Paul Edward Patton (26 May 1937-) was the Democratic Governor of Kentucky from 12 December 1995 to 9 December 2003, succeeding Brereton C. Jones and preceding Ernie Fletcher.
Biography[]
Paul Edward Patton was born in Fallsburg, Kentucky in 1937, and he worked as a coal mine operator for 20 years before selling most of his coal interests in the 1970s and entering politics as a Democrat. He became executive of Pike County in 1981 and served as Lieutenant Governor from 1991 to 1995 and as Governor from 1995 to 2003, overseeing improvements to the state's community colleges and technical schools, as well as an economic boom. By 2002, a sex-for-favors scandal, extramarital infidelities, and the early 2000s recession damaged Patton's popularity, and his pardoning of advisors convicted of campaign finance laws ended his hopes of a continued political career.