With Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Kentucky, seeking distance from a growing campaign finance scandal Democrats are hitting GOP gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron over his own campaign finance issue.
The Daily Beast is pointing to contributions to Cameron’s campaign from a group being investigated by his office – and that he did not recuse himself or return the money until open records requests revealed the conflict of interest.
“In March and April, Cameron accepted $6,900 from officials at an addiction recovery center tied to an ongoing state investigation. Despite the donations, Cameron did not recuse himself from that investigation (…),” the Daily Beat wrote on Thursday.
The online magazine also refreshed a finance hit against Cameron which first came to light from a Republican rival of Cameron’s during the GOP primary.
In April, Cameron’s campaign and office defended a combined $100,000 in political donations from a gaming company that is currently suing the state, with Cameron named as one defendant.
“The money came from gaming company Pace-O-Matic and two of its executives, and it went to a PAC backing Cameron’s campaign, called “Bluegrass Freedom Action,” the Louisville Courier-Journal reported at the time. Pace-O-Matic had just spent months throwing cash at lobbyists, seemingly in a failed attempt to ply the Kentucky legislature to block a bill that would have restricted its gambling activity in the state.”
“It’s a day that ends in ‘y’ so it’s no surprise that team Cameron is once again being forced to explain yet another scandal coming out of the AG’s office,” said Democratic Governor’s Association (DGA) States Press Secretary Emma O’Brien. “As scandals continue to pile up, Kentuckians deserve to know what their chief law enforcement official Daniel Cameron knew and when about his latest conflict of interest.”
All the campaign fund back and forth is likely a ploy to muddy the waters as Cameron’s campaign spent the beginning of the week pushing Beshear into a corner over what looks like straw campaign contributions to his campaign and to the state Democratic Party. Cameron, the Kentucky Attorney General, is asking the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to look into the matter.
