Interview with Phillip J. Shepherd, September 26, 2014

Partial Transcript: Okay, I'm Arwen Donahue and I'm with Phillip Shepherd at, uh, his office in Frankfort, Kentucky and it's September 26, 2014, and this is an interview for the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence Oral History Project.

Segment Synopsis: Phillip Shepherd talks about his early life and education. He says his father was a Methodist clergyman in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky. He talks about his interest in studying and practicing law. He talks about how his interest in politics developed through his family relationships. He talks about studying history at Asbury College (now University) as an undergraduate, and law school at University of Kentucky.

Keywords: Asbury University; United Methodist Church

Subjects: Education; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Families.; Law--Study and teaching

Partial Transcript: And when, when did you first meet Ed Prichard?

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about meeting Prichard for the first time as a legislative intern during his junior year as an undergraduate. He talks about Prichard losing his eyesight, and working for him as a reader. He talks about Prichard's intellectual interests.

Keywords: Arthur Slessinger; Edward Prichard; Felix Frankfurter; John Kenneth Galbraith

Subjects: Prichard, E. F., (Edward Fretwell).

Partial Transcript: --[cough]--Can you trace any, uh, examples of how, how that reading, how that education that you, that you were getting through your friendship with Mr. Prichard, um, influenced your own thinking...

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about Prichard's influences on his own political and intellectual views. He talks about the role in public education Prichard developed for himself after his conviction for election fraud.

Keywords: Council on Higher Education; Earle Clements; Edward Prichard; Higher education; Public education; Sales tax; Voting scandals

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence; Prichard Committee on Higher Education in Kentucky's Future; Prichard, E. F., (Edward Fretwell).

Partial Transcript: So at what point and, and how did you become aware of the need for education reform in the public school system?

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about learning of the need for educational reform through his relationship with Ed Prichard. He says there was a national educational reform movement going on at the same time the Prichard Committee was beginning its work. He talks about education as the foundation for economic development. He describes his working relationship with Prichard as a clerk working in his office during law school.

Keywords: Bob Sexton; Edward Prichard; John Y. Brown, Jr.; Public schools system; William McCann

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence; Prichard, E. F., (Edward Fretwell).

Partial Transcript: How did you meet Bob Sexton?

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd says he met Bob Sexton while he was working as an intern for Prichard. He talks about Prichard having the intellectual prestige and political connections that helped drive education reform, while Sexton had the administrative skills. He talks about the success of Prichard and Sexton working together on the committee.

Keywords: Council on Higher Education; Edward Prichard; Harry Snyder; Office of Experiential Education

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence; Prichard, E. F., (Edward Fretwell).; Sexton, Robert F.

Partial Transcript: At what point did you become a member of the Prichard Committee?

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd says he became a member of the Prichard Committee during the mid-'90s. He served on the committee until he was elected as circuit judge in Franklin County, Kentucky. He says before joining the committee he performed legal work on behalf of education reform by filing amicus briefs for the Prichard Committee in the Rose case.

Keywords: Bob Sexton; Education reform litigation; Pam Sexton; Phil Lanier; Rose v. Council for Better Education

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Partial Transcript: What were your--what was your sense of the main ways in which the education system was broken? You mentioned nepotism. What were the other problems--

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about the problems with education funding and property tax revenue management before the Rose case. He talks about the organizational cooperation between the Prichard Committee and KFTC in promoting educational reform. He talks about the role of teachers in education reform, suggesting they have not been well represented in reform.

Keywords: Coal; Education litigation; Kentuckians For the Commonwealth (KFTC); Path to a Larger Life; Property tax; Rose v. Council for Better Education; Teacher payroll

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Partial Transcript: Essentially, I r--this article that I was just looking for, uh, was published in 1990, I believe in the Courier Journal, and it was, was an editorial...

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about how KERA changed classroom paradigms as well as school governance. He talks about problems of measuring accountability appropriately and "teaching to the test." He speculates how Ed Prichard would have viewed standardized testing. He discusses the need to structure funding and accountability in such a way that does not marginalize the role of teachers.

