STATE DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN HAD 1982 COCAINE CONVICTION

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Jerry Johnson, the man named by Gov. Paul Patton
last week as chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, was convicted
of cocaine possession in Harlan County 20 years ago.

A spokesman for Patton's office said yesterday that the governor was
aware of the conviction before he put Johnson in the party post last
week, and before he brought Johnson into the governor's office staff
in 1995.

''Jerry has been forthcoming about this from the beginning. We
reviewed the record of this case and discussed it with him before he
was hired in 1995,'' said Denis Fleming, general counsel for Patton.
''Though this was a serious conviction, the governor believes
strongly in giving a person a second chance. Jerry had paid his debt
to society, and the governor was convinced he could make a
contribution to his administration.''

Johnson, 46, was convicted in March 1982 of cocaine possession and
was fined $5,000 and placed on probation for five years.

Johnson had long been active in Democratic politics when Patton
brought him to work in the governor's office in 1995. In his
application for a state job, Johnson checked ''yes'' to a question
asking if he'd ever been convicted of violating any law. He listed
the conviction as ''controlled substance violation.''

Fleming said a key factor in Patton's decision to hire Johnson was a
letter from the prosecutor, former Harlan County Commonwealth's
Attorney Ron Johnson, to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms as part of Jerry Johnson's effort to regain the right to own
firearms.

''I am as strongly in favor of him (Jerry Johnson) being restored to
his rights to bear arms as I was in the prosecution of him,'' Ron
Johnson wrote in 1988. Ron Johnson, no relation to Jerry Johnson, is
now circuit judge in Harlan County. He said in a telephone interview
yesterday that he aggressively prosecuted Jerry Johnson, and opposed
his probation.

Jerry Johnson was indicted on a charge of trafficking in cocaine
after being accused of attempting to sell to an undercover state
police officer. A jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of
possession.

Jerry Johnson said: ''I'm very sorry it happened, but because I
couldn't go back and change it, I decided to use it to drive me to be
a better person. And I think my record of public service over the
past 16 years shows I have been able to make a contribution.''