Beshear administration will not continue former Lt. Gov. Hampton’s lawsuit against Bevin
Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman will not pursue the litigation started by former Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton when she sued Gov. Matt Bevin for firing two of her staffers without her consent.
The new governor’s director of communications, Crystal Staley, said late Monday that Gov. Beshear believes his lieutenant governor “can hire and fire her own staff; therefore there is no need to pursue the litigation.”
The Beshear administration has not yet formally asked the courts to dismiss the lawsuit initiated by Hampton but plans to do so soon.
The administration last Friday informed the Kentucky Court of Appeals that Hampton’s appeal of a Franklin Circuit Court decision against her is moot because there is a new lieutenant governor. Franklin Circuit Judge Philip Shepherd had ruled that then Gov. Bevin had the authority to hire and fire employees who are assigned to the lieutenant governor.
Hampton’s attorney, Joshua Harp of Frankfort, could not be immediately reached for comment Monday. He said Friday that he believes the issue is so important that it should be litigated through the courts.
Hampton last month appealed the circuit court decision to the appellate court. Hampton’s suit against Bevin and the Personnel Cabinet argued 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.
Beshear, as Kentucky attorney general, 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 staff. Beshear tried to make Bevin’s actions toward Hampton an issue in the governor’s race that Kentucky voters decided Nov. 5.
The governor and lieutenant governor are constitutional officers, but they are elected together as a slate. Bevin chose state Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, instead of Hampton to run with him for a second term as governor.
The terms of Bevin and Hampton expired Dec. 10, when Beshear and Coleman were sworn in.
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 several ways.”
Knipper and Southworth have appealed their dismissals to the Personnel Board.
It is not clear how the Beshear administration will deal with those appeals.
This story was originally published December 24, 2019 at 9:02 AM.
