KY primary: Craft supporter files ethics complaint against Cameron; AG denies wrongdoing
An ethics complaint has been filed against Attorney General Daniel Cameron, citing an alleged conflict of interest in a legal challenge involving “gray machines,” by a Northern Kentucky attorney who is also backing Kelly Craft in the increasingly ugly GOP primary to be Kentucky’s next governor.
Steven Megerle filed the complaint against Cameron, the apparent frontrunner in the heated Republican gubernatorial primary, with the Executive Branch Ethics Commission in Frankfort Wednesday. In the complaint, Megerle argues Cameron is “incapable of objectively discharging the duties of his office” because of donations given backing his effort to become Kentucky’s next governor.
The Herald-Leader reported last week that a political action committee supporting Cameron’s quest for governor received $100,000 in donations from Pace-o-Matic and its executives, and thousands more was given directly to Cameron’s campaign itself. Pace-o-Matic is currently suing the state over the ban enacted by the 2023 General Assembly, and the Office of the Attorney General is responsible for defending state laws in court.
Craft and Cameron’s campaigns — and PACs backing each of them — have been lobbing attacks at one another for weeks leading up to the expensive May 16 primary.
Additionally, candidate Eric Deters has said he plans to file a challenge to Craft’s eligibility to run for governor, arguing she doesn’t meet the residency requirements. The PAC supporting Cameron has also called Craft an Oklahoma resident and launched a website called “OklahomaKelly.com.” (Craft’s husband, billionaire Joe Craft, is CEO of Alliance Coal based in Tulsa.)
Megerle, too, has a dog in this political fight; Kentucky Registry of Election Finance records show he has given Craft’s campaign two donations of $250 each.
Krista Buckel, spokesperson for the attorney general, said Cameron recused himself “from any decision making” involving the case on March 31.
“To accuse Attorney General Cameron or the Office of the Attorney General of any impropriety, in this case, is wholly without basis and patently untrue,” Buckel said in a statement. “General Cameron and his Office have always and will continue to defend the laws the General Assembly passes without fear or favor. While General Cameron has personally recused himself from taking any action in this case and did so before any filing was made by the Office, experienced attorneys in the Office of the Attorney General are defending the constitutionality of the legislation challenged by the plaintiffs and will continue to do so until the case is won and the challenge is defeated.”
In addition to the $100,000 given to the Bluegrass Freedom Action PAC, Megerle also identified a total of $33,610 donations to Cameron’s campaign by gray machine industry employees, their families “and/or those directly benefiting from the ‘gray machine’ industry.”
The donations were all made in advance of the lawsuit being filed March 28, he says. Around $29,000 of industry-linked donations came on March 27, just one day prior.
Megerle alleges Cameron had a “significant financial incentive” which “directly and tangibly benefits the personal political interest of the Attorney General, who is using his influence in the matter by failing to recuse himself and his office.”
Additionally, Megerle says Cameron “knowingly secured advantages for himself in and his political campaign by accepting tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from interested parties in a lawsuit the very day before those same parties filed suit against him.”
Megerle argued Cameron could have sought an advisory ethics opinion, appoint a special attorney general from outside his office to handle the lawsuit, return the donations in question and/or issue a statement asking the PAC to return the donations.
Megerle said the commission has 10 days to initiate an investigation.
Pace-O-Matic attempted to include Cameron to the lawsuit by naming his office as a defendant, but Cameron won an appellate court ruling allowing his office to be excused, according to WDRB.
Further, in 2021 the Kentucky Lottery Corporation and several other businesses and organizations — including the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, big names in the horse industry, convenience store and lodge proprietors — sought an opinion from Cameron on the legality of the machines. The Herald-Leader has asked Cameron’s office for their response at the time.
Herald-Leader politics reporter Austin Horn contributed to this report.
