Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton gave an emotional speech Sept. 20, 2002, in Frankfort, during which he admitted to having an affair with businesswoman Tina Boyd Conner, then lying about it when first questioned by the news media. Patton, 65, said he never misused his office to grant favors to Conner’s Western Kentucky nursing home or to retaliate against her when she broke off the affair. Conner had sued him earlier in the week for for sexual harassment. “I apologize to the people of Kentucky for my failure as a person. I have already apologized to Judi (his wife) and my family,” he said at a news conference at the Kentucky History Center that was carried live by several television and radio stations. He did not answer questions. With four family members — but not his wife — looking on, Patton, 65, his voice often cracking, indicated that he had no plans to resign from the job he had held since 1995. The state’s Executive Branch Ethics Commission accused Patton of four ethics violations in March 2003, but Patton claimed that the favors he requested for Conner were the same kind of favors that he had requested for dozens of influential constituents. By late 2003, all but one of Conner’s charges in her suit against Patton had been dismissed. The last was dismissed by a judge in 2006. She filed a second lawsuit that was dismissed by a judge who claimed it was an attempt to re-litigate the claims from her first lawsuit. Photo by David Stephenson | Staff