Last Monday’s Kentucky Tonight program discussed public employee health benefits and featured: David Adkisson, president & CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce; Lee Jackson, president of the Kentucky Association of State Employees; Brian Strow, economics professor at WKU; and Mary Ruble, general counsel for the Kentucky Education Association. All fine and dandy, right?

Only until host Bill Goodman started taking callers. The first was Steve Loyal from Daviess County (roughly 27 minutes into the hour-long program). He identified himself as the former personnel manager from Owensboro and mentioned that he had experience with benefits. He said he had a question for Adkisson but rambled uncontrollably, continually repeating the the Chamber’s defense of getting state employees to pay more for their benefits. He never really asked a question, just rambled, and Goodman went directly to his panelists for a discussion. During the entire time Loyal spoke, Adkisson looked down and away and seemed rather nervous.

I wondered why that went down so awkwardly nearly all week. Until I realized, thanks to friends, that Loyal is on the Board of Directors of the Chamber. Meaning he’s Adkisson’s boss. His full-time job? Government affairs manager for Atmos Energy in several states. If I’m not mistaken, he is also the former head of the G.U.T.S. PAC for the Chamber.

Why is any of this significant? Because neither he nor Adkisson ever acknowledged their professional relationship. It’s shades of Brad Shattuck calling in to a radio show in Lexington pretending to be someone else.

Ah, Kentucky. Those tangled webs.