John Schaaf to head Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission’s legal counsel has been chosen as its next executive director.

The commission chose John Schaaf to succeed Anthony Wilhoit, who is retiring Aug. 1. Wilhoit has been executive director since 1997, shortly after he retired as chief judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, where he served for 21 years.

The commission said in a news release it received 38 applications from around the country and interviewed four people.

Schaaf worked with the Task Force on Governmental Ethics in 1992 to draft legislation that became the Code of Legislative Ethics, creating the commission. It is the only citizen-run legislative ethics commission, with no legislators, in the nation.

Schaaf has been the commission’s legal counsel since 2004.

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