The Kentucky Commission on Women (KCW), a state agency appointed by Gov. Paul Patton to represent all Kentucky women, was not exonerated by a state ethics commission probe for its left-leaning activities. In an advisory opinion released on June 16, the Executive Branch Ethics Commission said, "we expect state agencies to be independent and impartial.... It is certainly arguable that KCW is not acting in an impartial manner, but rather is taking a partisan, political stand."

The Ethics Commission reviewed KCW’s legislative update and e-mail list serve, which critics claimed were a conduit for radical feminist and left-leaning causes. Abortion, gay rights, and anti-war protests comprised the content of several e-mail messages sent by KCW last spring. Alternative viewpoints to the list serve are welcomed according to the KCW, but several women who oppose abortion contend their submissions were disregarded numerous times, and in two cases women submitting conservative viewpoints were actually dropped from the list serve.

Diane Cape, a family liaison worker in Prestonsburg was one of them. "I find it unacceptable that a public list serve is used as a 'pulpit' for one viewpoint and not open to all," Cape said. "I don’t think they are representing all Kentucky women."

Critics objected to a partnership KCW forged with Planned Parenthood and the ACLU in order to promote an abortion rights event in Louisville held on April 2. But the biggest objection many women had was KCW’s call for women to oppose pro-life legislation.

Legislators in both houses of the state legislature were outraged upon learning that KCW actively opposed their bills. State Rep. Stan Lee (R-Lexington) sponsored fetal homicide legislation that would have criminalized violent actions and negligence that result in the death of an unborn child.

"I resent the fact that I’m paying tax dollars and they are advancing a political agenda," Lee said. "They are supposed to be a commission that advances the cause of all women in Kentucky. It certainly doesn’t for those who are pro-life, nor does it for Haley Thornsberry... the unborn baby girl who was minutes from birth and killed by a drunk driver." Lee is working on two bills that would make it illegal to use any tax dollars to promote abortion.

State Senator Jack Westwood (R-Erlanger) was another victim of KCW partisanship. In early March, KCW list serve sent out a pro-choice alert, calling for women to oppose Westwood’s bill which would have created "Choose Life" license plates and designated some of the revenue to the state’s pregnancy care centers. "It is drastically unfair that they use my tax dollars to defeat my bill," Westwood said.

The Family Foundation approached the ethics commission at the prompting of several women and state legislators who complained that the KCW was promoting radical leftist causes and issues. Deborah Burton, a critic of KCW said, "These are your tax dollars...and if what they are promoting does not agree with you, then speak up."