The rest of us drank cheap beer and joked that Larry Forgy, Mr. Patton's Republican nemesis, would love a photo of the then-lieutenant governor in bed with another man.

        We were a bit naive. Eight years later, our governor has been revealed as a sex-addled morning person with outlandish stamina. Steamy liaisons at 7 a.m., his ex-mistress says, for five hours straight.

        Maybe they took breaks to discuss the tobacco settlement or workers compensation. We can only hope.

        For much of his career, Mr. Patton has had the quality of grit — he made millions as a coal operator — balanced by intellect.

        There are union guys in Pike County who will swear that in the '70s, the future governor hit a striking miner with his pickup truck. Mr. Patton denies it.

        And there are math students at Scott High School in Taylor Mill who will recall the governor enthusiastically working algebra problems during a visit last year.

        He always danced between crass and class. Now Tina Conner, a brittle blonde operative in Hickman County, has yanked the cretin out of the closet.

        I predict other mistresses will surface. The same Louisville television station that reported the original story of the affair now reports the governor may have another paramour.

        I'm less certain we will know whether he used his power to help or hurt these women, as Ms. Conner alleges.

        The FBI in Frankfort sometimes manages to prove influence peddling. More often, Kentucky politicians deflect accusations by using employees as buffers or conducting long “investigations” that bore everyone into forgetting what the fuss was about.

Not the first time

        We already had reason to suspect Mr. Patton. In 1997, the attorney general investigated allegations that his team concealed campaign spending in the '95 election. Four people were indicted, including Mr. Patton's chief of staff.

        Four years later, they have not stood trial.

        Ms. Conner claims she got favors in exchange for sex.

        A construction company she co-owned was granted special status as a “disadvantaged business.” Two former state employees say they felt pressure to approve the application.

        Mr. Patton denies applying pressure.

        But this isn't the first time he's been accused of shenanigans with the Disadvantaged Business Program.

        In 1992, the Pattons sold a company called AnPat to the daughter of Stuart Adams, a political pal in Pike County. West Virginia refused to certify the company as disadvantaged.

        But Kentucky granted the status, and AnPat got millions in state contracts. A state auditor who tried to investigate the company was fired. He later won a $370,000 settlement. Mr. Patton — surprise — denied any wrongdoing.

        Now, sex may prove his undoing. The denials are starting to sound as thin as the sheets in a cheap motel.

        E-mail kgutierrez@enquirer.com or 859-578-5584

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