Beshear hires more Dem family and friends
By John Cheves – jcheves@herald-leader.com
Gov. Steve Beshear
While Gov. Steve Beshear says the state faces a deficit, taxes must be raised and painful service cuts must be made, he continues to find room on the state payroll for Democratic Party family and friends.
Last month, two new Beshear appointees took patronage jobs with combined salaries of about $90,000. One is Kevin Hollenbach Holtz, the aunt of Democratic state Treasurer L.J. “Todd” Hollenbach. The other is Travis Scott, 27, who coordinated “Get Out The Vote” activities for Beshear’s 2007 campaign and has worked for the Kentucky Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee.
On Wednesday, critics said that Kentucky governors are entitled to hire thousands of political appointees at their pleasure — and Beshear has — but he either has to “stop with the gravy jobs” or else stop complaining that there isn’t enough money in his budget for social workers and school teachers.
“We’re talking about furloughs and wage freezes and possible layoffs for state workers, and yet the governor is still putting his cronies behind desks,” said Jim Waters, spokesman for the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, a free-market think tank in Bowling Green.
“It’s way past time for us to rein in state spending,” Waters said. “We need to examine every penny we’re spending, and if we did, neither one of these hires would have been approved as a critical public need.”
However, the Beshear administration said the jobs at issue were critical and the job-seekers were qualified. Beshear spokesman Jay Blanton dismissed the criticism as unrealistic.
“Are we not supposed to hire anybody in state government for the next two years?” Blanton said.
Under Beshear, the state government has slowed but not frozen hiring. For every person hired, a supervisor must certify on a form that the hire is crucial for that agency to perform its mission.
Holtz is a division director in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ Office of the Ombudsman, which is responsible for investigating consumer complaints. (Without citing a reason, Beshear fired the office’s leaders in December, creating several vacancies.) She makes $56,757 a year.
Holtz is a longtime Democratic Party donor and activist. She worked for Gov. Paul Patton in his Office of Constituent Services, which handled Democratic patronage at the county level. Her brother is a former judge-executive in Jefferson County.
Holtz declined to comment Wednesday. Her nephew, the state treasurer now serving his first term, did not return several calls seeking comment.
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services believes that Holtz is qualified not because of who her nephew is, but because of her past work in state government, particularly dealing with constituents, said Cabinet spokeswoman Gwenda Bond.
Scott is a special assistant in the Office of the Governor, assigned to work on adventure-tourism projects at the Department for Local Government, which awards coal-severance tax money to the coal counties. He is a graduate student in public administration at Eastern Kentucky University, making $31,000 a year at his state job.
Scott worked on the 2007 gubernatorial campaigns of Beshear and Jonathan Miller, who dropped out of the Democratic primary to endorse Beshear, later becoming Beshear’s finance and administration secretary. Scott has been a field director and campaign worker for the Democratic Party and various Democratic candidates, including Scott Alexander of Hazard, who Beshear unsuccessfully promoted for a state Senate seat last year.
In late 2006, as the Democratic primary for governor began to stir, Scott posted a comment on a popular political blog that mocked Democratic state Auditor Crit Luallen for her battle with cancer. Luallen had been discussed as one possible gubernatorial candidate.
“Luallen … apparently one of her selling points is that she survived cancer. So did I (I am a 21-year survivor of Acute Lymphablastic Leukemia). Does that qualify me to be governor? I was thinking I was going to have to accomplish something,” Scott wrote on the Bluegrass Report blog. “Can you pick up the sarcasm?”
Scott declined to comment Wednesday. Cindy Lanham, spokeswoman for the Department for Local Government, confirmed that Scott wrote those remarks, but said it didn’t affect his job eligibility.
“By no means does our office disrespect Crit Luallen. But we’re not going to get into a blog post from three years ago,” Lanham said
“Travis Scott is more than qualified to perform his job duties, which range from assisting in the coordination of federal grants for land and water to working with the state’s Adventure Tourism initiative to compile a database of all trails in Kentucky,” Lanham added.
Filed Under: Democratic Party • Featured • State Budget • State Government • Steve Beshear
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Why won’t the Attorney General Jack Conway investigate these hirings and all the recent partisan hirings by Beshear? Oh yeah, I forgot Jack Conway is a Democrat too! I answered my own question!
