State settles lawsuit stemming from hiring probe

FRANKFORT — The state has settled a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Transportation Cabinet worker Sarah Missy McCray for $500,000.

McCray claimed in 2005 that she was retaliated against for cooperating with with former Attorney General Greg Stumbo's investigation of hiring practices in the administration of former Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

McCray will receive a lump-sum payment of $500,000 for damages and be reassigned to the Personnel Cabinet, said cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe.

In her lawsuit, McCray named then-Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert as a defendant.   An indictment against Nighbert, which was later dropped after he was pardoned by Fletcher, alleged he told McCray that, if it were 20 years ago, "I probably would have come back there and socked you in the mouth."

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear said in a statement about the settlement that he was "happy" to reach "an amicable resolution of this matter."

“I appreciate how difficult this has been for Ms. McCray and applaud her pursuit of justice," Beshear said in the statement. "It’s no secret that many state employees were mistreated over the past four years."

“This case is one of the most egregious examples of how many state workers came to work each day fearing for their jobs," he said. "It left us with the task of cleaning up the mess created by the previous administration.”

--Jack Brammer

ADVERTISEMENT

Comments

[Give me a break!]

The hypocrisy of Beshear makes me want to puke!

[Can anyone spell "Opportunist"?]

Me thinks there is another side to this story. What a lucky lady to turn this into $1/2 million?! What about all the innocent silent victims of the patronage system for the last fifty years?

Hiring abuses should be punish and dealt with appropriately. The point is that they never have been. For decades there have been no consequences for perpetrators and no justice for victims. Then, Stumbo comes along and uses alleged misdemeanor offenses to go on his partisan waste of taxpayer's money. Now here is another $500,000 down the drain.

Blame this on Stumbo, not Fletcher. He mishandled the entire hiring fiasco for political gain. And, I agree with the previous poster that Beshear's pious comments are nauseating.

[vic]

Heck yea, hit those sorry Fletcher people while their down! Every person I know that worked in the Fletcher administration is still out of work. McDonalds won't even hire them!
Oh yea, Nighbert landed a job for David Williams!

[jimbo28]

I smell cover-up with pay!

[truth sets you free]

Truth is that McCray admitted that she participated in all of this as Mark Hebert points out on his blog. She stayed late at night and would cook meals for Dick Murgatroyd, bringing him full meals, cake, etc. Then when this all turned, she turned and copped whistleblower status so that she couldn't get in trouble herself. What did they rely on her for? She had done this personnel stuff for years and they relied on people like her to know what to do...read between the lines!

[Bill Adkins]

Not only did Ernest the Last Republican Gov'nor travel the state writing the giant rubber checks that left the state treasury broken, now he's cost us another half million. Heckuva job, Ernest

[Stumbo made the mess]

Beshear says, "It left us with the task of cleaning up the mess created by the previous administration.” Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Who is going to clean up his mess?! There is only thing worse than being corrupt, and that is being incompetent. Beshear is both.

Besides, it is Stumbo's mess he is cleaning up. Stumbo's abuse of office elevated this lady to whistleblower status.

[There goes my pay raise]

The only fear state workers faced was the fear they had to work! So, get back to blogging and smoke breaks.

[drippingwithirony]

Wow, I'm SO happy that Beshear thinks that justice was done and they're cleaning up the mess from the previous administration.

But wait, what about Eric Landis? Here's a guy who got the run around and was fired for being what...an appointee of the Fletcher administration who was on leave from his job to serve his country.

I'm so thankful that FEDERAL law and not the scam we know as the state merit system law was able to offer the justice that Mr. Landis deserved and cleaned up the mess created by the Beshear administration. I also think money was involved as far as back pay and a new job assignment for Eric.

Thanks "Little Stevie Beshear". I can rest at night knowing that you think justice is truly blind. Or at least partisan.

[We Must Not be Broke]

OK, I am glad Ms. McCray settled this suit. But who is paying for this? Does the state have insurance? How can we pay this when we don't have any money? Is it being paid by Transportation? And why the heck isn't Bill Nighbert paying this? There is no way this behavior was in his scope of duties as cabinet secretary. He should personally be sued and he should be paying the $500,000.

Come on, Herald-Leader, find out where this money is coming from.