Keywords: Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA); Standardized testing

Subjects: Kentucky. Education Reform Act (1990)

Partial Transcript: When KERA passed in 1990, did you foresee, um, it--within that legislation that this, that this testing issue would become such a major focus?

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd says that testing was already an issue before the passage of KERA. He talks about the bureaucratic constraints currently existing in public education. He talks about the need to update public policy constantly to avoid stagnation.

Keywords: Bob Sexton; Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA); Public school system

Subjects: Kentucky. Education Reform Act (1990)

Partial Transcript: Um, what do you consider Bob's, uh, most important legacy to be? What, what affect did his work have on, on the state?

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about Sexton's legacy for activism, but adds that legacy needs to be supported and improved. He talks about his parents. He talks about working for Grady Stumbo's political campaigns, as well as for Brereton Jones.

Keywords: Brereton Jones; Diana Miller; Libby Jones; Lucy Prichard; Steve Miller; Woodford Save the Land

Subjects: Politics and government; Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence; Sexton, Robert F.

Partial Transcript: Do you have any, uh, reflection you can share on the evolution of, of, um, that and state politics just as far as attitu--political attitudes toward regulation...

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about natural resource conservation and the political issues in environmental regulation. He says environmental regulation needs to be enforced fairly. He talks about his work as Secretary of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet. He talks about the enactment of the Heritage Land Conservation Fund.

Keywords: Ashland Oil; Brereton Jones; Hazardous waste; Libby Jones; Minerals tax; Refineries; Solid waste law

Subjects: Natural resources.

Partial Transcript: Uh, you mentioned Wendell Berry. Uh, being a fan of his work myself I have to follow up and ask what, what his, uh, influence on you was.

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about the influence of Wendell Berry's views on community on his own thinking. He talks about meeting Berry for the first time at the Asbury English Club and describes him as warm and generous. He talks about Prichard's involvement in environmental issues.

Keywords: Agriculture; The Unsettling of America

Subjects: Berry, Wendell, 1934-

Partial Transcript: I also wanted to ask about your work as a federal commissioner, commissioner on the Ohio River Sanitation commission?

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd describes ORSANCO as a "toothless tiger" as it is not effective. He talks about his work with various environmental projects.

Keywords: Brereton Jones; Clean Air Act; Clean Water Act; Environmental Council of the States (ECOS); Ohio River Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO); Secretary of Natural Resources

Subjects: Natural resources.

Partial Transcript: Well it's interesting, uh, thinki--talking about the big picture to think about, uh, this notion that, that Prichard promoted of, um, education being the path to a larger life...

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about Prichard's and his own views on the importance of education and "intellectual curiosity" to the quality of life.

Keywords: Bob Sexton; Ed Prichard, Jr.; Lucy Prichard; Vocational education

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence; Prichard Committee on Higher Education in Kentucky's Future; Prichard, E. F., (Edward Fretwell).

Partial Transcript: Yeah, you, you address this a little bit but I--there, there--you did an interview in 1990, um, for a local governance project and, and, um--uh, something you said stood out to me...

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about his work in environmental law after the judicial decision in Citizens United. He expresses concern that concentration of wealth is harmful to the democratic political process. He talks about the types of cases that come before his court.

Keywords: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

Subjects: Natural resources.; Supreme Court decisions that changed the nation

Partial Transcript: Also I read that you, uh, were chair of the board of trustees of Kentucky's annual conference of the United Methodist Church and, uh, a legal adviser...

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about the importance of maintaining separation of church and state as the way to protect religious liberty.

Keywords: First Amendment; Religious liberty

Subjects: Religion.; United Methodist Church (U.S.)

Partial Transcript: Well, uh, I think I have just one more question--(laughs)--okay. Uh, and then I'm happy to, if I missed anything for you to say whatever you'd like.

Segment Synopsis: Shepherd talks about how judges are reserved about expressing personal opinions freely in public in order to adjudicate with impartiality. He talks at length about the impact of the Rose case and KERA.

Keywords: Bert Combs; Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA); Rose v. Council for Better Education; Site Based Decision Council

Subjects: Judges.; Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence