Interview: Adam Edelen joins Beshear's staff with private-sector principles

The lexicon in the office of Governor Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) may be changing with the arrival of Adam Edelen, who took the helm as Beshear's new chief of staff last week.

In an interview with PolitickerKY.com conducted last Friday, Edelen says he is bringing the lessons of his experience in the private sector with him into Beshear's office, noting he wants the administration to become more "customer service oriented" in its dealings.

"It's important to note I am not a political professional. I would bristle at the term," Edelen said. "I am a businessman who has been involved in politics and not the other way around."

Edelen joins Beshear's staff after a stint heading Kentucky's Office of Homeland Security. With Beshear already having faced a fair share of struggles in his first 6 months in office - including stalls in the legislature on his proposed expanded casino gaming and tobacco tax initiatives - Edelen has his work cut out for him in the high-pressure chief of staff role.

Still, the 33 year-old University of Kentucky graduate - who began his career working as an aide to former Democratic Governor Paul Patton - says his business training and his close relationships with many of Frankfort's prominent faces will help him push Beshear's agenda forward.

In the interview below, Edelen says he plans on helping Beshear "invert the pyramid" of traditional leadership models by having the governor bring his policies to the people of Kentucky more frequently, with the expectation that Beshear will be increasingly visible across the state

What is your background in politics, and your background, in general?

I was an aide to Governor Paul Patton during his first term -which was '95 to '99. I worked on his campaign and had been an aide to him in the Lieutenant Governor's office while I was finishing up college. So I am familiar with the governor's office and its operation.

After that I had a career in the private sector. I had been the Vice President of Operations for the Lexington Chamber of Commerce. I had been a senior executive with Thomas and King, which is a very large company based in Lexington.

I have a lot of private sector managerial experience.

For the last 7 months, I have been the governor's director for the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security, where I have managed a significant staff and tens of millions of dollars worth of federal grant and done it in such a way that we've really used a lot of private sector management principles.

I think the success we've had at Homeland Security was the approach Governor Beshear was looking for as he was considering what direction he wanted the administration to go.

What kind of approach are you going to bring to Chief of Staff position?

My background and worldview is largely shaped with a private sector bent. The bottom line for us in this administration is service to the people of Kentucky by advancing the agenda of the Beshear administration. Really, that's going to be the focus.

We are going to get everybody on the same page, we are going to better streamline our communications, and be much more effective in the way we use the governor's time.

We are going to be much more customer service-oriented in the way we deal with everyone from the citizens of Kentucky to local elected officials to state legislators.

It's a more external focus - having a more organized and efficient approach to the way we execute the governor's mission.

Is there one specific thing you would change in the office?

My big effort - and the reason the governor has hired me - is to build the organizational infrastructure that will maximize his time and his vision, largely through the way we deal with our external customers - which, again I would describe as the people of Kentucky, elected officials, legislators - to the way we communicate internally, which is not just with the cabinet, but with our rather large governor's office staff.

It's about making sure we have the most effective use of his time schedule. It's about making sure our communications are focused and concise and adhering to a larger plan of advancing the governor's policy agenda. These are the things I am really going to spend some time working on.

The governor has had some troubles passing his Casino legislation and tobacco tax initiatives, do you think those kinds of things are going to stay on the agenda? How can you maneuver to push those through?

Well, one thing I wanted to mention was that today was a very good day for the governor because we passed a bipartisan pension reform bill in the special session. It's our hope with the passage of this bill and the overwhelming success of this special session that it will foster a new spirit of bipartisan cooperation on a whole lot of different legislation. [Note: This interview was conducted on Friday, June 27 - the last day of a special legislative session on pension reform.]

The governor's agenda going forward is to address the things that most directly impact our ability to secure the kind of future we want for our people - those are areas like education, job development, and health care.

When you talk about the cigarette tax and gaming, it's important to know those aren't ends - those are means to an end. And we certainly need new revenue to advance our education agenda and to advance our jobs creation agenda.

The administration is going to continue to be supportive of new revenue for the state and we will work with the legislature to determine whether it's with something like the cigarette tax or allowing people to vote on extended gaming.

Are you already integrated into the office or is there still a transition going on?

There is going to be a transition because there is a learning curve, but I think one of the reasons the governor thought I was such a good fit for this position is because I am well known to the personalities on the staff.

My deputy chief is a guy named Vince Gabbert, who has been deputy chief of staff since day one and he does an extraordinary job. Larry Hayes - the secretary of the cabinet - and I have worked together on a number of different issues that far predate the Beshear administration.

I am familiar and have a good working relationship with the lieutenant governor and the lion's share of the cabinet. So I am a known quantity and am looking forward to bringing a collaborative approach to the way we advance the governor's agenda.

Can you talk about your relationship with the leadership in the state legislature?

I was the first caucus director for the Kentucky legislature, when we - the Democrats - actually had the state House and the state Senate under the same roof. And I enjoyed very good working relationships with an awful lot of members of the legislature on both sides of the aisle. That's born from my political involvement.

I've also been very involved in a lot of philanthropic and policy-oriented causes, especially related to education. So, I've had the opportunity to work with a number of legislators again on both sides of the aisle.

I am familiar to the legislature and I think I have earned a reputation as someone who is fair and collaborative and not particularly interested in turf battles. And I think that is the governor's approach. His natural posture is towards collaboration - being open. We are going to build an organization based on those principles.

Earlier, you spoke of the public as "customers." Do you have any specific initiatives in terms of getting the Governor's message out to them?

The best instrument for communicating the Beshear agenda is Steve Beshear. I think he is the best natural communicator that we've had as governor in the modern era, and you are going to see a lot more of Governor Beshear actually out in the state talking directly to citizens and elected officials in their own communities.

I think there's been a traditional approach that is very much a top-down management system that Frankfort - and the governor's office, in particular - will dictate policy and directives from on high and just leave everyone else to follow.

We are really making an effort to invert the pyramid. The governor is going to be spending a lot more time out in the state meeting with people and listening and sharing his ideas about how we can move Kentucky forward. At the end of the day, that's a much more effective bottom-up approach than what we've seen in the past.

This is a bizarre question, given you just started this job, but do you see yourself in the future seeking elected office?

Right now, the only agenda ive got is the governor's agenda. If we can move Kentucky forward, there will be plenty of opportunities for public service for me. I've been in this job for a day or two and I'm not really looking beyond the next couple of years.