Living outside the merit system can be hazardous to your financial future. As I pointed out earlier no one knows how much the employees working for the Kentucky Retirement Systems (KRS) make. They have a grading system but it is mostly meaningless since it is not a merit system.
On April 1st Steve Beshear will replace a Fletcher Trustee with his own, giving him a 5-4 majority on the KRS board for the 1st time. All KRS employees are outside the merit system. So on April 1st if Beshear does control the board he could fire all 252 KRS employees and replace them with anyone he wants.
Since the Executive Director was a pilot with no Pension experience, and both the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer had zero days of pension experience before KRS, there is no tradition of hiring qualified people. However In this economy the Governor will have thousands of applicants, and probably can find 252 both politically connected and as qualified as the current staff, especially with the high undisclosed salaries - what a deal.
There are, especially in middle management, a number of qualified people who deserve to stay at KRS and we have already heard from some of them. One way they could keep their job would be to become whistleblowers for the current Auditor and SEC investigations. I understand that the Auditor’s Office will soon be doing in-depth interviews with KRS employees.
The relatively new Kentucky Whistleblower law would make it hard for a new regime to get rid of them it they had blown the whistle on the old regime. They need to make sure the scoop they have is original and helpful and they need to be the first one to blow the whistle.
I doubt the 20th person to tell about the angry husband pulling up his pickup truck near the building and blasting “Your Cheatin Heart” will qualify as a whistleblower.
If someone does not want to go directly yet to the SEC or Auditor you can always email me. I will be happy to pass it on to them without your name, and when the time comes you can still claim whistleblower status. The email address is Ralph@RalphLong.com.
On April 1st Steve Beshear will replace a Fletcher Trustee with his own, giving him a 5-4 majority on the KRS board for the 1st time. All KRS employees are outside the merit system. So on April 1st if Beshear does control the board he could fire all 252 KRS employees and replace them with anyone he wants.
Since the Executive Director was a pilot with no Pension experience, and both the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer had zero days of pension experience before KRS, there is no tradition of hiring qualified people. However In this economy the Governor will have thousands of applicants, and probably can find 252 both politically connected and as qualified as the current staff, especially with the high undisclosed salaries - what a deal.
There are, especially in middle management, a number of qualified people who deserve to stay at KRS and we have already heard from some of them. One way they could keep their job would be to become whistleblowers for the current Auditor and SEC investigations. I understand that the Auditor’s Office will soon be doing in-depth interviews with KRS employees.
The relatively new Kentucky Whistleblower law would make it hard for a new regime to get rid of them it they had blown the whistle on the old regime. They need to make sure the scoop they have is original and helpful and they need to be the first one to blow the whistle.
I doubt the 20th person to tell about the angry husband pulling up his pickup truck near the building and blasting “Your Cheatin Heart” will qualify as a whistleblower.
If someone does not want to go directly yet to the SEC or Auditor you can always email me. I will be happy to pass it on to them without your name, and when the time comes you can still claim whistleblower status. The email address is Ralph@RalphLong.com.
