Paul E. Patton

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Paul Edward Patton (born May 26, 1937) is an American politician who served as Kentucky's 59th governor from 1995 to 2003.

He was the first governor to run for office after James Garrard in 1800, thanks to a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution.

Since being president from 2010 to 2013, he has been the chancellor of the University of Pikeville, Kentucky.

From 2009 to 2011, he served as chairman of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. Patton retired from the University of Kentucky in 1959, and he spent 20 years in coal mines.

He resigned most of his coal interests in the late 1970s and entered politics, serving briefly in Governor John Y's cabinet. Brown Jr. is the state Democratic Party's chairman.

He was elected judge/executive of Pike County in 1981.

In 1987, he failed in his bid for lieutenant governor, but under Governor Breton Jones, he served concurrently as lieutenant governor and secretary of economic growth. Patton was elected governor over Republican Larry Forgy in four years.

His first term was about reforming higher education, including making the state's community colleges and technical schools independent of the University of Kentucky and integrating them into the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

Two Democratic state senators defected to the Republican Party shortly after Patton's re-election in 1999, giving Republicans a majority in the legislative house for the first time ever.

In the early 2000s, the economic growth that fueled Patton's first term triumph slowed to a recession.

Faced with a tumultuous legislature and a dire economic outlook, Patton was unable to introduce much new legislation in his second term, and his situation was made worse in 2002 when news of an extramarital affair and charges of a sex-for-favors scandal emerged.

Patton denied the investigation initially but later admitted to it but denied using his office to benefit his mistress.

Patton was chastised for pardoning four of his political consultants who had been charged with breaching Kentucky's campaign finance laws and allegedly misusing his patronage powers later in his term.

Any further political ambitions were stymied by these successive scandals.

Early life and education

Patton was born in Fallsburg, Kentucky, on May 26, 1937, in a retrofitted silo with no indoor plumbing, electricity, or telephone. He was Ward and Irene Patton's only son. Because Ward Patton, a teacher, was referred to a new school each year, the family moved often. When he was hired by a railroad in Pike County, he and his wife decided that the children would remain in Fallsburg until they finished school. Patton attended Fallsburg Elementary School, a four-room schoolhouse in his hometown. He was very active in the 4-H club, where he began to develop his public speaking skills. In 1951, he was admitted to Louisa High School in Louisa, Kentucky. During his senior year, he was an honor student, a member of the drama club, a football and baseball player, and class president. He graduated with the third-highest grade point average in his class, 73, in 1955.

Patton went to the University of Kentucky after high school. He was initiated into Kappa Sigma fraternity in the spring of 1956. He unsuccessfully applied for a seat in the Student Government Association later this year. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1959. From the University of Louisville, he received an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree.

Personal life

He married Carol Cooley, daughter of a Floyd County, Kentucky, coal mine operator, after his sophomore year of college. Nikki and Christopher were the two children together. Patton finished his education by borrowing money from his father-in-law.

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Career

Patton began working as a day laborer on the Sizemore Mining Corporation, which had been owned by his father-in-law, in 1959. He and his brother-in-law founded the Elkhorn Coal Company in 1961, moving to Virgie in 1961. During the 1973 oil crisis, he purchased Chapperal Coal Company and became extremely wealthy. He sold Chapperal in 1978 and then helped develop Campbell Coal and Oil Supply into a major supply outlet in the state's eastern region. He was a leader in the coal industry, serving on the board of directors of the Kentucky Coal Association, chairing the National Independent Coal Operators Association's Board, and becoming a member of the Kentucky Deep Mine Safety Commission. "Wright in its diagnosis of the condition, but not in prescription for the cure," he said. He was president of the National Independent Coal Operators Association by 1976. He blasted a federal law that would prohibit strip mining on slopes of more than 20 degrees, which would have effectively ended the mining process in the Eastern Mountain Coal Fields, as well as the state's coal severance tax, which put the labor miners in jeopardy.

