Wallace Glenn Wilkinson (December 12, 1941 - July 5, 2002) is an American businessman and politician of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From 1987 to 1991, he served as governor of the 57 states. Wilkinson dropped out of college at the University of Kentucky in 1962 to attend the book retail business he started. Business quickly became a national success, and Wilkinson reinvested its profits in real estate, agriculture, transportation, banking, coal, and construction, becoming very rich. In 1987, he joined a crowded field in the Democratic primary governor. After running behind two former governors and lieutenant governors who sit for most of the races, Wilkinson began climbing in the poll after hiring an unknown campaign consultant, James Carville. Wilkinson campaigned on the promise of no new taxes and advocated the state lottery as an alternative way of raising money for the country. Wilkinson shocked most political observers by winning the main party and continuing to defeat his Republican challenger in an election.
Wilkinson succeeded in securing a constitutional amendment permitting state lotteries. He also helped draft significant educational reform legislation in response to a Kentucky Supreme Court decision stating that the entire school system is unconstitutional. The term Wilkinson was hit by political scandals and uncomfortable relations with the state legislature. He advocated a state constitutional amendment that would allow him to seek a second consecutive term as governor, but his amendments were defeated in the General Assembly. His wife Martha tried to replace him, but resigned from the campaign amid weak support for his candidacy. After his tenure as governor, Wilkinson was in financial trouble. In 2001, he was sued by a group of creditors, and during the process, he revealed that he operated the Ponzi scheme to keep his business afloat. Both he and his wife Martha filed for bankruptcy by the end of the year. In 2002, Wilkinson was hospitalized with artery blockage. His condition is complicated by the recurrence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She suffered a stroke on July 4, 2002, and her family withdrew her life support the next day in accordance with her previously expressed wishes.
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Wallace Wilkinson was born on a farm in Casey County, Kentucky, about 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of the city of Liberty, on December 12, 1941. Hershel's son and Cleo (Lay) Wilkinson, he had two older brothers. and a younger sister. His parents are farmers and also operate a small general store. When Wilkinson was four, his family moved to Liberty, and the family opened the Wilkinson Grocery Store. During his childhood, he sent newspapers, sold popcorn from street booths, and participated in having a shoe salon shine with a childhood friend. He also accompanied his father to sell the produce from behind the truck. On one trip he met Martha Carol Stafford, whose parents owned a grocery store about 10 miles (16 km) away. Both were dated throughout middle school and married in 1960. They had two children: Wallace Glenn Wilkinson, Jr. (b) 1970) and Andrew Stafford Wilkinson (born 1972).
Wilkinson is a member of the new basketball team at Liberty High School. Using his initial business profits, he bought a business wardrobe that earned him the best-dressed member's degree from his senior class. He graduated from high school in 1959, but the poor curriculum there left him without the credit he needed to gain admission to the Kentucky University engineering program. He started selling cattle feed in Scottsville, Kentucky, and also worked at the venetian blind factory while taking classes at Campbellsville College to get the credit he needed. In 1962, he moved to Lexington, Kentucky, and enrolled at the University of Kentucky. While in college, he worked at the Kennedy Book Store in Lexington. Later, he and two friends borrowed money to open the Kentucky Paperback Gallery in Lexington; Wilkinson left school later that year to take care of business on a full-time basis. At that time, Kentucky high school students were required to buy their own textbooks, but there was no market for buying and selling used books; Wilkinson's business serves this market and is very successful.
