KENTUCKY — Back in July 2021, a Jefferson Circuit judge struck down a measure that would have reduced Gov. Andy Beshear’s appointment authority for a state ethics commission, by shifting power to the remaining constitutional officers of the executive branch.

State Auditor Mike Harmon (R) joined all the Republican statewide officeholders in the Commonwealth on opposing the judge’s ruling and discussed his reasoning during this In Focus Kentucky segment.

“The General Assembly has the right to give the governor power and has the right to take that power away, as long as they don’t make the governor an empty shell. And that’s what they did. They took part of this power back and when you think about it, the Executive Branch Ethics that’s supposed to hold people like the governor, people like me, people like Alison ball and you know others Daniel Cameron, accountable to make sure that we are doing things ethically. Well, if the governor controls every single appointment, then how is that going to hold him accountable for ethics? So really, what the General Assembly passed was the best balance of that. It gave the governor two appointments, but it gave all the rest of this one and that would seem to be the fairest way to do it,” explains Harmon.

Prior to HB 334, all five members of the Executive Branch Ethics Commission were appointed by the governor. 

Under the new law, the commission’s members are increased to seven by reducing the governor’s appointees to just two, while also granting one appointment each to five other constitutional officers — the attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer and Agriculture commissioner.

The governor’s office hailed the circuit judge’s ruling in the ethics commission case.

“This is an important ruling that shows the rules stay the same for everyone and that Gov. Beshear has the same authority as every governor before him,” Crystal Staley, the governor’s spokeswoman, said in a statement Tuesday. “This was an attempt by the General Assembly to politicize and even weaponize the Executive Branch Ethics Commission.”

Harmon says he and other leaders in state government plan to appeal the decision.

You can watch the full In Focus segment in the player above.