Whitley Judge-Executive may resign post for state job

Whitley County may be looking for a new judge-executive sooner than next year’s election.
“I have not taken a job. I have not submitted a resignation, but I am still considering my options,” Whitley County Judge-Executive Mike Patrick said Monday afternoon. “Do I think I would tend towards accepting it? Yes, but, it is not there yet. It is not in my hand, and there is nothing for me to say yes or no to at this point,” he said.
Reports have been circulating since late Friday from reliable sources that Patrick is planning to resign as judge-executive before the week is over, and take a job with the state.
“There is a possibility that I may be offered a job in the Fletcher administration, but an offer has not actually come yet,” Patrick said Monday afternoon. “Am I considering a position, yes. At the same time an offer has not been straightforward made. There are all kinds of things that I would be considering right now in regards to what am I going to do in the future.
“Am I going to run for re-election? What all does that entail? What will that cost? Am I not going to run for re-election, and serve out the remainder of the term? Am I looking for something else? They are all in the mix right now. I wouldn’t say that anything is off the table. Questions that I have have not been answered to the point where I can truly make that decision, nor has an actual offer of another job actually been made at this point.”
Patrick said he should find out in the near future about the job, which he declined to identify except to say that it was a middle level position within the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
When he will find out about the job is something out of his control, Patrick noted adding that he hopes to know something within the next day or two.
Patrick said he will have to wait and see what the job offer might look like before deciding whether to accept it.
Patrick was first elected judge-executive in 1998 after defeating incumbent Democrat Leroy Gilbert by nearly 1,120 votes. Four years later he topped Gilbert by nearly 1,500 to win his second term in office, which ends Jan. 1, 2007.
Prior to being elected judge-executive, Patrick served two terms as Whitley County jailer.
One significant factor that will likely play a role in Patrick’s decision is the upcoming election next year, and the fiscal court’s decision to implement a payroll tax this year.
Few judge-executives have ever implemented a payroll tax, and then stayed in office following the next election.
During Monday afternoon’s interview, Patrick noted a question, which was posed to him by a reporter on May 17, the day he first made the motion to introduce a payroll tax.
When asked about the politics of that move, Patrick replied that he released that it hadn’t done anything to improve his political status in Whitley County.
“It’s a controversial thing to have done. I have to be realistic and say my re-election would be the most difficult of any election that I have faced up until this time. I don’t think anybody would argue with that, or that I am making too much out of it,” Patrick said. “I am considering options in that light realizing some of the facts of life for lack of a better word.”
Patrick said that if he resigns, he would like to give at least a standard two-week notice in order to give the fiscal court time to prepare for his replacement.
Sources have told the News Journal that Magistrate Burley Foley, who is currently the longest serving member of the fiscal court, would be appointed as judge-executive to replace Patrick.
Both Patrick and Whitley County Clerk Tom Rains said Monday that the governor would be the one responsible for appointing a replacement for Patrick, who has about one year left in his term.
“Burley would be an excellent individual for the job, but that appointment is not mine to make, so I can’t speak for who the new judge would be,” Patrick said.
Foley, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, is serving his third term as second-district magistrate.
If Foley were appointed judge-executive, then the governor would have to appoint a replacement for Foley as magistrate as well.
The last Whitley County judge-executive to resign in office was Archie Powers, who resigned in May 1985 to take a job with the school system.