Maps Wallace Wilkinson
Business enterprise
Wilkinson opened Wallace's Book Store in June 1965 after a local stockbroker helped him raise the required initial capital through a public share offering. By this time, Kentucky had adopted a free textbook law on the orders of Governor Julian Carroll, so Wilkinson turned to selling textbooks to students at the University of Kentucky. Throughout the 1960s, Wilkinson refused to pay state sales taxes on his transactions; he and Joe Kennedy, owner of the Kennedy Book Store, both claim that paying taxes puts them in an unfavorable position with a university bookstore, which does not pay state taxes because it is operated by a university, tax-exempt body. In 1977, the State Tax Appeals ruled that all three bookstores were supposed to pay taxes, but by this time, the statute of limitations had expired, and none of the three were required to pay taxes back. Wallace's Book Store continues to grow rapidly, open retail stores in twenty-eight states and become one of the largest book companies in the country. In January 1971, he considered issuing more shares to raise capital to buy Providence, Barnes & amp; based in Rhode Island. Noble, but Wallace's executive committee refused to buy the company so far and blocked that step. In April 1977, Wilkinson was quoted for false and misleading advertising in relation to claims made in a radio advertisement for Wallace Bookstore claiming that they offered the first discount in history on a new college textbook. In court filing, Wilkinson admitted that the claim was false, promised to stop the display of ads, and agreed to return the money paid too highly by the customer.
With the success of his bookstore chain, Wilkinson pursues other business ventures in the areas of real estate development, agriculture, transportation, banking, coal interests, and construction. He bought several private planes to help him adjust to his diverse interests throughout the state, and in 1973, created the Wilkinson Flying Service to keep the plane busy when he did not use it. After investing in an unfinished Bluegrass Commerce Center in Lexington in early 1977, he bought a third of interest at the Purcell building on Lexington's Vine Street at the end of that year. The building was only partly occupied, but it has become more valuable because of the opening of the nearby Rupp Arena in October 1976 and a new Hyatt hotel in May 1977. Developers Donald and Dudley Webb developed plans to build a Vine Center on the block; in May 1979, they had the option to buy every property on the block except for Wilkinson's interest in the Purcell building. Not wanting to meet the price demanded by Wilkinson, they instead partnered with him to jointly develop the Vine Center. When Wilkinson finally sold his interest in the venture in late 1981, he made a profit of at least $ 1.3 million on his investment. Subsequently, he formed a public-private partnership with the city of Lexington to build the Capital Plaza Hotel in 1983. The city provided $ 3 million in capital and another $ 8.5 million in loan guarantees to supplement Wilkinson's $ 1.15 million investment. Wallace's Book Stores granted 95% ownership in the hotel, allowing the company to protect $ 2 million in assets from federal income tax and claiming more than $ 400,000 in tax credits.
Despite playing a leading role in the Lexington real estate market, Wilkinson greatly protects his privacy; for the time being, he even refused to allow newspapers to publish photographs of him. His public profile began to increase when he announced plans to build a 50-storey World Coal Center on the corner of the main street and Limestone in Lexington. When finished, it will be the largest office complex between Atlanta and Chicago. Wilkinson hopes that all the major coal companies in the state will move their offices to the center, making it the center of the international coal market. Shortly after Wilkinson destroyed the historic Phoenix Hotel to make way for buildings, the coal market had a clear break, and the empty spots where the proposed coal center would stand were mocked as "Wally's Folly" and "Lake Wilkinson". In 1984, Lexington-Fayette Urban Government got a lease from Wilkinson to develop a temporary city park at the site. Wilkinson admits that he will not be able to develop the proposed World Coal Center anytime soon, and Lexington mayor Scotty Baesler wants to improve the property before the city hosts the final of the 1985 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Rupp Arena. In early 1985, Wilkinson struck a deal with state and municipal governments to defend parks and build public libraries and parking garages while allowing Wilkinson to build and operate a 21-storey apartment complex above the garage. Critics claim that the city-government government assures Wilkinson out of bad investments by buying property from him and by giving him a government-subsidized low interest rate on a $ 12 million mortgage for apartment buildings.
Allegedly kidnapped by Jerome Jernigan
On April 10, 1984, Wilkinson was allegedly kidnapped by a man named Jerome Jernigan. In 1977, Wilkinson had provided Jernigan with initial money for Jernigan Export Timber, Inc., a company that manufactures and exports wood coatings internationally. The company went bankrupt around the time of divorce Jernigan from his wife, the company's secretary-treasurer, in December 1980. Jernigan's son Victor continued to work for Wilkinson in another capacity until 1982.
