All Entries in the "2011 Statewide Races" Category

Judge rules cabinet has 30 days to comply with Open Records law

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A Franklin Circuit Court judge has given the state 30 days to tell the state’s two largest newspapers why it redacted and took out information from more than 140 case files of children who have been killed or nearly killed from abuse or neglect.

Franklin Circuit Court Judge Philip Shepherd also ordered Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Audrey Tayse Haynes to appoint a high-level staffer to oversee the cabinet’s compliance with his order.

Shepherd’s decision on Thursday came after a nearly two-hour hearing in Franklin Circuit Court on the status of the case that has taken almost three years to litigate.

Shepherd said that he would like Haynes to appoint someone by June 10 to oversee the cabinet’s compliance with the Open Records Act. Shepherd also said that he hopes the cabinet will provide detailed explanations of why information was removed by June 10 but gave the cabinet some leeway in case it takes longer given the number of case files involved. The newspapers are asking for the case files of children who have been killed or nearly killed from abuse and neglect in 2009 and 2010.

Prosecutors want Farmer trial moved to fall

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Federal prosecutors want the trial of former Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer moved to this fall and say defense lawyers’ request to move the trial to February 2014 is unreasonable, according to documents filed Thursday.

Lawyers for Farmer filed a motion earlier this week asking U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove to delay the July 2 trial until February 2014 “at the earliest.” J. Guthrie True, a lawyer for Farmer, said he had multiple scheduling conflicts and more than 16 compact discs of evidence against Farmer to review, making a July 2 trial impossible.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Taylor, in a response filed in the federal court case, agreed that the case against Farmer — who faces multiple charges of misusing more than $450,000 in taxpayer funds — is complex but said that delaying the trial to February 2014 was “excessive.” Taylor asked that the judge set a trial date for the fall. Taylor noted in court filings that the case against Farmer is “an important case of public interest, and litigation should proceed at a reasonable pace.”

Richie Farmer’s lawyer asks for February trial date

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — An attorney for former Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer wants a federal judge to push back Farmer’s July 2 trial date to February 2014, saying he needs more time to sort through voluminous records.

Farmer was indicted last month for allegedly misusing more than $450,000 in taxpayer funds. He has pleaded not guilty.

Guthrie True, a lawyer for Farmer, said in a motion filed Tuesday that federal prosecutors have given Farmer’s defense team 16 compact discs containing scores of records that could be used against Farmer at trial.

“This discovery includes hours of recorded interviews by the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General and the Kentucky Office of the Auditor of Public Accounts,” the motion says. “It will take considerable time for these interviews to be transcribed, read, and analyzed for information.”

Federal prosecutors have said the trial could last three weeks.

Kentucky business group gets behind industrial hemp bills, but hurdles remain

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce joined a growing chorus of high-profile supporters on Friday who want to let Kentucky farmers grow industrial hemp, but the effort continues to face an uphill battle.

Bills have been filed in the House and Senate that would license farmers to grow the plant — a close cousin to marijuana — if the federal government lifts its ban on the crop. Such proposals have failed to gain traction with lawmakers in previous years, but sponsors of the two bills said they believe the measure has a better chance this year.

The board of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce voted Friday to support the proposal and Republican Agriculture Commissioner James Comer has spent much of the past year aggressively lobbying state and federal leaders to lift the ban on hemp as a way to stimulate rural Kentucky economies.

Half of Kentucky’s congressional delegation — Republican U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie and Andy Barr, Democratic U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth and Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul — have also supported efforts to legalize growing hemp.

Still, skeptics remain.

Former Kentucky organic-food supervisor faces ethics charges

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A former marketing director for organic foods at the Kentucky Department of Agriculture allegedly used his state-issued email and car to do private consulting while on state time, an ethics panel charged on Monday.

The Executive Branch Ethics Commission charged Michael Fitzgerald with nine counts of violating state ethics rules for allegedly working as a private inspector for out-of-state organic food producers while also working as Agriculture Marketing Supervisor over the department’s Organic Program.

