RIP Mike Scott A few days ago, my former Secretary of State colleague started having some severe headaches. It turned out to be a brain aneurysm, and today he passed away. He leaves a devoted wife and two children. Most of you reading this don’t know Mike. You missed out. He was a friend, an amazing and dedicated colleague, and one of the genuinely nicest guys that I have ever met. Mike served as Director of Administration during my final term and moved over to the State Board of Elections to become Assistant Director under Alison Grimes. State government is full of people like Mike who work hard every day and take pride in working on behalf of their fellow citizens. Mike was really talented and always focused on trying to do a better job for his bosses, the taxpayers of Kentucky. Among other areas, Mike and his team made sure that notary commissions were swiftly processed, our online checkbook of office expenditures was up-to-date (and balanced!) and election information and the governor’s executive journal were accurate and accessible. In his new job, he took great pride in the construction of a new voter registration database and kept me in the loop about its status. While I received the accolades for the accomplishments of the Secretary of State’s office, the truth is that, without folks like Mike, none of that would have been possible. He, and his colleagues, made me look good. Over the past few years, I haven’t had a chance to see Mike too often; that’s what a 900-mile distance will do to a friendship. We communicated mostly by email or text — often about his beloved WKU Hilltoppers and occasionally about improvements to Kentucky’s voter registration system or other election-related matters. I tried to avoid talking baseball with him since his beloved St. Louis Cardinals always seemed to have the upper hand over the Reds. We last communicated via text message on Election Day about the irony of the voting systems being down at my polling place (fortunately, it was the other precinct, not my own). I still have that text message on my phone; I’m not going to delete it. Please keep Leslie, his children, Tori and Owen, and the rest of Mike’s friends and family in your thoughts and prayers. And give your family members a bigger hug tomorrow when you celebrate Thanksgiving. Life is precious, and sometimes all too fleeting, as Mike’s too early departure reminds us. Godspeed, my friend.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 20:54:03 +0000