Request By:
Mr. Estill Deaton
Route 1, Box 2
Hyden, Kentucky 41749
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of August 6 in which you raise the following question:
"I would like to know if a state employee, such as an employee of the State Department of Transportation or Department of Highways can legally serve as a District Commissioner for the State Department of Fish and Wildlife."
Our response to the above question would be in the affirmative in so far as any question concerning incompatibility under § 165 of the Constitution and KRS 61.080. Neither of these provisions prohibit a person from holding state employment in multiple positions. In other words, a person may be a state employee and at the same time hold a state office. See Polley v. Fortenberry, 268 Ky. 369, 105 S.W.2d 143 (1937).
However, there is always a possibility of a common law conflict where the individual cannot perform the duties of both positions at the same time with care and ability or where one position controls the other. See not only Polley v. Fortenberry, supra, but Hermann v. Lampe, 175 Ky. 109, 194 S.W. 122 (1917). This latter question concerning a common law conflict can only be answered by the court depending on the factual situation.