Paul Edward Patton (born May 26, 1937) is an American politician who served as the 59th Governor of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003. As a result of the 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to run for a second term. Since James Garrard took office in 1800. From 2010 to 2013, he served as the president of Pikeville University in Kentucky and from 2010 to 2013. From 2009 to 2011, he also served as chairman of the Higher Education Committee of the University of Kentucky.
After graduating from the University of Kentucky in 1959, Patton became a wealthy coal mine for 20 years. He sold most of his coal interests in the late 1970s and participated in politics. He served briefly in the cabinet of Governor John Y. Brown Jr. and served as chairman of the state Democratic Party. In 1981, he was elected judge/executive of Pike County. He made an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor in 1987, but was elected in 1991, serving concurrently as lieutenant governor and secretary of economic development under Governor Brereton Jones.
Four years later, Patton was elected Governor over Larry Forgy. The main achievement of his first term was a comprehensive reform of higher education, including making the state's community colleges and technical schools independent of the University of Kentucky and organizing them as Kentucky State community and technical college system. Parton soon posed a weak challenge to his re-election challenge in 1999. The senators of these two democracies defected to the Republican Party, and the Republican Party gained a majority in this legislative house. The economic boom that drove Patton's first term gradually declined in the early 2000s. Faced with a hostile legislature and poor economic prospects, Patton failed to formulate important legislation during his second term. In 2002, news of the breakdown of allegations of extramarital affairs and sexual scandals exacerbated Barton's situation. After initially denying the incident, Parton later admitted it, but continued to deny using his office to benefit his mistress. Later in his tenure, Patton was attacked for pardoning four of his political advisers who were charged for violating Kentucky's campaign finance laws and allegedly abusing their sponsorship rights. These successive scandals undermined any further political aspirations.