[It's a payoff]

It's a sickening payoff for cowardness and betrayal. Just like Doerting, under pressure from Stumbo, she disparaged her co-workers to exploit the situation to her own benefit. The real stench from Frankfort comes from Beshear's sickening false piety and hypocrisy, Stumbo's abuse of power, and the rewarding of opportunism like this.

The good ole boys are letting it be known that they make the rules in Frankfort, that they will grandstand and exaggerate alleged Republican abuses while justifying and excusing their own, and that they reward their friends. Truly disgusting to watch!

[Jenkins]

Landis was a plant and it was obvious from the get-go. Anyone with any clue can see what the Fletcherites did on Landis - his own personnel file didn't even show he was going to be away to train or that he was even a member of the guard-reserves.

Once again the Fletchies tried to play some game and never even started with the basics.

All you right-wing website whiners do, on any post you type, is wet yourselves and cry like little babies at everything.

No wonder the country and our state are fed up with your weak style. Either act like a grown up and move on or continue to be ignored by the majority in this state and the country.

[Show some class]

Jenkins, your post is repugnant. I know Eric personally, and he is a fine young man. He was certainly no plant, so nice try. The shabby and illegal way he was treated by Beshear demonstrates Beshear's hypocrisy and the double standard that exists, which apparently is fine with you.

You may revel in Ernie's defeat and show your arrogance with your cute insults. But I firmly believe that what goes around, comes around. Learn to be a gracious winner, rather than an obnoxious blowhard, for some day soon (about 3 1/2 years) you will be a loser again. Until then, show a little class. As for Beshear, he may be governor, but he is already proving he is a loser on an almost daily basis.

[Bill Adkins]

Show some class? This from a Ernest supporter? Like getting advice on chastity from Heidi Fleiss.

[bud]

Eric Landis was a plant. Everyone in his home county of Green knows it. He's a phony, just like his former boss ernie!

[Red]

Let's talk about Ms. McCray. What was she? A co-conspirator with Stumbo, Doerting, and Graham? Come on. This was a pay-off.

[Sam Wise]

What'll be fun to watch is if Ernie gets indicted along with Nighbert for the bid-rigging at Transportation the feds have been digging on.

At long last, time for more popcorn! The show's back on. Weekend at Ernie's is over--now it's Ernest Goes to Jail.

And let's not forget several tens of those transportation millions were for slush into David Williams' road lists. Wonder if they might wind up as cellmates?

[Wiser than Sam]

No, I think that cell is reserved for Beshear and Stumbo for conspiracy and abuse of power.

[KYTC insider]

Beshear, it's not a secret, it's a g*dd*mn lie, is what it is.

McCray was complicit with Betty Hawkins and Doug Doerting for years in the Democrat patronage hiring that ran wild in KYTC. Everybody knew it. McCray learned at the feet of Betty Hawkins. Tim Hazlette tried to STOP the patronage hiring that was still going on and McCray & Doerting didn't want it stopped. That all came out in some of the depositions that were filed in this case.

Sam Wise, Nighbert and Fletcher won't be going anywhere. The alleged big-rigging won't reach them. The ones who will get in trouble are the merit system engineers, products of the long-established patronage system, who owe their jobs to that little (D) they checked on their voter registration cards. These engineers out in the districts are beholden to the contractors, many of whom dictate what projects are recommended for construction. It is they who have information on the estimates and it is they who could reveal it to the contractors. Wait and see.

And here is another one to choke on. Two weeks ago an investigator from KYTC, along with a detective from Kentucky State Police, showed up at one of the highway district offices to investigate fraudulent overtime claims at one of the county garages. This happened in a predominantly Democrat county where D's outnumber R's 3-1 in state highway jobs. Good ol' boy Democrats, hired because they're Democrats, cheating the state. Now who would ever think that would be possible?

People like Nighbert and Hazlette and Crystal Ducker tried to clean up the Transportation Cabinet and rid it of patronage politics, office slackers and political hacks who told applicants that they wouldn't be considered for employment unless they were registered Democrats. Clowns like McCray and Doerting and Scumbo couldn't stand an honest operation, and Kentucky is the worse for it. We could have had a second term of Ernie Fletcher, no crying about an imagined budget deficit, no divisive fight over casinos, and no intra-party sniping among the Democrats that threatens to delay the whole state. Instead we get the dysfunctional and dense Steve Beshear.

