http://mycn2.com/politics/comer-discusses-clean-up-in-ag-dept-and-says-election-outcome-won-t-affect-gambling-bill

Publication Date: October 29, 2012

Author: Ryan Alessi

Comer discusses clean-up in Ag Dept. and says election outcome won't affect gambling bill

10/29/2012 08:44 AM

The Kentucky Agriculture Department has been hosting FBI and other investigators on a regular basis as they comb through records and conduct interviews about the activities of the former commissioner, Richie Farmer.

Farmer’s successor, Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, said agents have been “meeting with a lot of our employees” but couldn’t speak to what specifically the FBI and attorney general investigators have been looking for.

Comer and his chief of staff and general counsel Holly Harris VonLuehrte have fired most of the high-ranking appointees under Farmer and having 13 merit employees leave the department.

Still, Comer said the department is still having to clean up problems from Farmer’s eight-year tenure.

“We find problems almost on a daily basis still,” Comer said. (6:55)

Watch the video to find out how much trouble Comer believes Farmer is in (7:45.)

The interview started with discussion of the Nov. 6 election. Comer said he thinks Republicans have a long-shot chance to take control the state House. But he said the outcome of the elections is unlikely to affect a proposal for expanded gambling.

“I think that this issue in the future will be more of an urban-rural issue not a Republican-Democrat issue. So I believe the make-up of the House won’t have much effect on that type of legislation,” he said (0:50 of the interview).

About Ryan Alessi

Ryan Alessi joined cn|2 in May 2010 as senior managing editor and host of Pure Politics. He has covered politics for more than 10 years, including 7 years as a reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Follow Ryan on Twitter @cn2Alessi. Ryan can be reached at 502-792-1135 or ryan.alessi@twcable.com.

Comments

  • Pud Puhler wrote on October 29, 2012 02:01 PM :

    This pampered little rich kid is absolutely full of…..himself. James, you might want to use some spot remover on your white horse, son.

  • Savannah wrote on October 30, 2012 02:45 PM :

    Mr. Comer certainly doesn’t care to throw stones! I hope he doesn’t live in a glass house. From what I hear from the Frankfort crowd he may be in trouble if anyone starts throwing stones back!

  • John-Mark Hack wrote on November 03, 2012 11:43 AM :

    Mr. Alessi once again demonstrates his Beshear-like OCD when it comes to the issue of expanded gambling, an obsolete issue that’s been voted on at least six different times in the past six years, never gaining enough support to make it through the legislative process. The Lane Report recently published a survey of 650 CEO’s asking them to “grade the states in which they do business, considering issues such as tax and regulation, quality of workforce and living environment. Kentucky dropped from its 2011 ranking of 17 to 25 in the 2012 survey. The eight-position drop from 2011 to 2012 put Kentucky in the unfavorable company of being one of five states to see a seven- to nine-position decline, joining Nebraska, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Oregon. The survey noted that Kentucky’s ‘focus on gambling issue robs attention from needed business reforms.‘”

    Yet Mr. Alessi continues the questionable journalistic practice of making the issue a part of virtually every interview he conducts with state officials. If I were a cynic, I might wonder who dictates Mr. Alessi’s interview questions, given their “agenda-driven” nature on this issue. cn2 seems to have learned at least some techniques from Fox News – “fair and balanced.”

    I’m going to go throw up now.

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