Ky. constables’ actions, spending still clouded by secrecy. It’s time to audit them.
State Rep. Adam Koenig, R-Erlanger fought for more than a decade against Kentucky’s county constables. As news story after news story documented abuse, corruption, murder and drug dealing by these wannabe cops, he tried to get the outdated and archaic office eliminated. Thirteen years later, he successfully passed a bill that requires constables who act like peace officers to get peace officer training. Well, the incoming ones at least. Current constables are grandfathered in with no training.
Koenig is done. “It took me 13 years to get that across the line and I’m not going to keep fighting that battle,” he said. “ I have other things to do.”
It seems that out in the state, constables have a lot of support and political power. This is despite the amazing series documenting their various and very serious misdeeds, such as the one by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting in 2016, which concluded: “Some cruise around the county pulling drivers over or engaging in unnecessary and dangerous high-speed pursuits. Some use unauthorized blue lights. Others make questionable arrests that later collapse in court. Many have faced criminal charges of their own.
“Despite this history, the cycle of constable-initiated misdeeds continues unabated. Because the office is enshrined in the state constitution, constables are responsible to no one except a small slice of a county’s voters every four years. And many voters don’t know what constables do.”
Things haven’t necessarily improved, at least not in Fayette County. There are nine (!) people running for three seats, and boy are those races doozies. Reporter Beth Musgrave outlined all the challengers, despite the difficulty in wading through who has what various issues. For example, in District 1, Constable Wade McNabb, former deputy Danny Prater and deputy constable Tony Coffee were all convicted of improper use of police lights on their constable vehicles in April. In October 2021, Musgrave found, Prater was arrested and charged with sexual abuse after a woman said he forcibly kissed her, smacked her buttocks and sent her unwanted text messages while he was in his constable’s uniform. He has pleaded not guilty.
When they’re not getting in trouble, constables are supposed to deliver summons and perform evictions, for which they are paid. But we don’t know what they do with that money.
When I was researching a column on Koenig’s bill last November, I asked District I Constable Wade McNabb, who is also head of the Kentucky Constable Association, for his yearly budgets and financial documents through an open records request. There aren’t any documents, he told me, so the open records request was moot.
“Because constables do not receive tax money, they are not required to have a budget and/or track expenses,” wrote McNabb, who has a law degree. “Further, the fees they collect are not considered ‘public money,’ they are considered the Constable’s own private money, therefore, the private fees collected do not fall under the Open Records Act. Accordingly, no records exist that you requested and if they did exist they are not subject to disclosure under the Open Records Act. Under the Act, a public agency is also not obligated to provide information in response to a request for information.”
McNabb held firm to his reasoning after I pointed out that as an elected official of a public agency, you are indeed subject to the open records law.
Then a letter from the Herald-Leader’s attorney, Tom Miller, apparently changed his mind. McNabb sent a document showing the number of summons his office had served between 2020 and 2022.
It turns out that they are hired to serve about 3,000 summons a year and successfully hand out about 80 percent. Successful or not, they get paid $60 per summons. So in 2020, the District 1 office took in $184,860; in 2021, $212,760 and so far this year, about $70,000.
What is this money spent on? We have no idea. The Herald-Leader has sent a follow-up letter asking for budget documents that show how all this money was spent.
So here we have just one of three constables in just one county with a dubious understanding of state law and a lot of cash flowing in who appears to be accountable only to voters who don’t really know what he does. What do you think happens everywhere else? Constables are supposed to turn in budgets and expenses to fiscal court. In Fayette County, that would be the county clerk, but that has not happened, according to County Clerk Don Blevins. In Pulaski County, for example, the constable does turn in those records to the fiscal court because constables get health insurance through the local government.
It seems to me that any record and expense keeping even remotely as shoddy as this would be perfect fodder for a state audit. What do constables do when they’re not serving summons and getting in trouble for flashing blue lights?
When I checked on this last fall, the State Auditor’s office said they have the authority but not a requirement to audit constables’ office, and that no audits have been done in the past decade or so. Seems if a state Auditor wasn’t too busy running for governor, this would be a great place to start. If you agree, you can always call 1-800-KY-ALERT, which alerts the auditor’s office about alleged waste, fraud or abuse in state or local government. You can also go to https://secure.kentucky.gov/formservices/Auditor/DigitalSafeHouse.
This is just one district in one county. Imagine all the information that is yet to be found out. As for voting for one this Tuesday, well, just read Beth Musgrave’s story and make the best guess you can.
