We’re used to wasted tax dollars in Kentucky, but this just takes the cake. The Owensboro Community and Technical College (of Kentucky Community and Technical College System) is still suing to keep public records hidden from the public eye. Former OCTC president Paula Gastenveld was fired after raising questions about corruption. OCTC doesn’t want to release her evaluation despite a ruling from the Attorney General telling the school to pony up.

The front page of today’s Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer features a story quoting various elected officials commenting on just how ridiculous it is to waste our taxpayer dollars fighting the release of a public document in a situation of government corruption:

Gastenveld later filed suit against 10 people, including KCTCS President Mike McCall; Cindy Fiorella, OCTC vice president of workforce development; and Kevin Beardmore, the college’s vice president of student affairs, claiming defamation of character and that she had suffered retaliation when she reported suspected illegalities of the Kentucky WINS funds at the college. The newspaper requested a copy of Gastenveld’s unedited performance evaluation under the state Open Records Act, but received a redacted copy.

The attorney general’s office ruled that Gastenveld’s unedited evaluation was a public record…

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A KCTCS spokeswoman said Monday the organization also plans to sue the newspaper to keep Beardmore’s and Fiorella’s evaluations from being released.

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Sen. David Boswell, a Sorgho Democrat, said he agreed Gastenveld’s evaluation should be released.

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Rep. Jim Glenn, an Owensboro Democrat and a member of the faculty at OCTC, said Monday that Gastenveld’s evaluation should be released to the public.

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Rep. Brent Yonts, a Greenville Democrat, also said the opinion of the attorney general should be followed.

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Sen. Carroll Gibson, a Leitchfield Republican and a member of the Senate’s Republican leadership, said: “If there is state money involved, those records need to be open to anybody who wants to look at them and request them. If the attorney general ruled those are public documents, I don’t imagine how an agency could overrule the attorney general.”

Rep. Dwight Butler, a Harned Republican and Sen. Jerry Rhoads, a Madisonville Democrat, declined to comment. Rhoads said his wife, Judith Rhoads, is president of Madisonville Community & Technical College. Butler said he was not informed enough about the issue to comment.

Should be noted that only one person contacted by the M-I supported the further waste of tax dollars.

Rep. Tommy Thompson, a Philpot Democrat, said, “If the attorney general ruled that should be a matter of public record, I guess it should be.” But the state Open Records Act does give KCTCS the right to file a suit in Circuit Court to keep the documents private, Thompson said.

“They have their right to appeal,” Thompson said.

Rep. Tommy Thompson, Steve Beshear’s right-hand man and big dog from the Education Sub-Committee on House A&R.

What do these people have to hide?

It’s time for somebody to put an end to such corruption in higher education in Kentucky.