WHAT?
Ralph Dunlop has the details:
HAZARD, Ky. — For at least a year, Betty Sue Whitaker allegedly lived a lie that threatened coal miners’ health and safety, as well as the reputation of the state agency that employed her.
But even after determining that Whitaker had falsified more than two dozen inspection reports — pretending to evaluate workers at mines that she visited briefly or not at all — the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet allowed her to resign last month without making her repay the thousands of dollars in salary it had concluded she did not earn.
The cabinet also has not asked a prosecutor to review the case for possible criminal charges, despite one official’s earlier suggestion that such a referral might be appropriate.
Whitaker, a former miner and coal-company employee, had worked as a safety analyst in the Hazard district of the state’s Office of Mine Safety and Licensing since July 1999.
Is your mind blown yet?
Somebody has some serious explaining to do!
And that explaining should start with Steve Beshear’s buddy, Dick Brown:
In response to questions from the newspaper about the state’s handling of the case, cabinet spokesman Dick Brown said in a recent e-mail that there was no agreement to forgo a criminal investigation in exchange for Whitaker’s resignation.
There is “nothing further to be gained by seeking prosecution,” Brown said. “She (Whitaker) resigned, rather than face termination. That, in and of itself, is appropriate punishment.”
Brown also said the state has no plans to seek repayment of the salary investigators concluded she had fraudulently collected: “We believe our time is better spent concentrating on providing a safe working environment for Kentucky coal miners.”
King Coal knew about it all, too, and Bill Caylor says they had no responsibility to report it.
Forget that earlier mess. THIS is why Kentucky can’t have nice things.
Yet another mess Jack Conway needs to investigate.
14 responses so far ↓
1 Thunder Storm // Apr 20, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I agree Jack Conway does need to investigate this but will he?
He knows there are still Democrats who hold a grudge against Ben Chandler because he investigated Paul Patton.
I hold to this day, that is why Chandler lost to Fletcher.
2 Thunder Storm // Apr 20, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Can you get a copy of her falsified reports and post online?
Lets look at them and see if they are obviously falsified? if they are that means the people above her in the pay chart are not looking at her filed reports. Then either they don’t care or are incompetent.
Wheather you like coal or not, ( I know you don’t) our miners are not being kept safe and ALL those responsible should be fired regardless of how high up the organization chart it goes.
3 jake // Apr 20, 2009 at 6:32 pm
First: The story paints the picture that her superiors knew about it. And her current superiors are making excuses for her/allowed her to resign/aren’t going to do anything about it.
Second: I’ve never said I don’t like coal. I merely dislike the destructive practice of mountaintop removal. Because the practice kills coal mining jobs AND the environment at the same time. And, no, there’s no way to blow up mountains in an environmentally-friendly way.
4 Bruce Maples // Apr 20, 2009 at 10:58 pm
So, which mines did she supposedly visit? I can’t tell from the story, but was she evaluating mine safety in some way? And now we don’t know if those mines are safe or not?
If the state doesn’t order an immediate re-evaluation of those mines, it would seem to me that they are liable for any subsequent harm suffered by the miners in those mines.
While I’d like to see the woman prosecuted, I’m more concerned about the remaining effects of her negligence.
5 Thunder Storm // Apr 20, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I scanned back through your posts and my memory failed me. I stand corrected
6 Conservative // Apr 21, 2009 at 1:17 am
Anyone want to guess this lady’s political registration? Or do they want to speculate on how she got her job?
Another example of the Democrat patronage machine at work, the machine that Ernie Fletcher tried hard to bust up but was foiled at every turn by those who liked the status quo.
Betty Whitaker: Another fine example of a merit system patronage hireling at work.
7 jake // Apr 21, 2009 at 7:35 am
Oh, we forgot, Democrats are the root of all evil and Republicans aren’t capable of doing any wrong.
Remember the indictment of the entire REPUBLICAN Fletcher Administration?
Or will you begin foaming at the mouth at how he was wronged?
8 Conservative // Apr 21, 2009 at 8:46 am
We’ve gone down this road before.
