Effective use of the open records law by State Journal reporter, editor,and Kentucky Open Government Coalition director, Austin Horn, to examine a university official's stewardship of public funds.
Past attorneys general have often recognized that "[a]mounts paid from public coffers are perhaps uniquely of public concern. The public is entitled to inspect records documenting exact amounts paid from public monies." And, in the same vein, "where public funds go, the public's interest follows."
The State Journal reports that credit card statements obtained via an open records request show that in the last two years, "as the school's finances were hurtling toward" the current fiscal crisis, Kentucky State University's former president, Christopher Brown ll, incurred university-funded credit card charges totaling $73,000.
A majority of the charges went toward flights and hotels to destinations that included the Bahamas, Las Vegas, California and Cancun, and covered 67 flights, 72 hotel stays, 22 rental cars/taxi rides/Uber rides, meals & eBay charges.
Brown says 100% of the charges were for KSU purposes.
Though not included in Brown's credit card statements, both KSU and KSU Foundation have denied State Journal open records requests for payments made for the purpose of funding Brown's birthday parties, including a 2018 birthday party featuring rapper Rich Homie Quan.
"James Finkelstein, a professor emeritus at George Mason University who studies university president contracts, said Brown's credit card expenses don't place him in the 'expense account scandal hall of fame,' but they are quite high for a president of a school the size of KSU."
