Ken Bennett (born 1959) is a Republican politician and businessman who served as president of the Arizona Senate. Bennett was born in Tucson into a family that were members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). He later moved to Prescott, Arizona, where he attended Prescott High School and Yavapai College. Between terms there he served his two-year mission in southern Japan. In 1981 he transferred to Arizona State University and graduated with a degree in accounting.
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Business career
Bennett served as CEO of his family business, Bennett's Oil Co., a position he still holds as of 2006. In 1989, several underground petroleum storage tanks owned by Bennett's Oil Co. released petroleum into the environment. In the years following, Bennett's undertook various remedies to decontaminate the area, paid for by its insurance company. Bennett's and its insurer, Federated Mutual Insurance, both placed five separate applications to the state for reimbursement of the cleanup costs. The first four were approved, but the last was denied under a recently enacted act limiting reimbursement to costs not covered by insurance. Bennett's appealed the denial in court, arguing that the law was intended only to prevent double recovery, not to limit the state to providing only secondary insurance. The court affirmed the state's interpretation of the law and denied reimbursement. [1] This later came to prominence when as a state senator (see below), Bennett co-sponsored a bill in 2004 which would provide reimbursement for oil company cleanup costs already covered under private insurance. [2] Some accused Bennett of a conflict of interest, given that his own company would benefit from this change. [3] The bill never made it out of committee and did not become law.
Political career
In the 1980s, Bennett was a member of the Prescott City Council. He was elected to the Arizona State Board of Education in 1992, serving as president in 1996 and 1998. In 1998 he was elected to the Arizona State Senate, where he served as President and sat on the Rules Committee. After eight years in the State Senate, he was prevented from seeking re-election in 2006 because of term limits. He abandoned a run for governor in 2006, but has said that he will run for statewide or federal office in the future. [4]
Family incident
A 2006 plea bargain involving Ken's son, Clifton, became controversial after several parents of victims accused Ken of exerting undue influence to affect the case.[5] In what a county attorney described as a summer camp "hazing ritual" gone wrong. Prosecutors considered filing charges of sexual assault but ultimately allowed Clifton to plead guilty to one felony count of aggravated assault. Clifton was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years probation,which is very interesting because by Arizona Law he could have been charged with 17 counts each of kidnapping,sexual assault and "dangerous crimes against children",which would've by law mandated the judge on a plea to sentence him to at least 15 years in prison,life-time probation upon his release and sex offender registration. Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, said he "had questions about the handling of the case," but that his office had no authority to intervene.[6] Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk defended the plea bargain and accused the news media of misrepresenting the issue. [7]
