Gov. Steve Beshear has selected Madeline Abramson as the new board chair of the Kentucky Center for the Arts. She’s already on the board, and might seem a natural choice for Beshear to make after Ed Glasscock’s resignation. The Frost Brown chief held the job for an amazingly long 10 years.

But the job isn’t some plum, do-nothing position. As the C-J’s Andrew Adler wrote June 21, the new chair will have to be politically astute and fight for state money in Frankfort.  Here’s what he wrote about Glasscock’s successor:

Whoever gets Beshear’s nod will find plenty of challenges, plunged into an economy showing only the barest signs of recovery. Because the center has secured $8.9 million in state funds for capital needs (practically astonishing given present fiscal realities), the incoming chairman will have a little breathing room.

Then the new board chief will have to muster the needed savvy, and the guts, to make the case for the center throughout the commonwealth.

Mrs. Abramson may have the mettle to get the job done, but it certainly seems a step up from her current activities, including chairing the board at Maryhurst. Can she lobby rural state legislators with the deftness that Glasscock has shown for the last decade?

The appointment brings up all sorts of opportunities for conflicts of interest, and would seem to give Abramson’s critics some new ammunition. If Madeline’s husband decides to join Beshear’s 2011 campaign as his running mate, the timing of her appointment smacks of favoritism. Some will ask if Beshear’s appointment had anything to do with persuading Jerry to join up with him.

Abramson is said to be leaning toward the Lt. Governor race, and will make an announcement in the next few weeks.

Will having his wife heading the Kentucky Center Board factor into the 2011 statewide election, with Abramson in the #2 spot on the ticket? Time will tell.