Fitzgerald, who left the department in April, could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon. Robert Bullock, an attorney for Fitzgerald, also could not be reached for comment.

Much of the allegations contained in the charges released Monday concern events in 2010 and 2011 when former Commissioner of Agriculture Richie Farmer was in charge of the agency.

Richie Farmer’s house sold to bank for $175,000

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A Franklin County home owned by former Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer was sold Monday for $175,000 to the bank that holds the loan on the house.

The house was purchased at a master commissioner’s sale at the Franklin County Courthouse by First National Bank of Manchester, which will re-sell the house to pay off a more than $317,000 loan that Farmer has not been able to repay. The sale price of $175,000 is less than the $250,000 appraisal. The house is on Cedar Ridge Road off U.S. 127 north of Frankfort.

James Davidson, senior lender for First National Bank of Manchester, was the sole bidder. Davidson said that he could not say how much the house would sell for in today’s real estate market.

First National Bank of Manchester filed the foreclosure suit in May against Farmer and his former wife, Rebecca Farmer, for $317,929.22 plus interest. She filed for divorce in April 2011, and it was finalized in July. Richie Farmer agreed in the divorce settlement to be responsible for making the mortgage payments. Court records indicate that the mortgage has not been paid since January.

KY receipts up 2.5 for August

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Kentucky revenues rebounded slightly in August from a decline in July, state revenue numbers released Monday show.

But revenues that support state transportation projects declined in August for the first time in 25 months.

Numbers released Monday by the Office of State Budget Director show a 2.5 percent increase in total receipts for August 2012 compared to August 2011. Receipts in July were 2.3 percent down compared to the previous July.

Independent files to run in 6th Congressional District race

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A 41-year-old Lexington man has filed to run as an independent in the 6th Congressional District race.

Randolph Vance, who works at the Speedway gas station in Beaumont Center in Lexington, said he originally filed as a write-in candidate but later decided to pay the $500 filing fee so his name will appear on the ballot. Vance ran for the 6th District in 2010 as a write-in candidate and received 22 votes.

Vance said he thinks that voters are tired of Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep Ben Chandler and Republican Andy Barr. Chandler narrowly beat the Lexington lawyer in the 2010 race. “I am one David going up against two Goliaths,” Vance said Wednesday shortly after filing to run for the office.

Personnel Board opens investigation of Agriculture Department under Richie Farmer

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Personnel Board voted unanimously Friday to open an investigation into alleged improprieties at the Department of Agriculture under former Commissioner of Agriculture Richie Farmer.

The investigation stems from a lengthy audit conducted by State Auditor Adam Edelen that found a host of irregularities in the department during Farmer’s administration. Current Commissioner of Agriculture James Comer asked for the audit after taking over the office in January.

Farmer, a former University of Kentucky basketball standout and candidate for Lt. Governor in 2011, was commissioner of agriculture from 2004 to 2011.

The audit found that Farmer used state employees to take him hunting and shopping, mow his yard and chauffeur his dog between Frankfort and Louisville during the State Fair because the hotel wouldn’t allow dogs – all while on the clock.

Plan redistricts Lexington’s Kathy Stein out of state Senate

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

LINK: Close-up map of proposed state Senate districts in Fayette County

FRANKFORT — Under a plan adopted by a state Senate committee Wednesday, one of Fayette County’s longest serving public officials would be out of office by the end of the year.

The Senate State and Local Government Committee on Wednesday passed its version of new congressional and Senate district maps. The new senate district lines would move Senate District 13 — which Democrat Kathy Stein currently represents — to northeastern Kentucky. That new district would include Mason and Lewis counties.

Because Stein is up for re-election this year, she would have to move to northeastern Kentucky to run for that district seat. The district where Stein currently lives becomes Senate District 4 under the new plan, which is currently held by Sen. Dorsey Ridley, a Democrat from Henderson. Stein could run for Senate District 4 in two years when that seat is up for re-election.