Dispute over access to database pits GOP auditor and Democratic administration in Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s Republican auditor is embroiled in a dispute with Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration over access to a database that tracks the state’s efforts to assist its most vulnerable citizens.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Auditor Allison Ball demanded that full access to the database be provided to the Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman, a government watchdog tasked with monitoring the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The conflict surfaced just days after the ombudsman’s office was shifted to the auditor’s office as a result of legislation passed by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature. The letter was sent to the governor and Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander.

The dispute appears to boil down to conflicting interpretations of applicable law.

Ball wrote that state and federal law require the cabinet to give the ombudsman “full, direct and real-time access” to the database, adding such access is essential for the ombudsman’s office to “fully do its job.”

Pushing back, Beshear’s administration said Tuesday that current state law prohibits full access to the system by the auditor’s office.

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