Patton was regarded as more moderate than many coal operators in his ties with labor unions. The majority of his mine workers were not unionized, and those who were predominantly belong to the Southern Labor Union rather than the more confrontational United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). Patton was jailed for clipping a striking miner on a picket line with his pickup truck in the late 1970s, according to members of the UMWA local in Shelby Gap. Local law enforcement officials maintain there is no record of an arrest warrant or an actual arrest against Patton, and there is no evidence of an arrest warrant or an unlawful arrest.

Patton applied for divorce from Carol Cooley on October 18, 1976, saying that their marriage was irretrievably broken. On February 25, 1977, the divorce was declared final. Later that year, Patton married Judi Jane Conway of Pikeville, a secretary at his Kentucky Elkhorn mine. Conway had divorced Bill Harvey Johnson, with whom she had two children in 1973.

Patton was first introduced to politics by state Senator Kelsey Friend, who arranged for Patton to be a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention. A Friend also convinced Patton to help raise money for Walter "Dee" Huddleston's congressional bid.

Patton sold the majority of his coal interests in 1978 as the coal boom began to fade. Patton considered a bid for governor in 1979 after a meeting with First District Congressman Carroll Hubbard in Madisonville. However, he later found that he didn't have the time to plan a campaign before the May primary election; a letter leaked to The Paducah Sun revealed that he thought he was losing Hubbard's support. He was in Terry McBrayer's campaign during the primary, and after McBrayer lost, he campaigned to elect John Y. Brown Jr., the Democratic nominee, is the Democrat nominee. Brown gained the race, and Patton was named deputy secretary of transportation. He was only three months before resigning to protest Brown's call for a coal severance tax.

Brown asked Patton to serve as vice chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party in late 1981. He would work under the leadership of Dale Sights of Henderson. Brown told Patton that there had been a change in tactics: he had opted to appoint his father, former US Representative John Y. Sights replaced Brown Sr. in the chair. Brown's advisors convinced him that this would be politically damaging; eventually, Brown named Patton chair with June Taylor, the daughter of former governor Ruby Laffoon, as vice chair. The announcement was surprising to most political analysts, as Sights had been the odds-on favorite for the chairmanship. Patton served as chairman from 1983 to 1983. He learned a great deal about politics from Taylor and was introduced to Andrew "Skipper" Martin of Louisville, who would later become a key strategist and ally.

Patton ran for county judge/executive of Pike County in 1981. He defeated incumbent Wayne Rutherford $191,252 to $49,000 on his way to a victory in the Democratic primary. He received more than 75% of the vote against Republican challenger Jim Polley in the general election.

Patton introduced the county's first mandatory, county-wide garbage collection service to combat illegal garbage dumping, which was rampant in the county six months after his election. Patton will be voted statewide acclaim for the program. In 1985, Patton ran for re-election against Rutherford in the Democratic primary. Rutherford voted against the garbage-collection policy, pledging to scrap it if elected. Although some county residents responsibly paid the requisite fee for garbage collection, many more recognized the benefits as illicit dump sites became less common. Patton took the primary again and went on to re-election. However, he gained both races by a much smaller margin than in 1981 (2,524 votes in the primary and 3,916 in the general election).

Patton introduced an oil recycling scheme and developed a job program for welfare mothers in day care centers during his second term. He oversaw the construction of a new jail and a $5 million renovation of the county courthouse. He established the county's first manufacturing company and ended the practice of selling gravel, drains, and bridge lumber from district warehouses to private citizens. The construction of rural roads and recreation centers was one of his other priorities as judge/executive.

Patton ran for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky in 1987. His 130,713 votes placed him third behind Breton Jones (189,058 votes) and Attorney General David L. Armstrong (147,718 votes), but ahead of state senator David Boswell and Superintendent of Public Instruction Alice McDonald. Patton spent more than $2 million of his personal fortune in the most expensive primary in Kentucky history, but Jones defeated him by more than $3 million. Martha Layne Collins won the office in 1979 for $140,000, while Steve Beshear $250,000 to win it in 1983.

