Joe Gerth Presents Steve Henry's "It's A Wonderful Life".

For Henry, as always, it wasn't his fault
By Joseph Gerth

Christmas is the perfect time for traditions.

There is the traditional trip a few days after Thanksgiving to buy a Christmas tree. There's the traditional trip to the mall to see Santa Claus. The annual family reunions, the Christmas ham, eggnog with just the right amount of bourbon.

And maybe even the traditional viewing of Frank Capra's Christmas favorite, “It's a Wonderful Life.”

So it was heartening as Christmas week began last week to see former Lt. Gov. Steve Henry continuing one of his personal traditions: Blaming others for his mistakes.

On Tuesday, Henry stood in front of Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate and accepted the punishment for errors he made in his 2007 race for governor. But he never accepted responsibility.

The errors included using money from a federal campaign account to study a run for state office, paying a campaign worker with money from a nonprofit group aimed at fighting prostate cancer and using a cell phone for campaign business paid for by his wife's nonprofit group for military veterans.

But true to form, Henry didn't enter a guilty plea. He entered an Alford plea, in which he acknowledged that there is enough evidence to convict him but he still maintained his innocence.

He was fined $500 and sentenced to a year in jail, suspended as long as he doesn't break any other laws.

Then Henry left the courtroom and proceeded to blame former Attorney General Greg Stumbo for a “political witch hunt” and said the witnesses against him were liars.

And he denied there was enough evidence to convict him, but said he simply wanted to put the matter behind him and to avoid the cost of extended litigation.

It's not the first time Henry has blamed others — it's not even the first time he's done that with this case.

When Leslie Holland, a former campaign employee, filed complaints against Henry in 2007 that led to the charges against Henry, Henry blamed Holland. His campaign manager at the time said Holland was “a disgruntled former employee who continues to make baseless accusations.”

Then, earlier this year, when the state Registry of Election Finance found that Henry had made “unknowing” violations, Henry's former campaign treasurer (who also was charged) and Henry's lawyer blamed his gubernatorial campaign manager, Chebon Marshall, for any problems.

Marshall responded, “These false allegations are just one in a long line of false claims Steve Henry and his circle have made to divert attention from their own wrongdoing.”

In 2007, when Henry was forced off the University of Louisville's faculty after missing surgical procedures performed by residents under his charge and being unavailable for emergencies when he was supposed to be on call, he blamed his former boss.

After first saying that he had chosen to leave the faculty to focus on his run for governor, Henry then said that Dr. John R. Johnson, the chairman of UofL's orthopedic department, forced him off the faculty because of a disagreement related to a billing service run by Johnson.

In 2003, when Henry, an orthopedic surgeon, repaid the federal government $162,000 to settle allegations that he had defrauded Medicaid and Medicare, he explained it away as “billing errors.”

First he blamed Steve Pence, the U.S. attorney who brought the civil case against him, for launching a politically motivated probe against him, saying that Pence wanted Henry's job as lieutenant governor. He then blamed a payroll clerk for the errors.

Three years later, Henry claimed the payroll clerk made up claims against him in order to get a lighter sentence in her own embezzlement case — something that was denied by then-U.S. Attorney David Huber.

Ultimately, he agreed to settle the case — not because he was guilty (you heard this before) but because of the cost of fighting the case in court and to put the matter behind him.

And in 1997, a Jefferson County Corrections officer, who two years earlier was on the negotiating team working on a new corrections contract, testified that she had a sexual relationship with Henry shortly before Henry, then a Jefferson County commissioner, voted for a new contract that included raises for corrections officers. In response, Henry deflected ethical questions.

Henry was about to announce a bid for the U.S. Senate, and he turned the allegation into a conspiracy against him. “Politically, I find the timing very odd,” he said.

Still Henry denies responsibility for all of these things. It truly is a wonderful life.