We hear through the grapevine that the Office of the Attorney General may be preliminarily investigating Betty Sue Whitaker and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet after her faked mine reports.
AND…
The potential merit hiring violations involving Bill Trude and Jesse Rowe in Steve Beshear’s Transportation Cabinet, which we questioned.
Ruh ro.
Stay tuned.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Conservative // Apr 22, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Allow me to provide some info on William W. Trude Jr.
For years, Trude practiced in Irvine at an office of a Richmond law firm. He got elected circuit judge over the sitting commonwealth’s attorney and he gained a reputation as being very light on drug dealers. Trude figured prominently in the Herald-Leader story series about drugs in Eastern Kentucky that led Hal Rogers to create Operation UNITE. It got so bad that there were repeated pleas to the Judicial Conduct Commission for them to do something.
As pointed out in the news coverage, Trude was the special judge who initially threw out the election fraud charges against Skipper Martin and the others. What wasn’t reported was that Trude went back to Irvine and said of the Patton Administration, “I did my duty and now they owe me.” That whole dismissal thing was a fix that Trude was in on to buy them enough time through appeals that when Patton finally pardoned Martin and the others, it was well into his second term and there was no political fallout.
Trude was notorious for shock probating convicted felons, which is a no-no. After drug busts, the defendants would come into the Estill County Jail and say, “Don’t worry, Bill will take care of me.”
There’s even a court document (a sworn affidavit) on file in which the affiant says under oath that he had personal knowledge of Trude using cocaine.
The Herald-Leader story probably doomed Trude. When Operation UNITE started, they paid for a special circuit judge in Trude’s counties. Ostensibly it was to help lighten the case backlog, but it’s funny that the new special judge got all the drug cases and Trude was left handling mostly civil matters like divorces.
Probably the only reason Trude was never investigated (at least there is no public knowledge of an investigation) is that he was thick with Chief Justice Lambert, despite them being of opposite political parties.
Trude was defeated for circuit judge in the last election and had gone back to private practice. But apparently the same time that he was trying to get hired by Transportation, he was trying to get Beshear to appoint him as district judge for the same three counties where he’d served as circuit judge. The district judge retired but stayed on as a senior status judge until an appointment can be made (it has still not been made) and Trude was pushing Beshear hard for the appointment.
Remember where I said Trude used to practice? For the Estill County office of a Richmond law firm. Where’s Bobby Russell from? Richmond. Ponder on that for awhile as you contemplate how Beshear lied his ass off during the campaign about what an honest and ethical government he was going to run.
2 jake // Apr 22, 2009 at 11:00 pm
I seem to recall a certain known homosexual who has consistently questioned said honesty and ethics… about everything… even when unnecessary.
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