Tuesday, March 16, 1999
Courthouse bidding case may spur new rules
Chandler seeks changes in state law
BY PATRICK CROWLEY and JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FRANKFORT — Attorney General Ben Chandler's staff will recommend changes in state law today to avoid a repeat of the Kenton County courthouse bidding case.
The case led to the resignation of Kenton County Judge-executive Clyde Middleton for showing competitors' bids to a developer and to a lengthy grand jury investigation that ended late last year with no indictments.
A General Assembly committee — Capitol Projects and Bond Oversight — will hear the proposals one day after Mr. Chandler's office issued a lengthy report detailing the bidding controversy involving developer Bill Butler and bids on the $36 million county courthouse and parking garage project.
Mr. Chandler's staff would not say Monday what those recommendations will be, but the report said state law applies to public officials only when it comes to revealing confidential material to private citizens.
Both Mr. Middleton and Mr. Butler knew Mr. Butler was not supposed to see his competitors' bids, Mr. Middleton said in the report.
So Mr. Middleton was prose cuted for showing Mr. Butler the courthouse project bids, but Mr. Butler did not break the law by looking at the bids.
In the report, Mr. Middleton stated he willingly gave Mr. Butler the advantage in getting the contract, but he says he also felt betrayed by the man he thought was his friend.
“I was misled in several ways by Bill,” Mr. Middleton said, “and I now know I believe that (Mr. Butler) had an unfair advantage in this bidding process.”
In the report, Mr. Middleton paints Mr. Butler as a manipulator who tried to use political influence to realize his dream of building the project in downtown Covington.
“I thought Bill Butler was a friend of mine,” Mr. Middleton says. “I trusted him.
Mr. Butler had little to say about the report Monday, though his attorneys have reviewed it.
Corporex Cos., Mr. Butler's development company, issued a one-sentence statement Monday saying, “We do not believe Mr. Middleton was the author of that paper.”
The company would not elaborate or suggest who might have written Mr. Middleton's response to the attorney general.
Mr. Middleton showed the bids to Mr. Butler in an April 2, 1996, meeting at his Fort Mitchell home. He concedes he did so because he thought the Corporex plan was the best and he wanted to help Mr. Butler get the job.
The statements differ from Mr. Butler's claims that the bids were open and public when he saw them.
“The investigation did not reveal sufficient evidence to support the elements of other potential (violations of law) including theft by deception, bribery and perjury,” the report said.
A Kenton County grand jury met for several weeks to hear testimony, but the hearings stopped at the end of last year without any action. Mr. Middleton resigned from office in February 1998, pleaded guilty to official misconduct, a misdemeanor, in January and was sentenced to two years' probation. He has already paid $25,000 in restitution.
A civil lawsuit between the county and Mr. Butler was settled in January, when Mr. Butler agreed to pay $425,000. That's half the amount the county had to pay out to the two developers that lost the contract to Corporex, Carroll Properties and Wessels Corp. Mr. Butler's company won the contract in May 1996.
Throughout the attorney general's report, Mr. Middleton describes a cozy relationship with Mr. Butler.
The two golfed and dined together. Mr. Butler and his wife donated $5,900 to Mr. Middleton's campaigns over the past 10 years. Mr. Middleton also attended parties and receptions at Mr. Butler's home and on his boat.
Mr. Middleton and his wife spent a free night in the private Presidential Suite at the Em bassy Suites hotel courtesy of Mr. Butler, who is part-owner of the Covington hotel.
Mr. Butler, who owns a private jet, also offered to fly Mr. Middleton to Florida to attend a September 1997, Tri-County Economic Development Corp. retreat, Mr. Middleton said. He refused the offer, Mr. Middleton said.
Mr. Butler also sought to remove former County Administrator George Neack from the bidding process because he felt Mr. Neack was favoring one of the other bidders, the Wessels Corp.
Mr. Middleton said he ultimately realized that Mr. Neack “was just trying to keep a level playing field.”
“Bill did drive a wedge between George and me,” he said.
It was so deep, in fact, that Mr. Middleton decided to have the county commissioners meet and vote on the winning bidder May 23, 1996 — a date on which he knew Mr. Neack would be out of town.
Throughout the bidding process, Mr. Middleton said, he was lobbied by Mr. Butler.
In the report, Mr. Middleton also gave several examples of how he said Mr. Butler misled him, including:
• Suggesting the county hire an architect to put together its reguest-for-proposals on the courthouse project. Mr. Middleton said he was not aware the architects also worked for Corporex on other projects.
• Told Mr. Middleton he had to come to his home the night of April 2 to see the competitors' bids because he was leaving town in the morning. Mr. Middleton later learned that Mr. Butler did not leave town until the next afternoon.
• Mr. Butler changed his bid after seeing the competing bids.
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