The grand jury was populated with state employees pissed that they didn’t get 5 percent raises. Fletcher’s increment proposals gave more of a percentage raise to people making less than $60,000 a year.
One member of the grand jury was married to an employee of Greg Stumbo’s Kentucky Bureau of Investigation. The only question is when he was hired, so this is either a case of conflict of interest or quid pro quo, but neither look good.
All the questionable personnel actions took place BEFORE Bill Nighbert became secretary, yet he seemed to be the whipping boy. The Governor’s Personnel Initiative, which was basically a centralization of the statewide hiring process rather than letting it be done by individual offices out in the state, was developed in response to a Democrat patronage scheme that was still being run out in the state, where local merit system supervisors who owed their jobs to and were beholden to the old-line patronage system, were doing the bidding of local Democrat elected officials and local party chairs in their hiring decisions. It was developed to ensure a fair hiring process and to stop a Democrat patronage scheme being run in the middle of a Republican administration.
I’ll go to my grave not only thinking, but knowing, that the Fletcher administration got screwed.
I’m just saying that if you look in to the history of most of the state employees who have gotten into trouble over the years, you’ll find a link between them and some political patronage person. Most got hired more on who they know than their qualifications. How else do you explain state workforces that are 75 percent D in counties that are predominately R?
9 jake // Apr 21, 2009 at 8:56 am
Haha – I love it when you foam.
10 Conservative // Apr 21, 2009 at 1:26 pm
But you can’t challenge the facts as presented. Search “Rachel Auxier” on the state salary database on the C-J or H-L site. Google “Tuyen Dudinskie” and see what comes up.
And I didn’t even mention that lying pile of dog dung, Dan Druen.
11 jake // Apr 21, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Actually, anyone can challenge the facts as presented.
How?
Ernie Fletcher and his corrupt administration got caught. They were stupid enough to get caught.
No one has ever, to my knowledge and on this site, asserted that Democrats don’t appoint on the basis of political affiliation and pay-back. In fact, I’ve discussed Steve Beshear’s patronage system on a number of occasions.
Fact of the matter is, though, there’s not a full-on effort by the Beshear Administration to oust people because they’re Republicans. And if there is, they haven’t gotten caught.
You can complain for days about the mean “Democrat” Party and the “Democrat” Patronage system. That doesn’t help your argument at all.
Why?
Because Ernie Fletcher and his corrupt administration (and that doesn’t mean the current administration isn’t corrupt, so don’t go doing your regular Republic Party Assuming [TM)] got caught.
The “everyone else is doing it” argument is not a good defense.
12 Conservative // Apr 21, 2009 at 4:19 pm
There was never any legal allegation that the Fletcher administration tried to oust ANY person on the basis of political registration. No charge was ever brought against anyone to that effect.
This does not include Mike Duncan, who was a probationary employee and thus could be dismissed without cause at anytime during his probationary period. What the Personnel Board decision in his case basically did was extend merit system protections to all merit employees, probationary or not.
Democrats alleged that the Fletcher administration was trying to fire merit employees based on political affiliation, but the fact is that NO criminal charge was EVER filed alleging that. There were no legal allegations that they tried to fire any merit employees with status for political reasons.
You say there was no systemic effort by Beshear to get rid of Republicans. Likewise, there was no systemic effort by Fletcher to get rid of Democrats.
13 jake // Apr 21, 2009 at 4:23 pm
You’re right. There was never a lone, specific charge to that effect. But do a little Googling. Nearly every news story about Ernest Lee involves that fancy list of Democrats they needed to fire. They. Got. Caught.
No criminal charges have to be filed for the facts to come out. And they’ve been out for years.
14 Conservative // Apr 21, 2009 at 9:30 pm
That list was entirely the work of Dan Druen, which is why I called him a steaming pile of dog crap or words to that effect earlier. And many (most? all?) of the people on that list were non-merit appointees from the Patton administration. Some of the were not only not fired, but were promoted. Giving further credence to the theory that Dan Druen is a lying, steaming pile of dog doo. He went gung-ho trying to endear himself to the administration, and when it backfired, he tried to blame everyone but himself.
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