my chief of staff and our close friend, mike haydon, died suddenly in august we survived a heated presidential election which also brought 20 new faces here to the kentucky general assembly and we have a new president in the kentucky senate. all these events have left their mark. the cumulative impact has been a significant change in perspective and approach. a new atmosphere of civility and dignity underscores our work, one marked by the willingness to engage in respectful dialogue and to seek consensus on difficult issues. in addition, we share a growing awareness that kentucky is at a tipping point. simply put, we realize that "just getting by" is no longer a true measure of success, not if our real goal is to create a more vibrant economy and a higher quality of life for our people. our focus needs to be not just on the present -- but on five, 10, even 25 years from now. my immediate goal during the recession was to help our families and businesses survive. but merely surviving was not enough. so we also acted strategically to preserve our ability to make investments in our people and inve