State agency investigating excess contributions to Beshear, Kentucky Democrats
A top donor to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is now facing allegations by state campaign finance regulators that he violated state campaign law by donating in excess of individual contribution limits.
The Kentucky Registry of Election Finance mailed a notice about the investigation to Randall Weddle, a businessman who is also the mayor of London, and people who filed another unrelated complaint about Weddle to the registry, including London resident Charles Douglas Phelps. Though the registry could not comment on it, Phelps gave a copy of the notice to the Herald-Leader.
The “internal complaint” was penned by John Steffen, the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance’s executive director. In it, he says Weddle “may have” violated state law dictating that donors can only give candidates $2,100 per person and that no one can make a contribution on behalf of someone else.
Weddle got in hot water over the summer after Beshear’s campaign and the Democratic Governors Association, the organization that funded the largest political action committee supporting Beshear in his victory over GOP challenger Attorney General Daniel Cameron, returned more than $200,000 in contributions to him.
The contributions were made on Weddle and his wife’s credit card in other peoples’ names – six to the Beshear campaign and 15 to the Kentucky Democratic Party, which was running a coordinated campaign for the governor’s re-election. Weddle self-reported the issue, according to the Beshear campaign.
The registry is a state agency tasked with monitoring state-level campaign finance, but the donations to the Kentucky Democratic Party could run afoul of federal law, as individuals are barred from giving more than $15,000 to a political party each year.
In a letter from legal counsel for the Beshear campaign, attorney Jonathan Berkon wrote that Weddle’s actions were “inadvertent.”
The notice informed initial complainants, including Phelps, that the registry had combined their complaint with Steffen’s into one case.
That initial complaint centered around conduct during Weddle’s successful 2022 mayoral campaign. Three months before his victory, he sponsored a free gasoline giveaway for area residents.
This summer, Republican lawmakers with deep involvement in state transportation funding questioned why a $1.1 million state road project benefiting Weddle’s business was moved up to be constructed ahead of schedule. Beshear administration officials said the move was a prudent cost-saving measure and stated that the allegations of a conflict were “baseless.”
After the issue of the excess contributions was made public, Attorney General Daniel Cameron referred the matter to the FBI. Cameron was barred from investigating the issue because he was running against Beshear.
A spokesperson for Cameron’s office has yet to comment on if he intends to change course in the final weeks of his term. Further, a spokesperson for Attorney General-elect Russell Coleman’s transition team declined to comment on the matter.
Through the city, Weddle has not responded to any requests for comment made by the Herald-Leader.
Weddle has 15 days to respond to the notice, which was first mailed on Nov. 6.
This story was originally published November 13, 2023 at 9:37 AM.