...news release...

Kentucky
Long-Term Policy Research Center
111 St. James Court, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601-8486
(Telephone: 502-564-2851 6Fax: 502-564-1412 8E-Mail: ltprc@lrc.state.ky.us
www.kltprc.net

William H. Hintze, Jr. 2005 Hellard Award Winner

FRANKFORT, KY (October 24, 2005) — William H. (Bill) Hintze, Jr., a dedicated public servant for 33 years who held the position of Deputy State Budget Director for the past five Kentucky Governors, is the recipient of the 2005 Vic Hellard, Jr. Award. The award, presented annually by the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center Board of Directors, recognizes an individual for his or her contributions to the future well-being of the Commonwealth. It will be presented at the Center’s 12th annual conference on November 15, 2005, at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville.

“It is often the case that leaders get the limelight, when in fact their efforts could not be successful without the aid of others who sit in the shadows and do their good work,” observed State Budget Director Brad Cowgill. “Vic Hellard was just such a man, and Bill Hintze is the next best example of a man who truly impacted public policy in the Commonwealth over a long period of time, but sought no public recognition, and all the while built a foundation for future good work to serve our state.”

At the time of his retirement in August 2005 from the Governor’s Office of Policy and Management, he had supervisory responsibility for various policy and management issues involving state financial administration and debt; economic development; transportation; tourism; environmental protection; the criminal justice system; military affairs; emergency response; agriculture; infrastructure; capital planning, policy development, and implementation; and service as chief Executive Branch liaison to the Legislature’s Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee.

Bill received the Gloria Timmer award from the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), NASBO’s highest honor, in 2002. He served on the Capital Planning Advisory Board; the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center Board (original member); the Governor’s Quality and Efficiency Commission; and the Privatization Commission, to name only a few of the gubernatorial, legislative, and judicial bodies to which he contributed.

State Budget Director Cowgill noted in his nomination letter that “in addition to the countless contributions Bill made to the policy debates on numerous issues over his career in the formulation, defense and implementation of sixteen biennial budgets and issues covered in twenty-three special sessions of the General Assembly, his strong sense of duty, gentle nature, incredible sense of history and quick wit served to guide the development of a professional, credible, and bipartisan staff in the Office of State Budget Director that will serve future governors and the Commonwealth well for years.”

Given in recognition of service in the interest of Kentucky’s future, the Hellard award is given in memory of Vic Hellard, Jr. and in honor of his long and distinguished career of public service. As Director of the Legislative Research Commission, Hellard was a tireless champion of legislative independence, considered by many to be the cornerstone of modern governance in Kentucky. He is also credited as the principal architect of the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center. At the time of his death in 1996, Hellard, who had retired from his LRC post, was serving as a member of the Center’s Board, contributing substantially to its guidance and efforts to shape a vision for the future of the state and a system for evaluating progress toward its realization.

Previous winners of the Hellard Award are Judge Anthony M. Wilhoit (1997), retired Chief Judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals and now Executive Director of the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission; Joseph W. Kelly (1998), who served as chairman of the Kentucky Board of Education from 1991 until April of 1998, a period of far-reaching change for education in Kentucky; Mary Helen Miller (1999), a retired state government executive whose career began in the classroom and went on to include high-level posts in both the legislative and executive branches under two governors; veteran journalist Al Smith (2000), a former newspaper publisher, editor, and reporter, and one of the state’s most engaging and enduring media personalities; renowned Kentucky State Historian, the late Dr. Thomas D. Clark (2001), author of more than 20 books, recipient of countless awards, and the founder of the Thomas D. Clark Foundation, a private, nonprofit foundation that provides financial support for the University Press of Kentucky; Virginia Fox (2002), long-time Executive Director of Kentucky Educational Television, who helped bring public television into the Kentucky classroom and the 21st century, and currently the Secretary of the Education Cabinet; Walter A. Baker (2003), a Glasgow attorney with a distinguished career of public service as a legislator and judge; and Robert M. (Mike) Duncan (2004), an Inez banker with a national reputation for public service.

To register for the Center’s conference, “Prescription for Change,” where the Hellard Award will be presented on November 15, go to the conference page or contact the Center at 800-853-2851 for further information.

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