Archive for May, 2009

Leaders’ aides get generous overtime

By Beth Musgrave – bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — As the Kentucky General Assembly repeatedly slashed the budgets of most state agencies in recent years, some legislative leaders were approving generous overtime payments for their staffers.

Over the past four years, 23 aides to House and Senate leaders have racked up nearly $300,000 in overtime payments, records obtained by the Herald-Leader show.

In the House, there was little oversight of how overtime was awarded and House leaders could produce no written policies regarding overtime payments. Some staffers were able to accumulate additional payments of more than $10,000 a year in excess of their salaries.

House leaders also approved more than one bulk overtime payment in the same calendar year for some employees, a benefit unavailable to employees who don’t work directly for an elected official.

Plea agreement alleges votes bought for Rep. Tim Couch

By Bill Estep – bestep@herald-leader.com

Public officials and candidates in Clay County pooled hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy votes in the 2002 primary election and bought votes in 2004 for a slate that included a state representative, a former election officer has admitted.

Paul E. Bishop, a former Republican precinct judge, pleaded guilty Friday to helping buy votes.

His plea agreement included new allegations in an investigation that has already shaken the county’s longtime power structure.

For instance, Bishop said that in 2004, Clay County school Superintendent Douglas C. Adams gave him $2,000 to bribe voters. Bishop said he paid an estimated 100 voters about $20 each to vote for a slate of candidates that included state Rep. Tim Couch.

Couch, a Hyden Republican, had defeated Rep. Barbara White Colter in the 2002 GOP primary and was running for re-election in 2004.

Couch said Friday that he did not ask or tell anyone to buy votes for him and that if it happened, he had no knowledge of it.

But Couch said in an interview that people might have bought votes for him.

“That’s a possibility that they included me on it,” he said of the slate. “I know there was things that went on over there that I didn’t want to be no part of.”

Beshear will recall lawmakers to tackle $996 million budget shortfall

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear will recall lawmakers to the Capitol on June 15 to deal with a $996 million shortfall in the state’s General Fund for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.

The nearly $1 billion shortfall is the largest in modern Kentucky history and will likely result in more spending cuts since leaders of both political parties say tax increases are not an option.

An effort to generate revenue by adding slots at horse racetracks also appears unlikely to succeed.

Although Beshear and leaders of the Democrat-controlled House support the move, House Speaker Greg Stumbo acknowledged Friday that the governor’s leadership will be needed to gather enough votes. Even if Stumbo and Beshear succeed in the House, Senate President David Williams has repeatedly said there is no sentiment to approve the proposal in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Beshear announced his intention to call a special legislative session minutes after an independent group of economists sized up the state’s budget woes.

Conway and Mongiardo pick up campaign endorsements

FRANKFORT – Though it’s early in the race for the 2010 Democratic primary election for U.S. Senate, Attorney General Jack Conway and Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo are picking up endorsements.

The Jefferson County Teachers Association Political Education Committee endorsed Conway Friday. The group represents 5,700 teachers in Jefferson County’s public schools.

Meanwhile, Mongiardo has received two statewide union endorsements. They are from Kentucky’s International Union of Operating Engineers Local 181 and the Kentucky Pipe Trades Association.

The Operating Engineers union serves 116 counties in Kentucky with five regional offices, representing more than 4,500 members statewide.

The Pipe Trades group consists of eight union locals with more than 11,000 members statewide.

Conway and Mongiardo are trying to capture the seat now held by Republican Jim Bunning. Bunning has said he is seeking re-election but several other Republicans also are looking at the race.

–Jack Brammer

Bid-rig trial will go forward on June 23

FRANKFORT — The first of a two-part trial over alleged tampering of state road contracts will start on June 23, despite objections of defense attorneys on the case who wanted a three-week delay.

U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves on Friday overruled defense lawyers’ motion to continue the trial of road contractor Leonard Lawson, former Transportation Secretary William Nighbert and Brian Billings, a Lawson employee. In his order, Reeves said the defendants have been given adequate time to prepare for trial.

Reeves also ruled that the trial will be in two parts, upholding an earlier magistrate judge’s decision. That means Lawson and Nighbert will face conspiracy and bribery charges in the first part of the trial. All three men will face obstruction of justice charges in the second trial.

Reeves also ruled that the jury could hear recorded conversations between James Rummage, a key witness in the case, and federal investigators. The recordings are relevant because they will give the jury more insight into Rummage’s credibility, Reeves said.

Auditor’s office move will save $55,000 in rent

FRANKFORT — State Auditor Crit Luallen is moving her office at a savings of $55,000 a year in rent.