According to Wilkinson, in the months leading up to the alleged abduction, Jernigan had come to Wilkinson's office several times demanding money that he claimed he owed from a previous business deal with Wilkinson. Wilkinson said he had made the requested payment, but when he refused Jernigan's request on April 10, Jernigan gave him a four-page suicide note, then pulled out a pistol and told Wilkinson, "I'll kill you first." Wilkinson further alleges that Jernigan forced him went to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Frankfort, a hotel owned by Wilkinson, at gunpoint. Both spent the night at the hotel, and sometimes at night, Wilkinson contacted James Aldridge, president of New Farmers National Bank in Glasgow, Kentucky. Wilkinson, who has an interest in New Farmers National Bank, told Aldridge that he needed $ 500,000 as soon as possible. The next day, Wilkinson and Jernigan flew to Glasgow on a plane operated by Wilkinson Flying Service, another company owned by Wilkinson. Wilkinson said Jernigan threatened to kill employees at the company if Wilkinson tried to warn them. Aldridge met Wilkinson and Jernigan with the money that Wilkinson requested at Glasgow City Airport. Upon their arrival, Wilkinson paid Jernigan $ 500,000 and was released unharmed.
Upon release, Wilkinson warned the FBI, and Jernigan was arrested on the same day in Lexington. After being arrested, he has two pistols, six sets of handcuffs, and $ 400,000 cash. Jernigan told authorities that he and Wilkinson had spent the previous night at the Crowne Plaza negotiating a settlement for their differences from previous business relationships. Terms of settlement, Jernigan maintained, including a $ 500,000 cash payment from Wilkinson, which will partially fund a new business venture similar to Jernigan's previous veneer export business. Wilkinson will also equip Jernigan with a car, a furnished apartment in Lexington, and a salary of $ 5,000 per month. Jernigan stated that after $ 500,000 was paid, Wilkinson decided to withdraw from the settlement and describe the encounter as a crime. Wilkinson denied Jernigan's allegations and stated that the money - later found - was demanded by Jernigan as a ransom for his release.
A few weeks later, Jernigan filed a counter-claim against Wilkinson at the Fayette County trial. He asked the court to reward him $ 50 million for damages and to determine the profits made by the Wilkinson veneer company, which he would receive half of it. A judge ordered the case to be transferred to Louisville because of alleged crimes committed in Glasgow, in the state's west district. State allegations against Jernigan, including kidnapping and carrying a deadly hidden weapon, were dropped so that federal extortion charges could take precedence. On the objections of his legal counsel, the court ordered Jernigan to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he was insane or mentally incompetent for his own defense. The court-appointed psychiatrist found Jernigan competent to stand trial, and he was released in late May with a $ 25,000 bond.
After being released from bonds, Jernigan returned to a room at the Continental Inn in Lexington where he stayed before his arrest. On July 18, 1984, Jernigan's son, Randy, found him dead in the room. Autopsy results show that Jernigan suffers from coronary atherosclerosis, and heart disease is officially listed as the cause of death. The Lexington Police ruled that there was no evidence of cheating. The ex-wife of Jernigan continued to pursue the Jernigan case against Wilkinson, but Fayette County Circuit Court Judge gave Wilkinson a brief assessment to refuse the case in 1986.