Patton returned to Pike County after he was dissatisfied with his defeat. He was re-elected for a third term as judge and executive in 1989, winning the general election by almost three-to-one margin. He started training for his second attempt for lieutenant governor in 1991. The UMWA had been vociferously opposed to Patton in the earlier campaign because workers in his coal mines had been working with the Southern Labour Union. Skipper Martin introduced him to Teamsters leaders, and Patton worked with them to unionize Pike County employees. He collaborated with Kelsey Friend to pass the Kentucky Rural Economic Development Act, which gives employers financial assistance to businesses located in economically disadvantaged rural counties.

In 1991, Patton applied for the position of lieutenant governor. Attorney General Fred Cowan of Louisville, a front runner in a packed seven-candidate field in the Democratic primary, was the front runner. Steve Collins, the son of former Governor Martha Layne Collins, and former Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives Bobby H. Richardson were among the candidates. Cowan's campaign had requested funds from a charity that his office was investigating for criminal misconduct just days before the primary, according to a source. Patton defeated Cowan by a margin of 146,102 votes to 104,337.

Patton defeated Republican Eugene Goss in the general election. Goss chastised Patton for announcing that if elected, he will seek the governor's office at the end of his term. Goss denied that if elected, he would not seek governorship and maintained that using the lieutenant governor's name as a stepping stone to the governor's office was a breach of the office and its power. Goss ran an unconventional campaign, limiting individual contributions to his cause to $300 and refusing to air television commercials. Patton gained 514,023 votes to Goss' 250,857 in a close general election.

Patton resigned as governor of Pike County after being elected lieutenant governor. Patton voted against a mandatory seat belt measure in 1991's legislative session, ending a 19–19 tie. He was the last Kentucky lieutenant governor to preside over the Kentucky Senate after a 1992 amendment to the state constitution created a new position, President of the Kentucky Senate, and relieved the lieutenant governor of his duties.

Governor Breton Jones named Patton as the first lieutenant governor to serve as an appointed cabinet secretary in November 1991. He advocated for the use of tax incentives to attract new industry to the state. Bill Bishop, a Lexington Herald-Leader reporter, slammed these awards, saying that Patton used them to recruit low-wage employees. Patton wrote a series of essays in response; although he never published them in the newspaper, he later assembled them into a book entitled Kentucky's Contribution to Economic Development. He also reorganized Kentucky's economic growth efforts, ensuring the adoption of four new growth incentive programs and the establishment of the Kentucky Economic Development Partnership.

Patton declared his candidacy for governor at the end of his term as lieutenant governor in 1995. Following a 1992 constitutional amendment, the 1995 gubernatorial election was a departure in several respects. It was the first election in Kentucky in which the governor and lieutenant governor were elected on a ticket. According to another recent law, if no candidate obtained at least 40% of the vote in his or her party's primary, a runoff election will take place between the top two candidates. Most significantly, for the first time in Kentucky history, the winners of each race will be allowed to run for office and serve another term. In addition, candidates will receive public campaign funding and will have their campaign spending capted as a result of Governor Jones' campaign finance reform, reducing the advantage of wealthy candidates.

Steve Henry, a Louisville surgeon and county commissioner, was chosen as his running mate by Patton. Senator Bob Babbage and Kentucky Senate President Pro Tempore John "Eck" Rose were the main opposition in the Democratic primary. Although sitting governor Breton Jones did not officially endorse Patton, Rose referred to Jones as Patton's "mentor." Rose argued that, like Jones, Patton, would not take a tough stand on the subject; referring to a nickname given to Jones in the 1991 campaign, Rose said, "If you liked Jell-O Jones, you'll be in a position to adore Puddin' Paul Patton." Patton had officially endorsed collective wage bargaining for public employees but had not pledged to fight for it in the forthcoming 1996 legislative session, making it particularly offensive to Rose. Patton gained 152,203 votes in the primary, much over the 40% needed to prevent a runoff, despite the fact that Babbage and Rose were political veterans and strong campaigners. Babbage came in second with 81,352 votes, and Rose came third with 71,740 votes. The remaining 33,344 votes were split between two other candidates.

