FRANKFORT — Gov. Paul Patton denied having “inappropriate contact” with a Western Kentucky businesswoman who alleged in a television broadcast Tuesday that Mr. Patton sexually harassed her and retaliated against her business after she ended their two-year sexual relationship.

Patton

        Tina Conner, a nursing home operator from Hickman County who is a member of the Kentucky Lottery Corp. board, told WHAS-TV in Louisville that she had a two-year relationship with Mr. Patton. As a result, she said, she was appointed to state boards and given other benefits from the Patton administration.

        After she broke off the relationship, Ms. Conner said, Mr. Patton retaliated by encouraging a state crackdown on the nursing home she operates in Clinton.

        Birchtree Healthcare filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. The company listed assets of $2.2 million and liabilities of $3.2 million.

        Ms. Conner did not return numerous messages left over the past two days at the nursing home and with her attorney, Fred Radolovich of Louisville. Mr. Radolovich would not reveal her whereabouts.

        A statement from the governor's office said Mr. Patton acknowledged knowing Ms. Conner and her husband, Seth, for a number of years, but Mr. Patton “denies any inappropriate contact with Ms. Conner or on her behalf.”

        The statement called Ms. Conner's accusations “acts of desperation from a nursing home operator whose facility has been decertified for numerous health and safety violations and who faces foreclosure and bankruptcy.”

        A review of nursing home inspection records in the Health Services Cabinet and records of the Transportation Cabinet, which certified one of Ms. Conner's businesses for subcontracting preference because it is owned by a woman, “shows no evidence of any improper influence being used concerning her or her business,” the governor's statement said.

        Mr. Radolovich said Tuesday that Ms. Conner has outlined the charges to him and that he has drafted a lawsuit alleging that an affair between Mr. Patton and Ms. Conner ending in harassment and retaliation against Ms. Conner.

        Mr. Radolovich said he plans to file the lawsuit as soon as Ms. Conner signs and notarizes it.

        An employee of the Birchtree Healthcare business office said Tuesday that Mr. Patton used to call for Ms. Conner at the nursing home. Tina Ingrum of Clinton said she was hired in 1998 and Tina Conner asked her to screen her telephone calls.

        “I have answered the phone when he (Patton) called,” Ms. Ingrum said. “When I asked who it was, he would say, "I'm the gover-nor.' ” Ms. Ingrum said she was not privy to the content of any of the conversations.

        The television station said Ms. Conner provided receipts from a Louisville hotel where she said she met the governor nine or 10 times for sex over a two-year period beginning in 1997. Ms. Conner also provided telephone records indicating calls to his office.

        Dan Dabney, a consultant who has been running the nursing home, said he approached Ms. Conner earlier this summer and told her he believed she was being unfairly treated by state inspectors.

        At that point Mr. Dabney said Ms. Conner told him she had an affair with the governor and felt forced into it because of the business.

        Ms. Conner said she ended the relationship in 1999 as she tried to save her marriage. She said the governor continued to call her until October 2001; state inspectors arrived at her facility two months later.

        Tina and Seth Conner have been financial backers of Mr. Patton. In December 1994 they each gave $100 to Mr. Patton's initial race for governor. Between December 1994 and July 2000 they gave a total of $8,429.95 to Mr. Patton's two successful campaigns for governor and to the Kentucky Democratic Party.

        Tina Conner said in the TV interview she is divorced. Seth Conner could not be reached Tuesday.

        State records show that Mr. Patton has appointed Tina Conner to a seat on the Kentucky Lottery Board and to the state Institute for Aging. Mr. Patton also appointed Seth Conner to the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, a panel that awards part of Kentucky's share of the national tobacco settlement.

        In July 2000 the Conners received certification by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet of their new earth-moving and demolition business as a “disadvantaged business enterprise.”

        However, Transportation Cabinet spokesman Mark Pfeiffer said yesterday that ST Construction LLC, the Conners' company, has never received any business from state government.

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