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ONE-ON-ONE - April 2006
by Ed G. Lane
'We Are Looking at His Illness as a New Start'
First Lady Glenna Fletcher talks about life with the governor and his re-election
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Glenna Fletcher
As First Lady of Kentucky, Glenna Foster Fletcher has been an active supporter of state initiatives to improve the health and well-being of people throughout the commonwealth. With her background as a licensed registered nurse, she is particularly well-suited for her role as a special advisor to Get Healthy Kentucky!, an initiative created to address some of the major health issues facing Kentuckians. She is also involved with programs affiliated with the American Heart Association, the Kentucky Cancer Program, the Kentucky Commission on Women, Habitat for Humanity, and the state’s Read to Achieve initiative.
Gov. and Mrs. Fletcher have two children and four grandchildren. Prior to moving into the Governor’s Mansion, they resided in Lexington. |
Ed Lane: The top question is, how is Gov. Fletcher feeling?
Glenna Fletcher: Ernie is doing much better. Day by day, he gets a little stronger. His activity, as far as work schedule, increases and he is now putting in full days. He hasn’t started traveling very much yet. His doctors say he is doing great. He is still on the blood thinners to take care of that blood clot problem. But other than that, he is doing great.
I’d like to thank your readers and all Kentuckians for their good wishes for Ernie while he was sick and in the hospital – they were very appreciated and welcomed.
EL: I’m sure his hospitalization was very stressful for you. How did you manage your role as his “chief nurse”?
GF: When Ernie went into the hospital the first time, we were obviously concerned. As time went on to the second and third day, we were a lot more concerned and I canceled my schedule as far as my duties as first lady. I concentrated on trying to help take care of him and get him back on the road to recovery. So it’s been stressful, but fortunately both of our children were able to come in and that helped tremendously. I think it not only helped me, but it also helped the governor’s spirits as well.
EL: Did St. Joseph Hospital provide a place for you to rest?
GF: The hospital was extremely helpful. The staff – just everybody – couldn’t have been nicer or have taken care of us better, but no, I stayed in Ernie’s room.
EL: The governor’s illness had a roller coaster effect – ups and downs. What event was the most serious from your perspective?
GF: It’s kind of hard to say which one of the two were the most serious, but when we learned and realized that he had septicemia, that he had the blood infection, that was very concerning to me, very concerning. Then we got past that and realized he had a blood clot and particularly how extensive it was – the location and size. Although some of our concerns as far as the blood clot turned out to be not as alarming as we initially thought, it was still very serious. My imagination as to how bad it was didn’t really turn out to be true. In retrospect, the most disconcerting was the sepsis.
EL: That could be very threatening especially if the antibiotics were not effective.
GF: Yes, and Ernie’s infection was resistant to a lot of them. That could have turned very badly.
EL: Did you or the governor notice even minor symptoms during the period prior to his hospital admissions?
GF: Looking back, Ernie thinks that he probably did have some symptoms of a bad gallbladder but attributed them to indigestion or diet, bad eating habits, travel time, schedule – all of those things that do wear on you. He did know two or three years ago that he had a gallbladder that didn’t look all that healthy, and we just didn’t follow up on it.
EL: Being the head of state government is a major responsibility and there are all sorts of political pressures. How has stress – pre- and post-op – affected the Governor?
GL: We are looking at his illness as a new start. We’ve got a little different outlook on life. When you get very, very sick, you reassess everything. So yes, I think he has a fresh outlook on tackling the issues and handling the day-to-day stresses of the governor’s job.
EL: Gov. Fletcher was elected in November of 2003, and is now serving in the third year of his term. What do you consider the high and low points of his administration to date?
GF: Wow! The inauguration is hard to beat, just the whole whirlwind of activities that occurs from the time you are elected to the day you are sworn in. The change in your lifestyle; it’s just night and day difference. The low point is probably the merit system investigation.
EL: I figured that it would be the investigation or perhaps the failure of the General Assembly to pass a budget during the governor’s first year in office.
GF: No, the budget problem also was a low point, but something that we could work on.
