Request By:
Mr. Bruce R. Hamilton
Commonwealth Attorney
12th Judicial District of Ky.
114 E. Main Street
LaGrange, Kentucky 40031
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of April 27 in which you raise the question as to whether or not the fact that a person is employed as commonwealth detective for the 12th Judicial District would affect his right to become a candidate for the office of sheriff. In other words, would the individual in question be required to resign from his position as commonwealth detective in order to run for the office in question.
Our response to your question would be in the negative. There is nothing under § 165 of the Constitution or KRS 61.080 dealing with incompatible offices that would require the individual in question to resign from his position in order to become a candidate for any public office, including of course the office of sheriff. Incompatibility under the referred to sections of the Constitution and statute does not occur until the person assumes the second office that is incompatible with the first, in which case the initial office he holds becomes vacant pursuant to KRS 61.090.
Thus, until the individual in question is elected to the office of sheriff and assumes said office on the first Monday in January, 1978, he is entitled to retain his position as commonwealth detective in so far as the Constitution and statutes are concerned while campaigning for sheriff.