I'm ashamed of my state and ashamed of an administration that brings in old hacks like Joe Prather and Gilbert Newman to run things, and flip-floppers like Charles Wolfe and Mike Hancock in positions of authority when they were key players in the Fletcher administration. So much for their loyalty to their former boss.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah, Hey Hey Hey, GOOD BYE]

Kind of hard to inspire loyalty when you're issuing pardons, hiding behind the Fifth Amendment, and asking who the boss needs to "throw under the wheel" next to protect himself, isn't it?

Good Times!

And that doesn't even address Ernie receiving a paycheck from a hospital four hours away from his home for doing nothing, right after he gives a settlement check from the state's Medicaid funds for providers. Hmmm....wonder how many such settlements the state issued that year? Oh, that's right! That was the ONLY provider to get such a settlement.

Please. Ernie was/is as crooked as a dog's hind leg, and hid behind the Bible to boot. There's not a lot to respect or be loyal to with a combination like that.

[For Truth]

KYTC is absolutely correct. This settlement is a sham and a travesty. McCray is being rewarded for supposedly exposing the very activities that she was involved in way before Fletcher was governor.

All you classless individuals who slam Ernie are just jealous because you could never measure up. We know that jealousy was also a driving force in Doerting's actions.

[I want my money!]

Now, did Fletcher pardon on just the personnel actions? Could they all be indicted on the bid rigging? What about other odd procurement and suspect no bid contracts all over state government during the Fletch administration? Seriously annoyed Nighbert sitting pretty making what? A hundred grand maybe? And the citizens of KY foot the bill for he and Fletcher acting like bullies and mules?

[foolio]

Any reporter (Brammer? Stamper? Alessi?) care to note how this settlement might compare to other settlements, given its politically charged nature? Or is reporting that sort of interesting thing too hard when the easy route is to let the Dem Gov say whatever he wants? Maybe some blogger will know...

[KYTC insider II]

You left a few things out.

Betty Hawkins got her orders from Pattons Office, remember the Crit List. Little yellow post its attached to the recommended employee apps. They weren't stupid/arrogant enough to put their initials on them like Dan Druen did, but it was still illegal.

Investigators Doug Doerting, Shawn Estep, and Chuck Geveden, (current Dep Exec Director at Office of Homeland Security) all knew this was going on and did nothing about it. They were too busy harrassing all the helpless peon state employees.

Check out Missy's time sheets, they will confirm what KYTC insider stated above. She schooled Murg, Nighbert, Adams, and Hazlette on how to properly to subvert the merit system but they didn't listen. She was there all hours of the night working the paperwork as only she knew how.

I must disagree with your statement "People like Nighbert and Hazlette and Crystal Ducker tried to clean up the Transportation Cabinet and rid it of patronage politics" They were all crooked as the highways in eastern Ky.

Drucker suspended the whole minority affairs office and had her decisions reverted by Fletchers appointees on the personnel board.

Hazlette selected friends from KSP and went through a sham hiring process on many jobs

Nighbert .... well $500,000 later...

But back to Hawkins and her crooked staff. They all worked together with Nighbert and team after they removed the honest Gen. Bailey because he would not do the illegal stuff Fletchers henchment wanted.

Missy was right in the middle of it and became the ring leader when Hawkins left. That is until she didn't get what she wanted and then pulled out her ace just like Doerting did.

Hawkins, McCray, Doerting, Estep, Geveden are all as guilty as any Fletcher person ever was and more so.

For KYTC and other cabinets to ever be cleaned up, we must get rid of the hangers on who keep the big high paying jobs from one administration to another but never improve Kentucky as a whole. I agree with KYTC insider about Newman, Wolfe, Hancock and I'll add a few, Chuck Knowles, Bobby Russell, Jamie Link, Tommy Greenwell, Mark York etc etc.

How do these same people keep jobs yet the Commonwealth never improves. Is there not anyone else out there that can come up with new ideas to bring Kentucky forward.

The Commonwealth is in terrible shape because the same people are always in high powered positions from one administration to another. I reference this photo of Mark York in the State Journal with a Fletcher sticker on his shirt and he gets promoted to a higher office under Beshear.

http://www.state-journal.com/news/citizen_gallery/3068422

Jamie Link and many others did Fletchers dirty work and get promoted under Beshear.

How does this happen. Is there some kind of secret undergroud state government cosa nostra mafia thing going on and we are not aware of it.