Hollenbach has an aunt named Kevin? Does Frank Simon know that?
Other state employees are being asked to do 2 or more jobs at the same salary because replacements can’t be hired in critical positions. Part of this is because of unqualified people being given critical jobs. Then he has the nerve to send messages/You tube videos to state employees saying how thankful he is for the job that is being done in these tough times. Don’t ask me to take days off without pay if you aren’t willing to do a little cutting back on hiring your political hacks.
Cheves strikes again.
POLITICS AS USUAL…..
Everyone that’s surprised by this, raise your hand.
I thought so.
We never learn.
It is politics as usual. It is really time for a new party or a third party candidate to be given a chance at leading our state (and country). I voted for Beshear because I believed his campaign promises of changing the system. However, I know regret that decision as the situation has not changed. I hope Kentuckians will wake up, stop believing politicians, stop voting along party lines and examine a candidates record. If a third party candidate could be successful, it could have a lasting impact on our political system for a long time coming.
I know through the grapevine some of the political hacks that Beshear has put into Department of Local Government and the Dept of Transportation. They are horrible horrible horrible. I am a registered democrat and almost always vote along party lines, but these guys (some women too) are awful. I have been there on a few occasions for meetings, and they are too busy planning fundraisers (for political candidates) and asking for campaign money on their cell phones to get a lick of work done. No wonder we are in such a pickle – those people that are supposed to be in charge haven’t even turned on their work computer. What a joke, but sadly enough, the joke is on us taxpayers.
I preached to all that would listen that Steve Beshear is a thief. He needs to go…. NOW!
Another day, another crook in Frankfort…the years change, but politics, as usual in Frankfort, remain the same.
Let’s all remember this stuff when they are up for re-election and vote them out.
People get real… It is not illegal to hire non-merit employees for any reason. There is nothing to investigate, no one involved did anything crooked. Gov Fletcher and his crew fired merit employees. That was illegal!
Now stupid is other issue. Did these jobs need to be filled? Are the people qualified? Maybe, maybe not???
Was the timing really BAD??? YES!!!
Was the kid remarks crude??? Yes!!!
Should the rules be changed??? Maybe???
It took you this long to spot a thief?
Welcome to the real world!
Jim Newberry probably will hand-deliver the FEMA check (which will cover all the family/friends’ salaries) as well as save the taxpayers 42 cents. Meanwhile, Steve B. is probaly scratching his head trying to figure out his next move to defraud KY taxpayers. Anytime you vote for a Democrat you’re giving them your PIN number for your ATM card. Anybody past 18 years old should know that by now.
Pitiful
“This bill needs to be cut down,” Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on the Senate floor. He cited $524 million for a State Department program that he said envisions creating 388 jobs. “That comes to $1.35 million per job,” he added.
You can no longer refer to the circumstances as “possible layoffs” Ask any employee other than a manager in the Ky State Park system.
What a joke this Gov is becoming.
Fletcher’s administration DID NOT fire merit employees. That is a lie. They fired one employee who was on probation and not yet under merit system protections, yet in an extremely bad court decision, the fired employee was given merit system protection even though he had not completed probation.
Will the lie that Fletcher illegally fired state employees ever go away?
i’m glad someone else noticed. i feel better now though, i\’m looking for a job and my aunt’s name is steve.
Hey People, the jobs are critical, I mean critical to the running of Frankfort. Look at the job definitions, what a joke this Governor has become to give his payback to his money people. Do not raise my taxes, this is a joke.
Brashear is just an old fool. The only difference between him and Fletcher is that he smart enough to not use email or to dumb to use email to divy up the spoils of taxpayer income among his buddies.
Beshear is sitting in his office laughing at all of us right now. He runs around Kentucky acting like he “cares for Kentuckians”, acting as if the state is in serious financial trouble. This is a slap in our face. He is only thinking about his bid for re-election and these hirings prove it.
http://commonwealthdefenders.blogspot.com/
Folks, we have met the enemy and it is us.
We elected this clown. We bought his story; hook, line, and sinker.
When will we learn? Republicans, Democrats, they\’re all the same. There\’s NO difference.
Sure, they\’ll say they believe this or that, depending on which way the wind is blowing. But in the end it\’s all about them and their buddies.
It may be too late, I hope not.
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What a joke this Gov is becoming.
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