Beginning June 5, the auditor’s office will be at 209 St. Clair St. in downtown Frankfort. Currently located off Georgetown Road in Frankfort on Sea Hero Road, it is to be completely moved by June 15.

“The new location places the auditor’s office in the heart of downtown Frankfort, giving the public better access to our services,”Luallen said in a statement. “I believe public agencies can be a positive force in the economic health of downtowns by choosing locations like this one.”

Besides saving money in rent, the move will help consolidate office workspace, she said.

Luallen said her office will try to avoid any breaks in service to the public during the relocation.

The office will maintain its regular hours – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday – but will have a new phone number (502-564-5841) and fax number (502-564-2912). For more information on the state auditor’s office, visit its Web site at www.auditor.ky.gov.

–Jack Brammer

Judge unseals transcript of closed hearing in bid-rig case

FRANKFORT — A federal judge has ordered that transcripts of a May 13 closed hearing in a criminal case involving top road contractor Leonard Lawson be unsealed.

U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves ruled Thursday that the hearing in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge James B. Todd was properly closed in an effort to prevent the “premature release of inadmissible evidence which could jeopardize jury selection.” The hearing was about the conduct of attorneys on the case and also about whether certain tapes should be admitted as evidence.

The (Louisville) Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader had protested the closing of the hearing and asked for transcripts of the hearing to be released. The newspapers noted that no reason was given for the closing of the hearing. On Tuesday, at a hearing in Covington, lawyers for the newspapers also said that too many documents in the criminal case have been sealed.

Reeves said he reviewed the transcript of the hearing and decided that the transcripts can be unsealed “without unnecessarily jeopardizing the defendant’s right to a fair trial.”

Reeves entered the order Thursday but the transcript of the hearing has not been released yet.

Lawson and former Transportation Secretary William Nighbert have been charged with conspiracy, bribery and obstruction of justice. A third man, Brian Billings, a Lawson employee, faces obstruction of justice charges. Prosecutors say Lawson paid for internal cabinet estimates on road projects that Lawson’s companies were set to bid on during former Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s administration.

All three have pleaded not guilty. The first part of a two-part trial is scheduled to begin June 23.

– Beth Musgrave

Group calls for tax overhaul

FRANKFORT — A coalition of social service and nonprofit groups called on Gov. Steve Beshear Thursday to push for comprehensive tax reform as a long-term fix to the state’s ongoing budget woes.

The announcement came on the same day that legislative leaders announced it will hear two tax reform bills at a special joint hearing of the House and Senate budget committees on June 4.

But many leaders said it was unlikely that major tax reform will be passed during a possible special legislative session this summer. Gov. Steve Beshear has said that an overhaul of the state’s tax system to fix a potential $1 billion shortfall was unlikely.Beshear may decide as early as Friday if the General Assembly will have to return this summer to deal with a potential shortfall.

“We know we have to do something,” said Rep. Bill Farmer, R-Lexington, an author of one of the tax reform bills. “Is there motivation for real reform? Not without real leadership.”

KSP: Dropping foreign-language driver tests would have saved $100,000

By Valarie Honeycutt Spears – vhoneycutt@herald-leader.com

Kentucky State Police officials estimate it will cost them more than $100,000 annually to continue providing about 12,000 written driver’s license tests in 22 foreign languages.

KSP spokesman Sgt. David Jude provided those estimates late Wednesday after Gov. Steve Beshear reversed KSP’s decision to offer written driver’s license tests only in English starting June 1. The governor first learned about the change on Tuesday night and immediately canceled it.

Mongiardo claims 15-point lead; Conway calls it ‘spin’

FRANKFORT – Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo’s campaign for the U.S. Senate claims in an internal poll that he holds a 15-point lead over Attorney General Jack Conway among registered Democrats.

The poll of 336 registered Democrats showed Mongiardo outdistancing Conway 43 percent to 28 percent, with 29 percent undecided. A memo from Mongiardo’s pollster, Garin Hart Yang Research of Washington, D.C., said the poll was conducted May 12 and 13 and has a margin of error of 5.4 percentage points.

The Mongiardo campaign claimed an even larger lead – 46 percent to 26 percent — over Conway among “core” Democrats – those who voted in the 2007 or 2008 primary elections.

“Daniel Mongiardo’s impressive lead reflects strong support among grassroots Democrats, who know that despite overwhelming odds Daniel Mongiardo almost beat Jim Bunning in 2004 and that in 2010 Daniel Mongiardo is going to finish what he started by winning this race for Kentucky families whether against Jim Bunning or whoever is named as his relief pitcher,” Mongiardo spokesman Kim Geveden said in a statement.

Conway’s campaign immediately attacked the poll, dismissing it as “all spin.”