The Legislative Research Commission will not move forward with hiring a new director for the troubled state agency for now.
Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Senate President Robert Stivers had both said that they would consider setting up a hiring committee to find a new director by July 1. But Stivers now says he doesn’t want to start the search until a final draft of an LRC audit is completed.
“I feel this motion at this time is premature and I cannot support it unless it has the additional language getting the finalized report,” Stivers said.
While Stivers now says it’s premature to continue with the hiring process, Stumbo disagrees.
“I don’t understand this whole issue about supplemental findings. We don’t need supplemental findings at this time. We need someone to run this agency,” Stumbo said.
The LRC’s former director, Robert Sherman, resigned from his post after the agency came under fire in August of 2013 when staffers accused former Rep. John Arnold of sexually harassing them.
A draft of the LRC audit was released in January by the National Conference of State Legislatures. It found that the state agency’s employees were distressed by a culture of favoritism and opaque hiring practices.