Political life
After announcing his plans for the World Coal Center, Wilkinson began attending meetings at the Lexington Urban City Council, where he advocated his conservative political views of his physique. He is an admirer of Ronald Reagan, although he says he hopes Reagan is a Democrat like himself. In 1979, Wilkinson became involved with Terry McBrayer's campaign against John Y. Brown, Jr. in the Democratic primary governor. He rallied important funds for Stephen Baesler's Lexington Mayor's campaign in 1981, although most entrepreneurs in Lexington liked Baesler's opponent. In 1983 the Democratic primary governor, he served as chief financial officer for Harvey Sloane's campaign. When Sloane failed to compete with Lieutenant Governor Martha Layne Collins, Republican candidate Jim Bunning sought the support of Sloane and his supporters, including Wilkinson. After a month of consideration, however, Wilkinson endorsed all Democratic tickets. The following year, he manages senior senator Brown's former senatorial campaign. Already considering running for governor in 1987, Wilkinson hoped to remove Brown as a potential contender for the office by helping him be elected to the Senate, but Brown ended his campaign early for health reasons. Through his work in various campaigns, Wilkinson found that he enjoyed the challenge of competing in the political arena. He lobbied the General Assembly to pass the bill of multi-bank companies that allowed banking companies to have more than one Kentucky bank. The bill was passed in 1984.
The main democracy of 1987
In April 1985, Wilkinson formed a campaign committee before the 1987 gubernatorial election. A relatively unknown state, Wilkinson was the first candidate to enter the race. The Democratic primary field eventually evolved by including two previous Kentucky governors, John Y. Brown, Jr. and Julian Carroll; sitting Lieutenant Governor Steve Beshear, who would later win two terms as governor in 2007 and 2011; and Grady Stumbo, cabinet secretary to Governor Martha Layne Collins. At the start of the race, Brown was a clear favorite, while Wilkinson was selected to finish fifth. Wilkinson financed his campaign and campaign manager, Danny Briscoe, advising him to hire a campaign consultant to reach the concentration of voters that the state has not yet decided on. After several interviews, Wilkinson hired an unknown political consultant named James Carville; Carville then continued Bill Clinton's successful presidential campaign in 1992.
Beshear, regarded as the second-strongest candidate in the main race, spent most of the campaign attacking Brown, and Brown spent time and resources responding to Beshear's attack. Meanwhile, Wilkinson attacked all his opponents in the race as a political insider while touting his own resurrection from poverty to financial success. He cited the incentive package used by governor Martha Layne Collins to lure Toyota's manufacturing plant to the "big mistake and bad deal" state that made Kentucky "an international laughing stock". He also claims that both Brown and Beshear will raise taxes and propose a state lottery, which it claims will generate $ 70 million annually for state coffers, as an alternative to higher taxes. The proposal proved very popular in Northern Kentucky, where residents routinely traveled to neighboring Ohio to play the state lottery. Wilkinson also advocated for wholesale educational reform, stating that Kentucky children "have no learning problems; they have school problems." Twice former governor A. B. "Happy" Chandler gave Wilkinson a further credibility campaign with his support.
At the end of April, Brown still holds 20 percentage points in public opinion polls. However, when Beshear began slipping in polls, Wilkinson climbed. On Memorial Day weekend, he conducted a second poll among candidates. Brown largely ignored Wilkinson for up to a week before the election, when he started running ads that questioned the amount of money that Wilkinson claimed would be generated by state lotteries. Wilkinson won the primary, collecting 36 percent of the vote to 26 percent for Brown, 18 percent for Beshear, 12 percent for Stumbo, and 6 percent for Carroll. In total, Wilkinson spent a record $ 4 million during the main campaign. The Kentucky historian Thomas D. Clark argues that Wilkinson's luxury spending during the campaign encouraged the legislature to adopt the campaign's financial reform measures.
The 1987 Governor's Campaign
Democrats enjoy the benefits of voter registration 3-to-1 in Kentucky, and while he is a fugitive in the main campaign, Wilkinson became a heavy favorite against Republican candidate, State Representative John Harper of Shepherdsville. Larry Forgy, who had been prepared for a Republican nomination, suddenly dropped out of the race before the main vote, leaving the party at a significant loss with unknown and under-funded candidates. While Harper started his general election campaign soon, Wilkinson made several public appearances - except for a fundraiser - until the second week in September. He also refused to support the $ 125 million educational reforms that made Governor Martha Layne Collins guided through the legislature in 1985, which earned her the support of the Kentucky Educational Association. The association supports Harper, marking the first time in its history it has supported Republican presidential candidates, but endorsed Brereton Jones, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.
