Death threats against Daniel Cameron move KY lawmakers to spend $500,000 for security
Kentucky lawmakers put in the state budget this week $500,000 for around-the-clock security for Attorney General Daniel Cameron after they heard he has received numerous death threats, the state Senate budget chairman said in defending the expense.
“We have heard that there were more death threats against Daniel Cameron last year than any other elected official in the country except President Trump,” said Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill. “We figured it would take five people to do the job with salaries and benefits so we appropriated $100,000 a person.”
The security money, which equals $1,368 a day, is contained in the state budget bill.
In another bill, lawmakers also gave the Republican’s office $4 million for more personnel and $2 million to investigate crimes related to the coronavirus pandemic. The office has an annual total operating budget of about $35.6 million with about 160 employees.
The bills with extra money for Cameron’s office now are in the hands of Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat and the former attorney general. If Beshear line-item vetoes the expenses, the Republican supermajorities in both the Senate and House would likely override his vetoes.
The need for security for Cameron began last year after he allegedly received a death threat through a phone line dedicated to the Breonna Taylor case at his office. Taylor was a Black woman who was killed during a police search at her Louisville apartment last March.
Wesley Forrest Clay, 29, of Olathe, Kansas, has been charged with making a threat through interstate communications, according to court records..”
Cameron has also been publicly scrutinized by celebrities, protesters, faith leaders and others since his office’s investigation into Breonna Taylor’s death. The investigation resulted in charges for only one of the officers who fired shots at or in Taylor’s apartment the night she died.
Cameron has said that his critics are “cherry-picking facts” and that he’s just trying to do his job.
Last year, the legislature’s Government Contract Review Committee approved a $300,000 security contract for Cameron’s safety. It started Aug. 26 and ran until the end of 2020, and was with several law-enforcement agencies.
In January of this year, the review committee approved a contract up to $300,000 for a 24/7 armed security detail to protect Cameron, who lives in Jefferson County. It is with the police department of Graymoor-Devondale, a city in Jefferson County, and is to run through June 30, the end of this fiscal year.
If the $500,000 appropriation legislators approved this week becomes law, it is not certain at this time if security for Cameron will continue with the Graymoor-Devondale force or with others. .
“We will decide that close to June 30,” said Deputy Attorney General Barry Dunn in an interview Thursday, adding that the threats against Cameron are continuing.
Dunn said the money would go for security personnel and there are no plans to use it for any building project. When Democrat John Y. Brown Jr. was governor from 1979 to 1983, Kentucky State Police built a security facility and helicopter pad at Brown’s Cave Hill residence in Lexington.
Greg Wolfe, Cameron’s criminal investigations commissioner, told the review committee earlier this year that state police were asked first to provide security for Cameron but it does not have the manpower to do so.
The state police does provide security for the governor and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman. The KSP is reluctant to provide details about security for the state’s two top elected officials but a state website shows 21 salaries for “executive security.”
Their combined salaries total about $1.3 million but that does not include the cost of benefits like retirement and health insurance.
Dunn said the $500,000 for Cameron’s security includes payment of salaries and benefits.
Regarding the $4 million for more personnel in the attorney general’s office and $2 million to tackle crimes related to COVID-19, Dunn said the office needs more staff to fight cybercrimes like stolen identities; to aid special victims like abused children and victims of human trafficking; and lawyers to handle criminal appeals.
COVID-19 crimes, he said, range from price gouging and other consumer protection violations to unemployment insurance fraud.
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 1:18 PM.
