By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Officials with the Administrative Office of the Courts declined to talk specifics about some of their activities that have come under fire in recent months.
The AOC carries out duties mandated by the Kentucky Constitution, including administering the Judicial Branch budget, building and maintaining court facilities, maintaining court statistics through a statewide case management database, administering personnel policies and payroll for court employees and providing educational programs for judges, circuit court clerks and support staff.
It has come under criticism in recent months for such things as holding private auctions of surplus equipment for employees including cars, has been named in an employee whistleblower lawsuit and is reported to be the target of an FBI investigation.
State Auditor Mike Harmon’s office is also conducting a special examination of the AOC, “to evaluate their policies and procedures over financial activities and other operations, to determine whether management can rely on these procedures, to help ensure the risk of any waste, fraud and abuse is at an acceptably low level,” according to the letter sent to AOC Executive Director Laurie K. Dudgeon, who requested the audit.
The audit covers the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years and a spokesman for Harmon said there is no timetable on when it will be completed.
During an appearance before the Budget Review Subcommittee on Justice and Judiciary on Thursday, the panel co-chair, Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, told AOC Budget Director Carole Henderson, “I’ve asked for some information that the AOC has not provided, with respect to surplus sales and other things of that nature.”
Henderson deferred to Attorney Paul Harnice of Frankfort, who is representing the AOC in the whistleblower suit filed by Scott Brown.
“It has long been my practice and my position that my clients should not make comments in public forums, whether before this committee or other tribunals, over litigation that is pending in the courtroom,” he said to the panel.
He gave two reasons for his position. “First, commenting in public on pending litigation is not appropriate. Secondly, judges generally very much dislike attorneys who want to go out and comment publicly on cases that are pending before them. The last thing the AOC and I want to do is run afoul of Judge Thomas Wingate of Franklin Circuit Court, which is where this matter is pending.”
He also cited a Supreme Court rule on public comments about pending cases.
“I think the basis for that rule is primarily, what you don’t want to do is impact a potential jury pool. Both parties in this case have asked for a jury trial, so I want to be very careful about my comments.”
Harnice also told the lawmakers, “AOC vehemently disputes Mr. Brown’s claims, including his claim that he’s a whistleblower. Mr. Brown has been deposed in the case, and his transcript is now being prepared by a court reporter as I speak.”
He also repeated comments made by the AOC when Brown filed his lawsuit.
“Mr. Brown ‘s lawsuit is completely without merit, and that the facts in this case will establish that Mr. Brown is not, was not, a whistleblower, and did not suffer any adverse employment actions as a result of any activity protected by Kentucky law.”
“We’re really not interested in the give and take or the claims in the lawsuit, we’re interested in the underlying facts or non-facts,” Nemes replied to Harince. “There are significant allegations about improper leasing activities with Supreme Court justices, improper contracting for HVAC systems and the like.
“These are serious things that we have to get to the bottom of, independent of the lawsuit. We’re going to keep pushing to try to get that information, and I want you to push back on anything you think is prudent.
“I never want to get on the bad side of Judge Wingate,” Nemes said, “but we have a task to perform on behalf of the taxpayers of Kentucky, and we’re going to do that.”
Rep. Brandon Reed, R-Hodgenville, supported Nemes.
“Even though they are allegations, from our standpoint we need to look into these type situations when we are doing the budget for the next biennium,” he said. “If these allegations turn out to be true, these are serious implications that we have to deal with from this level.”
After the meeting, Nemes told reporters, “The Court of Justice is asking for a lot of new dollars. I want to give them what they need, but they’re going to have to show that what they’ve been given in the past they’ve used appropriately.
“There are some significant allegations. With the lawsuit, with the FBI investigation, and with the Auditor coming in, we need to get to the bottom of this.”
