PATTON ON AGENDAY OF ETHICS PANEL Issue is whether Office used to aid, hurt lover

FRANKFORT - The Executive Branch Ethics Commission will meet Friday to review allegations that Gov. Paul Patton misused his office to reward and then punish a Western Kentucky business-woman with whom he has admitted having an affair.

Jill LeMaster, the commission's executive director, said the five-member panel would have to vote whether to investigate Patton, who remained secluded in his Capitol office yesterday.

Last night Steve Pence, U.S. district attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, said he could not "confirm or deny" whether a federal investigation into the alleged abuse of power was under way. Greg Van Tatenhove, U.S. district attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, could not be reached for comment.

Tina Boyd Conner's attorney, Fred Radolovich, of Louisville, said last night that he was out of town yesterday, but that, as far as he knew, state and federal investigators had not tried to reach him and Conner.

Patton, during a tearful public confession last Friday that he had lied about his sexual relationship with Conner, said then that he would cooperate with the commission members and was "confident they will conclude that I have done nothing wrong in my capacity as governor."

Conner filed a sexual-harassment suit against Patton last week, claiming that he helped her businesses with regulatory influence during their two-year affair, which she said ran from 1997 to 1999. But Patton kept calling and then turned state regulators loose on her Hickman County nursing home when she told him in 2001 that she didn't want to see him, she has charged.

State regulators have said the investigations and penalties for Birchtree Healthcare in Clinton were not influenced by Patton's office.

Birchtree filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month after highly critical inspections by the Cabinet for Health Services resulted in the loss of Medicare and Medicaid payments for the 112-bed facility.

Patton was back in his Capitol office yesterday, but was in a "somber" mood, said his press secretary, Rusty Cheuvront. The Democratic governor has no public appearances on his official schedule until a news conference Friday morning in Louisville at BellSouth's Kentucky headquarters.

Cheuvront said Patton had planned a private trip this week, but that it had been canceled. He declined to say the nature of the planned trip, but Patton and his wife, Judi, were married 25 years ago today.

Judi Patton was not present at Patton's news conference Friday. Spokesmen said then she was in Pikeville with her sisters.

Cheuvront said yesterday that Patton -- who did not take questions after Friday's statement -- will not be answering any more questions from reporters about his personal life.

If the commission finds any wrongdoing by Patton, it could issue fines up to $5,000 for each violation.

It also could recommend removal from office, but LeMaster said it is not certain who would receive such a recommendation. The law says the recommendation would have to go to the "appointing authority." But Patton is an elected official.

The state constitution says the governor can be removed from office only after impeachment by the House and conviction after a trial in the Senate.

All members of the ethics commission have been appointed by Patton. But LeMaster said she thinks the commission will not give Patton any preferential treatment.

She noted that the commission asked state legislators in 2000 and again this year to allow the auditor and attorney general to make appointments to the ethics panel, but lawmakers declined.

Meanwhile, a former state official said yesterday that he felt political pressure to give special status to a construction business co-owned by Conner.

Norris Beckley, former executive director of the state's Office of Minority Affairs, said he was called to the office of the Transportation Secretary to meet with Conner in the spring of 2000.

Beckley said Secretary James Codell III asked him to work closely with Conner on a document that would certify the construction company she co-owned with her husband as a disadvantaged business enterprise. That status would give the business preference on road projects.

Beckley was fired from his position in December 2001, and the office where he worked has been overhauled after studies determined it was mismanaged and rife with problems.

While the special designation was given to ST Construction, the company has never received any state contracts.

Beckley said last night that in his four years in that position, the secretary's office made a similar request of him only "four or five times."

"It very seldom happens. There is a certain amount of pressure when you're getting a call from the secretary's office," Beckley said.

Beckley said officials from Patton's office -- Beckley could not recall exactly who -- called to check on the status of Conner's application and to "see what the holdup was."

Beckley said he had two major concerns about Conner's initial application: her personal net worth exceeded the $750,000 limit, and he wondered how Conner could run a construction company and a nursing home at the same time.

He said he finally approved Conner's application after she filed paperwork putting her net worth within program guidelines.

Beckley said that after they met in Codell's office, Conner told him that she had "influence with the governor" as Hickman County's patronage contact.

Patton has said that he called Codell to let him know that he thought Conner was a legitimate businesswoman.

Codell has said he referred Conner to various cabinet officials to tell her how to apply, but that he never pressured anyone or expedited her applications for political reasons.

I understand that the people of the Commonwealth of KY as a whole are NOT upset over Governor Patton's behavior. They do not see how he has made KY a laughingstock of the land --at least for the moment. Maybe that's because KY TWICE (like so many states) embraced the Bill Clinton candidacy for "President." KY has long embraced Patton, as lieutenant governor, as the first governor to succeed himself, and as a potential Democrat candidate for U.S. senator in 2004. Probably when all the smoke settles the people of KY will go on about their business, Patton will serve out his term but will decide not to challenge Senator Bunning. But if Patton were accorded the same honors as his mentor Clinton, he would challenge Bunning anyway -- and WIN. Maybe Kentuckians are after all a respecter of persons, as they too give Bill Clinton free passes for everything.

I am a Kentuckian, and believe me: you have it all wrong. We do care, and I wouldn't be surprised if Patton is forced to resign within the next two weeks. The only institution that is keeping him in office, barely, is the Louisville Communist Urinal. Talk Radio is all over his a**. Most polls are showing that indeed, a substantial percentage of voters think he should resign pronto.

Not even close to the truth. They buried it in the second section when it first came out, saying that since they hadn't talked to the accuser, they didn't want to give it frontpage prominence.
WHAS11 TV (Mark Hebert) is the one and only person who can be credited for breaking this story.
Tine Conner refuses to talk to the Communist Urinal. Reasons are obvious: they are the Democrat house organ for the retention of Paul Patton's governorship.

It's the Louisville Courier-Journal. Trust me (born in Louisville in Nov '76) One of the most liberal newspapers you'll ever come across.

About Patton I'm not too sure. I lived just southeast of Louisville up until a few years ago and I don't know what the news coverage and local reaction to this story has been like.

Like Diogenes, we will forever be carrying our lamp, in search of an lib/dem with good ethics.

But alas, they are all scum.....

Hi, Galtoid, as a former Kentuckian (1984-88), I was appalled that KY twice voted for Bill Clinton. It seems to me that people in KY should accept Patton as penance for falling head over hills for "their" Bill. Clinton after all taught KY that "it's only sex" and "it doesn't affect the job performance." Of course, all that was a lie, but the people of KY did fall for that "reasoning." Maybe Patton will be forced out. If so, the big winner: Democrats, who can now group behind "Governor" Henry for 2003. The Democrats always find a way to win, it seems. Sometimes though they are "too cute by a KY mile." I always thought Patton was extremely obnoxious, even as Kentuckians rallied behind him. (P.S.: I still miss KY sometimes, but I have not had an ear infection since I left your state.)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.