Ethics report good, not a ‘gotcha’ | Cross

FRANKFORT, Ky. – You know the scene at Rick’s Café in “Casablanca”: Claude Rains, playing the police captain, blows his whistle and says, “Everybody is to leave here immediately. This café is closed until further notice. Clear the room at once.” He explains to Humphrey Bogart, playing Rick: “I’m shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in here.” The croupier, played by Marcel Dalio, walks up with a wad of cash for the captain: “Your winnings, sir.”

The scene came to mind Jan. 11 when Gov. Matt Bevin’s office issued an investigative report saying 16 unnamed state employees had accused seven named officials of the previous administration of soliciting political contributions from them, in violation of state law. As could be said, “I’m shocked, shocked, to find that political fund-raising is going on in government.”

That was surely the sarcastic reaction of Kentuckians who have become inured to the seamier side of politics in a state where legal and illegal government corruption are too prevalent.

But the report from Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, the Cincinnati-based law firm Bevin hired, was not a joke – as asserted by its main target, former Gov. Steve Beshear – or “a grossly political, partisan document,” as claimed by his son and the secondary target, Attorney General Andy Beshear.

It could be recast as a front-page news story, albeit with anonymous sources, about a few state officials making politically appointed employees think that their jobs were at risk if they didn’t give to the campaigns of the Beshears, the state Democratic Party or the 2015 gubernatorial campaign of then-Attorney General Jack Conway.

Four of the alleged violators denied the charges, one wouldn’t be interviewed and two are deceased – including Mike Haydon, who was Steve Beshear’s chief of staff and is accused of making $10,000 in fundraising the price for one employee to keep a job.

Politically appointed employees don’t have the civil-service protections of the state Merit System, but they are covered by the state law that bans soliciting political contributions from state workers. The long lists of political appointees’ contributions to the Beshears and Conway suggest strongly that some soliciting was going on.

But there is no such list or any evidence of retaliation against non-givers, in the report Bevin issued. Some of its passages read more like a political screed than a memo from a major law firm because it is the latest shot in the governor’s effort to cast himself as a reformer and the Beshears as corrupt.

The report doesn’t make a strong case for its major claims, such as “widespread” and “wholesale” violations that amounted to “a pattern” of conduct. It cites seven solicitors and 16 targets out of approximately 800 unprotected appointees, too small a sample to make such broad statements. It’s second nature for such employees to keep their heads down and their mouths shut, but some may have been willing to make or exaggerate claims in hopes of pleasing their new bosses.

That being said, the report is a good thing. The law is a good one and should be enforced, the report has been turned over to the Executive Branch Ethics Commission, and the law firm’s investigation may continue. If the violations were endemic, as the report suggests, more employees will come forward, and some will be willing to testify, perhaps in court cases.

It’s unclear whether the ethics commission will get the names of the 16 employees. The report says, “We have agreed not to disclose individual identities at this time” because the workers had “a collective reluctance” to snitch -- citing a desire not to implicate former colleagues in improper conduct, fearing retaliation from a future administration, and not wanting to discuss the effect on family finances.

The latter point illustrates the report’s occasional exaggeration and frequent use of vague terms that are open to interpretation. Its conclusion says “numerous” employees suffered “serious financial hardships” because “a number” said they had to use credit cards for their contributions and “some” said they had to borrow money to make them.

The chief villain of the report is Tim Longmeyer of Louisville, who was Beshear’s personnel secretary and briefly Andy Beshear’s chief deputy before he pleaded guilty to a bribery-and-kickback scheme. He remains the linchpin of Bevin’s argument that the Beshear administration was corrupt, and the report cites three other Personnel Cabinet employees as illegal solicitors. But it remains to be seen if they were typical, or outliers.

In riding the white horse of reform, Bevin is setting a standard for his and future administrations, a standard that would have more effect on a Democratic governor. The Democrats’ base is not as wealthy and they tend to be the party of government, so they have relied more on contributions from government employees.

But the idea of removing politics from government runs contrary to human nature, so Bevin and his lieutenants will have to sternly practice what they piously preach. The slightest specks of mud show clearly on a white horse.

Al Cross, a former CJ political writer, is director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and associate professor in the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media. His opinions are his own, not UK's.