In A Win For Governor Steve Beshear, Attorney General Opines That COPSE Hiring Of Brad Cowgill As Chief Violated State Law.

The fight between the Council On Post Secondary Education's hiring of Brad Cowgill as Chief and Governor Steve Beshear's opposition to the hiring process, which was reported here, here, here and here, and which was suggested lacked a national search and a pick who has "significant experience and an established reputation as a professional in the field of postsecondary education," has resulted in the Attorney General siding with the Governor.

Here is the opinion of the Attorney General.

Better here is an excerpt:

The failure of the Council to engage a new search firm and begin a new nationwide search for a qualified candidate, or to reintiate the search that it had begun, may be seen as an attempt to evade the express language of the statute by hiring an "interim" president only to convert that person to a permanent position later.This is even more disturbing given the fact that the Council admits Mr. Cowgill was never a "final candidate" for the position prior to July of 2007. The Council states that there were no final candidates because none were brought before the full Council to be interviewed. In fact, Mr. Cowgill applied for the position of president yet was ruled out as a candidate.

The important import of the opinion is AG Jack Conway's take that Governor Steve Beshear has the executive authority to reorganize the council.

I suspect that's EXACTLY what Governor Steve Beshear will try to do just that!

Update 4:25: In a sure sign of things to come, as I suspected here, Governor Steve Beshear says he "DEMANDS" that COPSE start a national search that "DOES NOT INCLUDE BRAD COWGILL".

Note also, that the Council has NOT signed a contract with Brad Cowgill, in response to Beshear's request.