WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015

The Blower Calls It Just Being “Family Friendly”

In Columbus, Buckeye Bureau Chief Gerry Manders recalls last Spring The Blower published an expose about “Nepotism” in Patronage County on “Bring Your Children to Work Day” that was being celebrated all over Ohio, but nowhere more so than at the Patronage County Courthouse, where our three family-friendly county commissioners were commemorating the event.

        “I remember the first time I brought my son to work on ‘Bring Your Children to Work Day,’ said Commissioner Pilfer. “He had so much fun, it was easy to get him a cushy county government job when he grew up.”

“I used to bring my daughter to work on ‘Bring Your Children to Work Day,’ ” said Commissioner Filch. “And now she’s the director of the Nepotism Department. Today she’s trying to find a $50,000-a-year job for the Party Boss’ ex-wife, so he doesn’t have to pay her alimony.”

“I brought both of my children to work at the courthouse on ‘Bring Your Children to Work Day’ when they were young,” added Commissioner Swindle. “Unfortunately, I’m still doing it every day, because they both still live at home.”

Now Bluegrass Bureau Chief Ken CamBoo says, “Maybe that’s where Jim McNair at the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting got the idea for his comprehensive award-winning report on Nepotism in Kentucky (In Hiring, County Officials Can — and Do — Turn to Relatives).”

Nepotism statistics don’t exist in Kentucky. No one keeps track of family hires at the city, county or state levels. No paperwork exists showing that a road superintendent is the brother of the county judge-executive who hired him, or that a newly hired payroll clerk is the niece of a county magistrate.

The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting attempted to gauge the extent of nepotism in Kentucky, examining dozens of counties with the most liberal nepotism policies or known examples of family hiring. After more than 80 public records requests and numerous emails and phone calls, the center confirmed 50 instances of full-time family hiring in various county offices across the state.

(Our database shows you where each Kentucky county stands on nepotism)

In reporting this story, KyCIR collected 50 examples statewide of county employees hired after their family members became county officials — most in the same office. One example is even from Northern Kentucky, Can you guess who that might be?