1. Adam Edelen was born on November 26,1974 and is an American businessman, solar energy entrepreneur, and politician who served as the Auditor of Public Accounts for the Commonwealth of Kentucky from 2012 to 2016.
22 Facts About Adam Edelen
1. 2.
Adam Edelen resigned from his position as the governor's Chief of Staff to work as a business consultant, before running for the Auditor of Public Accounts for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
3.
Adam Edelen's parents divorced when he was young, and his time as a child was divided between his mother's home in Louisville and his father's farm in rural Meade County.
4.
Adam Edelen is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta social fraternity.
5.
In 2002, Adam Edelen unsuccessfully ran for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council.
6.
Shortly after his inauguration, Adam Edelen initiated an examination of the former administration of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.
7.
Adam Edelen led an effort to reform special districts, which represent a $2.7 billion layer of government.
8.
In 2013, Adam Edelen helped shepherd a measure through the legislature to bring more accountability and transparency to the entities.
9.
When private, multibillion-dollar insurance companies took over the state's Medicaid system, Adam Edelen proposed recommendations for the state and managed care organizations to address issues in implementation.
10.
Adam Edelen created a new Medicaid Accountability and Transparency Unit in the Auditor's office to provide real-time oversight over the second-largest expenditure in state government.
11.
In 2012, Adam Edelen began examining spending practices in public schools.
12.
In 2014, Adam Edelen proposed legislation to strengthen Kentucky's cyber security protections and require state and local government to notify citizens if their data is compromised in a data breach.
13.
In 2015, Adam Edelen lost his re-election bid to Republican Mike Harmon.
14.
The efforts of Adam Edelen's auditor administration to expose the practice of special districts was a focus of a segment on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
15.
In 2017, news articles began circulating which detailed a project in which Adam Edelen is involved that plans to install tens of thousands of solar panels on a reclaimed surface mine in eastern Kentucky.
16.
In January 2019, Adam Edelen said the power has been sold and the project will move forward within the next few weeks.
17.
Adam Edelen chose Gill Holland, a Louisville community builder, filmmaker, and environmentalist, as his lieutenant governor candidate.
18.
Adam Edelen pledged to appoint women to at least six of Kentucky's 12 cabinet positions.
19.
Adam Edelen was one of Government Technology magazine's 2014 Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers, an award bestowed on innovators in the public sector across the country.
20.
In 2008, Adam Edelen was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce.
21.
Adam Edelen is a member of Lexington's First Presbyterian Church.
22.
Adam Edelen is an avid sportsman, reader of history, and University of Kentucky basketball fan.