I thank the Herald-Leader for bringing attention to the issues and challenges prosecutors in Kentucky will face after significant cuts to their budgets that will likely result in the elimination of up to 100 jobs from the system.

But while I appreciate the attention to the issue, I am disappointed that neither I nor my office was contacted to respond to false allegations contained in the article.

It quotes Jessamine County Attorney Brian Goettl, the owner and operator of a conservative blog, who implies that the reduction in prosecutors' budgets was due, in part, to my lack of attention to this matter with legislators.

If the reporter had sought a response, he would have discovered that Goettl's claims are baseless. During the transition before I took office, I twice met with Gov. Steve Beshear and his staff regarding the importance of the prosecutors' budgets.

On my second day in office, I, along with the elected leadership of county attorneys and commonwealth's attorneys (which does not include Goettl), again met with Beshear on this issue and requested that prosecutors' budgets be spared from his proposed budget cuts.

Multiple meetings with the House and Senate leaders and budget chairmen followed.

If the reporter had called, he would have had access to the voluminous documentation of our efforts.

Because of the efforts of this office and the leadership of the Prosecutors Advisory Council, members of the House increased prosecutors' budgets by almost $6 million more than the governor proposed. Unfortunately, those increases were not included in the final budget.

In the future, if questions are raised about the way I handle particular matters in this office, I would appreciate the journalistic norm of an opportunity to respond.

Jack Conway is the Attorney General of Kentucky. This editorial was originally published in the Herald-Leader of Lexington.