Top KY Democratic consultant was targeted in FBI probe. Candidates still hired him.
For nearly three weeks, the trial of Jerry Lundergan and Dale Emmons has dragged on in a Frankfort courthouse as federal prosecutors make their case that the two men violated campaign finance laws by illegally funneling corporate money to Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes’ 2014 U.S. Senate campaign.
There was a third man, however, who allegedly helped them skirt the law, according to court documents, and he took the stand Thursday afternoon — Jonathan Hurst, Grimes’ 2014 campaign manager.
Hurst was one of the targets of the investigation in 2016 when search warrants were issued for his email account. At some point between that search and the August 2018 indictments, Hurst became the key cooperating witness for the government.
As the saga unfolded, Hurst’s political consulting business didn’t dry up.
Hurst Consulting was the most used campaign consultant for Democrats elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 2018, according to a Herald-Leader review of reports filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.
Seven members of the current House Democratic Caucus paid Hurst at least a combined $193,939.72 in 2018, according to KREF. They are Reps. Terri Branham Clark, Jim Glenn, Joni Jenkins, Nima Kulkarni, Mary Lou Marzian, Maria Sorolis and Lisa Willner.
None of the seven responded to questions from the Herald-Leader, including whether they will continue to use his services in their 2020 campaigns.
House Democrats continued to be involved with Hurst at least through April, when he attended a meeting between officials with the Kentucky Democratic Party; House Minority Whip Joni Jenkins, D-Louisville; and House Minority Caucus Chair Derrick Graham, D-Frankfort, according to a party spokeswoman. In the meeting, Jenkins and Graham talked about hiring Hurst to be political director for the House Democratic Caucus, where he would spearhead their 2020 campaign effort.
Hurst never made it onto the legislative payroll, according to Brian Wilkerson, a spokesman for House Democrats. Wilkerson declined to comment further about Hurst’s involvement with the House Democratic Caucus, saying his public role prevented him from talking about politics.
“Even taking the meeting (with Hurst) I think shows an incredible tone-deafness to everything going on in Kentucky politics,” said Tres Watson, a Republican strategist.
According to the application for a search warrant on Hurst, Lundergan and his companies directly paid Hurst $379,230.62 between January 2010 and June 2015, when the search warrant was executed.
At least 94 percent of the money came when Grimes was actively campaigning for office, according to the warrant, but the payments did not line up with the publicly-reported expenditures by Grimes’ various campaigns.
“In other words, it does not appear that Lundergan’s payments to Hurst were reported to the FEC (Federal Election Commission) as campaign expenditures,” Agent Kenneth Kirk wrote in the application for a search warrant.
The warrant also says Lundergan paid Hurst $304,257.51 between January 2010 and November 9, 2011, during Grimes Secretary of State campaign. The Kentucky Registry of Election Finance shows that Grimes’ campaign made three payments to Hurst during her Secretary of State’s race, totaling $63,401.41.
Former Attorney General Greg Stumbo, who helped give Hurst his start as a Democratic political operative in Kentucky, said he didn’t feel comfortable using Hurst in his current bid for Attorney General.
“Obviously, when all that came to light about the investigation, it would have put him in an awkward position and me in an awkward position,” Stumbo said.
Stumbo stopped short of criticizing any House Democrats who may continue to use Hurst.
“I think that’s a personal choice,” Stumbo said. “He’s obviously being used as a material witness, that doesn’t mean he didn’t do anything wrong.”
