- Paul E. Patton
Infobox Officeholder
name = Paul E. Patton
caption =
order = 59thGovernor of Kentucky
term_start =December ,1995
term_end =December ,2003
lieutenant =Steve Henry
predecessor =Brereton C. Jones
successor =Ernie Fletcher
order2 = 50thLieutenant Governor of Kentucky
term_start2 =1991
term_end2 =1995
governor2 =Brereton C. Jones
predecessor2 =Brereton C. Jones
successor2 =Steve Henry
birth_date =May 26 ,1937
birth_place =Lawrence County, Kentucky
death_date =
death_place =
constituency =
party = Democratic
spouse = Judy Patton
profession = Executive
religion =Presbyterian
footnotes =Paul E. Patton (born
May 26 ,1937 ) served as Democraticgovernor of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003. He was succeeded byErnie Fletcher . He is aPresbyterian , and lives inPikeville, Kentucky .Patton was born in Fallsburg, which is in
Lawrence County, Kentucky . In 1959, he received his B.S. inmechanical engineering at theUniversity of Kentucky , and was a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity there.Entrance into politics
Patton entered into politics after 20 years in the coal mining business. He started his political career as deputy secretary of transportation. He was elected county
judge-executive ofPike County, Kentucky and served in that office from 1981 to 1991.In 1987, he ran for
Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and won 130,713 votes in the Democratic primary, placing him third - ahead of state senator David Boswell and Superintendent of Public Instruction Alice McDonald, but behind Attorney GeneralDavid L. Armstrong (147,718) and the 189,058 votes won byBrereton Jones . Jones won the primary and the general election.Patton sought the office of lieutenant governor again in 1991. In a crowded seven candidate field in the Democratic primary, the front runner seemed to be Attorney General
Fred Cowan of Louisville. Just days before the primary it was reported that Cowan's campaign had sent a fundraising letter to a firm that his office was investigating for criminal conduct regarding state contracts. Patton surged past Cowan with 146,102 votes to Cowan's 104,337. (Other candidates included Steve Collins, son of former governorMartha Layne Collins , and former Speaker of the Kentucky House of RepresentativesBobby H. Richardson .) Patton went on to a lopsided victory in the general election, winning 514,023 votes to 250,857 for RepublicanEugene Goss .Upon his election as lieutenant governor, Patton resigned his office as Pike County judge-executive. He was an active lieutenant governor. Governor
Brereton Jones appointed Patton as secretary of economic development, making Patton the first lieutenant governor to serve as an appointed cabinet secretary.Governor
Patton ran for governor himself in 1995. It was the first year in which candidates for governor slated with running mates for lieutenant governor; Patton chose Steve Henry, a surgeon and county commissioner from Louisville, as his running mate. Patton won the Democratic primary with 152,203 votes to 81,352 for secretary of state
Bob Babbage and 71,740 forJohn A. "Eck" Rose , thePresident Pro Tempore of the Kentucky Senate . Patton entered the fall campaign as a perceived underdog. The year before, Republicans had taken over both houses of Congress, including a majority of Kentucky's congressional delegation, for the first time in decades. Patton's campaign seemed an uphill battle, but Patton won, using some themes similar to those used by President Bill Clinton in his successful re-election campaign the following year. Patton won 500,605 votes (50.9%) to 479,227 (48.7%) for the Republican nominee,Larry Forgy .Patton's achievements during his first term as governor included major overhaul of the state's workers compensation laws and significant changes to higher education governance and funding.
During his term, Kentucky carried out its first execution since the early 1960s, when
Harold McQueen, Jr. was electrocuted onJuly 1 ,1997 .Due to a constitutional amendment enacted under Jones, Patton became the first governor in more than 100 years who could succeed himself. Patton was re-elected to a second term in 1999 over a weak Republican nominee,
Peppy Martin , and two other candidates. Patton won a second term as governor with 352,099 votes, 60.6% of the total in an election with very low turnout. He was awarded the Grand Cross of theRoyal Confraternity of Sao Teotonio .Extramarital affair
In 1997 Patton began an affair with Tina Conner, the operator of a
nursing home in Clinton, a small town in Kentucky's far-western Purchase region. The relationship ended in 1999, but he continued to call her until she completely broke off the affair in October 2001. Two months after she broke off the affair, her nursing home was cited by state regulators for numerous violations of health and safety rules. By July 2002, the state had pulled all Medicare andMedicaid payments from the facility, which soon went bankrupt.cite news|url=http://www.cincypost.com/2002/sep/21/senate092102.html|title=Undue influence may be major issue for Patton|author=Paul A. Long|first=Paul A|last=Long|work=The Cincinnati Post |publisher=E. W. Scripps Company |date=2002-09-21|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20050118205403/http://www.cincypost.com/2002/sep/21/senate092102.html|archivedate=2005-01-18]The affair became public after Conner filed a suit against Patton, alleging that he had directed state regulators to shut down her business as retaliation for her ending their affair.
Patton had publicly stated that he was planning a run against Republican U. S. Senator
Jim Bunning in 2004, but the scandal derailed those plans. The subsequent Democratic nominee,Dan Mongiardo , lost to Bunning.Patton retired to Pikeville after the election of his successor
Ernie Fletcher .References
External links
* [http://www.kdla.ky.gov/resources/KYOfficials_pg8.htm#patton Members of Patton Administration]
Persondata
NAME=Patton, Paul E.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Kentucky politician
DATE OF BIRTH=May 26 ,1937
PLACE OF BIRTH=Fallsburg, Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH=living
PLACE OF DEATH=
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