{{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Don Blandford | honorific_suffix = | image = | alt = | office = Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives | order = 89th | term_start = January 8, 1985 | term_end = January 6, 1993 | predecessor = Bobby H. Richardson | successor = Joe Clarke | office1 = Speaker pro tempore of the Kentucky House of Representatives | term_start1 = January 4, 1983 | term_end1 = January 8, 1985 | predecessor1 = David Thomason | successor1 = Pete Worthington | state_house2 = Kentucky | district2 = 14th | term_start2 = January 1, 1968 | term_end2 = May 3, 1993 | predecessor2 = R. E. Hale | successor2 = Mark Treesh | birth_name = Donald Joseph Blandford | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1938|4|4}} | birth_place = Owensboro, Kentucky, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = | party = Democratic | relations = | children = | alma_mater = }} '''Donald Joseph Blandford''' (born April 4, 1938) is an American retired politician in the state of Kentucky. A Democrat, he was a longtime Kentucky state legislator and served as Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives until his indictment and conviction for bribery.
Born in Owensboro, Kentucky in 1938,<ref name="1194ll">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1d3AAAAMAAJ&q=%22Caudle,+Reece+Arthur%22+%22Caudle+died*%22|title=American Legislative Leaders in the South, 1911-1994|isbn=9780313302138|accessdate=December 16, 2023|last1=Sharp|first1=James Roger|last2=Sharp|first2=Nancy Weatherly|year=1999|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FQgSAAAAYAAJ&q=%22blandford%2C+donald%22 | title=Who's who in the South and Southwest | date=1991 }}</ref> Blandford was a meat cutter (butcher) who lived in Philpot, Kentucky, and represented the 14th District in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1968 to 1993. In January 1985 Blandford unseated Speaker of the House Bobby H. Richardson to assume that office himself.
Blandford served as Speaker of the House for eight years, which at the time was a record.{{vague|reason=no scope stated or inferable. Both houses? Any state, or one? What abt legislatures where lower chamber is not called "House" or presiding member is not called "Speaker". Limited to US state leg'ures?|date=February 2018}} He played an essential role in the passage of major education reform legislation in 1990. He was considered a very strong, powerful and influential Speaker.{{by whom|date=February 2018}}
==Operation Boptrot== During the 1992 legislative session the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted an inquiry and sting operations involving members of the Kentucky House of Representatives and the Kentucky Senate, known as Operation Boptrot. Approximately 10% of the state's sitting legislators were indicted as a result, many for accepting bribes of as low as $100. The probe snared members of both political parties. Blandford was the highest ranking legislator indicted. (The Republican minority leader in the Senate was also indicted and convicted, as were other House members of both parties.) Blandford accepted $500 in cash from former state representative Bill McBee, a lobbyist then representing a Kentucky racetrack.<ref>[http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/33/685/513531/ 33 F.3d 685: United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Donald J. Blandford, Defendant-appellant]</ref> "Bless your heart", Blandford said when presented with the bribe. The exchange was videotaped and audiotaped by the FBI. Blandford was charged with bribery, and convicted and sent to prison. (The FBI investigation resulted in 21 convictions overall; most or all{{vague|reason=WTF?? Clarify at least on talk how such a source can count as RS!!|date=February 2018}} of those convicted were sitting legislators, former legislators, or lobbyists.) Blandford resigned his seat in 1993.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TDZCAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4aoMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2452,1932312&dq=don+blandford&hl=en Don Blandford Resigns House Seat]; (Middlesboro) Daily News; May 4, 1993</ref>
In the wake of Blandford's conviction and the scandal that rocked the Kentucky General Assembly as a whole, the House elected Joe Clarke of Danville, the longtime chairman of the Appropriations and Revenue Committee, as Speaker. Clarke's impeccably clean image and sterling reputation for honesty was a marked contrast to that of his predecessor.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n10_v29/ai_19898066/pg_1 Michelle Cottle, "Why Mitch McConnell should know better - campaign fund corruption in his home state of Kentucky", ''Washington Monthly'', October 1997]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blandford, Don}} Category:Criminals from Kentucky Category:Speakers of the Kentucky House of Representatives Category:Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives Category:Politicians convicted of extortion under color of official right Category:Politicians convicted of racketeering Category:American prisoners and detainees Category:American butchers Category:Living people Category:American government officials convicted of crimes Category:Kentucky politicians convicted of crimes Category:1938 births Category:Operation Boptrot Category:20th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly