Law needs to change to prevent similar issues

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June 27, 2009

Anonymous The Glasgow Daily Times Sat Jun 27, 2009, 11:54 AM CDT

There is a problem with Kentucky law when, despite several attempts to stop it from happening, Leland Cox may be able to return to his role as Barren County jailer.

Kentucky needs to institute a state law that allows the public to remove elected officials from office or forbids someone from maintaining his or her office after being convicted of felonies or high-level misdemeanors such as sexual abuse, wanton endangerment or multiple DUI offenses.

Local officials have twice looked into possibilities within the law for having Cox removed from office only to be rebuffed. Barren County officials traveled to the office of Gov. Steve Beshear and spoke with his general counsel about the governor bringing charges against Cox, but were apparently told it was a “local matter.”

Staff members in the governor’s office also mentioned the provision that local officials wanted to use to remove Cox has never been attempted in state history to their knowledge.

Now the second attempt has been thwarted by a ruling from the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office that an elected official fondling his subordinates does not constitute misfeasance or malfeasance. So now with Cox attempting to convince a judge to allow him to serve his 30-day sentence that had been suspended as part of his plea agreement after entering an Alford plea to 30 counts of third-degree sexual abuse, the citizens of this county could be facing a future with Cox returning as jailer to supervise the women who brought the initial charges against him.

It’s unclear if the other terms of the plea agreement would be applicable if Cox was allowed to serve a prison sentence and based on Cox’s own statement he believes he could return to office.

While all the charges against Cox are misdemeanors, any employer in the public sector would have been fired instantly for such actions.

In this instance the actions of Commonwealth’s Attorney Karen Davis were spurred by community members contacting her about misfeasance or malfeasance charges.

All states have issues and unusual quirks within the legal code, but there is something inherently wrong in Kentucky when citizens could be forced to live until the next election with a public official who has abused the public trust through his actions.

Kentucky has a notorious example from the eastern portion of the state where a public official was allowed to continue to serve in his role from jail, even after being convicted of a felony.

The time is now for the state to take action and provide the public with options for the removal of corrupt, inept or unethical public officials without having to rely on the court system or state government officials to come to the rescue. As this instance with Cox has made abundantly clear, the current options simply aren’t enough.

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