Kentucky Governor Ousts 9 Officials as Scandal Widens

By JAMES DAO

Published: September 15, 2005

Gov. Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky demanded the resignation of nine senior state officials yesterday, asked the chairman of the state Republican Party to step down and abolished a constituent service program in response to a widening investigation into patronage in his administration.

In a hastily called news conference in Frankfort, Mr. Fletcher, who in 2003 was elected Kentucky's first Republican governor in 32 years, asserted that the nine were "well intentioned" but might have been "too eager to please local political constituencies" in their hiring practices.