[VAcourier] Lincoln Vanity License plate scandal

[Virginia Division SCV Communication List]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NON-PROFIT GROUP DISCOVERS KENTUCKY COMMISSION, HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

TRANSPORTATION CABINET WERENT LEGAL IN ISSUING LINCOLN SPECIALTY PLATE

$22,500 OF TAXPAYER MONEY SPENT ON VANITY PLATES 

 

   FRANKFORT, KY, November 3rd, 2007  Its not legal, not appropriate use
of public funds, and a deep insult to non-profit organizations across the
Commonwealth who have worked to legally get, or even have just thought about
getting, specialty plates, said Don Shelton, spokesman for the Kentucky
Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans. In the process of studying the
procedures necessary to get a specialty plate for our non-profit, we
stumbled across a plate sponsored by the Kentucky Historical Society that
didnt go through the proper processes, Shelton continued.

   Records show that the Kentucky Lincoln Bicentennial Commission voted
$22,500 of money the legislature budgeted to it, for use by the Kentucky
Historical Society to apply for a Lincoln Bicentennial specialty license
plate. The law, however, requires a minimum of 900 individual applications
to accompany the overall plate application, from citizens actually planning
to purchase the plates for their vehicles, along with a $25 fee from each
applicant. The Transportation Cabinet confirmed in the SCVs investigation
that instead of 900 or more individual applications, there were none, and
that taxpayer money was being used to cover the $22,500 that should come
from individual plate applicants. The plate is scheduled to be available in
December.

   Basically, it appears that the taxpayers have shelled out $22,500 so a
few people could have, in essence, vanity plates, said Shelton. The
subject of the plate isnt important, he continued, It might even be a
nice plate. What is important is that the law was circumvented, and taxpayer
money was wasted to do it.

   In the wake of this scandal, the Kentucky Division, Sons of Confederate
Veterans calls for the co-chairs of the Kentucky Lincoln Bicentennial
Commission, Tommy Turner and State Senator Dan Kelly, and Executive Director
of the Kentucky Historical Society, Kent Whitworth, to resign or be
replaced. We believe these men knew the law, yet circumvented it, said
Shelton. The Kentucky SCV also calls for the funding and expenditures of the
Lincoln Bicentennial Commission to be reviewed, in light of this
irregularity, and for an investigation to see how this slipped through the
Transportation Cabinet. We expect other non-profits to make the same
demands as they learn about this; it affects us all, Shelton concluded.

 

For more information contact:

Dr. Thomas Y. Hiter, Commander, KY Div. SCV

(270) 354-8819

tyhiter at wk.net

 

Don Shelton, Past Commander, KY Div. SCV

(859) 553-1892

sheltonreb at qx.net

 

The Sons of Confederate Veterans was founded in 1896 to honor the memory and
heritage of Confederate soldiers, sailors and marines.

KRS 186.164 (11) - If the cabinet approves a request for a special license
plate, the cabinet shall begin designing and printing the plate after the
group collects a minimum of nine hundred (900) applications with each
application being accompanied by a twenty-five dollar ($25) state fee. The
applications and accompanying fee shall be submitted to the cabinet at one
(1) time as a whole and shall not be submitted individually or
intermittently.

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