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	State Bar President Gets 15 Days to Respond to Report By Andrew Wolfson The Courier-Journal November 24, 2008 http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20081124/NEWS01/811250302 The Kentucky Bar Association has given its embattled president, Barbara Bonar, 15 days to respond to a report by a lawyer hired to investigate her. Bruce Davis, the KBA's vice president, confirmed that Bonar had received time to rebut the findings of Robert F. Houlihan Jr. Houlihan was asked to investigate whether Bonar abused her power in removing four members from the bar association's ethics committee before their terms expired and whether she was candid with the board about the reasons for the removals, according to board members and other attorneys. The newspaper reported last month that all four ethics committee members had some connection with Cincinnati lawyer Stan Chesley, with whom Bonar has had a much publicized dispute over $18.5 million in legal fees from the Diocese of Covington priest-abuse case. Thomas Clay, a Louisville lawyer who is representing Bonar, wouldn't comment on the report, which was presented to the bar's board of governors at an executive session on Saturday. Davis, the KBA's former director, declined to comment on Houlihan's findings and the association hasn't released a copy of the report. The board of governors has no power to remove the president, but Davis would serve out the rest of her one-year term if she stepped down. Bonar, who began her term in July, is also battling a bar disciplinary complaint that arose from the findings of a senior judge who said she committed "numerous ethical violations" in the diocese case. She has denied any wrongdoing. Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189.
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