Patton was portrayed as a virtual underdog in the general election. Republicans had taken over both the House and House of Representatives for the first time in decades, and a majority of Kentucky's congressional delegation was Republican. The Operation Boptrot probe, which sent several of their representatives, including House Speaker Don Blandford, to jail for political graft, also tainted state Democrats. Patton, a Democrat who has been in charge of state government for the past 24 years, was concerned that the "time for a change" argument would resonate with voters.

Republican Larry Forgy, Patton's rival, damaged his campaign by aligning himself with the Christian right, alienating moderates from both groups, particularly in Louisville. During Wallace G. Wilkinson's administration in 1990, he openly opposed the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Republican education reformers resigned after his campaign and helped form a bipartisan coalition in favor of KERA. For Patton, traditional Democratic voting blocs such as organized labor and African-Americans were out in force. Patton reminded voters of the Congressional Republicans' budget cuts to services that affect elderly citizens. The Patton was a triumph of 500,787 votes to 479,227. It was the first time an eastern Kentuckian had voted in a 32-year referendum in Kentucky, and it was the first time an eastern Kentuckian had won the governorship since Bert T. Combs in 1959.

Despite Patton's desire to introduce education reform early in his administration, his education advisor, James R. Ramsey, persuaded him to select a conservative budget in the first legislative session. The two designed a scheme to modernize the state government, making it more effective. State employees were skeptical of increased productivity, fearing that it was a code word for laying off state employees. Patton dispelled this belief by promising that there will be no compulsory layoffs. Patton also anticipated the challenges of persuading legislators to invest an estimated $100 million in equipment and processes to ensure increased effectiveness. However, when economists predicted a budget deficit for 1996, Patton decided to invest half of it in capital projects in exchange for using the other half for measures to improve government efficiency. Patton established a Technology Company and made advancements in the compatibility and interoperability of the state's computer systems that were advised by his uncle, Chris, in terms of compatibility and interoperability. A return of $300 million in state funds was achieved by investments of $23.3 million. The state was reaping 75% for every dollar invested by the time Patton's cost-effectiveness initiative was fully implemented, with a 75 percent annual return on every dollar invested.

Patton called a special legislative session in December 1996 to address worker's compensation reform. Both Patton and the state legislatures felt that the generous provisions under Kentucky state law created an unfavorable business climate in the state. The reforms adopted in the special session resulted in a substantial reduction in benefits, including those to coal miners who developed black lung disease. Patton's endorsement of this bill alienated labor leaders, especially in eastern Kentucky's coal mining communities, who had been among his most ardent supporters. Patton himself regretted that it had gone too far, and his Secretary of Labor worked with representatives from organized labour to draft amendments in the statute as it went into operation. In the 2002 legislative session, those reforms were eventually adopted.

Patton began his legislative work in 1997, with the aim of reforming the state's higher education system. He suggested excluding the community colleges from the university's operation, citing that the state's community colleges, under the direction of the University of Kentucky, and technical schools, under the jurisdiction of the state government, were too often competing with each other in the same neighborhood. Parts of the initiative included upgrading the technical schools to colleges, allowing them to award associate's degrees rather than simply diplomas and certificates. The Kentucky Community and Technical College System, which will take over the community and technical colleges, will be managed by a new entity. Patton said separating the community colleges from the University of Kentucky would help the university reallocate funds toward becoming a "Top 20" research university in the country. The University of Louisville has also been charged with the development of a nationally recognized urban university under the program. The state's Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) will help reduce duplication of services within the colleges and monitor the school's continual reforms. In addition, the CPE was to oversee the establishment of a "Commonwealth Virtual University" that would act as a clearinghouse for all the distance learning programs offered by Kentucky's colleges and universities. Gordon K. Davies, the current CPE president, appointed former University of Kentucky engineering faculty and then Databeam Corp. co-founder Lee T. Todd to chair the new Distance Learning Task Force, which later became the Kentucky Virtual University (now the Kentucky Virtual University) and the Kentucky Virtual Library, and later collaborated with the Kentucky Department of Education to develop the Kentucky Virtual High School (now the Kentucky Virtual Schools). In the Kentucky Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997, Patton's proposal was laid out. House Bill 1, which was dubbed House Bill 1.

