Our disagreement has to do with Gov. Fletcher's response to a subpoena to testify at a Personnel Board hearing on Wednesday. The subpoena wasn't served until Friday, Dec. 8th by the attornies for Mike Duncan, a fired Transportation Cabinet employee.
In a letter to one of Duncan's attornies, Paul Fauri, Deckard wrote that the governor would be unable to testify at the 9:30 a.m. hearing because he would be out of town "through" Wednesday. Turns out, Fletcher was actually in town (Frankfort) by late Wednesday morning, in time to attend an 11 a.m. Council on Postsecondary Education SCOPE meeting. When I asked Deckard about his letter claiming Fletcher would be out of town "through" Wednesday, and therefore unable to testify, he defended his words. Deckard said that was exactly what he meant to write, that "through" Wednesday meant that he could be back for part of the day. I initially thought he was joking. I explained to Deckard that my definition of "through" Wednesday would be that the governor would be gone the entire day and wouldn't be available until the next day. Who's right? I already know the answer and so does Deckard. But give us your two cents. It really shouldn't be a big deal because Fletcher had at least two other ways to get out of appearing at the Personnel Board hearing.....the date on the subpoena was wrong and there are statutory provisions allowing governors to avoid personal appearances at hearings and court cases.