Kentucky governor drops plans for Senate bid

Miami Herald ^ | 9/27/02 | MARK R. CHELLGREN

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Gov. Paul Patton, who is being sued for sexual harassment, announced Friday that he was dropping his plans to run for the Senate in 2004 but would not step down as governor.

"I cannot envision circumstances under which I would be a candidate," Patton said.

He also repeated that he had no plans to step down as governor and said he had received several calls from people urging him not to resign. "I will execute this office so long as I can do it effectively for the people of Kentucky," he said.

The scandal surrounding the two-term governor erupted last week when Tina Conner, a nursing home owner, sued Patton for sexual harassment and claimed he used his power to send regulators after her business when their two-year relationship ended.

Patton acknowledged the extramarital relationship with Conner a few days later but said he had not misused his office in any way.

Conner said Friday morning she would meet with FBI agents on Monday to discuss the case.

"I'm assuming they want to discuss the evidence that I plan to produce for the abuse of power that I believe has taken place," she said on NBC's "Today" show.

Her attorney, Fred Radolovich, said no meeting had been scheduled, though he had been trying to set one up.

Conner did not elaborate on her mention of evidence, and Radolovich has declined to describe what it might be. He said he negotiated all last week with two lawyers representing Patton for a potential settlement before Conner filed her lawsuit.

Attorney General Ben Chandler said Thursday that his office would investigate if any laws were violated, and Patton said he also expected the Executive Branch Ethics Commission to vote to launch its own investigation on Friday.

In a letter to the commission's executive director, Patton said he supported that and he authorized the commission to publicly acknowledge an investigation - something it is not required by law to do.

Health Services Secretary Marcia Morgan, whose cabinet regulates nursing homes, said she has invited U.S. attorneys, the FBI, Chandler's office and the Executive Branch Ethics Commission to investigate her agency.

"We want to put allegations of wrongdoing by the cabinet behind us," Morgan said Thursday.

According to her lawsuit, Conner said Patton provided state assistance to her nursing home, Birchtree Healthcare, and to a construction company she owned as well as her personally. Conner was appointed to the Institute on Aging and the Kentucky Lottery Corp. board.

Cabinet for Health Services officials said their work investigating Birchtree was free of any political influence.

The nursing home was cited for dozens of violations and fined $16,500. Subsequently, it lost Medicare and Medicaid funding, which meant that most of its patients went elsewhere. Ed Wilson, the cabinet's director of long-term care said all the cited violations were "very serious care issues. These weren't paper deficiencies that could be corrected by filing a paper."

The nursing home has since filed for bankruptcy protection and is being sued for foreclosure by a local bank.

On the "Today" show, Conner she had talked to an aide to Gennifer Flowers about Flowers' experience after she claimed to have had a long-running affair with former President Clinton while he was governor Arkansas.

Conner said she called "hoping to find out where she had received her legal advice, what this process was like for her, what she felt like now, how her life was now at this time."

[E. Pluribus Unum]

No mention of party affiliation so he must be a DEMONcRAT.

[Phantom Lord]

Yep, he's a RAT!

[lelio]

Patton acknowledged the extramarital relationship with Conner a few days later but said he had not misused his office in any way.
And why should we believe Patton now? He lied about the affair in the first place until she said that she could prove it.

[tom h]

Yup -- he's a Democrat and the Associated Press is conveniently hiding that fact. From the National Governor's Association home page:

Birth Date: May 26, 1937

Family: Married; four children, three grandchildren

Religion: Presbyterian

Spouse: Judi

Party: Democrat

Elected: November 1999

Term Expires: December 2003

Boy, I pity his wife. Here she's been a loyal politician's wife for 30-40 years, raised their four children, puts on a happy face at countless useless political meetings, and then has to face the world outside the Governor's mansion when her husband is proven to have molested an attractive lady one-half her age. Mrs. Judi Patton needs our prayers, as do her grown children.

[Sonny M]

Just to put this in perspective, 4 of my friends have asked me what political party he is in, because they don't know and the media isn't saying, only one of my friends did know and she is a left wing idiot, but she was smart enough to say one thing, if you don't see a party, its a democrat. My logic was simple, when somone does something bad in office, you just should assume its a rat untill told otherwise. Republicans, generally have higher standards of behavior so its more of a deviation when they do something like this, its more of the norm for a democrat, I.E. Dog bites man is not news, Man bites dog is news.

[KC_Conspirator]

That is exactly right. If this were a Republican it would be the first word in the title. This guy should be impeached for his abuse of power.

