KY Gov. Beshear wants judge to toss Herald-Leader lawsuit seeking his calendar
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s office is asking a Franklin Circuit judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Herald-Leader in an effort to access his calendar.
The Lexington newspaper sued Beshear in early January after being denied an open records request for “any documents reflecting the schedules of” Beshear, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and senior adviser Rocky Adkins for a prior six-month period in 2025.
In refusing to turn over the calendars, the Beshear administration cited a 1995 appellate court ruling, Courier-Journal v. Jones, which classifies the governor’s schedule as a “preliminary” document, making it exempt from disclosure under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
Since then, the ruling has also been applied to shield the calendars of other officials in Kentucky, down to the county and local level.
Scottie Ellis, Beshear’s communications director, said the governor is “committed to transparency” and demonstrates that by sending advisories ahead of his travel and hosting a weekly press conference.
“The Beshear administration is following what has been the rule of law in Kentucky for 30 years,” Ellis said in a statement Thursday. “If the Herald-Leader hopes to have that law changed, they should do so transparently and not try to blame one administration.
“Every previous governor has followed this law, and every attorney general has upheld it.”
But Michael Abate, the attorney representing the Herald-Leader, said nothing in the law requires the governor to keep his calendar secret.
“If he wanted to set an example of transparency, he could release his calendars to the public to show people how he’s been spending his time,” Abate said.
In the Jan. 26 motion, attorneys for the governor’s office say the case law has transcended partisan politics throughout the years.
“That precedent is so well-settled that Attorneys General have consistently applied it to find public agencies do not violate the Open Records Act when they withhold the schedules and calendars of executive officials, as well as emails and other records reflecting similar scheduling information,” they wrote.
“This has been the case even when the Attorney General and executive officials were of opposite political parties and political opponents.”
The motion mentions a 2016 case in which Beshear, then the state attorney general, found that GOP Gov. Matt Bevin did not violate the law by withholding emails about his schedule.
And in 2023, then-Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who was running for the Republican nomination to challenge Beshear for the governor’s mansion that November, similarly ruled the governor was justified in denying a request for communication related to scheduling a meeting.
Abate noted the Jones decision was a split 2-1 ruling. Because it was not further challenged in the 1990s, the appellate opinion has stood without the Kentucky Supreme Court having the final say.
“It’s clear the governor is doubling down on a flawed ruling to try to hide his activities from the public,” Abate said. “We intend to pursue this and vindicate the public’s right to know what their elected officials are up to.”
The Herald-Leader’s scrutiny of the governor’s calendar comes as Beshear is increasingly in the national spotlight.
Beshear, a Democrat in his second term, is chair of the Democratic Governors Association and is widely believed to be eyeing a presidential run in 2028. He’s spoken at the Democratic National Convention, appeared on late-night network television, launched a podcast and spoken at a number of party fundraisers.
During his second term alone, Beshear has traveled to more than a dozen states and at least eight foreign countries. Last week, Beshear made stops in Finland and Sweden before appearing at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, for the second consecutive year.
Earlier this week, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz — himself previously the subject of scrutiny for traveling to tropical Cancun, Mexico, as an ice storm struck Texas in 2021 — amplified an inaccurate post claiming Beshear was “touring Europe” as Winter Storm Fern descended on Kentucky.
Ellis, the governor’s spokesperson, previously confirmed to the Herald-Leader that Beshear returned from the trip on Jan. 24. He’d declared a state of emergency a day earlier, according to a new release from his office.
What do the court filings say?
The Herald-Leader’s November records request sought access to the past calendars of Beshear, Coleman and Adkins.
The Herald-Leader’s Jan. 5 complaint argues “historical records documenting completed meetings, many of them publicly announced” cannot be considered “preliminary” drafts.
“Officials now routinely publicize their meetings in real-time, undermining any claim that schedules represent confidential preliminary planning,” the complaint says.
Beshear’s legal team disagrees.
Not only is the Jones decision settled precedent, it’s also the correct ruling, they argue. It is “workable” and “recognizes that schedules reflecting those meetings and events are drafts of what ‘may or may never take place.’”
“In other words, a schedule is an expectation or plan, never a final record of what occurred, even if it accurately reflects what occurred,” they wrote. “Despite the Herald-Leader offering no justification for overturning Courier-Journal, when applied to the case at hand Courier-Journal presents the practical, workable, reasoned, and only approach.”
In the 1995 appellate court ruling, the opinion said the judges “view the Governor’s appointment schedule as nothing more than a draft of what may or may never take place; a notation for inter or intra-office use, so the daily affairs of the chief executive can be conducted with some semblance of orderliness; and all of which should be free from media interference.”
That case began when the Louisville Courier-Journal requested then-Gov. Brereton Jones’ appointment ledgers, which he refused to release.
The governor’s office is represented by General Counsel Travis Mayo, Chief Deputy General Counsel Taylor Payne and Deputy General Counsel Laura Tipton.
The case is assigned to Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate.
