Free Republic

<p>A new governor's first legislative session is supposed to be a crowning moment, in which an election mandate is transformed into progress. In Ernie Fletcher's case, it was a flop.</p> <p>There are plenty of excuses, including the fact that his party hasn't run the executive branch in more than three decades, thus doesn't have much current experience on which to draw. Also, unprecedented ill-will paralyzed the legislative branch, with Senate bullies and House incompetents jockeying for political advantage.</p>

<p>GLASGOW, Ky. — After a trip home that retraced the steps of his life and a final ringing endorsement of his style and service, former Gov. Louie Nunn was remembered yesterday as the last of Kentucky's great personal politicians — and one of its more willful.</p>

Patton's former mistress resigns from lottery board Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Tina Conner, who was former Gov. Paul Patton's mistress and whom he appointed to the Kentucky Lottery Corp. board, has resigned from that post. Conner did not give a reason for her departure in a Jan. 23 letter to board president but said she "enjoyed my time on the lottery board and was very appreciative of the opportunity to serve on this board." Her term would have expired Nov. 28. Conner did not return calls seeking comment. Patton appointed Conner to the lottery board on Dec. 28, 2000,...

<p>C-J file photos Former Gov. Louie B. Nunn rode in his inaugural parade in Frankfort in 1967.</p> <p>From left, Steven, Jennie Lou and Beula Nunn, Louie B. Nunn's son, daughter and wife, respectively, stayed warm during the governor's inauguration in December. The day started chilly and gray, but thousands gathered for the event.</p>

Fletcher's brother's wife hired at cabinet MOVE REQUIRES WAIVER TO HIRING FREEZE By John Cheves HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER FRANKFORT - Gov. Ernie Fletcher's sister-in-law reports to work Wednesday as a political appointee at the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet. The move smacks of nepotism and hypocrisy, a representative of state employees said. The appointment of Rachel Fletcher, 60, to be one of three executive secretaries to LaJuana Wilcher, the cabinet's secretary, will require a waiver in the state-wide hiring freeze Fletcher ordered shortly after he took office. The $25,000-a-year job is "considered critical" though, so it should be filled, said...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Gov. Paul Patton knows the crush of camera crews and reporters waiting for him in the rotunda couldn't care less about his "Children's Health Day" proclamation. They're interested only in what he calls his "personal tragedy." Even the mundane groundbreakings and photo opportunities that mark his final days in office can't shield him from reminders of the sex scandal that derailed his once-high-flying political career and tarnished his legacy. This recent day is particularly tough. His former mistress, Tina Conner, is pleading guilty in federal court to falsifying an application for a state contract. Reporters want...

Wanted: Someone to work flexible hours, relaxed dress code, excellent pay, state job. Governor's stepdaughter preferred. On April 16, 2002, Bambi Todd, the stepdaughter of Gov. Paul Patton, was appointed, despite a hiring freeze, to be "responsible for public information, strategic planning, training, and assisting the executive with the day-to-day operations" at the Kentucky Racing Commission. The commission said the post was "essential or of a critical nature to the ongoing operation of the program," when it established it three weeks earlier. But Todd didn't work the weekend after the Kentucky Derby, when the eyes of the world focused on...

FRANKFORT, Ky. - With eight Democrats and Republicans running for Kentucky governor, you'd think they would be bashing each other heading into next month's primaries. Instead, they have ganged up on Gov. Paul Patton, the term-limited Democrat who dropped a plan to run for Senate after admitting he cheated on his wife in an affair that has led to state and federal investigations into whether he misused his office to help or retaliate against his lover. Democrats are distancing themselves from Patton and Republicans are hoping they can win the governorship for the first time in 36 years, though the...

FRANKFORT, Ky. - A state ethics panel Tuesday charged Gov. Paul Patton with doing favors for his lover, saying he intervened to make her construction company more likely to get state aid. If the four charges from the Executive Branch Ethics Commission are upheld after a hearing, Patton could face a $5,000 fine and a public reprimand. Patton said Tuesday he would vigorously defend himself against the allegations. He has acknowledged having an affair with nursing home owner Tina Conner but has denied her allegations that he used his office to help her during the affair and hurt her after...

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. An investigation probably would take at least a month, she said. 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...

From the WHAS Newsroom.... (Frankfort, KY) -- The Executive Branch Ethics Commission will meet Friday morning to consider the accusations against Governor Patton. Meanwhile, a hint today that Tina Conner may have indeed benefited from a special business designation some state workers say they were pressured to grant her. The "Paducah Sun" newspaper reports S-T Construction, owned by Conner and her husband, did some work on the Barkley Regional Airport. It wasn't a state contract, but did hinge on the special designation.

From the 84 WHAS newsroom... (Louisville, KY) -- Governor Patton is facing some explosive allegations...he's finding himself at the center of a sex scandal. WHAS 11 TV broke the story Tuesday night, reporting that Tina Conner, a businesswoman and nursing home operator out of Western Kentucky (Clinton), says she had a 2-year affair with the Governor. The allegations go even further though. Conner says that when she tried to break off that relationship, the governor tried to shut down her nursing home. The state found numerous violations at Birchtree Healthcare during an inspection last year. Birchtree has since filed for...