Although being aided by the state's smaller, regional universities, House Bill 1 drew the ire of University of Kentucky president Charles T. Wethington Jr. shortly after he assumed office as president of the University of Kentucky. The majority of community colleges and constituencies in their countries had opposed the initiative. Advertisements in the university and community colleges promoting the change were highly public; Patton characterized these ads as "mean." When Greg Stumbo, a Kentucky House of Representatives and former promoter of a political community-college system, announced his opposition to the proposal, Patton was shocked. Stumbo spoke for the people of Prestonsburg, an eastern Kentucky coal mining town, and Patton was surprised that the employee's pay bill was still unpaid. Prestonsburg is also the home of Prestonsburg Community College (now Big Sandy Community and Technical College). Patton negotiated with individual legislators until he was confident that he had a majority in both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly. He then pushed forward and was able to get the legislation approved.

In addition to this triumph, Patton also secured passage of other higher education programs. He suggested a $100 million bond issue to fund the Research Challenge Trust Fund, a fund that the state's universities can use to recruit researchers for special projects in 1998. The university were expected to match any funds borrowed from the fund dollar for dollar under the program, which later became known as "Bucks for Brains." The 1998 legislature also approved funding for the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) program, which turned money from the Kentucky Lottery into a special fund for scholarships. Students must have a minimum grade point average in high school in order to qualify for a KEES scholarship, and must attend a Kentucky college or university. The award, which is renewable for up to eight college terms, is based on a sliding scale, with factors such as high school grades, college entrance exam results, and continued academic success in college influencing the amount of the award.

Patton's education reforms were not limited to higher education. He also attempted to make revisions to the Kentucky Education Reform Act, which would enrage its opponents without destroying the law as it was written. One of the most prominent complaints regarding KERA was the inability to compare the scores from other states to see progress relative to the rest of the world. In the Senate, KERA's opponents passed a bill to discontinue testing until something better could be introduced. In the House, a more moderate approach was introduced, but it included a component to the assessment procedure that would require students to be assessed to national standards. Patton endorsed the House version of the bill, which eventually emerged from the conference committee and was enacted into law. During Patton's term, the administration's strong support for KERA prevented the law from being questioned again. In 2000, one notable exception occurred when legislators attempted to repeal the anti-nepotism rule regarding school recruitment. The bill passed both houses of the legislature, but Patton vetoed it.

Patton served as the chairman of the Southern Regional Education Board from 1997 to 1998 following the passage of his higher education reforms. In 1999, he was elected chairman of the Education Commission of the United States. Patton's leadership was subsequently sought by other educational groups; he chaired the National Education Goals Panel and was selected by the US Secretary of Education to lead a commission on the high-school senior year.

The state had a $200 million budget surplus in 1998 during the 1998 legislative session. Patton was able to pass this surplus to legislative allies, giving him a lot of leverage for his reforms. "Money buys a lot of silence," one legislative representative noted. Legislators were also reluctant to condemn the cabinet for fear that Patton will be re-elected in 1999. In 1998, Patton was able to get approval of a very progressive legislative program, which included tougher criminal reform, increased economic growth, Medicaid reform, and further improvement of the higher education system. Because of Patton's dedication to education, Kentucky became the first state to have every public school classroom connected to the Internet, according to Patton. After all was accomplished, Patton charged Ed Ford, his education secretary, with the creation of the Kentucky Virtual High School, a distance learning scheme that will allow students in smaller high schools in Kentucky to enroll in courses in foreign languages and other subjects that were usually only available at larger high schools. In January 2000, the virtual high school was introduced online.

The change of adult education was the last item on Patton's education platform. This allowed him to work with Republican senator David L. Williams, who had been calling for increased funding for adult education since 1997. Patton personally chaired a task force on adult education in 1998, and the task force's recommendations were incorporated into a bill sponsored by Williams 18 months later. The bill, which increased and equalized funding and tied continuing efforts to the success of individual adult education programs, passed unanimously by both houses of the General Assembly. The number of adults completing their GED increased by 17 percent by 17 percent, and the number of GED recipients who matriculated to college increased from 13.9% to 18.

