‘Clear political stunt’: Beshear rejects Ball’s nominees for executive ethics commission

A day after submitting nominations for an appointment to the Executive Branch Ethics Commission, Republican Auditor Allison Ball says Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear rejected her list. A spokesperson for the governor said the list was “a clear political stunt.” 

Ball said in a Thursday statement she found it “deeply disappointing that the Governor would choose to abruptly reject, with no explanation, our slate of nominees for the Executive Branch Ethics Commission within hours of submission.” 

Scottie Ellis, a spokesperson for Beshear, told the Kentucky Lantern Ball’s nominations were “a clear political stunt focused more on partisanship and garnering news coverage than finding the most appropriate person to enforce the Executive Branch Code of Ethics.” 

“The Governor hopes the Auditor will take her next round of nominations more seriously for this independent state agency whose mission is to strengthen trust and uphold ethical standards,” Ellis added. 

The auditor had nominated three people on Wednesday with complicated histories with Beshear. They were: 

• Christine Trout Van Tatenhove, who is special counsel to Republican House Speaker David Osborne and the wife of former Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove. He was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush and recently became the dean of the University of Kentucky College of Law. Beshear was critical of the dean appointment over seemingly “partisan and undue outside influence.” 
• Former Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter, who is the husband of Fayette Circuit Judge Lucy VanMeter. She is currently running for a spot on the Court of Appeals against Judge Will Moynahan, a Beshear appointee. 
• David Beck, the former president and CEO of Kentucky Venues who was removed from the role over the summer after the Supreme Court ruled a 2021 law that would have removed control of the board from the governor was unconstitutional. 

Ball said her list had “three highly qualified individuals with outstanding credentials.” Van Tatenhove is “a distinguished attorney with decades of dedicated public service and legal expertise,” VanMeter “spent a career upholding justice at the highest levels of our Commonwealth,” and Beck is “a widely respected agricultural leader and former Kentucky Farm Bureau and Kentucky Ventures executive,” she added. 

“Any one of these individuals would have served Kentucky with honor, independence, and distinction as they have throughout their careers,” Ball continued. “There is simply no valid basis for rejecting candidates of such undeniable integrity, and doing so undermines public trust in the ethics process while doing a profound disservice to the people of our Commonwealth.”

Beshear and Republicans have sparred over the authority of the ethics commission in the past. In June, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that 2022 law giving other executive branch officials besides the governor appointment power over the Executive Branch Ethics Commission was unconstitutional, along with the state fair board law. The Republican-controlled General Assembly had approved both laws during Beshear’s first term as governor. Republicans in the executive branch asked the high court to reconsider the decision. 

The auditor’s nominations were made under a previous process outlined in a 2020 executive order from Beshear, which says the attorney general and auditor may give the governor a list of three names for him to choose a commission member. State law says a governor can reject a list of nominees and ask for a new list. 

According to a copy of the letter from Beshear’s office to the auditor, Beshear requested a new list of nominees by Oct. 28. 

The Executive Branch Ethics Commission oversees ethics standards for all executive branch employees.