FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is expanding the ethics disclosure rules for his top aides, a move he says will bring more openness to state government.

Beshear, a Democrat, says his general counsel will begin scrutinizing all financial disclosure forms that top government officials must file each year. Beshear also says officials must now list all people who have ownership stakes in their outside business ventures.

The changes come after a personal business relationship was disclosed earlier this week between Adam Edelen, Beshear's chief of staff, and a Frankfort lobbyist. Edelen was business partners in Chartwell Land Co. with lobbyist Bob Babbage and Beshear appointee Ralph Coldiron.

Edelen and Babbage say they have dissolved the company. Now, Edelen says he's also asking an Executive Branch Ethics Commission for guidance on how to divest his interest in a Lexington office condo he owns with Babbage.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)