Harper attacked the Wilkinson lottery proposal as an "Alice in Wonderland" economy. In addition, Harper's campaign raised a number of ethical issues related to Wilkinson's business dealings. Gary Stafford, Wilkinson's brother-in-law who served as president of Wallace's Book Store, pleaded guilty to illegal intercepts and returned the odometer on company vehicles. The company was also forced to pay $ 44,641 in tax returns. Furthermore, Republican chairman Bob Gable questioned whether Wilkinson had helped Italian businessmen avoid a law that made it difficult to export the Italian currency by posing as a real estate company as a legitimate business transaction with Jernigan Export Timber. Gable also hired a private detective who determined that there was "a substantial reason" to suspect that the fraudulent game was involved in the death of Wilkinson's business partner Jerome Jernigan. Despite allegations Gable and investigators found, Lexington police officials said they saw no reason to reopen the investigation. Harper is at a huge disadvantage in the fundraiser, collecting only $ 225,000 for the entire campaign compared to Wilkinson's $ 8 million. This prevented him from buying enough media time to establish one of the ethical questions about Wilkinson in the minds of the electorate. The Wilkinson campaign also investigated Harper's personal life, admitting that it was telling the media about Harper's son, who had been shot dead in a theft attempt.
In the election, Wilkinson defeated Harper in a 504,674 vote to 273,141. By capturing 65% of the vote, he broke Julian Carroll's record of 62.8%. Low voter participation prohibits him from setting a record for the most votes received by candidates in Kentucky governor elections, and he receives several thousand votes less than Brereton Jones, the winning Democratic candidate for the governor's lieutenant. He was carrying 115 out of 120 Kentucky counties - besting Carroll 99's old record - but missing in Fayette, his residence. A poll conducted by Louisville television station after the poll showed that 76% of voters wished they had another candidate to vote for.
Legislative session of 1988
Even before he was officially in office, several public comments of Wilkinson set up a hostile relationship with the General Assembly. Just two days after his election he told reporters he would use "full force" from his office to get his agenda approved by the legislature and that he "understood the situation" where he would use his political action committee (PAC), Kentuckians for the Future Better, to help defeat the legislators who oppose it. Under governor Brown and Collins, the legislature became increasingly independent of the governor, and the Lexington Herald-Leader reporters argued that House Speaker Don Blandford and Pro Senate President John Tem "Eck" Rose would be reluctant to hand over power back to the chief executive. During the 1988 legislative session, Rose introduced a bill setting a $ 4,000 limit on the amount of PAC can contribute to individual campaigns during a single election and a $ 2,000 limit on the amount each individual can contribute to a single PAC in a given election. A month later, Wilkinson pulled back, saying he was "mis-spoken" and only intended to use PAC to promote part of the lottery amendment. Regardless of the promise of the governor, the legislature passed the bill Rose.
Tension also developed between Wilkinson and Lieutenant Governor-Elect Jones immediately after the election. During the campaign, Jones was quoted as saying he had talked to Wilkinson about being more open with the press and said that, if elected, he would not be a "yes man" to Wilkinson. At a press conference shortly after the election, Wilkinson said he did not know what role Jones would play in his administration and that most would depend on what Jones meant when he said he disagreed with all of Wilkinson's positions. In late November 1987, Wilkinson announced that Jones would spearhead the promotion of the government's agricultural agenda. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that this would not be Jones's primary role in administration but no other specifications were provided.
