Testimony: Know-how mattered little ( Rep. Gov. Fletcher investigation) [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Sat, Oct. 22, 2005
STATE HIRING INVESTIGATION

Testimony: Know-how mattered little

MOTION DISPUTES PARDONS' APPLICABILITY

By Ryan Alessi
HERALD-LEADER FRANKFORT BUREAU

FRANKFORT -- New accounts from inside Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration reveal the staunch determination of several key aides to hire Republicans in rank-and-file state jobs regardless of the applicants' qualifications.

At one point last year, Dave Disponett, one of the governor's unpaid political advisers, chimed in during a staff debate over hiring strategies and asked: "If you only hired the most qualified people, how will our people ever get hired?"

Disponett, an Anderson County contractor and Kentucky Republican Party treasurer, was indicted Thursday on three counts of criminal conspiracy in relation to the grand jury investigation of hiring in the Fletcher administration.

During another discussion about a job candidate for a Health and Family Services Cabinet position, former aide to the governor Darrell Brock said it shouldn't matter that the particular applicant fared poorly in her interview and was not as qualified as others.

"When I give you a name, I am speaking for the governor," Brock, who is now Kentucky Republican Party chairman, told a cabinet staff member.
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http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/politics/12968789.htm