tool name

Friday, Jul. 04, 2008

Beshear appoints 11 to university boards

Gov. Steve Beshear appointed 10 Democrats and a Republican on Thursday to seats on the governing boards of Kentucky's public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

All of the appointments are for six-year terms.

Beshear's lone Republican appointee was Cheryl U. Lewis, a Hyden lawyer, who was named to the Morehead State University Board of Regents.

At the University of Kentucky, C. Frank Shoop, a Lexington auto dealer, was reappointed; and Edward Britt Brockman, a Louisville doctor, was named to a new term. He replaces Billy Wilcoxson, a Lexington businessman and a Democrat, who was a trustee since 1987.

The other appointments were:

■ University of Louisville: Jonathan S. Blue, a Louisville business executive, reappointed; and new appointees Debbie Scoppechio, a Louisville advertising executive; and Brucie W. Moore, a lawyer from Waverly, in Union County.

■ Eastern Kentucky University: Anita Johnson, a Pikeville lawyer, new appointee.

■ Kentucky State University: Phyllis M. Williams, a Louisville commercial accounts coordinator, new appointee.

■ Murray State University: Marilyn Reed Buchanon, a private investor from Grand Rivers, in Livingston County, reappointed.

■ Northern Kentucky University: Terry L. Mann, a chief executive officer from Fort Thomas, new appointee.

■ KCTCS: Marcia L. Roth, executive director of the Mary Byron Foundation in Louisville, new appointee.

The governor chose from a list of nominees presented by the bipartisan Postsecondary Education Nominating Committee.

Beshear is changing the balance of Democrats and Republicans on the boards.

Earlier this year, Beshear's lawyers settled a lawsuit that former Attorney General Greg Stumbo brought against then-Gov. Ernie Fletcher for naming too many Republicans to the university governing boards.

Stumbo said Fletcher violated a state law that requires the university board appointments to reflect the number of Kentucky's registered voters in the two major parties — about 59 percent Democrats, about 36 percent Republicans and 5 percent other.

Ellen Hesen, Beshear's general counsel, said the governor would correct the imbalance as new appointments were made.