Dealing from a stacked Bridges deck.

Courier-Journal reporter Marcus Green begins the deconstruction of Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Authority Chairman Charles Buddeke's conflicts of interest...

Potential bridges contractor looking at using Buddeke land, by Marcus Green, Courier-Journal.

A construction firm angling for work on new Ohio River bridges wants to locate a building and shipping yard on property owned by the family of the chairman of the agency that will select the project’s lead contractors.

Greenville, S.C.-based Fluor Enterprises is negotiating to use land along River Road controlled by a Buddeke family company, according to a June 28 letter from Fluor’s business development director, made public as part of an effort to change the property’s zoning.

Paul Buddeke is president of the Buddeke Co. and its subsidiary River Road Terminals. His brother Charles is chairman of the Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Authority, which is in charge of financing and constructing the Ohio River Bridges Project.

and Louisville Courant's Curtis Morrison provides further documentation, rightfully asking why Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear would appoint such a conflicted person in the first place.

Watch to see Charles Buddeke resign , at Louisville Courant.

Considering there are over 4 million people in Kentucky who do not stand to directly profit from the project, it is a testament to Beshear's resourcefulness that he was able to find an appointment who would.

My own joy comes from Buddeke himself who, when asked about the conflict, says “if that becomes a problem I can just...recuse myself from the process.” After years of insisting sans evidence that the Bridges Project has majority support and lying about both the number of jobs the project will create and the inability to make changes to it without starting from scratch (you know, "the process"), Buddeke says, "It's OK, just trust me."

As Morrison suggests, Kentucky gubernatorial politics may make questions of a possible Buddeke resignation from the Bridges Authority more prominent in local news. My question, though, given the level of purposeful misdirection prominent throughout "the process", is why that resignation call shouldn't be aimed at all Authority members.