Request By:
Mr. Richard I. Lewis
603 Suffolk Drive
Owensboro, Kentucky 42301
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Greg Holmes, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your letter to the Attorney General in which you raised the following two questions:
(1) Can a full time county employee seek election to the office of Railroad Commissioner and
(2) Can the salary of a Railroad Commissioner be increased under the "rubber-dollar" theory which has permitted the increase in salary of other state officials.
In response to your first question any employee of a governmental entity may seek any elective office unless he is prohibited from doing so by an express provision of law. Kentucky State employees who are under the merit system, for example, are specifically prohibited by provisions of KRS Chapter 18 from engaging in political activity, including seeking election to public office. Since there is no such state-imposed prohibition on county employees, there is nothing in Kentucky law which would prevent a full time county employee from seeking the office of Railroad Commissioner. You should be aware, however, that Section 165 of the Kentucky Constitution and KRS 61.080 and 61.090 would clearly prohibit a county employee from holding both his county position and the office of railroad commissioner simultaneously. It would, therefore, be necessary for him to resign the county position in order to assume the office of railroad commissioner if he is elected.
Your second question regarding the possibility of increasing the salary of Railroad Commissioners is answered by reference to the controlling statutory provisions. KRS 276.060(3) provides "the Chairman of the Commission shall receive a salary of thirty-six hundred dollars ($3,600) per annum, and each of the other Commissioners shall receive a salary of three thousand dollars ($3,000) per annum. Each Commissioner shall receive his actual and necessary traveling expenses while engaged in the discharge of his duties." The General Assembly, via KRS 276.030(3) enacted pursuant to the authority granted by Section 209 of the Kentucky Constitution, has established a specified salary for the members of the Railroad Commission. In the absence of an amendment to this provision of KRS Chapter 276, no increase in the salaries of the members of the Railroad Commission is possible. The salaries of other state officials have been increased but only by means of specifically enacted legislative authority.