James "Honest Dick" Tate

James William "Honest Dick" Tate (January 2, 1831 – unknown (after 1890?)) was the Kentucky State Treasurer. He was nicknamed "Honest Dick" because of his good reputation and rapport with his colleagues. The nickname turned ironic, however, when Tate absconded with nearly a quarter of a million dollars from the state's treasury in 1888. He was never found.

Tate's thievery was frequently cited during Kentucky's fourth constitutional convention as a reason to impose term limits on Kentucky's elected officials. The one-term limit remained in force on most of Kentucky's officials until the state's constitution was amended in 1992 to allow the governor, lieutenant governor, state treasurer and other state officeholders to serve two consecutive terms.

Early life James William Tate was born the only child of Nancy (Taylor) Tate and her second husband, Colonel Thomas L. Tate in Franklin County, Kentucky. His father was descended from a Virginia family of Scots-Irish ancestry On June 28, 1858, the couple had their first child, a son named Howard, who died at the age of three. The couple also had a daughter, Edmonia. A model Democrat, he resigned the post when Know-Nothing governor Charles S. Morehead was elected in 1855.

In the gubernatorial race of 1887, Republican challenger William O. Bradley made an issue of the need to examine the treasury. Though Bradley ultimately lost the race, the idea of auditing the treasurer's records took root, and the General Assembly began calling for a commission to undertake the audit in the 1887–8 session.

Impeachment hearings followed in Kentucky's House of Representatives, and the Senate removed Tate from office after an impeachment trial, convicting him on four counts on March 30. A criminal indictment followed. An 1895 case marked "Not to be officially reported" freed those implicated in the scandal from any obligation to repay the state. "Tateism" became synonymous with political corruption in the state, and Tate's crime was frequently cited at the state's fourth constitutional convention in 1891. The resulting constitution expanded the one-term limit that had applied to the governor since 1800 to all statewide elected officials. The legislature and voters adopted a two-term limit for such officials in 1992.

Despite the General Assembly's offer of $5,000 ($140,000 in 2019) for information leading to Tate's arrest, he was never found. Though his family at first claimed they had heard nothing from him and presumed he may have committed suicide, his daughter eventually admitted that she had received at least four letters from her father between April and December 1888. The letters were postmarked from British Columbia (Canada), Japan, China, and San Francisco. Another witness claimed to have seen a letter to one of Tate's friends written in 1890 and postmarked from Brazil. That was the last known communication from "Honest Dick" Tate. An article in The New York Times, citing "friends who should know", claimed that Tate was believed to have died in China in 1890.