A reform of Kentucky's juvenile justice system was also on Patton's agenda. Kentucky had been one of the few states unable to qualify for federal grants under Breton Jones' scheme of housing and treating juvenile offenders. Abuse of juveniles by state employees was one of the Department's Justice's top problems, as well as the refusal to detach juvenile and adult prisoners separately from each other. Governor Jones signed a deal that would help fix the situation, but his term came to an end before he could properly explain the terms of the decree. Patton went beyond the scope of the law by enforcing mandatory education for state workers dealing with juvenile offenders and opening a hotline for youth to report abuse anonymously. He moved the responsibility for housing juveniles from local communities to the state, building nine new juvenile detention centers. Attorney General Janet Reno declared Kentucky's juvenile justice system a model for the country in January 2001.

Patton did not stop with the juvenile justice system, however. He approved the passage of a bill that mandated violent offenders to complete at least 85 percent of their sentences (up from the 50 percent originally proposed), while insisting that judges consider home incarceration for first-time, nonviolent offenders. The bill also allowed judges to sentence criminals to life without parole; previously, life without parole for 25 years had been the harshest non-capital sentence. In 1999, the bill passed the legislature.

Patton became the first governor in more than 200 years to run in office thanks to the constitutional amendment passed under former governor Breton Jones. In 1796 and 1800, James Garrard had served in successive terms, but the Kentucky Constitution in 1799 barred any prospective governor from being elected to consecutive terms. Garrard was elected governor by an electoral college, not by popular vote, in 1796, and Patton became the first Kentucky governor to be widely voted for consecutive terms.

In the Democratic primary, Patton was unopposed. Peppy Martin, a Republican nominee who many regard as a poor candidate, was nominated by Republicans. In fact, Patton's long Republican foe, David Williams, has confirmed that he will vote for Patton over Martin over Martin. Patton gained 352,099 votes, 60.6 percent of the total. Martin received 128,788 votes, with 88,930 votes going to third-party candidate Gatewood Galbraith. When asked why the Republicans had picked such a weak candidate, Patton replied, "They mistakenly believed I could not be defeated." They made a mistake."

Senator Dan Seum of Louisville declared his switch from Democrat to Republican after the 1999 gubernatorial race, citing his conservative voting history, which included opposition to the state lottery, KERA, and abortion. The number of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate equalized after Patton learned that it was too late to act. Senator Bob Leeper of Paducah has revealed that he would also change his party name six weeks later. Patton went to Paducah and spoke with Leeper, but was unable to convince him to stay a Democrat. Leeper had a history of fighting with Democratic Senate President Larry Saunders, but he argued that his party change, like Seum's, was motivated by political ideology. For the first time in the state's history, Leeper's switch gave Republicans a majority in the Senate. David Williams was elected President of the Senate and managed to keep the Republican majority together effectively. Consequently, Patton had a difficult time negotiating his agenda in the midst of a divided General Assembly.

During talks over the state budget in 1999, the gap between Williams and Patton became permanent. Patton suggested a 7-cent-per-gallon gasoline levy to Williams, with 11% of every 7 counties devoted to the most unpaved roads in the most rural counties, which had traditionally been ignored by previous Democratic governors. Williams told Patton that he was given ten votes in the Senate for the change. However, gas prices increased before the measure was approved in the Senate, and Williams was unable to vote after the House passed the tax. With tax reforms that were mainly revenue-neutral, the government and key Republican senators came to a compromise that saved Patton's budget. Patton believed Williams had deliberately deceived him, but the two men never reconciled.

Both Patton and the legislature were also concerned about how to use federal funds from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. The settlement, which was settled in Kentucky, was worth $3.5 billion over 25 years. Patton suggested that half of the settlement be used to diversify Kentucky's farmers' crops because tobacco was a major cash crop. One-fourth of the money will go to fund health-care and anti-smoking efforts. The remaining one-fourth will address early-childhood care and education, a cause that is especially important to Patton's daughter, Nicki, an early-childhood mentor.

