Derek Petteys Is On the Ball

Think like a conservative | Second in the RINOS series

In Kentucky it’s a practical matter to run for office as a Republican or Democrat.

Candidates join the Party that most closely reflects their values. That is one way we get Republicans-in-name-only. 

RINO is not a nice term to use for Republicans who are conservative in many ways. In pointing out Allison Ball as a RINO, I am using the term somewhat loosely. She has spoken out for pro-life values and has worked with General Cameron to oppose ESG ‘woke’ practices among corporations with ‘fiduciary duties owed by investment management firms to Kentucky’s public pension plans.’ Bravo, Ball!

It rankles me that she brags on her campaign site about being “the first Kentucky Constitutional Officer to give birth while in public office (and the first person to do it twice).” As a conservative, I view this as an unfortunate circumstance for the children, though I realize these things happen.

Perhaps being confronted at home with pacifiers and diapers led to the mission creep in her unfaithful execution of her work as state Treasurer. For any not familiar with mission creep, it is “the gradual or incremental expansion of an intervention, project or mission, beyond its original scope.”

It is not the job of the state Treasurer to promote legislation to create new government programs. But ‘Ball has been a national leader for improved financial literacy… and established a savings and investment program for Kentuckians with disabilities.’ Read and understand what the ‘improved financial literacy’ will encompass.

This paves the way for more mission creep, and in the next post we will reveal which candidate for Treasurer is most likely to creep us out a lot more.

The image below shows a loving concern for the ‘underserved’. (And one cannot find what those top navigation links once were because the Internet Archive is now manipulated by special interests.)

Conservatives are in favor of helping those with financial need, but we do so through honest giving. We contribute to bonafide nonprofit organizations rather than taking credit for helping them with ‘other people’s money’, aka your taxes.

What is the role of the Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts?

The current legal statement of the Auditor’s duties are covered in Ky. Revised Statute 43.050.

This document starts by making clear that the Auditor is an agency independent of the state’s administrative departments. And this legal statute is enforced by stated penalties for non-compliance. 

Questions: Can a former State Treasurer be an impartial State Auditor? Will Ball be dispassionate about her ties to people and programs?

Background and other checks

The candidates (and campaign websites) for Auditor are Derek Petteys and Allison Ball.

Before becoming Treasurer in 2016, Ball’s background was as a prosecuting and bankruptcy attorney in Floyd Co. Petteys’ background is in financial management and he holds a BS in Public Administration with MBA studies, and is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

His background includes a Constitutional Law course study at Hillsdale College. Ball was president of the UK chapter of the Federalist Society as a law student.

Her campaign site states she “is responsible for launching Kentucky's new transparency website showing how state government spends its money.”

The below screenshot from an archive page on the govtech.com website shows a launch date for the transparency website as 2010. Was the launch delayed by five years? Maybe so?

Her biography on Ky.gov states she is “a fierce watchdog for Kentucky taxpayer dollars.”

Since taking office, she has returned a record $131 million of unclaimed property, more than any State Treasurer in Kentucky history in a single term.

On her Kyclaims.unclaimedproperty.com state website, we read: Claims for unclaimed property held by the State are processed by the Office of State Treasurer. There is no charge for this service!

However, the fee for this website is found in four contracts linked on the Ky.transparency website. One | Two | Three | Four

Each concurrent $4,000,000 two-year contract is with a different out-of-state firm (NY, CT, LA) for managing the service. A Pdf that explains how such firms may gouge taxpayers is found here , citing contingency fees. 

Each of the four contracts states the firm is permitted to charge in excess of the $4M: 

A contingency fee shall not exceed twenty million dollars ($20,000,000), regardless of the number of actions or proceedings or the number of attorneys or law firms involved in the matter, and exclusive of any costs and expenses provided for by the contract and actually incurred by the legal services contractor.

Considering this, what have taxpayers paid for unclaimed property services over the years? Who knows.

Voter guides, endorsement

About both Ball and Petteys the iVoterGuide says: “85-94% confident the candidate will vote conservatively”; of course, an Auditor is not a voting member of the General Assembly.

The Commonwealth Policy Center shows Petteys’ stance on issues to be exactly the same as hers, but he is not featured (yet) on their Candidate Forum.

When asked about not being endorsed by Kentucky Right to Life, he stated he was not able to submit his PAC application in a timely way due to an illness in his family, but he is thoroughly pro-life.

Ball’s endorsement of her former Chief-of-Staff, O.J. Oleka, for Treasurer is concerning and makes it difficult to rate her as a conservative. This topic is covered in the next post.

Fastzone recommends Derek Petteys, an outsider with good credentials and conservative views on the role of government.

See the first post in the RINOS series.