Will we ever know. It's like Area 51, a big mystery

[KYTC insider II]

Now its looking even more fishy, See Mark Heberts remarks from his blog below.

Nighbert "Never Consulted" On 500K Settlement
10:59 PM Wed, Apr 23, 2008 | Permalink
Mark Hebert

Former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert tells WHAS 11 News he was never consulted by Beshear administration officials about the settlement agreement with former Transportation Cabinet employee Missy McCray. The state is paying McCray $500,000 to settle her lawsuit against the state and Nighbert, though a judge had dropped Nighbert from the lawsuit because he was acting in his official capacity.

McCray claimed she was threatened and retaliated against for talking to investigators about helping her bosses find merit state jobs for Governor Fletcher's supporters during the merit hiring scandal. And while the attorney hired by the Transportation Cabinet thinks McCray has a strong case, Nighbert doesn't think so. He says he was more than ready to tell a jury "the real story" of what happened. The Cabinet's lawyer, Paul Harnice, thought McCray might win even more cash if the case went to trial. Nighbert says "I'd be real surprised if that happened." He believes the Beshear administration settled for too much just to get rid of the case and speculates that "politics could have come into play."

McCray has also been transferred to the Personnel Cabinet as part of the deal. I traded phone messages with her today but we never hooked up to talk. Nighbert currently works for his long time friend, Senate President David Williams.

[Jenkins]

I'd like to clear something up with 'show some class' who clearly prefers to show the same class that the Fletcherites did and assume everything they did was blessed by God.

I do not revel in Fletcher's defeat - the acts of his administration are shameful to all Kentuckians. If his bunch had behaved like adults they'd still be in power.

I do object harshly to their style of holier-than-thou politics and their childish addiction to playing games with government and seeking out state protected jobs to settle their scores when they ran in 2003 on a platform of breaking with that behavior.

Under most religions that's considered breaking your word but, clearly, if you think you're either above the law and can impugn the members of a seated grand jury of fellow citizens, now there is some class for you, or if you think you're blessed by God then you apparently can break your word once you win the race. Or all along your 'Frankfort mess' references were code that you have no honor anyway and once you win you're just going to make your own mess.

If you want to continue to believe that their brand of Republican is anointed by God and that the current Governor will lose in 2011 then that can be your obsession for the next 4 years. You were probably one of the silly anonymous posters ranting mindlessly about '4 more years' last summer so it's fitting that you'll obsess over the next 4 years.

As for KYTC insider II; you're as superstitious as 'show some class' and clearly are some disgruntled merit employee.

You have no clue what your talking about; if I were Mr. Stamper I'd remove your post.

[Jenkins]

KYTC Insider I - the Governor doesn't create budget deficits.

The Consensus Forecasting Group, made up of members appointed by all 3 branches, determines the revenues for the state each year.

There is no 'imagined' budget deficit; Fletcher knew the economy was going to tank - he was told that often but preferred to stick with his 'we built a surplus' mantra which was true for a few months but then the economy hit the skids about last summer and he never changed his tune.

And, I apologize to KYTC Insider II, they are somewhat right in the first part of their post.

[Lily]

Why do Democratic women insiders in state government all look like that?

Please Lord, give us competent public servants instead of people who spend every waking moment trying to hurt others for their own power advantage.

[Show some class]

Jenkins: "assume everything they did was blessed by God."

Huh? Where did THAT come from?

Your comments involving religion are interesting, Jenkins. I made no reference to religion at all, so don't project your hang-ups upon me.

No one is above the law, and no one is holier than thou except the Lord Himself. That people uphold a high standard and try to do what is right is good and honorable. We can even reasonably disagree upon just what "right" is, but we should expect our leaders to stand up for and try to do what is right.

Sometimes people, or those around them, fall short of their ideals. We should take no pleasure from that. Then again, often people that try to do good are subverted by the jealousy of others, as with Fletcher. No pleasure should be taken there either.

Remember, during the campaign, the person who used religion was Beshear, trying to capitalize on his religious background with his ad filmed in front of a church. How he squares that with his public policy of supporting expanded gambling is a real stretch for me.

Bottom line: there was no reason for you to project religion into this discussion based upon anything that I said, but I would be glad to have a rational discussion about the subject if you are burning to do so. Just show some class while doing it.