LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration has hired Buddy Hoskinson, a state government veteran, to run the Office of Unemployment Insurance, saying he brings “invaluable” knowledge to the job.
Hoskinson’s appointment comes after Beshear’s Workforce Cabinet hired a well-connected political donor with no experience in unemployment insurance to run the office, only to fire him five months later amid mounting problems with unpaid claims during the pandemic.
Muncie McNamara, the fired unemployment director, told lawmakers last month that Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman personally offered him the job in January after McNamara raised money and knocked on nearly 1,000 doors to help Beshear’s campaign last fall.
Hoskinson started Monday as interim executive director of the Office of Unemployment Insurance, the state Labor Cabinet confirmed.
“(Hoskinson) will work collaboratively with (Labor) Secretary (Larry) Roberts to ensure Kentuckians receive the unemployment benefits for which they qualify,” Labor Cabinet chief of staff Marjorie Arnold told WDRB News in an email. “ … His knowledge of unemployment insurance will be invaluable as the Office of Unemployment Insurance transitions (from the Workforce Cabinet) to the Kentucky Labor Cabinet.”
The Labor Cabinet declined to make Hoskinson available for an interview, saying he is “dedicated to ensuring Kentucky’s Office of Unemployment Insurance is being responsive to Kentuckians in need during this pandemic.”
Hoskinson was previously executive director of the Kentucky Career Center / Office of Employment and Training, which included unemployment insurance, Arnold told WDRB.
The cabinet would not provide a copy of his resume, but it verified other biographical details.
A Western Kentucky University graduate, Hoskinson joined state government during former Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration (Andy Beshear’s father). He led employment and training, as well as vocational rehabilitation, efforts in the earlier Beshear administration and served as chairman of Kentucky’s Unemployment Insurance Commission into the early part of the administration of Matt Bevin, who succeeded Steve Beshear in 2015.
Hoskinson then became “quality assurance and accountability director” in the Department for Aging and Independent Living, a unit of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
The Labor Cabinet declined to disclose Hoskinson's salary, saying it would be disclosed on the state's transparency website (it was not as of Thursday).
Beshear’s administration has struggled under the weight of about 1 million unemployment claims during the pandemic.
The governor is spending $12 million from Kentucky’s share of federal CARES Act dollars on no-bid contracts for accounting firm Ernst & Young to help slog through problem claims.
State officials have said the accounting firm processed more than 60,000 initial claims since starting work July 1, though state officials still need to write determination letters to fully dispatch with those claims.
Officials have acknowledged a separate problem: people getting initial payments of unemployment insurance but then being unable to continue payments on their claim. State officials have never quantified how many “continuing claims” need to be straightened out.