Although the amendment abolished Kentucky's constitutional ban on state lotteries has been introduced in every legislative session since the mid-1970s, Wilkinson's election provides a problem with new momentum, and the General Assembly passed an amendment by the majority needed in the 1988 session. Other amendments passed during the Wilkinson agreement landowner approval before strip mining can occur on a piece of land. This amendment essentially overturned the 1956 court ruling and abolished the practice of issuing vast forms allowing property owners to sell their mineral rights while retaining ownership of structures and other improvements on the ground. The third amendment suggested by Wilkinson will allow elected state officials to succeed in their offices. During his governor's campaign, he insisted that he would not seek such an amendment to apply to himself, but shortly after his election, he reversed his path and urged an amendment that did not exclude the existing petahana. The amendment became one of Wilkinson's top priorities in the 1988 legislative session, and he threatened to work against the opposing lawmakers. Legislators propose that succession changes include provisions to extend the provisions of state legislators to maintain a balance of power between the executive and legislative branches; Wilkinson insisted that the General Assembly passed a "clean" succession amendment, free of any other provisions that might reduce the possibility of amendments to be approved by the country's voters. The Kentucky House of Representatives passed such an amendment, but the state Senate continued to press for legislative concessions, proposing annual legislative sessions and mandatory spillovers in the election of a candidate for governor when one candidate did not receive a majority of votes. When Wilkinson rejected both proposals, the Senate leader refused to bring an amendment to the floor for voting. The reversal of Wilkinson on his campaign promise not to seek succession for the current march damaged his reputation.
Wilkinson's advocacy for further amendments undermined his relationship with Lieutenant Governor Jones because Jones had announced his intention to run for governor in 1991. After the session, Jones told the crowd at Owensboro that if Wilkinson called a special session to prosecute legislators to pass the education agenda , that the General Assembly might "throw it back into his face". In response, Wilkinson said that Jones should "be involved in improving the process, not too negative about everything" and "paying attention to his own business". The Lexington Herald-Leader story notes that the promised press conference to describe Jones's role in administration has not yet taken place and that "observers hope it will never happen". The relationship of two men continued to tense during their tenure; Jones later described it as "terrible".
Creating Kentucky Drawings
Southern Baptists and United Methodists led opposition to amendments during the Wilkinson administration, activating the Coalition against the State Lottery. Despite the opposition, Kentucky voters approved a lottery amendment of 694,577 to 446,937 in the November 1988 election. A few days after the election, Wilkinson signed a proclamation calling for a special legislative session to begin November 28 in order to pass legislation to hold the draw. The call asked the legislature to consider the bill on the recommendation of the Wilkinson lottery commission. The recommendations include the establishment of a lottery board which the president and its members will be appointed by the governor and can only be removed by the governor, and allocate first year proceeds equally divided between early childhood education programs, parent programs, and one-time bonuses for Vietnam War veterans. The legislators insisted on more legislative control of the lottery and did not support explicit earmarks for results, preferring to allocate it in the 1990 legislative session. They also objected to the lottery board's exclusion of open records and open meeting law.
Immediately after the hearing, Democrat leaders in both assemblies of the General Assembly announced that they would not support allocating lottery funds, but would let them accumulate in escrow until the 1990 legislative session. On December 14, legislators delayed the trial after issuing a bill that created the council the eight-member lottery, led by a president appointed by the governor and confirmed by seven other members. The other seven councilors will serve hasty terms, will be appointed by the governor, and confirmed by the Senate. The law also pocketed the proceeds of sale until the General Assembly of 1990 and mentioned that the first expenditure of the proceeds would fund a one-time bonus to Vietnam War veterans. The vote on the law is 32-5 in the Senate and 92-6 in the House. Some Republican amendments, including one by Senator David L. Williams to apply local options for districts to decide whether or not to sell lottery tickets, were defeated in party votes. Although the law does not implement all of Wilkinson's proposals for the lottery, he still praises it as a "very good" bill.
Educational reform
On May 31, 1988, a Franklin County district court judge, Ray Corns issued a decision in the case of Council for Better Education v. Collins et al. stating that the Kentucky school finance system is unconstitutional. The lawsuit was filed against Wilkinson's predecessor, Martha Layne Collins, and several members of the state government by a group of poor school districts as a means to equate funding for all the state school districts. As an educational advocate, Wilkinson canceled the governor's defense in the suit and joined the plaintiff when the Corn decision was filed with the Kentucky Supreme Court. On appeal, the Supreme Court declared the Kentucky public school system unconstitutional and mandated that the legislature reform it.
