Much has been said in the media and on the street corners of the state lately with respect to the possibility/probability of Governor Fletcher pardoning the people caught up in Attorney General Stumbo’s all-out war on the administration with respect to the “merit mess.” One wonders how many investigators and prosecutors have been tied up in this affair as the drug problems intensify in the state, and investigations into serious criminal behavior have had to be put on hold. Without question, there have been some mistakes made by the administration, as the governor has attested, but the obvious malice connected with Stumbo’s action, most likely precipitated by the election of a republican to the top spot in 2003 and the probability that Stumbo is gunning for that spot in 2007, is way over the top.
Running down the misdemeanor charges are not the usual area of endeavor for the attorney general, so some felony charges have now been returned by the Grand Jury looking into the matter. This opens the door, as noted by Brian Goettl, for a look back at previous administrations, since, while there’s a one-year time limit on misdemeanor action, there’s no time limit on investigations/charges regarding felonies. There was enough hanky-panky in the Patton years to make a hard look necessary, but it’s not likely that this AG will make the effort. He was House majority leader during those years, and might on that basis alone not be inclined to go poking around. A majority leader in the early 1990s was sent packing by the fed prosecutors to the Big House, along with a gaggle of other elected officials and bureaucrats who were selling their services (votes, for instance), with payments under the table, of course.
For their part, Fletcher’s appointees should have had far more savvy with respect primarily to the use of e-mails as a safe method of correspondence. And, it doesn’t take a genius to understand that signed documents, whether mere memos or weightier missiles, constitute a paper trail that if not shredded immediately upon use will lead to destruction. They should have known, also, that simply deleting anything from the e-mail niche is not sufficient and that personal computers, with every damning thing intact, can be confiscated. This use of e-mails didn’t originate with them, of course, but those employed in the previous administration – probably just as damning in the same “merit” area – may be beyond recall by now, either by action then or by design recently. In any case, no democrat AG will be interested, never mind, for instance, that Patton’s patronage apparatchik for a part of western Kentucky was also his mistress, the inference being that she could move people here and there without so much as a “by your leave,” just the result of “pillow talk.”
Perhaps the best case for doling out pardons could be made by former governor Patton, since he was quick on the draw in pardoning two of his top dogs and two union leaders who were their partners in alleged crime in Louisville in the “vote scam” many think cost Larry Forgy the election in 1995. When the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case involving their indictment, Patton immediately engaged the pardons since a trial would be a certainty, with himself most likely subpoenaed as a witness, at least, and maybe eventually as a party. He pardoned those guys in June 2003 when he could have waited until after the November election or before leaving office in December and pardoned them along with others just before leaving office. Why the rush? Guess.
Particularly galling is the fact that Stumbo is the driving force behind this whole caper. A four-star U.S. Army general headed for retirement in November has just been relieved of his command, an almost unheard of happening, because of evidence that he had committed adultery with a civilian. Yet, the attorney general of Kentucky has been fighting with a former mistress over whether or not he will furnish proper support (or perhaps any support) for an illegitimate child he fathered with her in an obvious act of adultery. While the army won’t stand for known adultery (at least for officers), the state of Kentucky winks and nods over such a peccadillo for one of its highest elected officials. Some years ago, the current AG was found drunk in his pickup and told the authorities his “designated driver” had disappeared, or something like that. These are just some things that have been made public because of their being so obvious. One wonders at what else may be in Stumbo’s background.
Fletcher’s folks – maybe he, too – have not served well if they have broken laws, and the proper adjustments should be made, notwithstanding that the conduct described so far is generally conceded to be the same as what has been going on through previous administrations wherein virtually all constitutionally mandated officials have been democrats for at least the last 32 years. Fletcher has done some good things, and it is a shame he is being barbecued over what is hardly more than just “business as usual” in Frankfort and throughout the state in general, particularly in the state Transportation Department, which is probably the most corrupt of any state government agency. It may be that those around him, not having been in state government before, simply were in over their heads and therefore vulnerable to slick operators like Stumbo and his ilk, who have been working the system for decades.
Ironically, it was then-Attorney General Ben Chandler (now U.S. representative) who pursued the investigation into the antics of the four men pardoned by Patton, and then called for Patton’s resignation upon the pardoning action. Patton claimed Chandler was using the whole thing to help in his lost bid to Fletcher for the governor’s seat. Sound familiar?
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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