The state agency responsible for Kentucky's response to weather disasters and other emergencies has been slammed by auditors who are reporting misuse of taxpayer money, intimidation of employees and an overtly hostile workplace.
Auditor Adam Edelen said Tuesday (August 6) that Kentucky Emergency Management may have misspent millions in recent years, some of it on alcohol, entertainment and door prizes at conferences. Edelen also said the team that conducted the review found documents had been altered to hide inappropriate expenditures. He said his team identified much as $5.6 million in questionable spending.
"There is no such thing as accidentally altering documents. There is no such thing as taking the headline of a business and then creating your own accountability system and plugging it in there and representing it as if it was an official document. It was not. They were literally caught red-handed here.” --Adam Edelen
Managers of the agency dispute the findings, saying there was no misuse of taxpayer funds or intimidation of workers. The auditor’s report is being turned over to the U.S. Office of Homeland Security, the Kentucky attorney general's office and the Kentucky Executive Branch Ethics Commission.