Kentucky

What is there about the word "confidential" that I don't get when I read the following story about an ethics inquiry involving current KBA President Barbara Bonar?

Confidential (from dictionary.com): " spoken, written, acted on, etc., in strict privacy or secrecy; secret: a confidential remark".

Here's the intro to the story by Andrew Wolfson, Courier Journal, that came out this week.  Yes, this story has hit the news before her assumption of duties and President, and now it hits the news again.  And yes, I posted remarks about it then, and again now.  Any "emphasis" of words is mine and no the CJ's.  In addition, the entire story can be found on-line, and do you think there will be a CJ op-ed piece 'extending' this news cycle story?

This comment on "confidentiality" is not one regarding the substance of the story, but rather addresses the concerns over disclosure of bar association business into a matter of serious repercussions to the public's perception on the bar, its president, and now the bar association governing committee.

KBA's president is target of inquiry
Ouster of four from panel is questioned

By Andrew Wolfson ? awolfson@courier-journal.com ? November 20, 2008

The Kentucky Bar Association hired an outside lawyer to conduct an investigation that could determine the fate of its president, Barbara Bonar, according to members of its board of governors and other lawyers.
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Lexington attorney Robert Houlihan's report was sent to board members on Monday and may be considered by the board at a meeting tomorrow, said the bar association's immediate past president, Jane Winkler Dyche.

Houlihan was asked to investigate whether Bonar abused her power in removing four members from the bar association's ethics committee before their terms expired and whether she was candid with the board about the reasons for the removals, according to board members and other attorneys.

The Courier-Journal reported Oct. 12 that all four ethics committee members had some connection with Cincinnati lawyer Stan Chesley, with whom Bonar has had a much publicized dispute over $18.5 million in legal fees from the Diocese of Covington priest-abuse case.

Dyche declined to release a copy of the report, saying the full board would decide if and how it would be disseminated. The bar's executive director, Jim Deckard, didn't respond to a request for the report.

Thomas Clay, a lawyer for Bonar, who practices in Covington, declined to comment, saying the board had said the matter would be kept confidential.

The bar association's bylaws don't allow the board to remove its president, who is elected by the state's 15,000 lawyers. The most the board could do is ask its president to step down.