In November 2000, Kentucky voters accepted a constitutional amendment that would have a shorter legislative session in odd-numbered years with longer sessions in even-numbered years. In the 2000 and 2001 legislative sessions, the bulk of Patton's plans fell flat. The economic boom that had ample funds for his programs during the first term slowed in 2001, and by 2002, the state was $800 million short of meeting its target. Republicans in the General Assembly demanded that public campaign financing be phased out as an economy measure in 2002. Republicans claim that eliminating public campaign funding would save the state $30 million, which Republicans describe as "welfare for politicians." Ultimately, the subject deferred the biennial budget during the regular legislative session. Patton called a special legislative session to approve the budget in April 2002, but legislators were also unable to agree. The fiscal year began without a budget for the first time in the state's history. Patton will continue to head the state government for a year without having a budget.

A bill to abolish the death penalty for juveniles was another item that failed to pass in the 2002 session. Even though Stanford was only 17 years old at the time, the precedent for the juvenile death penalty had been established in the 1989 Supreme Court decision of Stanford vs. Kentucky, wherein the court found Kevin Stanford would be executed for the 1981 rape, sodomy, and murder of a gas station attendant. Patton announced in 2003 that he would commute Stanford's sentence. Patton was involved in the execution of two adult prisoners, those of Harold McQueen Jr. in 1997 and Margaret Lee Harper in 1999, making him the first Kentucky governor to do so since 1962.

Patton's situation was exacerbated in 2002 when it was revealed that he had been involved in an extramarital affair with a woman named Tina Conner during his first term in office. According to Conner, the owner of Birchtree Healthcare, in Clinton, Kentucky, the marriage ended in 1999, but Patton continued to contact her until she completely broke off the investigation in October 2001. Patton apprehensionly confessed to it after initially denying it during a televised press conference at the Kentucky History Center on September 20, 2002. Patton was the object of state and national ridicule, according to Jay Leno's jokes on The Tonight Show. Patton's resignation was "too weak as a moral power to lead [and] too powerless as a politician to compel," the Louisville Courier-Journal said.

Conner alleged that Patton arranged regulatory favors for the nursing home even though the investigation was ongoing. Birchtree Healthcare was cited by state regulators for numerous violations of health and safety legislation two months after Conner said she had ended the affair. The state had withdrew all Medicare and Medicaid payments from the hospital by July 2002, which was shortly bankrupt. Conner also stated that Patton's probe into Birchtree was revenge for her abandoning the affair.

Conner said Patton assisted a construction company she owned obtain accreditation as a marginal business, which gave the organization a distinct advantage when applying for state contracts.

Patton's marriage seemed to have taken a toll on him; his wife Judi was discovered to be living in separate quarters in the governor's mansion and was seldom seen in public with him.

Patton had risen to national prominence by serving as both chairing the Southern Governors Association, the Democratic Governors Association, and the National Governors Association (NGA). He was serving as NGA chair at the time of the Tina Conner scandal and said he would resign as chairmanship in November 2002. Nevertheless, the other governors rallied around him, urging him to keep their positions. Patton, the Idaho's Dirk Kempthorne, led the NGA effectively, securing federal funding to support state budgets and preventing the caucus from a partisan split in a vote over Medicaid with a partisan split.

In September 2002, Conner brought a lawsuit against Patton. All but one of her charges against Patton had been dismissed by late 2003; the remaining charges alleged "outrageous" conduct. The state's Executive Branch Ethics Commission prosecuted Conner's allegations and charged Patton of four ethics offences, alleging that he "used or attempted to use his position" to gain Conner's favors. Conner's poor business application had been requested by the state transportation secretary, who allegedly advised a pay raise for an officer who allegedly helped Conner avoid paying a traffic ticket, naming Conner's board of directors for the Kentucky Lottery, and naming Conner's then-husband to the Agricultural Development Board, among other things. Patton said that the favors he requested for Conner were the same as those he had received for scores of influential constituents. He also stated that he did not profit from any of the requested favors in any of the requested favors financially. "If you can do so properly and ethically help them," he said of constituent services.

