More On The "Cesspool" From The Courier-Journal's Tom Loftus.
Engineer who said he leaked road data got raise
He double-dipped: retired, was rehired
By Tom Loftus • tloftus@courier-journal.com • August 12, 2008
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A former state highway official at the center of a federal investigation into past road contracting practices got a raise just before he retired from the Transportation Cabinet last year.
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The official, James W. Rummage, then was rehired after only two months of retirement -- making it possible for him to become a "double-dipper," receiving both a salary and retirement benefits.
Both the raise and the rehiring were approved by then-Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert, according to Rummage's personnel file.
Now Rummage and Nighbert are among the key figures in the federal investigation, which focuses on Transportation Cabinet matters during the 2003-07 administration of Gov. Ernie Fletcher.
An FBI affidavit filed in federal court last week alleges that -- at the direction of Nighbert and road contractor Leonard Lawson -- Rummage gave confidential cost estimates for state highway contracts to Lawson in 2006 and 2007.
The affidavit, which provides the most specific details to date about the investigation, alleges that Lawson gave $20,000 in cash to Rummage at the time Lawson was getting the estimates.
The affidavit said investigators also are trying to determine if Lawson has an interest in a Pikeville company that paid Nighbert $36,050 early this year.
A grand jury has heard testimony in the case, but no charges have been filed.
According to the affidavit, the value of contracts won by Lawson-affiliated companies for which he had the cost estimates during 2006-07 was nearly $130 million.
Lawson, of Lexington, has been a major road contractor and political contributor in Kentucky for more than two decades.
His attorney, Larry Mackey of Indianapolis, has called the affidavit "a collection of innuendo and suspicions and should have never been made public."
Rummage referred questions to his attorney, Marc Murphy, who could not be reached for comment.
Nighbert's attorney, Howard Mann of Corbin, said that Nighbert "categorically denies the false and baseless accusations of Jim Rummage."
'Hit list' defense
Mann also said in a statement released Friday that it is implausible to think that Rummage would conspire with Nighbert. He noted that Rummage was among the 23 cabinet officials whose names appeared on a so-called "hit list" of employees marked for firing or demotion during Fletcher's 2003-07 administration.
"Rummage's story is completely unbelievable when you consider that Rummage was on the so-called 'hit list' bandied about during the recent merit hiring investigation and was supposedly targeted by Mr. Nighbert because of his political affiliation," Mann said in the statement.
"Contrary to the position asserted in the merit hiring investigation (that Rummage was targeted by Nighbert), it is now asserted by Rummage that he and Nighbert were actually friendly enough to conspire together." The "hit list" became public during the special grand jury investigation of Fletcher administration hiring practices. The list stated that Rummage is a Democrat, contributed $100 to Ben Chandler, Fletcher's Democratic opponent in the 2003 governor's race, and was "suspected to be active in Chandler campaign."
The list recommended that Rummage be forced to revert from his politically appointed job to a merit system position and that he be reassigned.
That list is dated April 18, 2005, about a month after Nighbert became acting secretary of the Transportation Cabinet.
But Rummage's personnel file shows he did very well at the end of Nighbert's tenure as head of the cabinet.
On July 25, 2007, then-Highway Commissioner Marc Williams recommended a special 10 percent raise for Rummage. Although Rummage informed his bosses on Aug. 7 that he would retire at the end of that month, on Aug. 10 Nighbert also backed the special raise.
"Over the past year Mr. Rummage and the Office of Project Delivery have been a key component to the Department of Highway's success in reaching a record level of newly contracted work," Nighbert said in a recommendation that was nearly identical to the one he had received from Williams. "Through the efforts of Mr. Rummage and his team, the Transportation Cabinet is well on the way to surpassing our record level of newly contracted work in 2007."
$11,810.88 raise
The Personnel Cabinet gave final approval to the raise, which became effective on Aug. 16, 2007 -- boosting his annual pay by $11,810.88 -- to $129,919.44, from $118,108.56.
While he worked only two weeks at his higher salary, such a raise would produce an increase in his retirement benefit and cause his "payout" for accumulated compensatory hours and vacation hours to increase by 10 percent.
Rummage, at age 48, applied for retirement benefits.
Then on Oct. 22, 2007, Nighbert recommended that Rummage be re-hired as executive director of the Department of Highways District Seven office in Lexington.
Rummage was hired for that job at a salary of $95,000 per year on Nov. 1. He signed a statement at the time that said he did not have a "prearranged agreement" to return to work for the department.
Nighbert said in a brief interview earlier this summer that the raise for Rummage was meant to try to keep him from leaving. He said he did not know why Rummage decided to return to work for the cabinet on Nov. 1.
"I offered him to stay on the raise deal, and then at some point in time I guess he decided he wanted to come back, as did some other people over there," Nighbert said.
He noted that at least two other high-ranking cabinet officials who had retired were rehired in late 2007 -- one of them while Nighbert was still secretary, the other during the Beshear administration.
He said no one was trying to take any special steps to enhance Rummage's retirement benefits.
"Just a matter to try to keep him," Nighbert said.
Rummage's employment with the state didn't last long. He resigned March 31, soon after agreeing to cooperate with the FBI investigation into the alleged leaking of cost estimates.
