The longtime head of Kentucky’s agency overseeing state campaign finance law is stepping down later this year.
Sarah Jackson announced this week she is retiring as executive director of the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance effective Nov. 1 after serving in the position since 1999.
“Sarah has been a tremendous asset to the agency and a true professional as executive director. The agency is stronger for it,” said KREF board chairman Craig C. Dilger in a released statement.
A native Kentuckian, Jackson served as general counsel for the state Cabinet for Workforce Development from 1998 to 1999 before taking on the executive director role with the registry.
Before that, she was director of the Division of Charitable Gaming in the Justice Cabinet from 1996 to 1998. She was also the division’s assistant director when it started in 1994.
Jackson is credited with expanding the agency’s electronic campaign finance reporting and establishing an online searchable database.
Registry budget analyst Rebecca Feland has been named interim director until a permanent replacement is hired. The registry also re-elected Dilger as its board chairman for an unprecedented eighth consecutive one-year term.
Under state law, the registry is charged with administering Kentucky’s campaign finance laws, including those relating to all candidates running in the 2014 election. State law requires disclosure by a candidate of contributions to and expenditures by the campaign.
