Southern Scandal Watch, bluegrass edition

The woes of scandal and moral relativism continue to trouble our nation. Add a little mountain-style intra-party back-stabbing, and you get this dispatch from Kentucky:

Gov. Ernie Fletcher is insulated, has refused to take help or advice from strong political hands and has jeopardized Republican Party gains in Kentucky, says a former aide and veteran GOP leader.

In an exchange of e-mails, Basil Turbyfill suggested that Fletcher should consider resigning in order to end the hiring scandal that has stymied his administration for the last six months.

Turbyfill and Fletcher have what you might call a rocky relationship. As "director of personnel and efficiency" in Fletcher's office, he was indicted for personnel law violations, then pardoned by Fletcher, and then fired by him (follow that?).

But Turbyfill insists his top concern is the integrity of the Republican Party:

"The GOP will be set back decades and all of us who have worked so hard for 20 years have worked for naught," Turbyfill said in a Sept. 17 e-mail. "If we could get out of this by the Gov. resigning he should do it."