The grand jury issued its report on the investigation in October 2006, and a judge ordered it released to the public on November 16. The report categorized the Fletcher administration's actions as "a widespread and coordinated plan to violate merit hiring laws." It charged that "This investigation was not about a few people here and there who made some mistakes as Governor Ernie Fletcher had claimed," and lamented that the blanket pardon issued by Fletcher, coupled with Fletcher taking the Fifth, made it "difficult to get to the bottom of the facts of this case...As a result, grand jury was in part forced to rely on documentary evidence to piece together the facts of the case." Fletcher opined that the allegations in the report were inconsistent with his settlement with Stumbo, which acknowledged that Fletcher's administration acted "without malice."