Although state legislators maintained that reforming the public school system was too much of a problem to be faced during the 60-day 1990 legislative session and requested that Wilkinson call a special legislative session in June 1990 to consider the issue, the governor insisted that the problem was resolved during the regular session and said that he would not allow consideration of tax increases to finance improvements in the system if he had to call a special session. Wilkinson presented a budget proposal to the General Assembly that included measures to increase taxes on cigarettes and companies and eliminated the exception of sales taxes on legal, technical, and advertising services. Legislators prefer to raise sales tax to six percent. For most of the legislative sessions, Wilkinson has remained adamant about increasing sales taxes, repeatedly calling it a "dead matter" and threatening to veto. Then on March 9, 1990, Wilkinson announced that he would drop his opposition to the tax in exchange for Board approval of a $ 600 million bond issue to finance the road improvements he promised during the campaign. The Lexington Herald-Leader calls this step an "amazing reversal" and notes that Wilkinson will not comment on why he changed his mind. With the deadlock between the legislature and Wilkinson settled, House Speaker Don Blandford announced that the rest of the session would focus solely on approving the state budget and bypassing the education reforms mandated by the courts; any bills still on the committee will not be brought to the ballot, he said. On 11 April 1990, the Assembly passed the Kentucky Educational Reform Act (KERA) to comply with the Supreme Court decision. In addition to increasing funding for schools, schools also mandate high-performance measures and ask schools to be responsible for meeting them. Educators praised the law as one of the nation's best educational reform plans.
Even after the KERA was passed, the dispute between Wilkinson and the legislature continued. The $ 600 million bond issue for road construction which is a price for Wilkinson's support for sales tax has been modified to include a language that allows legislatures to determine where roads are built. Wilkinson threatened to veto the action, claiming that he did not need the approval of the General Assembly to issue bonds, but ultimately, he chose to allow him to become law without his signature. Wilkinson vetoed 21 laws passed by the legislature, but the 13 vetoes were overwritten; it was the governor's veto overwhelmingly overwritten in one session in modern times. Most of the overturned vetoes are bills that strengthen the legislative branch relative to the executive branch. The General Assembly also elected to post two proposed constitutional amendments that strengthen the legislative branch relative to the executive for the electorate for ratification. One allows the legislature to call itself into the session - a force that is constitutionally reserved for the governor - if two-thirds of its members sign a petition to do so. Others allow the legislator committee to suspend the rules imposed by the executive branch between the legislative sessions until the full legislature is held. Through his political action committee, Wilkinson opposed both actions, and both were rejected by the country's voters in the November 1990 election.
The political debates and attitudes that led to the passage of KERA also permanently violated the relationship between Wilkinson and Lieutenant Governor Jones. During the teacher rally at Frankfort, Jones sympathized with their demands to earn more money for education than Wilkinson supported. Jones wanted to talk to the crowd gathered outside the Capitol. While at the governor's office, Wilkinson told Jones that if he spoke to the crowd, he should never "set foot [sic] in this office again." Jones challenged Wilkinson by speaking to teachers and, according to Penny Miller, editor of Jones's general paper, never again entered Wilkinson's office.
Other things from the term Wilkinson
Wilkinson also promotes economic development in the state. During his tenure, Delta Air Lines almost doubled the number of people he employed at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport; Wilkinson secured Delta's expansion by agreeing to limit its corporate sales tax liability on jet fuel to $ 4 million annually. In addition, Scott Paper Company opened a factory near Owensboro and North American Stainless, a Spanish-owned steel company, located near Carrollton. During his tenure, Wilkinson served in the State Education Commission, South Growing Policy Council, and the State and State Energy Council of the South. He was elected chair of the Southern Governors' Association in 1990 and served on the State Policy and Priorities Committee Education Committee.
