Ken Bennett

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Ken Bennett (born 1959) is a Republican politician and businessman currently serving as president of the Arizona Senate.

Bennett was born in Tucson into a family that were members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). He later moved to Prescott, Arizona where he attended Prescott High School and Yavapai College. Between terms there he served his two-year mission in southern Japan. In 1981 he transferred to Arizona State University and graduated with a degree in accounting. After graduation, Bennett served as CEO of his family business, Bennett's Oil Co., a position he still holds as of 2006.

Bennett was elected to the Arizona State Board of Education in 1992, serving as president in 1996 and 1998. In 1998 he was elected to the Arizona State Senate, where he now serves as President and sits on the Rules Committee.

[edit] Controversies

In 1989, several underground petroleum storage tanks owned by Bennett's Oil Co. released petroleum into the environment. In the years following, Bennett's undertook various remedies to decontaminate the area, paid for by its insurance company. Bennett's and its insurer, Federated Mutual Insurance, both placed five separate applications to the state for reimbursement of the cleanup costs. The first four were approved, but the last was denied under a recently enacted act limiting reimbursement to costs not covered by insurance. Bennett's appealed the denial in court, arguing that the law was intended only to prevent double recovery, not to limit the state to providing only secondary insurance. The court affirmed the state's interpretation of the law and denied reimbursement. [1]

On January 23, 2006, Bennett's 18-year-old son Clifton Bennett (the youngest of Bennett's three children), was arrested and later charged with 18 counts of aggravated assault and 18 counts of kidnapping. Bennett admitted that while volunteering as a junior camp counselor the previous summer, he and a friend had assaulted 18 boys at the camp ranging in age from 11 to 16 years with an activity he called "brooming." He said that he intended to humiliate the boys by forcing them to line up and bend over, holding them against their will, and prodding their clothed anuses with broomsticks and flashlight handles. Clif Bennett also told the judge that serving jail time for a felony would prevent his plans to serve as an LDS missionary overseas. Prosecutors considered filing charges of sexual assault but ultimately accepted a plea bargain of one felony count of aggravated assault, allowing him the possibility of avoiding imprisonment. Several parents of victims were unhappy with the deal, blaming its leniency on undue influence from his powerful father. [2]

On May 12, 2006, Clifton Bennett was sentenced to 30 days in jail (which he began serving as of June 1, 2006), 3 years probation and 200 hours of community service. In addition, the conviction was not classified as a felony and in the event that Clifton obeys the terms of probation will be reduced to a misdemeanor and erased after 3 years. [3] [4]