the advocacy group Common Cause on Wednesday asked the state Court of Appeals to apply "judicial pressure" to Gov. Ernie Fletcher and the General Assembly to pass a budget.

Richard Beliles said a "constitutional crisis" existed as long as Fletcher was allowed to run state government under a one-man spending plan, using state money without a legislative appropriation.

The General Assembly failed to pass a budget before adjourning April 13. Fletcher employed his "public services continuation plan" July 1, when the fiscal year began.

"The governor says it's a state of emergency. I sort of feel like it's a state of stubbornness," Beliles told a three-judge appellate panel.

Common Cause wants the court to prohibit Kentucky Treasurer Jonathan Miller from releasing any unappropriated state funds after Sept. 30.

"With no judicial pressure, there's no incentive to compromise," he said.

Fletcher's attorney, Sheryl Snyder, said that was not the court's role. "What we have here is a political crisis, not a constitutional crisis," Snyder said.

Beliles' action is "an invitation for you to enter a political thicket from which there is no exit," Snyder told the judges.

The court did not immediately rule on Beliles' case. Judge William L. Knopf, who presided, said a ruling would be issued as soon as possible but gave no date. He did, however, question Beliles' premise.

"Our job is to uphold the Constitution. That's what I took an oath to do. Not to apply pressure to anyone," Knopf said during the hearing.

Beliles first sought an order in Franklin County Circuit Court, where Attorney General Greg Stumbo sued to challenge Fletcher's use of a spending plan. Common Cause was among several interveners in the case.

The issue Wednesday was complicated because Beliles said he wanted an injunction from the lower court. However, Judge Roger Crittenden's order referred to a restraining order, which is not a "final and appealable" action.

And as is typical with restraining-order cases, Crittenden's order merely recorded the denial of a motion and did not spell out his reasoning. That left Knopf and other members of his panel - Judges R.W. Dyche III of London and Rick A. Johnson of Mayfield - with little to go on.