In what should be considered a surprise move, the KRS board unanimously selected Mike Burnside to be the agency's new Executive Director. Burnside is a retired Air Force pilot who has worked in the state Finance Cabinet since 1996, most recently as Secretary. He'll now head an agency with a $17 billion fund and 300,000 current and retired government workers as members.

Burnside is respected by those who worked with him in the Finance Cabinet. But his resume doesn't appear to show any experience with pensions or investments. Outgoing KRS Director Bill Hanes had told the board that anyone they bring in should have experience managing a large defined-benefit plan. Walter Pagan, who chaired the KRS search committee, said the board received 70 applications and was pleased with the work of the search firm Hudepohl and Associates, which still brews beer in Cincinnati (that's a joke folks!!!) Hude is being paid $60,000 plus expenses.

Burnside was vice chairman of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on retirement. He voted against chairman Brian Crall, and with state employee groups on some of the more controversial proposals to rein in Kentucky's bulging state pension costs. And sources tell me Burnside was not present when one of the Commission's subcommittees was considering a controversial proposal to increase the number of years to obtain full retirement and another to cut benefits for future government employees. Both of those measures failed because they were opposed by government employee and teacher groups. It's probably a fair question to ask Burnside if his votes, or lack of votes, had anything to do with his pursuit of the Kentucky Retirement System's top job, which is expected to pay more than $200,000.