EL: Was making a transition from over 30 years of Democrat-controlled to a Republican-controlled administration a lot more difficult for the governor than expected?
GF: Transition was just a huge job. Coming in, as you say, to a government that has been ruled by the other political party for over 30 years, the number of people you have to hire, and finding good people – all of that is just a huge undertaking, and change never comes easy. So we had to overcome this obstacle as well.
EL: The newspapers have been critical of the Fletcher administration regarding the diversity of state employees.
GF: The governor has worked very hard on diversity, and in fact the statistics prove that his administration has done better than previous administrations. Look at all the women who are in leadership positions.
 EL: As first lady, can you comment on some of the efforts you have initiated to make Kentucky better? The Commission on Women?
GF: I serve on the board of the Commission on Women, which does a great job as far as bringing women together and addressing some of the issues that women face. The commission is especially trying to bring focus on girls and young women. If we start targeting younger girls in their teenage years or even their pre-teen years, we can teach them the importance of doing well in school. Why they need to graduate from high school. Why they need to get a college degree. Helping them realize they can be independent and get a good job when they get out of school.
That’s a change in the focus of the Commission on Women since we were elected.
EL: Get Healthy Kentucky?
GF: Get Health Kentucky is working to support a number of bills this legislative session. We didn’t actually propose any legislation this session, but there were several bills out there we felt we could support. But we did the obesity forums, last year we did that and this year we actually planned to do some tobacco forums, but then when the fuel prices went up we cancelled the event. We certainly supported the governor’s increased tax on cigarettes.
EL: Go Red for Women?
GF: The American Heart Association is an organization I feel strongly about. Heart disease rates in women so often go undetected unnoticed or ignored, because not only just women, but doctors also don’t actually think about heart disease as being a health problem for women.
EL: Keep Children Alcohol Free?
GF: This is one effort I’m excited about. Twenty percent of 12 year olds have tried alcohol and 73 percent of students under 18 have had at least one drink. I’m serving as honorary chair. As I travel across the state and talk to kids, I try to discuss issues related to young adults and underage drinking.
EL: Cancer Society (Birthday with your Mammogram)?
GF: Yes, we work with a couple of the cancer organizations to promote women over 65 to get mammograms. So often women that age don’t think they need one and that mammograms are just for younger women. A large number of women who get breast cancer are 65 or older. So that’s been real successful, not only do women get a birthday card from me and I get lots of notes and letters thanking me for the reminder. One lady wrote me a note saying, “Thanks for the memo to get my mamo.” I’ve always liked that one.
EL: Read to Achieve?
GF: Read to Achieve is an initiative that I strongly supported. I pushed that legislation in our first legislative session, but it failed to pass. So we worked on it again, and thankfully it passed because the program benefits of all the children in Kentucky. This initiative targets struggling readers early on and provides early intervention and one-on-one training with children who are struggling readers. It is highly successful.
EL: How many hours a week do you normally work as a community volunteer and as first lady?
GF: I stay pretty busy and wear a few hats. It varies and some weeks are busier than others. The school year is usually the busiest time of year; summer tends to drop off a little. Derby time between January and May is just hugely busy. I might be working in my office at the Capital half time; some of the time is spent traveling.
Being first lady is a full-time job. There aren’t very many free nights and or free Saturdays or Saturday evenings. So for me, it’s a six-day-a-week job, full time.
EL: When you get a “date with the governor” what do the two of you do?
GF: Sometimes we’ll just stay at home, have dinner and watch a movie. Something like that. We’re looking forward to finishing our house down on the river so we can just sit out and watch the river go by. It is relaxing. We enjoy working out in the yard and doing things like that, so I think it will be great.
EL: One of the big projects that you and the governor are undertaking is the renovation of the Governor’s Mansion. What is the condition of the mansion?
GF: How much time do you have? When we moved into the mansion, we were fairly shocked at the condition. Right now what we are working on is the heating and air conditioning replacement. Because the units were over 30 years old and there are 30 some different units in the mansion, the system could not compensate for the humidity changes or the numbers of people that are at the mansion for various functions.
EL: So, if you host a dinner or reception the HVAC system can’t accommodate the event.