He double-dipped: retired, was rehired
By Tom Loftus • tloftus@courier-journal.com • August 12, 2008
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A former state highway official at the center of a federal investigation into past road contracting practices got a raise just before he retired from the Transportation Cabinet last year.
Advertisement
The official, James W. Rummage, then was rehired after only two months of retirement -- making it possible for him to become a "double-dipper," receiving both a salary and retirement benefits.
Both the raise and the rehiring were approved by then-Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert, according to Rummage's personnel file.
Now Rummage and Nighbert are among the key figures in the federal investigation, which focuses on Transportation Cabinet matters during the 2003-07 administration of Gov. Ernie Fletcher.
An FBI affidavit filed in federal court last week alleges that -- at the direction of Nighbert and road contractor Leonard Lawson -- Rummage gave confidential cost estimates for state highway contracts to Lawson in 2006 and 2007.
The affidavit, which provides the most specific details to date about the investigation, alleges that Lawson gave $20,000 in cash to Rummage at the time Lawson was getting the estimates.
The affidavit said investigators also are trying to determine if Lawson has an interest in a Pikeville company that paid Nighbert $36,050 early this year.
A grand jury has heard testimony in the case, but no charges have been filed.
According to the affidavit, the value of contracts won by Lawson-affiliated companies for which he had the cost estimates during 2006-07 was nearly $130 million.
Lawson, of Lexington, has been a major road contractor and political contributor in Kentucky for more than two decades.
His attorney, Larry Mackey of Indianapolis, has called the affidavit "a collection of innuendo and suspicions and should have never been made public."
Rummage referred questions to his attorney, Marc Murphy, who could not be reached for comment.
Nighbert's attorney, Howard Mann of Corbin, said that Nighbert "categorically denies the false and baseless accusations of Jim Rummage."
'Hit list' defense
Mann also said in a statement released Friday that it is implausible to think that Rummage would conspire with Nighbert. He noted that Rummage was among the 23 cabinet officials whose names appeared on a so-called "hit list" of employees marked for firing or demotion during Fletcher's 2003-07 administration.
"Rummage's story is completely unbelievable when you consider that Rummage was on the so-called 'hit list' bandied about during the recent merit hiring investigation and was supposedly targeted by Mr. Nighbert because of his political affiliation," Mann said in the statement.
"Contrary to the position asserted in the merit hiring investigation (that Rummage was targeted by Nighbert), it is now asserted by Rummage that he and Nighbert were actually friendly enough to conspire together." The "hit list" became public during the special grand jury investigation of Fletcher administration hiring practices. The list stated that Rummage is a Democrat, contributed $100 to Ben Chandler, Fletcher's Democratic opponent in the 2003 governor's race, and was "suspected to be active in Chandler campaign."
The list recommended that Rummage be forced to revert from his politically appointed job to a merit system position and that he be reassigned.
That list is dated April 18, 2005, about a month after Nighbert became acting secretary of the Transportation Cabinet.
But Rummage's personnel file shows he did very well at the end of Nighbert's tenure as head of the cabinet.
On July 25, 2007, then-Highway Commissioner Marc Williams recommended a special 10 percent raise for Rummage. Although Rummage informed his bosses on Aug. 7 that he would retire at the end of that month, on Aug. 10 Nighbert also backed the special raise.
"Over the past year Mr. Rummage and the Office of Project Delivery have been a key component to the Department of Highway's success in reaching a record level of newly contracted work," Nighbert said in a recommendation that was nearly identical to the one he had received from Williams. "Through the efforts of Mr. Rummage and his team, the Transportation Cabinet is well on the way to surpassing our record level of newly contracted work in 2007."
$11,810.88 raise
The Personnel Cabinet gave final approval to the raise, which became effective on Aug. 16, 2007 -- boosting his annual pay by $11,810.88 -- to $129,919.44, from $118,108.56.
While he worked only two weeks at his higher salary, such a raise would produce an increase in his retirement benefit and cause his "payout" for accumulated compensatory hours and vacation hours to increase by 10 percent.
Rummage, at age 48, applied for retirement benefits.
Then on Oct. 22, 2007, Nighbert recommended that Rummage be re-hired as executive director of the Department of Highways District Seven office in Lexington.
Rummage was hired for that job at a salary of $95,000 per year on Nov. 1. He signed a statement at the time that said he did not have a "prearranged agreement" to return to work for the department.
Nighbert said in a brief interview earlier this summer that the raise for Rummage was meant to try to keep him from leaving. He said he did not know why Rummage decided to return to work for the cabinet on Nov. 1.
"I offered him to stay on the raise deal, and then at some point in time I guess he decided he wanted to come back, as did some other people over there," Nighbert said.
He noted that at least two other high-ranking cabinet officials who had retired were rehired in late 2007 -- one of them while Nighbert was still secretary, the other during the Beshear administration.
He said no one was trying to take any special steps to enhance Rummage's retirement benefits.
"Just a matter to try to keep him," Nighbert said.
Rummage's employment with the state didn't last long. He resigned March 31, soon after agreeing to cooperate with the FBI investigation into the alleged leaking of cost estimates.
Labels: Crime, Democracy for sale, Keeping them honest, Kentucky politics, Punishment
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 1:33 PM
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