The governor's greatest hits

Dan Druen, a former high-level Kentucky Transportation official, can be forgiven for feeling like the scapegoat du jour.

After being indicted by a grand jury for violating the state Merit Law, then pardoned by Gov. Ernie Fletcher, then fired by the governor, last Friday (Dec. 15) the Executive Branch Ethics Commission charged Druen alone with 10 counts of violation. The grand jury returned 29 indictments, but so far the ethics panel has charged only Druen. If found guilty, he could be ordered to pay fines of $5,000 per count.

Druen is accused, among other things, of using a "hit list" to remove Democrats or the governor's other political enemies from state jobs supposedly protected from such partisan reprisals. After the ethics panel singled him out, he directly implicated the governor for the first time ever. In a statement to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Druen said, "In fact, everything I did was pursuant to a directive from my supervisors, top to bottom, including the governor, in advancement of the very initiative that carried his name."

The grand jury's final report last month also stated that Fletcher approved the patronage scheme. Now Druen has added another speed bump in the way of the governor's re-election campaign. So if the ethics panel found "probable cause" to charge Druen, do you think they might be obliged also to find "probable cause" to charge the governor?