GF: Oh yes, and in the summer it’s horrible and so humid. When the mansion was built, I don’t think the designers anticipated it would be used as a public building – having 200-300 people on the first floor at one time. Hopefully the HVAC system will be taken care of, but those problems have created a lot of moisture-related problems. The doors and windows all need to be replaced. They are totally rotting out. You can see daylight through some of them.
EL: How much time and money will it take to complete the mansion renovation? How much money has been contributed to date?
GF: We’ve raised about $1.1 million so far. The Derby Gala coming up on May 4 will benefit the Governor’s Mansion Preservation Foundation. We certainly have enough money to start on the first floor, and get some of the plaster problems taken care of.
Some of the furnishings are over 30 years old. There are drapes that can’t be cleaned anymore because they will just fall apart. They were lovely drapes when they were new, but now they’re dingy, gray and need replacement. The state’s historic preservation actually oversees the whole mansion. If there’s a piece of furniture that needs to be restored, they take care of that. We’ll probably help with the preservation money to get drapes and furniture. The mansion’s floor needs to be replaced, the hardwood floor has been sanded down about as many times as it can be done.
EL: You say you’ve raised about $1.1 million, how are you doing the fund raising and how does someone send money in if they want to?
GF: They can send it to the Governor’s Mansion Preservation Foundation, P.O. Box 1626, Frankfort, KY 40602. Your donation is tax deductible; we have a 501(c) 3 set up for that. Last year the Governor’s Derby Gala raised around $800,000 and this year I’m hoping to do that as well.
EL: You’re a very effective fundraiser.
GF: Well, thank you very much. I’m a little behind the eight ball on this one because of being tied up in the hospital for the time when I would have normally been making phone calls. We’re hoping it will be a financial success; it is going to be a lot of fun, nonetheless.
EL: Can you to comment on a few of the leaders of state government? The first one is Senate President David Williams.
GF: David is an effective leader. He helped me tremendously get the Health Kentucky Board set up and generously gave of his time at the very beginning when I started asking him what can we do to improve the health of Kentucky, and he was very interested in that and we met many times before the board was formed. So I think he does a great job.
EL: Speaker of the House Jody Richards?
GF: It looks like Speaker Richards is running for governor.
EL: Attorney General Greg Stumbo?
GF: My mom always said that “if you don’t have something nice to say then don’t say anything at all.” So I don’t have any comment.
EL: Lt. Gov. Steve Pence?
GF: The lieutenant governor is doing an outstanding job – in both his roles.
(Publisher’s note: Steve Pence serves as the lieutenant governor and was appointed Secretary of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet by the governor.) Three times he’s been governor (during the Fletcher administration), more than any other lieutenant governor.
EL: Do you see your role as not only being the governor’s wife and the first lady, but also being an advisor and counselor to the governor?
GF: Ernie and I have always been very close. He bounces a broad range of issues off me. Of course, there are things that go on and decisions made and it’s not that I’m in there all the time. But frequently during dinner table or evening conversations, we will discuss pressing matters he might be debating or thinking about.
EL: What is your next major event?
GF: April 15 we are hosting the second annual Easter Egg Roll. We invite parents and kids from all over to come and we have a race. We partner with the Frankfort Younger Women’s Club; Fifth Third Bank sponsors a good portion of it.
We also have some things going on with the first dog, Abby. We have started a series of trading cards like baseball cards only they are called “Abby” cards. We do different cards for Christmas, Easter and Valentine’s Day. We are also working with a local author who has written a book about Abby and that will be published this summer.
EL: You are doing all this work and the governor has announced he’s running for a second term. Does that mean you’ll have to drop some of these activities so you can become active in the governor’s re-election campaign?
GF: I do what I need to do. I enjoy campaigning, doing the fund raising that I did, but the campaign will be a little different this time. I don’t think I’ll spend 18 hours in a campaign office. We are looking forward to 2007 and hopefully a second four-year term.
Ed G. Lane is chief executive of Lane Consultants Inc. and publisher
of The Lane Report.
edlane@lanereport.com
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