[ghost of nixon]

I'm guessing this is a big break for Repub's. Patton may well have been on his way to capturing a senate seat now held by Republicans. We have been overdue for some good breaks after Jeffords, and losing a seat in Georgia after Coverdale's death, and a seat in Missouri to the sympathy vote after Mel Carnahan's death. Hopefully that seat will be returned to the Pubbies this November.

[MeekOneGOP]

Hey, Fred. I couldn't find this story on your local paper. Guess it was yesterday's story and they took it off?

Here's a related story, though......

Local/Regional » News Item

Saturday, September 28, 2002

Scandal cuts Patton's public role
Ads canceled; handouts lose governor's name

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By Joseph Gerth
jgerth@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

Gov. Paul Patton is no longer in the running for an honor from Governing Magazine.

Kentucky's governor won't be Governing Magazine's ''Public Official of the Year.'' It has decided he's not worthy.

And you won't be seeing or hearing Gov. Paul Patton in television and radio ads for the state's tax-amnesty program. They've been pulled.

Nor will you see him on handouts that were to be distributed next week at a domestic violence program. He's been removed.

In fact, you won't see the governor in many public situations because the political scandal involving allegations of sexual and official misconduct has made him, essentially, persona non grata.

In the week following Patton's tearful admission to an affair with a Western Kentucky businesswoman, the governor's staff suggested he take a step back -- out of the public's eye.

Patton agreed.

While the governor is less visible these days, Rusty Cheuvront, his spokesman, said there are no plans for Patton to reduce his role in government. ''Other than removing himself from political functions, the governor intends to execute his duties in as normal a manner as possible. . . . I think with any occurrence like this you have to assess it, evaluate it and adjust to it. And I think he's done that.''

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''It's such a sensitive issue, it's too close. We want to continue to focus on the important work that we have done for six years.''

--Carol Jordan, whose domestic violence program cut the governor's name from materials for an event

---

On Sept. 18, Tina Conner filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Patton and the state. She has said that Patton used his office to help her during their relationship, and that he used his power to retaliate against her business after their affair ended. Patton has admitted the affair but has denied misusing his office.

Alex Rose, general counsel for the state Revenue Cabinet, said that on the morning of Sept. 20, the day Patton made his admission, the cabinet decided Patton's television and radio ads for the state's tax-amnesty program were harming the campaign, which ends Monday.

''Our commercials would run, when it went back to the disc jockey, he would use that ad as a jumping-off point and go back to a discussion of the governor's personal problems,'' Rose said.

After hearing what some stations were saying, Rose said he agreed to pull the ads. ''It just felt inappropriate to be paying to have commercials on the air and for them to be using them like that. We just wanted to keep the focus on the tax-amnesty program.''

Patton has been absent from political appearances as well.

The governor had been advertised as a headliner, along with Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, at a Fayette County Democratic fish fry last night but canceled this week.

Patton also has decided to skip some government events such as an awards program Tuesday in which his office for child abuse and domestic violence services was to pay tribute to men who have worked to end domestic violence.

Carol Jordan, executive director of the program, said Patton decided not to attend the program but that his wife, Judi, intends to be there.

Jordan said her office also had to make last-minute changes by pulling Patton's name from materials for an event.

With Patton admitting an improper sexual relationship and facing allegations of misusing the power of his office, organizers of the domestic violence event said it was difficult to include Patton's name and likeness in the awards presentation.

''It's such a sensitive issue, it's too close,'' Jordan said. ''We want to continue to focus on the important work that we have done for six years.''

And Patton spokesman Cheuvront said that last week he was informed that Governing Magazine would not name Patton ''Public Official of the Year.''

Peter Harkness, editor of the magazine, which is owned by Congressional Quarterly, would not say that Patton had been chosen as one of nine winners, but he said he was being considered.

''Let's just say he was a very strong finalist and we talked to the (governor's) office about his availability (for the awards presentation) and that sort of thing. I really don't want to go further than that.''

Harkness said Patton knew the scandal hurt his chance of getting the award.

Kathleen Partlow, a public affairs executive for Doe Anderson and a past spokeswoman for former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, said yesterday that it isn't surprising to see Patton scaling back his duties and distancing himself from the tax-amnesty and domestic-violence programs.

Partlow said it takes an incredible amount of time and energy to deal with scandals because of constant questions by news reporters and others seeking information.

''The main thing you have to do is get your internal house squared away, and that takes focus. Meanwhile, you have to do your everyday duties, and that alone can be difficult,'' she said.

Partlow said it's also important to make sure Patton's troubles don't overshadow worthwhile programs.