"The Long Con": Elmer Gantry was a fumbling neophyte compared to the late Dan Johnson.

Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, please come to New Albany, where the charlatans are as high as a clergyman's eye. 

This one goes out to those of my friends living outside the United States, who may be observing the state of affairs in my homeland and wondering exactly what happened to the better angels of our nature.

To me, these angels seldom ever existed. The longest con of all involved convincing ourselves they actually did. These days, we're simply reverting to the mean.

For the record, two days after the results of this investigation started being released, Rep. Dan Johnson killed himself. Rough justice, perhaps, but arguably better than no justice at all.

THE POPE'S LONG CON, by R.G. Dunlop and Jacob Ryan (Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting)

A Kentucky preacher-turned-politician's web of lies

... The Pope, as everyone knows him, commands this side of the room, his voice tinged with the Louisiana drawl of his youth. His biceps are decorated in ink, his sideburns white, his golden pompadour thinning.

Long ago, Johnson fashioned an identity as a modern-day American patriot. Pro-gun, pro-God, pro-life. He talked in 2013 about making America great again. He lamented the lack of God in everyone’s lives. He wept over the country’s future.

But behind this persona — cultivated, built up and fine-tuned over decades — is a web of lies and deception. A mysterious fire. Attempted arson and false testimony. Alleged molestation in his church.

In Johnson's wake lies a trail of police records and court files, shattered lives and a flagrant disregard for truth.

This seven-month investigation is based on more than 100 interviews and several thousand pages of public documents. It also included numerous attempts to interview Johnson, who refused all requests.

Over and over, there were warning signs for government officials, law enforcement, political leaders and others. Yet, virtually nothing was done. For years, Johnson broke laws. Now, he helps make them.

In his latest feat, Johnson catapulted himself into the Kentucky Capitol in 2016 as representative for the 49th House District.

Matt Bevin vs. Greg Fischer on sexual harassment: "If perception is, in fact, reality, Fischer is weak."

Floyd County Democrats venerate Fischer.

I'm trying desperately to remember a time when ROFLMAO might have been more appropriate.

Matt Bevin seizes moral high ground over Greg Fischer on sexual harassment, by Joseph Gerth (Louisville Courier Journal)

I’m not even sure how this happened, but the Democratic Party in Louisville has ceded the moral high ground on sexual harassment to the party that nominated Donald Trump as president of the United States.

Somehow, some way, in this whole mess of sexual harassment claims separately involving Democratic Louisville Metro Council member Dan Johnson and former Republican House Speaker Jeff Hoover, the GOP has been able to seize the upper hand.

A day before Gov. Matt Bevin stood up and demanded the resignation of Hoover and anyone else in state government who has secretly settled sexual harassment claims, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer was giving some mealy-mouthed statement that failed to address Johnson, who among other things, dropped his pants in the City Hall parking lot ...

Fischer is Jeff Gahan's role model.

... On Friday, five minutes before 5 p.m. and nearly a full day after he was asked to comment, the oh-so-cautious Fischer sent a written statement said what he says best. Nothing.

“In my administration I have a record of supporting and promoting women, including placing them in positions of leadership and making clear that harassment of any type is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. While this is a council matter and they make decisions about their own institution, our citizens must be equally confident this standard will be upheld by them,” he said.

“Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

Sides. Are. Splitting.

Bevin has created the perception that this stuff matters to him — even if his past shows that he is weak on the subject — and he came out looking strong and decisive.

Fischer, on the other hand, looked like someone who was desperately trying not to say what needed to be said: that Johnson’s actions, which included grabbing another council member’s tuchus and telling a chamber of commerce employee about his sex life, were wrong and anyone who did those things should not continue to serve.