UPDATE: Mark Hebert of WHAS TV interviewed Miller who denied any wrongdoing and said that the innuend surrounding the trip to Vegas had been "hurtful". The Personnel Cabinet now says that Ms. Parker's raises can be repaired with ACE awards - which are raises over and above state scale for performance above and beyond. PolWatchers reported that Attorney General Greg Stumbo refused a GOP call for an AG investigation. The matter of Mr. Bates' hiring remains in limbo at this time.
Secretary Jonathan Miller's Hiring Practices as Treasurer Questioned
Here are the facts as we know them:
The Lexington Herald reported Saturday that newly appointed Finance and Administration Secretary Jonathan Miller left hiring issues from his tenure as State Treasurer. One issue involves hiring of a merit employee, Michael Bates in October, 2006.
Then Personnel Secretary Brian Crall, a Fletcher appointee, referred the hiring to the Personnel Board. He was quoted as saying the hiring was an example of “pre-selection”- putting someone in a merit system job without following the rules for choosing the top candidate from available and qualified candidates. This charge is often used when administrations reward supporters. The twist in Bates’ case is he is a Republican.
The other issue involves Rebecca Brooke Parker who went to work for Miller after college as a secretary earning $21,000 a year. Within six years, Ms. Parker had worked her way to serve as deputy state treasurer at $78,981 a year.
The Herald reported that Parker had accompanied Miller to Las Vegas in May 2007. Miller first said he didn’t remember who went with him, then said that it was a business trip and he needed her advice.
Monday the 17th, Beshear spokesperson Vicki Glass said the Governor would do nothing and would let the Personnel Board do its work. On Tuesday, Rebecca Brooke Parker was appointed executive director of inter-governmental affairs in the Justice Cabinet. Ken Schwendeman, her predecessor in the job was earning over $90,000 a year.
If you have a slight shiver and a sense of déjà vu all over again, there’s a good reason. The scandals in the Fletcher administration started with allegations of improper hires by the new administration. Governor Fletcher stalled and fiddled while his administration burned down around him. Now Governor Beshear faces a problem that may turn into a full blown scandal. Or, it can be today’s headline and tomorrow’s cat pan lining- it all depended on how the Governor responds.
Governor Beshear promised during his inaugural address that he would initiate extensive training in ethics laws and hiring procedures for his top people. Getting our house in order, he called it, “before we can be trusted to do the people’s business”. After the Fletcher administration, Beshear came in as a white knight.
While we know that we don’t know all the facts, we are exercising our democratic right to express an opinion. Unlike some progressive blogs that are ignoring the problem that Secretary Miller brought with him, we cannot ignore it. West Kentucky believed in Steve Beshear and voted for him. West Kentuckians want to continue to believing in him.
Whatever is going on with Jonathan Miller, he should step aside from the Cabinet and clean up the issues over the Bates and Parker hirings that came up during his tenure as Treasurer. It is not fair to new Treasurer Hollenbach to leave him a mess. Take the time off, Jonathan. Get this behind you and then come back and be the best public servant you can be.
As far as Ms. Parker’s employment is concerned, surely, with questions swirling around her, she cannot be effective in the Justice Cabinet until this is settled. Her job, by definition, is to work with other government agencies. How credible and effective can she be? We believe she too should take a winter holiday while the Personnel Board sorts out the legalities.
Governor Beshear made this issue his own when he hired Ms. Parker at a salary increase into the Justice Cabinet. We fear that Governor Beshear, the great Democrat hope, is following Ernie Fletcher’s lead in dealing with call-them-mistakes in hiring. Loyalty to a supporter like Jonathan Miller is expected. But the first duty of the Governor as he so eloquently stated in his Inaugural Address is to “clean up our own house.”
West Kentucky will be watching and waiting. |
