Why is the Beshear administration delaying job contracts for these public officials?
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration has for months taken no action on job contract extensions for two major state officials — Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Rich Storm and State Fair President and Chief Executive Officer David Beck.
The administration cites the coronavirus pandemic as the reason for delaying the contracts, which were unanimously approved by the agencies’ boards for two-year extensions.
Not everybody is buying that explanation, and not everybody agrees with the administration’s position that the two boards do not have sole hiring authority.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron issued an opinion Friday that said the boards have the exclusive authority to hire their top officials.
Inaction on the contracts has given rise to suspicions that the new administration, which has been in office only six months, is trying to find a way to put different people in those positions.
Beshear’s office weighed into the controversy Friday afternoon when his spokesman, Sebastian Kitchen, noted that this year’s state legislature approved a one-year state budget instead of the typical two-year budget.
“The administration therefore believes it is only prudent and it only has authority to enter these large dollar contracts for the same one-year period,” Kitchen said. “Since a two-year contract is unable to be approved, the administration has been reviewing the current state laws and determining the proper next steps.”
The General Assembly approved the one-year budget on April 1.
Karl Clinard, a retired orthodontist in Somerset who is chairman of the Fish and Wildlife panel, said the Beshear administration “has had plenty of time to act on Commissioner Storm’s contract that we unanimously approved on Jan. 31 and sent to them.”
“I know they have acted on other appointments,” he said. “I just hope this does not fall prey to politics.”
Clinard added that he hoped the Beshear administration does not try to limit the contracts to one year instead of two.
“I’ve heard that might happen. The boards have said two-year extensions,” he said, noting that Storm’s salary comes from Fish and Wildlife fees and not from the state’s General Fund that pays for most state programs.
The State Fair Board approved a contract extension for Beck on April 23 and the Beshear administration has not yet acted on it.
The new contracts for Storm and Beck are to take effect July 1. Each is to run for two years and did not contain a salary increase. Storm, of Nicholas County, started on the job Jan. 14, 2019, at a salary of $140,000 a year. Beck, who had worked for Kentucky Farm Bureau, was hired in April 2018 at an annual base salary of $300,000. Both Storm and Beck were hired during the administration of former Gov. Matt Bevin.
It is uncertain what will happen to their jobs on July 1.
The State Fair Board met Thursday but no action was taken regarding Beck’s contract, said Ian Cox, a spokesman for Kentucky Venues. The agency manages the Kentucky Exposition Center and the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville.
Cox referred to the state Finance Cabinet when asked whether Beck will still be president and CEO of the fair board if the state has not approved his contract by July 1.
The Finance Cabinet did not immediately respond.
Louisville’s WDRB-TV reported Thursday that some State Fair board members voiced concern that the state has not yet extended Beck’s contract.
The Fish and Wildlife Commission, in a meeting Friday, took no public action on Storm’s contract but Clinard said afterwards it was discussed in closed session and that he, if necessary, will call an emergency meeting if there is no resolution by July 1.
He said he showed commission members 36 pages of contracts the administration had sent to the legislature’s review panel in April and May.
There are 19 members on the State Fair Board. Sixteen of them are appointed by the governor and three of them serve by virtue of their public office. The Fish and Wildlife Commission is made up of nine members who serve four-year terms after licensed hunters and anglers in each of nine districts send names of five nominees to the governor, who selects one from each district. They then have to be confirmed by the Kentucky Senate.
After the governing panels signed off on the job contracts months ago, they were sent to Tourism, Arts and Heritage Secretary Mike Berry and Finance and Administration Secretary Holly M. Johnson. The Lexington Herald-Leader asked both Berry and Johnson this week why they have not acted on the contracts.
“Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), non COVID-19 related actions were temporarily delayed,” said Danielle Jones, a spokeswoman for the Tourism Cabinet. “Both contracts are currently pending approval.”
She did not answer what would happen if no action is taken on the contracts by July 1.
The Beshear administration and persons associated with the two boards disagree on who holds the ultimate hiring authority for the two jobs.
“The State Fair Board and the Fish and Wildlife Commission do not have sole hiring authority,” Jones said.
She said the “proposed contracts” require approval by the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet and the Finance and Administration Cabinet, and are subject for review by the legislature’s Government Contract Review Committee.
If a contract is not approved by the legislative committee, Jones said, the finance secretary has the authority to determine whether the contract should continue as negotiated.
Attorney General Cameron’s eight-page opinion, which is advisory and does not carry the force of law, said the finance secretary “has no role in reviewing or approving a contract entered into with the president and CEO of the State Fair Board or the commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resource unless the contract is disapproved by the Government Contract Review Committee of the Legislative Research Commission.”
The co-chair of the Government Contract Review Committee, Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfiled, said Friday the contracts for Storm and Beck are not in front of the legislative panel and it is not to meet again until July 14.
Clinard said he sent on May 18 another copy of Storm’s contract to Berry and the Tourism Cabinet’s general counsel, reminding them that the document needed to be approved by July 1.
He said he got no response.
The request for the attorney general’s opinion came from Clinard and state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, who is on the State Fair Board.
“I’m very concerned that we are only days away from a contract expiring, especially when the State Fair Board unanimously approved the contract in April,” said Quarles in an email.
“That’s why I have requested clarification from the attorney general over the matter of whether or not the board can hire its own employees,” he said. “As demonstrated during the Fair Board meeting, the overwhelming consensus of the board is that the vote should be honored and the contract should be extended.”
“I really want to help this governor and make him look good, as I would for any governor,” Clinard said, “but the authority to hire lies with these boards.”
He added that he hoped the Beshear administration does not try to limit the contracts to one year instead of two because this year’s state legislature approved only a one-year state budget.
“I’ve heard that might happen. The boards have said two-year extensions,” he said.
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 4:34 PM.
