Something new for Bevin and Beshear to spar over: Capitol office space
Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear doesn’t like it, but Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration is taking over some of his office space in the Kentucky Capitol.
Finance and Administration Secretary William M. Landrum III informed Holly McCoy-Johnson, Beshear’s administrative services director, in a June 26 letter that the administration will move an unnamed tenant into two first-floor rooms on the front side of the Capitol now occupied by Beshear employees near his office and convert two rooms in the Capitol basement for use by the attorney general’s office.
The letter and others on the subject were obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader through a request under the Open Records Act.
“These are the types of petty actions we have come to expect, but we are not going to let anything prevent us from fighting for Kentucky families,” said Beshear spokeswoman Crystal Staley.
Bevin spokeswoman Elizabeth Kuhn said the space in question “has not been used for months by the attorney general’s office, and it was only after our legal office requested to use it that Andy Beshear decided to move one of his nearly 90 attorneys into the space.”
“The governor’s legal team currently employs only three attorneys who work around the clock to defend Kentuckians while the attorney general refuses to do so,” she said. “It is childish and petty for the attorney general to complain about having to move one of his attorneys to another location in the Capitol.”
Beshear, the Democratic nominee for governor, is trying to block Bevin from getting a second four-year term in November’s general election. The two have clashed on a number of legal issues since they took office. Office space in the Capitol is their new bone of contention.
The space issue arose when Landrum told Beshear in a June 13 letter that “one of the permanent tenant agencies located in the Capitol” asked the Finance and Administration Cabinet for additional space.
Kuhn said the office space will be used for the general counsel’s office. It is expected to hire a fourth attorney soon. The general counsel’s office now has space on the first floor of the Capitol on the back side of the Capitol.
Landrum noted that a review of space utilization in the Capitol throughout April and May showed that rooms 119 and 121 across the hall from Beshear’s main offices and suite were “potentially unoccupied or underutilized.”
Landrum said Beshear’s office confirmed on June 12 that room 119 was consistently occupied but 121 was not.
“As a result, room 121 has been identified as the most efficient room to meet current needs and room 119 will remain available for use by the Office of the Attorney General,” wrote Landrum. He asked Beshear to remove any of his office property from room 121 by June 28.
On June 17, McCoy-Johnson told Landrum in a letter that it is “erroneous” that room 121 was not occupied.
“I was not contacted regarding the space, and as Executive Director of Administrative Services, I am the appropriate person to discuss officially, plans regarding the Office of Attorney General space utilization,” she said.
McCoy said room 121 currently has a full-time employee in it and the office was “not consistently occupied for a short period of time” due to the current occupant transitioning from part-time/parental leave to full-time status.
The attorney general’s office said that “short period of time” amounted to six to eight weeks, contending that is “a reasonable amount of time to accommodate a new mother transitioning back to full-time employment.”
Both 119 and 121 now are occupied by assistant attorneys general working in the civil division of the office.
The attorney general’s office in the Capitol has 42 employees — 20 on the first floor and 22 in the basement.
State law, said McCoy-Johnson, requires space in the Capitol for the attorney general’s office.
She also said rooms 121 and 119 are adjoining, providing limited privacy to the occupants. “Assigning room 121 outside of the Office of Attorney General severely restricts the attorney assigned to room 119 in conducting business on behalf of the office” and putting non-attorney general personnel in the room “severely compromises the attorney-client privilege and other ethical obligations required of this office,” she said.
The two rooms have been assigned to the attorney general “for as long as we can track with available records” and room 121 is “currently occupied and crucial to meeting the needs of the attorney general,” said McCoy-Johnson.
She asked Landrum to stop the space reallocation.
Landrum, in a June 26 letter, informed McCoy-Johnson that “the permanent tenant will move into rooms 119 and 121” and the two basement rooms will be converted for use by the attorney general by July 12.
The basement space is actually one large room now filled with desks, chairs and a microwave oven and refrigerator.
Some current and past state officials have used it for a smoking room even though smoking is not allowed in the Capitol.
