Lexington Herald Leader Editorial: "[KACO's Bob] Arnold Needs To 'Get Over' Snowing Folks". I AGREE.

Arnold needs to 'get over' snowing folks

It must be pleasant to live in the simple world espoused by Kentucky Association of Counties executive director Bob Arnold.

When you or your organization is accused of wrongdoing, lavish unchecked spending and inexcusably lax management, you follow a few easy steps to make it all go away.

Arnold gave a seminar on this method Thursday in his remarks to the members of his organization:

KACo Executive Director Bob Arnold has denied making an escort-service charge that appears on his card.

1. Deny or chalk everything up to flawed human nature. "Any mistakes we made, we made unintentionally."

2. Apologize, more or less. "Are we perfect? Hell, no. I've never said I was perfect."

3. Praise yourself. "We had our eye on the big ball and took our eye off the little ball." "I'll tell you what we do: We work for you honestly."

4. Say it's time to move on. "We can't change it. Get over it. Quit dwelling on it."

Wham, bam, take a small hit publicly and everything will get back to business as usual.

Unfortunately, business as usual involved spending $600,000 over two years for travel, meals and other expenses by the top five KACo executives, including Arnold.

Recently, thanks to reporting by the Herald-Leader's Ryan Alessi, we've learned that some of those expenses included strip clubs and escort services. KACo has contested those charges, saying they must have been made by someone else because they weren't authorized by the officials involved, including Arnold. (See No. 1 above.)

But forget the strip clubs, tantalizing though they are. Wild spending on expensive hotels and restaurants, at liquor stores and florist shops and on a BMW SUV are enough to turn a taxpayer's stomach without a stripper in the mix.

See, that's the trouble. KACo does the public's business. Taxpayers underwrite the dues counties pay to belong to the organization and the fees KACo earns through the insurance and financing services it provides to counties.

KACo's free spending and lax management of taxpayer money are never OK, even if you accept (and we don't) the most forgiving interpretation of how they came about.

So when Arnold says, "Get over it" (see No. 4), he's heading down the wrong road.

Likewise, when he says that KACo's been doing a good job so all this little stuff should just be brushed aside (see No. 3), he's forgetting an essential concept. It's his job, and that of his well-paid lieutenants, to run the organization well.

Considering Arnold's 2008 salary of $178,080, doing a good job is the minimum expectation, not an excuse for leading a life of luxury at taxpayer expense. He should be able to run the organization well, which includes maintaining reasonable oversight of expenses.

In the end, Arnold's world view may be more cynical than simple. How else could he spend thousands on meals and hotels while purporting to represent some of the poorest counties in the nation?

What else could make him think that years of neglecting one of the most basic chores of financial management — reviewing credit card charges — could be explained away as a harmless oversight?

Perhaps Arnold did enjoy a moment of simple pleasure, thinking a rousing speech defending his actions and inactions would put this all behind him.

Our advice to anyone at KACo harboring that simple wish?

Get over it.

Editor's comment: I agree.