All Entries in the "Agriculture commissioner" Category

Personnel board to decide Ag department investigation in January

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Personnel Board will hear a report in January on whether agriculture department officials violated state personnel laws when two merit positions were created and given to political appointees.

Mark Sipek, the executive director of the panel, told the board at its meeting on Friday that staff had not yet finished it report on its investigation into alleged improprieties at the Department of Agriculture and recommended that the board take up the issue at its January meeting.

Ag department director charged with ethics violation

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A division director in the Department of Agriculture has been charged with violating the state’s ethics rules after she allegedly created a merit-based position for herself to protect her job.

Danita Fentress-Laird was one of at least two political appointees who were awarded merit positions in the Department of Agriculture last year. According to charges released Friday by the Executive Branch Ethics Commission, Fentress-Laird used her position to create a merit position and then made sure that she was hired into that job.

Fentress-Laird was appointed as a director of the Division of Personnel and Budget by Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer, who is leaving office this January. Political appointees serve at the will of the commissioner. But the merit system protects employees from being dismissed without cause.

Farmer questions contribution to Comer in agriculture commissioner race

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT – The Democratic campaign of Bob Farmer for state commissioner of agriculture claimed Wednesday that his Republican opponent, state Rep. James Comer, violated an ethics law by accepting a campaign contribution from a lobbyist.

About an hour after the Farmer campaign made the claim, Comer’s campaign amended its campaign finance report to reflect that no lobbyist has contributed to it.

The Farmer campaign said in a news release at 9:22 a.m. that Comer received a contribution from Robert Heleringer, a Louisville attorney and lobbyist, on Sept. 30.

Richie Farmer determined to bounce back after tough year

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of stories about candidates for lieutenant governor.

FRANKFORT — Of all his 42 years, this one has been the toughest for Richie Farmer.

“I’d be lying if I said anything different,” said the Kentucky basketball icon who is about to wrap up eight years as state agriculture commissioner and is hoping to become Kentucky’s next lieutenant governor.

Farmer has endured personal upheaval and public pillorying while running on a ticket this year with Republican gubernatorial nominee David Williams.

As his wife of 13 years filed for divorce this spring, the media and Democrats dogged Farmer with questions about spending in his state office. The controversial purchases range from refrigerators and televisions to hotel stays and conference trips. He claims all of them were appropriate to his job.

While his office’s signature program, Kentucky Proud, has been praised for dramatically increasing the visibility of Kentucky-grown farm products, political opponents say the program spent too much money promoting Farmer.

Comer, P’Pool announce bus tour

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Two Republican candidates for statewide office plan to embark Wednesday on a four-day “Corn and Coal” bus tour.

State Rep. James Comer, who is running for agriculture commissioner, and Todd P’Pool, the Todd County attorney who is challenging Democratic incumbent Attorney General Jack Conway, announced Monday that they will make stops in 15 counties.

Comer faces Democrat Bob Farmer in the Nov. 8 general election.

Ethics panel dismisses complaint against GOP candidate for ag commissioner

FRANKFORT — The Legislative Ethics Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to dismiss a complaint that alleged state Rep. James Comer, the Republican nominee for agriculture commissioner, improperly used a state employee in his campaign.

The complaint was filed by the campaign of Comer’s Democratic opponent, Bob Farmer. It alleged that a Republican legislative aide, Michael Goins, posted entries on Comer’s Facebook page during state business hours, and that Goins owned a company, Blue Sky Communications, paid to work for Comer’s campaign.

The complaint also alleged that Comer, of Tompkinsville, deliberately destroyed key computer evidence related to the case.

State law says a candidate may not use public funds, time or personnel for partisan political campaign activity.

In its dismissal order, the commission said Farmer’s complaint contained significant errors. Goins does not own Blue Sky Communications, his wife does, the commission said. Of the eight Facebook postings in question, only two appear to have been made by Goins during business hours, and there is no evidence he was paid to do so, the commission said.

Comer raises more than $650,000 in race for ag commissioner

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Republican James Comer has raised more than $650,000 from 100 of the state’s 120 counties in his bid to become Kentucky’s next agriculture commissioner.

In papers filed Monday with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, Comer, a state representative from Tompkinsville, reported more than $400,000 on hand for his race against Democrat Bob Farmer, a Louisville businessman, in the Nov. 8 general election.

Farmer has not yet filed his campaign finance report.

A news release from Comer’s campaign said 28 of Comer’s colleagues in the state legislature have contributed to his campaign, including Democratic Rep. Melvin Henley of Murray.

Farmer’s campaign for ag commissioner files ethics complaint against Comer

By Jack Brammer

jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT – A complaint filed with the Legislative Ethics Commission contends that Republican agriculture commissioner nominee James Comer violated state law by using public personnel for his campaign.

The complaint also alleges that Comer, a state representative from Tompkinsville, deliberately destroyed key evidence associated with the case.

The complaint was filed by Lexington attorney Franklin Paisley on behalf of Comer’s Democratic opponent, Bob Farmer, said Farmer spokesman Brian Wright.

Comer was not immediately available for comment.

Nov. 22 trial date set in Richie Farmer divorce case

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A judge set a Nov. 22 trial date Tuesday in Rebecca Farmer’s divorce case against state Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer.

Franklin Family Court Judge Squire Williams also scheduled a mediation hearing Sept. 29 for the couple.

Richie Farmer, a former University of Kentucky basketball star from Clay County, is a candidate for lieutenant governor on the gubernatorial ticket of Republican David Williams.

Rebecca Farmer’s attorney, Brian A. Logan of Frankfort, wanted the trial date to be scheduled sooner. In response, the commissioner’s attorney, Richard Guarnieri of Frankfort, asserted in a hearing Tuesday that Logan wanted the trial before the Nov. 8 general election to get an advantage.

Logan said the assertion was “completely untrue.”

Bob Farmer announces advisory committee for campaign and farm issues

FRANKFORT — Bob Farmer, Democratic nominee for state agriculture commissioner, announced members of his “Future of Kentucky Agriculture Committee” on Tuesday to advise him on his campaign and agricultural issues.

At a news conference in the Capitol Rotunda, Farmer, a Louisville advertising and marketing executive making his first bid for public office, said committee members are Lexington farmer Alice Baesler, state Department of Agriculture county fairs coordinator Stewart Gritton of Anderson County, Woodford County farmer Hoppy Henton, Fayette County horse farm owner Anita Madden and Democratic state Sen. Joey Pendleton of Hopkinsville.

Gritton joined two other Democrats at the news conference — former Montgomery County Judge-Executive B.D. Wilson and Richmond lawyer and farmer John Lackey – who lost to Farmer in last spring’s Democratic primary election.