Saturday, January 08, 2000
N.Ky. man in line for top utilities job
He would become highest state official from area
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT MITCHELL — Fort Mitchell attorney Martin Huelsmann, a Democrat who has held various positions in Gov. Paul Patton's administration, is a top contender to head the commission overseeing utilities in Kentucky.
Sources said that on Friday, Mr. Huelsmann interviewed in Frankfort to become executive director of the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC), a utility regulatory agency.
Mr. Huelsmann was also recommended for the full-time, salaried position by Mr. Patton, the sources said. The PSC's board of directors makes the decision on the hiring, but Mr. Patton's support would be considered a major boost to Mr. Huelsmann, sources in Frankfort close to the process said.
If he wins the appointment, Mr. Huelsmann would be the highest-ranking Northern Kentuckian in state government.
The current executive director, Helen Helton, who is also an attorney, plans to leave the PSC and return to private law practice.
Neither Mrs. Helton nor the PSC's press office returned phone calls to comment Friday.
Mr. Huelsmann did not return a phone call to comment.
Mr. Huelsmann was a longtime assistant to Kenton County Attorney John Elfers, who left office after losing the 1993 Democratic primary to Garry Edmondson.
He is also a professor at Northern Kentucky University's Chase College of Law in Highland Heights.
Mr. Huelsmann and his wife, Shirley, head of the Kenton County Democratic Party, are supporters of Mr. Patton and are among his strongest and closest political allies in Northern Kentucky.
Mr. Huelsmann joined the Patton administration in early 1996 as the No. 2 person in the Justice Cabinet, where he helped select the site in Newport where the regional juvenile detention center was built.
He also was appointed by Mr. Patton to oversee the liquidation of Kentucky Central Life Insurance, a large downstate insurance company.
Mr. Huelsmann has also served on the executive branch ethics commission in Kentucky and on a statewide task force that reviewed implementation of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act.
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