Girlfriend of chief justice's son gets court job

By Brandon Ortiz
BORTIZ@HERALD-LEADER.COM

A woman dating a son of Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert has been hired for a human resources job opening that was not advertised.

Joanna M. Cruz, 26, started at the new position of benefits administrator for the Court of Justice on March 1. The job pays $39,684 a year and is responsible for planning and directing benefits, such as unemployment insurance and worker's compensation, for the court system's 4,000 employees.

Cruz is dating Joseph P. Lambert, 23, whom she met while attending Princeton University. She graduated in June 2004 with a bachelor's degree in religion.

Joseph P. Lambert is the chief justice's oldest son.

"The position should have been posted and advertised," said Richard Beliles, chairman of Common Cause of Kentucky, a government watchdog group. "It does sort of get my attention."

Courts officials denied creating a position for Cruz. No one else applied for the job.

Jason Nemes, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, said the position was created about six months ago as part of a departmental reorganization. A human resources department was created in May 2007 to centralize processing of employment applications, centralize discipline handling, and expand benefits coordination and education.

The reorganization created four new positions. Nemes said the positions were filled over time to save money.

Nemes said he leapt at the chance to hire Cruz when he learned she and Joseph P. Lambert were moving to Kentucky from Texas.

"I bet you in 10 years she'll be running this shop," Nemes said. "She is just phenomenal."

Cruz did not return a phone message seeking comment.

The position is classified as non-tenured, which is similar to a non-merit position in the executive branch merit system. Judicial branch employees are not under the state merit system.

Nemes said the court system does not publicly post non-tenured job openings. The other jobs created by the departmental reorganization were tenured positions and thus advertised.

Cruz is the fifth-highest paid employee in the 17-person department. There are four non-tenured positions in the department.

She worked as an individual account manager at an Austin, Texas, insurance broker, Ball Peoples, from January 2005 to January 2008. She serviced individual policies for life insurance, health insurance, annuities, long-term care and mutual funds.

Nemes said she also helped manage employee benefits for companies.

Cruz will review processes and ensure compliance for unemployment and worker's comp. She also will educate employees about benefits.

Despite the lack of human resources experience, Nemes said, Cruz's intelligence, insurance experience and educational background qualify her for the job. Court officials said she has created a centralized process for handling worker's comp claims since she started.

"I believe the Court of Justice would have been the worse without her," he said. "If you met her, you would know how quality she is."

Comments

[big ed]

Lambert has called every attorney and AOC employee (circuit clerks, deputy clerks, judges, etc.) across the state and said the General Assembly screwed the Judicial Branch and as a result, the AOC will have to suffer cuts and the taxpayers will get less justice!

I think the darn judges need to get off their fat butts and hear more cases. They get too much pay and retirement to produce too little work in return. The AOC and the KY Bar (with one of Lambert's fat cat arrogant leaders Jim Deckart in charge) need to be investigated by the State Legislature, Attorney General, FBI and the Common Cause. This latest questionable hire follows a pattern of unethical behavior with campaign contributions, illegal hires, intimidation by Lambert and Deckart, and an embarrassing backlog of cases!

Pol Watchers needs to stay on this one!

[clay]

I worked for the state for 9 years, hold 2 Masters Degrees and do not make 39,000. Lambert is a crook.

[Lowly State Employee]

"No one else applied for the job". Of course they didn't, how would they have known?

If non-tenured jobs don't have to be advertised, then why don't they just admit that they got the person they wanted. But don't try to say it was because no one else applied. With unemployment the way it is, I guarantee you they would have had others apply had they known.

What a farce! Lambert has got to be the most inept public official in recent history.

[honestabe]

Deja-vous.....didnt they say the same glowing remarks about Brooke Parker?

[Rube Goldberg]

It looks like she learned her lessons well from her former employer....Ball Peoples.

[Kelsey]

Just another example of the Criminals in Frankfort. It is ripe with Criminal actions. Now the FBI has setup camp in the Capitol City they can also go over the the Chiefs place and look around. Transportation is a pool of filth, crime and coruption. My close personal friend Joe Prather could not believe all of the fraud and coruption so he has called in the Feds to mop the place up once and forall. Go Joe, take no prisioners. Fire all of those criminal republicans.
Go Obama.
kelsey.

[Close personal friend]

Is Kelsey still going on about that "close personal friend" nonsense?

Kelsey, the guilty parties when this is all said and done will be career merit employees, engineers who are Democrats and were hired through the good old boy patronage system. Just wait and see...

[Jim Anderson Stivers]

Close Friend

I like that one. KUDOS!!!

Nothing much has changed . . . has it?

Did one expect it to change?

Yeah, we always hope, but seldom do our hopes become reality . . . IN WASTE, FRAUD AND GREED and CORRUPTION.

[Lexington Family Court Corruption]

Oh yea Nepotisms, racketeering, extortion, human tracfficking in parents and children, monopoly on justice by the bar, Try filing you own complaints or Motions and you'll be disregarded and told,you need an attorney. The Judicial Conduct Commission was rendered a "toothless tiger" by Lambert. The Family Courts have become Criminal enterprises "under color of law". A Man in Central Ky sued them for their corrupt practices, and they have further abused their powers by having him arrested and falsely brought up on federal charges. www.kentuckyfamilylaw.blogspot.com
OPEN UP THE INVESTIGATION STATEWIDE ON LAMBERT,NEMES,ET AL,FAMILY COURT AND CPS RACKETEERING, KIDNAPPING, AND FOSTERCARE/ ADOPTION RACKETS. BRING DOWN THE DESPOTIC OLIGARCHY!

[CourtOfArrogance]

Geez! Does this chick look like Paris Hilton, because Little Joe Lambert once told me that Paris Hilton is "hot." I don't trust the "judge"ment of Big or Little Joe Lambert, so why should I trust the statements by Lambert flunkie Jason Nemes. The Chief Justice may be screaming about the budget cuts now, but he sure won't have a problem with driving a state paid car all over creation.

[Under Color of Official Right]

Ross Harris Coal company, w/ deciding vote cast by Lambert. Harris made straw contributions to wife Debra Lamberts family judge campaign. Debra Lambert drove pulaski father to suicide after wrongfully depriving of child. Brother Lambert now on the Court of Appeals. It's the Ky Courts of Caeser Joseph's justice. See Ky Const. section 151 Fraud, intimidations, and corrupt practices to be deprived of office...

[The Despoctic Oligarchy]

Phen-Fen lawyers on trial, and a Boone county judge skates away. Federal Judge William O. Bertlesman was quoted as saying "not only are these three attorneys on trial, but the whole Ky Legal Establishment as well." "the lengths that some judges and lawyers will go to protect (cover up for)their own". There is one power people have, under section 4 of the Ky. Const,KRS 62.060 - Petition for removal by address to the house or senate. KRS 413.005(6)A private person may make an arrest when a felony has been committed in fact and he has probable cause to believe that the person being arrested has committed it.
Theft By Extortion is a Felony.

[Upset taxpayer]

A bachelor's degree in religion and 3 years of work experience qualify this person? The AOC is full of corruption, lack of oversight, and underqualified position holders who got hired through nepotism and cronyism. How is it that the AOC has been exempt from more public scrutiny?