By RONNIE ELLIS
LOUISVILLE — Gov Steve Beshear said Thursday he is in no hurry to name a successor to Transportation Cabinet Secretary Joe Prather who is resigning effective Sept. 30.
Instead, Beshear said, Mike Hancock – the state highway engineer who will serve as acting secretary until a permanent replacement is named – will continue in that role at least through the next legislative session which begins next January.
“We’re going to take our time on that,” Beshear said after the Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast at the state fair.
“Mike Hancock, I think, will do a good job,” Beshear continued. “I don’t anticipate making any moves on that through the next legislative session because Mike is knowledgeable about the budget over there. As acting secretary, I think he can steer us through this next budget period before we do anything.”
Prather said when he was named by Beshear to head up the cabinet that he would only serve for a year or so. The cabinet has long been seen as a source of jobs for political supporters and was often in the news for cozy relationships with road contractors.
Prather recently announced he wants to retire to spend more time with his family, although he acknowledged he may be called as a witness in the federal bid-rigging trial of contractor Leonard Lawson, former Transportation Secretary William Nighbert, and Lawson employee Brian Billings.
Prather, a realtor by profession, has drawn attention because of property he owns near a state-owned industrial site near Glendale in Hardin County where Prather lives.
But Prather has also been credited by Beshear and some editorial boards for cleaning up the image of the cabinet. He has instituted several changes in bidding procedures and scaled back some highway projects to save the state money.
Beshear said Prather “has made great strides in changing the culture and image of the Transportation Cabinet,” and the public views those changes as protecting the way their tax dollars are spent.
The governor said he has no one in mind at the moment to replace Prather but will look for someone with an image consistent with the effort to run the cabinet more efficiently and with less outside political influence.
“I’m certainly going to build on that image and reputation with whoever heads up that agency in the future,” Beshear said.
RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com.
