BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- Simply put, three members of the Kenton Fiscal Court are needed to settle a lawsuit against the builder of the new courthouse and parking garage.
What sounds that simple isn't.
One factor is how that decision will play in the court of public opinion. Two of the four members face re-election contests in two weeks.
Additionally, the county leaders have to weigh how their decision will play in a court of law. A grand jury requested by the Kentucky attorney general's office is to meet later this month to examine whether laws were broken in the bidding process.
John Palmore, Kentucky's former Supreme Court chief justice, said Friday that a settlement won't necessarily deter any criminal prosecutions in the case.
"Technically, the fiscal court's got nothing to do with whatever the grand jury may do," he said.
The county is suing Corporex and its chairman, Bill Butler, to recoup an $850,000 settlement paid to the two losing bidders -- Wessels Construction and Development Corp. and Carroll Properties -- over the 1996 competition for courthouse and parking garage construction contracts.
The county accuses Mr. Butler of manipulating the process to win the $36 million projects.
Corporex and Mr. Butler deny any wrongdoing and place blame on the county for failing to follow its own rules. In particular, company attorneys have previously detailed why they think Deputy Judge-executive George Neack targeted them. Mr. Neack has denied the allegations.
Settlement negotiations have called for Corporex to pay $425,000. The hang-up has been what the agreement would say.
Previously, Mr. Butler offered $200,000 to settle the case. At the time, he said he had spent at least $400,000 on the lawsuit. "I simply want to get it behind us and decided to make an offer as, basically, a business decision," he said last month.
Some county officials said they are unwilling to agree to a settlement that would limit what they could tell the grand jury, or that stated Mr. Butler did nothing wrong.
Subpoenas issued to county officials have stated that former Judge-executive Clyde Middleton is the subject of the investigation. Corporex and Mr. Butler said there was nothing improper about his meeting the night the bids were opened at the home of Mr. Middleton, where the developer was able to see competitors' bids and later copy them. Corporex and Mr. Butler said the bids were public records available to anyone.
Mr. Middleton resigned at the time of the settlement. In his Feb. 11 resignation speech, he said, "I inadvertently and unintentionally did not comply with the Kenton County procurement code."
Attempts to reach other attorneys for comment on the potential civil settlement's implications on the criminal proceeding were unsuccessful. Some declined to comment.
Justice Palmore said he's surprised that Mr. Middleton's in the middle of the bidding controversy. Mr. Middleton's tenure as a state senator from 1967-86 overlapped Justice Palmore's term on the court. The justice started on the state's top court in 1959. He served as chief justice from 1977 through his 1982 retirement.
"I'd hate to be in (Attorney General) Ben Chandler's position to try and convict that kind of fella," Justice Palmore said. "Assuming that what I see in him is valid, he's a nice man. He always struck me as a decent fella."
Justice Palmore also agreed with Corporex's argument that the responsibility for the county code to be followed is on the county. "There's some truth in that," he said.
That would especially be true if both Mr. Middleton and Mr. Butler maintain they didn't know the meeting shouldn't have taken place. "There again, if the judge is truthful in saying that he didn't realize it was wrong, this bidder can equally say that," Mr. Palmore said.
