Judge refuses Bevin's request to remove attorney general from pension lawsuit
A judge denied Gov. Matt Bevin's request Wednesday to disqualify Attorney General Andy Beshear and his office from challenging Kentucky's recently enacted public pension law.
Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said Beshear, as the state's chief legal officer, did not have a conflict of interest and did not violate the professional conduct rules that govern attorneys as Bevin alleged.
Bevin's April 17 motion claimed Beshear violated conduct rules by providing legal advice to legislators on the public pension bill and then suing them for the measure.
Shepherd said he wanted to rule quickly because some of provisions of the pension law take effect in July and more do on Jan. 1, 2019. The judge expects to enter an order in a few days to explain his ruling.
Beshear, in an email, said the judge's ruling "recognizes that, as the attorney general, I'm the people's lawyer, and it is my duty to fight on behalf of teachers, police officers, firefighters, social workers and other public servants.
"I will continue to protect the rights of our public servants and to enforce the constitution's requirement that our government is transparent and never turns a sewage bill into a pension bill ever again."
Beshear, along with the Kentucky Education Association and the Kentucky State Fraternal Order of Police, filed suit April 11 against the public pension bill Bevin signed into law.
The lawsuit claims the law breaks the "inviolable contract" that the state made with its public employees to not harm their pensions. The law places teachers hired after Jan. 1, 2019, in a hybrid cash-balance plan like a 401(k) system, rather than a traditional pension, and the law requires those teachers to work longer before becoming eligible for retirement. State employees hired between 2003 and 2008 also are required to pay 1 percent more for health care in retirement.
Bevin's general counsel, Steve Pitt, told Judge Shepherd Wednesday that Beshear created conflicts of interest by drafting and sending a legal memorandum to the General Assembly eight days after the original pension bill was filed, by drafting and sending another legal memo to the General Assembly a short time later and by meeting with House and Senate Democratic leaders "to discuss legal options" one day following passage of the pension bill.
Pitt said lawmakers followed some of Beshear's legal advice in arriving at their final pension bill, passed as Senate Bill 151 on March 29.
Assistant Attorney General La Tasha Buckner told the court that Beshear had no attorney-client relationship with legislators and there was no conflict.
Pitt said after the hearing that he thinks the lawsuit eventually will go to the Kentucky Supreme Court and the issue of disqualification for Beshear will be addressed then.
This story was originally published April 25, 2018 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Judge refuses Bevin's request to remove attorney general from pension lawsuit."