Lawyer ethics

Gov. Ernie Fletcher's general counsel Jim Deckard has been named the new executive director of the Kentucky Bar Association, which serves as an agency of the state Supreme Court, including prosecuting lawyer disciplinary cases.

Deckard defended Fletcher against misdemeanor charges in the patronage hiring scandal and helped negotiate the deal that dropped charges against the governor. Before joining Fletcher's staff, Deckard was counsel to Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Lambert, who served on the Bar's search committee for a new director. Lambert threw a lifeline to Fletcher during his misdemeanor prosecution by inserting a footnote into an unrelated opinion arguing that the governor could not be prosecuted until after he left office.

The KBA earlier this month asked the attorney general for evidence unearthed by the special grand jury that investigated Fletcher hiring abuses. Now, after hearing that Deckard will head up the KBA, the attorney general's spokeswoman Vicki Glass warned that since Deckard lawyered in the patronage case, he should play no role whatsoever in any KBA follow-up ethics investigation.

Deckard is an able lawyer and administrator. But given KBA's reputation for secretive disciplinary procedures, how would we ever know if Deckard kept hands-off or not?