Ethics watchdog Richard Beliles has few friends in Kentucky
Capitol  Beliles gets lawmakers' ire, respect  jcheves@herald-
leader.comJanuary 29, 2012   FRANKFORT — Richard Beliles sat in
Gov. Steve Beshear's office foyer on a recent morning, staging
his weekly protest of mountaintop-removal coal mining, when
Senate President David Williams walked by and suggested that he
kill himself.  "He said, 'Are you occupying the office?' I said
yes. He said, 'Well, why don't you set yourself on fire? Why
don't you immolate yourself?' And then he left," said Beliles,
who is recovering from cancer treatment. "It was a strange thing
for David to say. It sort of shook me up."  Through a
spokeswoman, Williams later said he clearly was joking by
suggesting the protest would be more effective with Beliles
ablaze.  Beliles, who turns 78 on Tuesday, is a soft-spoken,
genial man — and one of the more deeply resented figures at the
Capitol.  He earned this animosity as chairman of the Kentucky
chapter of Common Cause, a national ad