Gov. Bevin has authority to fire Lt. Gov. Hampton’s staff, Kentucky judge rules
Gov. Matt Bevin has the authority to hire and fire employees who are assigned to Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton’s staff, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled Friday.
Hampton had sued Bevin in an effort to stop Bevin’s dismissal of her top two staffers.
Shepherd’s 13-page ruling Friday against Hampton was not unexpected since he denied her request last month for a temporary injunction in the case.
Hampton, whose term ends Dec. 10, may appeal Shepherd’s ruling. Her attorney, Joshua Harp, said, “We are evaluating the court’s ruling, and anticipate that we will appeal. “
Shepherd said Hampton “lacks any statutory or constitutional power to act as ‘appointing authority’ for the personnel assigned to her by the office of the governor.”
He said his finding “should not be construed as any criticism of Lt. Gov. Hampton, who appears to have discharged all of her assigned duties with dignity, loyalty and honor.”
The judge, who has been criticized by Bevin in the past, said past governors “have entrusted their lieutenant governors with the authority to hire and fire staff members assigned to them.”
“The record here contains no explanation as to why Gov. Bevin has not accorded Lt. Gov. Hampton such basic authority over the operation of her own office,” he said. “Nevertheless, the lieutenant governor has only those duties and powers assigned by the General Assembly or delegated by the governor.”
He said the state Constitution and laws make clear that the lieutenant governor’s office is a subsidiary part of the governor’s office, “and not a stand alone unit of state government with independent powers and duties.”
The next lieutenant governor will be either Republican Ralph Alvarado of Winchester, a state senator whom Bevin chose to be his running mate this year instead of Hampton, or Democrat Jacqueline Coleman, an educator from Mercer County, who is running with Attorney General Andy Beshear.
Beshear’s office said in August in an opinion that did not carry the force of law that the lieutenant governor has the power to “appoint and terminate” her own staff. Beshear has tried to make Bevin’s actions toward Hampton an issue in the governor’s race that Kentucky voters will decide Nov. 5.
Hampton sued Bevin and the Personnel Cabinet in August, claiming that she — as a constitutionally elected officer of the state — is empowered by the law to appoint staff to her office and to block the governor from interfering with her appointment power. Bevin’s general counsel, Steve Pitt, has argued that the lieutenant governor does not have that power.
The Bevin administration fired Hampton’s chief of staff, Steve Knipper, in January for refusing to follow its policy of leaving state government when he decided to run in May’s Republican primary election for secretary of state. He was unsuccessful in the election.
The Bevin administration then fired Adrienne Southworth, Hampton’s deputy chief of staff, in May. Southworth said she didn’t know why she was fired, but she had been investigating Knipper’s dismissal.
Bevin’s chief of staff, Blake Brickman, has said he authorized Southworth’s dismissal for “remarkably poor judgment in a number of ways.”
Knipper and Southworth have appealed their dismissals to the Personnel Board.
This story was originally published October 25, 2019 at 3:36 PM.
