Jenkins denies being pressured to resign

By Ryan Alessi - ralessi@herald-leader.com

Spencer County Judge-Executive David Jenkins said he was not pressured to resign from the Kentucky Association of Counties board.

Jenkins submitted a letter of resignation to KACo's president, Christian County Attorney J. Michael Foster, on Wednesday, and Foster read the letter to KACo board members during a special meeting Thursday.

Foster said he was told other board members had suggested Jenkins resign in light of questions about charges to two strip clubs and a Lexington escort service. The charges appeared on the KACo-issued credit card assigned to Jenkins while he was president of the organization in 2008.

But Jenkins said he decided to step down without consulting anyone.

"Shut up and listen," he said during a short phone interview Friday. "I have put in my letter what I have to say. Nobody talked to me regarding this."

In Jenkins' letter that Foster read to the 34-member KACo board of directors, he wrote that he wanted KACo's officers "to be able to make decisions based upon facts and not upon personalities."

Foster has assigned KACo's outside counsel, Lexington lawyer Brent Caldwell, to investigate who signed for the strip-club and escort-service charges that appeared on Jenkins' KACo card, as well as another charge to the same escort service that showed up on Executive Director Bob Arnold's KACo card.

Both men have denied making those charges.

The payment on Arnold's card to the escort service, which bills under the name Calypso Enterprises, coincided with a three-day spring conference of Southern County Associations that KACo hosted in Lexington. The escort-service charge on Jenkins' card came on the same night Jenkins used the card for food and drinks at a Lexington hotel — charges he didn't dispute.

Jenkins cut short the phone interview Friday when asked about the "culture" at KACo events.

"That's all you've done is twist around words," Jenkins said. "And you can print that."

He declined to provide specific examples.

"I'm going on with my life," he said.