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Third District Congressman John Yarmuth discussed his appointment to the House Oversight and Government Reform committee last week. Yarmuth said he was hoping chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) would back off from his aggressive plans to investigate the administration. Yarmuth also said oversight is necessary; the committee can’t be a rubber stamp for the administration, but a repeat of the mid 90s or glutting the system with subpoenas isn’t the way to do that.
Yarmuth was not as outspoken on the issue as the committee’s ranking Democrat, Elijah Cummings of Maryland. Cummings sent Issa a letter earlier this month, encouraging the chairman to restrain himself and not issue subpoenas unilaterally.
Cummings also accused Issa of withholding documents, which Issa denies. It all adds up to observers calling this a “terrible start” for the powerful and important committee.
Speculation that a Trader Joe’s grocery store was coming to Louisville picked up again last week. As always, the company would not confirm anything. That’s still the case, but the Insider Louisville has found a leak in the story.
Rosemary Nunn, manager of the Craftsman Collection furniture store in Shelbyville Road Plaza, said she and her staff were notified by Hagan Properties executives their expiring lease will not be renewed because Trader Joe’s is taking the space on the northeast side of the center.
Trader Joe’s also will displace Kiddie Castle and Massage Envy, which flank the Craftsman Collection store.
“We were told to be out by February 28,” Nunn told Insider Louisville. “But, (Hagan Properties) has given us an extension till mid-March.”
Here’s the deal.
According to Nunn, Trader Joe’s wanted the former Wild Oats location about 200 yards south, and deeper into the center, a space vacated after Whole Foods bought Wild Oats in 2007.
Trouble is, Whole Foods still owns that lease, and they’re stipulating Hagan Properties can’t lease to a competitor.
Trader Joe’s executives then tried to lease the vacant Circuit City space on the west side of Shelbyville Road Plaza, Nunn said.
But that deal fell through because the Circuit City space is too close to the existing World Market, which has an adjoining package-liquor sales with a separate entrance, an arrangement that complies with Kentucky’s arcane alcoholic beverage sales laws.
Trader Joe’s is huge into wines, with good California wines on the top end, and Charles Shaw “Two-Buck Chuck” brand on the bottom.
So, Trader Joe’s settled for its third choice on the northeast side – a huge coup for Hagan Properties, which has had its own problems, including the fact that the firm spent $7 million to reconfigure the center in early 2008, the same year mega-tenants such as Circuit City and Linen N’Things liquidated, leaving Shelbyville Road Plaza more than 50-percent vacant.
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and Congressman Mike Pence are both considering seeking the GOP nomination for president in 2012.
Both are undecided on whether they will run. This news may inspire them to either stay home or get moving:
…there was a straw poll last weekend of the New Hampshire Republican Party people who gathered in Derry for their annual meeting.
Manchester’s WMUR and ABC News conducted the poll, in which 273 of 500 eligible GOP attendees voted.
The results: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has a house on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee, got 35 percent of the votes cast. And Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and father of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., came in second with 11 percent.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty came next with 8 percent, former Alaska Gov. and 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin drew 7 percent, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachman and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint each got 5 percent, and tea party leader Herman Cain took 4 percent.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence of 6th District, who have not closed the door(s) on running, were among the 3 percenters.
Monday’s panel on political discourse also touched on gun control. The general consensus seemed to be that President Barack Obama will not push for tougher gun control in the wake of the Arizona shooting. That leaves it to the Senate to push the debate, since the House majority may not be keen on gun control, either.
The Rural Blog has more on why President Obama is unlikely to champion tighter gun restrictions: white rural males who haven’t been to college.
University of Louisville hosted a panel on political discourse Monday. Congressman John Yarmuth, outgoing Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson and political science professor Jasmine Farrier were all on the panel, which was convened in response to calls for civil debate after the shooting in Arizona.
You can read about the panel’s remarks here.
You can listen to the entire discussion here. (mp3) It’s long, but very interesting. The panelists weighed in on divisive media, shifts in political behavior and a number of other topics.
In what some pundits and lawmakers say is a show of unity, legislators of both parties will sit with each other during Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, however, says the move is only for show, and he’ll sit where he usually does.
“If people want to mix it up, we don’t have seating assignments,” McConnell said. “The American people are more interested in actual accomplishments … than seating arrangements for the State of the Union.”
What are your thoughts? What do you think will be discussed more after the SotU, where people sat or the speech?
Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw says she will run for governor. Holsclaw previously told reporters she was considering entering the race, but had not found a suitable running mate. She has tapped retired Navy master chief Bill Vermillion of Grayson County to share the ticket, and the two plan to file their paperwork Tuesday.
Holsclaw will be the third Republican to enter the governor’s race. She will face State Senate President David Williams and Louisville businessman Phil Moffett in the primary. Democratic incumbent Steve Beshear is seeking re-election. Perennial candidate Otis Hensley is expected to challenge Beshear in the Democratic primary.
Independent Gatewood Galbraith is also in the race.
ThinkIndie–the digital music download service run by a coalition of independent record stores–is closing. ThinkIndie offered paid song and album downloads to stores across the country, including Louisville’s Ear X-tacy. The service will close on February 15th, leaving Ear X-tacy with no download service.
But the closure is unlikely to further harm the store. In the past, owner John Timmons has spoken candidly about Ear X-tacy’s financial insecurity, but general manager Rebecca Cornwell says the download service was not a source of profits for the store. Cornwell says for two years ThinkIndie clients poured money into the service without seeing a return, likely due to the ubiquity of larger download services like iTunes and Amazon MP3.
Cornwell says it’s unlikely Ear X-tacy will try to keep offering downloadable music after ThinkIndie closes. Rather, she says store management wants to focus on hosting concerts and offering other experiences customers can’t get elsewhere.
Here is the letter ThinkIndie sent to its customers:
Dear Customers,
The ThinkIndie team would like to thank you for your support and patronage of the site and independent music stores. Unfortunately, ThinkIndie will discontinue selling digital downloads as of February 15, 2011. Upon closure, we will delete all account and credit card information. Please use all outstanding credits before the closing date. All mp3s previously purchased from ThinkIndie will be unaffected by the closure.
I talked with Congressman John Yarmuth about his appointment to the high-profile Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Of Chairman Darrell Issa, Yarmuth said:
“When you have a chairman who has gone on the record and said publicly that he thinks the Obama administration is the most corrupt administration in history and that he plans to aggressively pursue investigations. That, to me, reeks of witch hunt potential.”
There’s a lot of buzz right now about Trader Joe’s coming to Louisville. Business First says it’s coming. Derby City Cents says think again. Trader Joe’s is a mysterious company. So while visions of discount organic dried plums dance in your head, read this Fortune article, which is currently the definitive profile of the secretive Mr. Joe.