A judge dismissed Tina Conner's last complaint against Patton, citing "outrage" as the cause. Conner brought a second lawsuit alleging discrimination by a public official and government coercion in October 2006; a Franklin County judge dismissed the case, claiming that it was Conner's attempt to re-litigate the allegations brought from her first suit.

Kentucky also suffered a large budget deficit in 2003 due to the country's deteriorating national economic situation. Patton suggested a complete rewrite of the state tax structure, ensuring that tax revenues would continue to rise with the state's eventual economic recovery. However, such change would have not have resulted in tax hikes, and with the 2003 gubernatorial election looming, lawmakers from both parties resigned to a pledge not to raise taxes. Members of the General Assembly therefore drafted a budget that absolutely disregard any input from Patton. The bill called for repealing the campaign finance reform bill, which had been passed a decade ago. "I have lost any ability to influence the legislature," Patton acknowledged.

Patton drew chastised for misusing his patronage power during his remaining months in office. Critics argued that he had transferred several of his relatives and friends who were in non-merit system positions to merit system positions, potentially increasing their odds of being retained as a new government took over. These allegations were particularly traumatic because Patton had been asked to eliminate 800 non-merit posts to help balance the budget earlier this year. These allegations, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, were more serious than those surrounding the Conner affair. Patton maintained that his colleagues had followed proper employee procedures when applying for and receiving merit positions.

During the 1995 gubernatorial election, Patton released pardons to four men who were under indictment for breaching campaign finance laws. The indictments were prompted by allegations by then-candidate Larry Forgy that Patton had violated campaign finance laws by coordinating expenditures with the Teamsters and the state Democratic Party. In 1998, a Franklin County grand jury returned the indictments, but a circuit court judge dismissed them in 1999 on the grounds that the campaign finance law was too vague. The appeals court reversed the decision the previous year, and the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld the indictments by a vote of 5–1. On June 13, 2003, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear an appeal. Patton issued pardons for all four men two days later. Ben Chandler, the state attorney general, resigned after being told that the pardons would not investigate whether Patton won the 1995 race "honestly and openly."

Patton had openly that he was planning a bid against Republican Senators in the United States. Senator Jim Bunning's plans were initiated in 2004, but the scandals surrounding him near the end of his tenure sparked those plans. After the election of his replacement, Republican Ernie Fletcher, he returned to Pikeville, Kentucky. He became a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Pikeville, a member of the Big Sandy Regional Economic Development Board, and chairman of the Pike County Industrial and Economic Authority.

At a commemoration on October 30, 2008, Governor Ernie Fletcher renamed a portion of US Route 119 in eastern Kentucky as the Paul E. Patton Highway. Patton was elected chair of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) on February 1, 2009. On August 12, 2009, he was announced as the next president of Pikeville College (now the University of Pikeville). The Executive Branch Ethics Commission released an advisory note in September 2009 that Patton could serve in both roles without revealing a significant conflict of interest because CPE wields have scant control of Kentucky's private colleges. Patton was advised not to invite someone other than himself to be the official liaison between the University of Pikeville and the CPE, and to refrain from CPE discussions on topics "that directly concern his private sector or that would influence his department in a different manner than any other similarly situated private postsecondary institution."

Patton was officially installed as president of the University of Pikeville on February 16, 2010. He also serves as a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in Public Policy and Leadership. Patton oversaw the construction of the Expo Center, a new facility to house the university's indoor sports as president; in 2011, the center's basketball court was named Paul E. Patton Court.

Patton and Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives Greg Stumbo announced in late 2011 that they and Speaker Paul Ryan would lobby the General Assembly to consider adding the University of Pikeville as the ninth state-supported university in the Kentucky university system. On December 30, 2011, he resigned from the Council on Postsecondary Education in order to prevent any potential claims of a conflict of interest regarding the 2012 General Assembly's agenda.

Patton revealed in 2013 that he would step down as president of the university and instead serve as chancellor. In 2014, he was inducted into the University's Athletics Hall of Fame due to his long-serving support of the university's athletics programs. The University revealed in January 2015 that it would change its teacher education program outside of the College of Arts and Sciences, which would lead to the establishment of the new Patton College of Education. The college was supposed to open in the fall 2015 semester.

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