The Wilkinson administration was plagued by ethical questions that eventually resulted in prosecution of some members. Before being elected governor, Wilkinson asked the Kentucky public prosecutor to decide his ownership at Holiday Inn Capital Plaza Hotel in Frankfort. The verdict stated that he had to sell the hotel, and in November 1987, Kentucky Central Life Insurance, a state-controlled company, bought the property for $ 12 million, including $ 8.2 million in debt. Kentucky Central went bankrupt in 1994 and was ordered to liquidate. The following year, Kentucky Insurance Commissioner George Nichols III assumed liquidation and brought a lawsuit against Wilkinson stating that the property was worth only $ 6 million. Franklin County Courts Judge Earl O'Bannon dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that Wilkinson did not consciously participate in the violation of Central Central's financial responsibility, though, in his words, "political odor".
Furthermore, the FBI (Operation Boptrot) investigation of the General Assembly of Kentucky led to Wilkinson's niece, Bruce N. Wilkinson, who served as secretary for his appointment. Bruce Wilkinson was convicted of extortion, a $ 20,000 fine, and sentenced to three years in prison. Wallace Wilkinson was investigated by the jury but was never charged. He firmly denies any wrongdoing.
In 1990, Wilkinson's wife, Martha, announced that she would seek a Democratic nomination for governor in 1991. The move was widely seen as a replacement candidate so that her husband could continue his reign for a second term in a row. His challengers included Lieutenant Governor Jones, Lexington mayor Scotty Baesler, and Dr. Floyd G. Poore, former director of Kentucky highway. With polls consistently showing little support for his candidacy, Ny. Wilkinson left the race in May 1991. Earlier this year, Wallace Wilkinson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's limited-stage lymphoma. This diagnosis is also a factor in Ms withdrawal. Wilkinson from the race. Wallace underwent surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, then received radiation therapy at the University of Kentucky. This treatment eliminated all signs of the disease in 1993, and doctors gave Wilkinson a good chance of recovery.
When Wilkinson's term ended, he pointed himself for a six-year term on the Kentucky University board. This move is unprecedented, and highly controversial because of Wilkinson's open hostility with Charles T. Wethington, Jr., president of the university. A passionate legislative body passed a law shortly thereafter that dissolved the existing supervisory councils in all of Kentucky's colleges and universities and mandated that they be re-established by allowing the governor to elect each member from a list of three candidates recommended by the independent review board. Jones, who replaced Wilkinson as governor, used the legal provisions to remove Wilkinson and some of his appointees from the university council.
Next life and death
After his services as governor, Wilkinson returned to his business. In the early 1990s, he began borrowing money to keep his book shop banned and to support his lavish lifestyle. His interest in running for the next term as governor seemed to be burdened by the public financing system that Kentucky made at that time for gubernatorial elections. In 1995, he published his memoir entitled You Can not Do That, The Governor! ; the main theme of this book is an insult to conventional policies and political norms. In 1999, he launched ECampus.com, an Internet book retailer. Among the investors in the company were founders Wendy, Dave Thomas, founder of Long John Silver, James Patterson, and president of Ohio State University, William English Kirwan.
On February 5, 2001, a group of Wilkinson creditors filed a lawsuit to have their company confiscated. During the subsequent bankruptcy process, Wilkinson admitted that his liabilities exceeded his assets of $ 300 million. During the trial, it was revealed that Wilkinson had been bankrupt financially since 1992 and had run the Ponzi scheme, paying his creditors with money borrowed from others rather than his own. He has not paid federal income tax since 1991. At the deposition in June 2001, Wilkinson used the Fifth Amendment privilege against 140 self-torture. Wallace's Bookstore was liquidated for just $ 31 million, and ecampus.com sold for $ 2.5 million. Wilkinson's wife, Martha, also filed for bankruptcy; her children were forced to sell their homes to pay the loans given to them by their father. During the bankruptcy process, the Wilkinson family moved from Lexington to Naples, Florida.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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