Feds: Convicted former KY Democratic Party chair should serve more than five years in prison
Federal prosecutors are seeking a sentence of at least five years and three months in prison for former Kentucky Democratic Party chief Jerry Lundergan.
In another development Friday, U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatehove denied a request by Lundergan and veteran political consultant Dale Emmons to set aside the guilty verdicts.
Lundergan, 73, and Emmons were convicted last year of conspiring to funnel more than $200,000 in illegal contributions from a Lundergan company into the 2014 U.S. Senate race of his daughter, then-Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.
Grimes lost that race to Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader.
Lundergan and Emmons are to be sentenced July 16 in Frankfort.
The federal court system considers factors such as the amount of money involved in a crime and a person’s role in an offense to calculate an advisory sentencing range.
For Lundergan, the range is 63 to 78 months, according to a sentencing memorandum from prosecutors. The range for Emmons is 41 to 51 months.
Lundergan was convicted on more charges and also faces a higher potential sentence because the calculation considered him to be a leader in the scheme.
Prosecutors urged Van Tatenhove to impose sentences on both men within the ranges.
Prosecutors argued the two took part in a calculated scheme to undermine campaign-finance rules and used vague descriptions on invoices to hide the illegal contributions.
The sentences for Lundergan and Emmons must be significant enough to deter illegal conduct and assure the public that the government can police election corruption, the memo said.
“The federal campaign finance laws, imperfect though they may be, remain the single greatest source for transparency and integrity in federal elections,” prosecutors said. “Lundergan and Emmons trampled on these laws in single-minded pursuit of political victory.”
Attorneys for Lundergan have argued, however, that the sentence range outlined in the government’s memo is wrong.
The correct range would be 21 to 27 months for Lundergan, but he is eligible for probation, defense attorneys have said.
Defense attorneys urged Van Tatenhove not to send Lundergan to prison, saying his offense was not motivated by greed, but rather a desire to help his daughter.
“This is a case of the heart. And when all is said and done, the only people that Jerry Lundergan hurt were his family and himself,” defense attorneys said in a sentencing memo.
Lundergan’s attorneys also raised the concern that Lundergan could contract COVID-19 in prison and that he would be at higher risk of serious complications or death because of health problems, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
“It is not hyperbole to suggest that imposing a custodial sentence in this case could very well result in Jerry Lundergan’s death,” his attorneys said.
There was no sentencing memo from Emmons’ attorney available online as of Friday.
Lundergan and Emmons had asked Van Tatenhove to acquit them notwithstanding the jury’s verdict or, in the alternative, to order a new trial.
Their arguments included that the spending at issue did not qualify as illegal corporate contributions and that Van Tatenhove improperly allowed the jury to hear evidence that Lundergan made illegal contributions to Grimes’ 2011 and 2015 secretary of state races.
Prosecutors opposed the request, and Van Tatenhove rejected it in an order filed Friday.
The judge said there was an adequate basis for the jury’s decision and that it was proper for prosecutors to present evidence of other alleged illegal corporate contributions by Lundergan.
Lundergan, of Lexington, has operated successful catering and disaster-services companies and served as a state representative. Prominent friends including former President Bill Clinton and University of Kentucky men’s basketball Coach John Calipari have submitted letters urging a lenient sentence for him.
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 6:10 PM.
