GOP group pulls pro-Bevin ad featuring Pikeville man involved in harassment lawsuits

A national Republican group pulled a television advertisement supporting Gov. Matt Bevin Thursday after the Herald-Leader raised questions about two sexual harassment lawsuits involving a prominent Pike County businessman who is featured in the ad.

Bevin’s campaign also said it will return $4,000 donated by Greg May, the manager of Utility Management Group, and his wife.

May was the subject of a 2008 sexual harassment suit, and was accused of improper retaliation in another sexual harassment suit filed in 2007 that was settled by his company.

The suits allege May, who has donated more than $120,000 to Republican and Democratic political campaigns in recent years, attempted to solicit sex from one of his employees and fired another after she was sexually harassed by multiple co-workers.

The ad featuring May came from the Republican Governors Association, a group that has spent millions in Kentucky this year attempting to help Bevin get reelected. In it, May talks about how the opioid epidemic has affected Pikeville and says Attorney General Andy Beshear is too liberal to be elected governor.

“Just like national Democrats, Beshear opposes a ban on sanctuary cities,” May said. “Refusing to ban sanctuary cities that protect drug dealers. Andy Beshear is a risk we cannot take.”

The Republican Governors Association said Thursday it has removed the ad.

“We were unaware of these allegations when we shared Mr. May’s story of losing his brother to an opioid overdose, and we have removed the ad,” said Amelia Chassé Alcivar, a spokeswoman for Putting Kentucky First, an affiliate of the RGA.

May did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.

May has long supported both Democratic and Republican politicians in Kentucky. In the current election cycle, he and his wife gave the maximum donation to Bevin’s campaign, but he also gave $1,000 to House Minority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins in the 2019 Democratic primary and $1,000 to former Gov. Steve Beshear in 2007.

Bevin has had harsh words for those involved in sexual harassment settlements in the past. In 2017, as the House of Representatives was in upheaval over a secret sexual harassment settlement that former House Speaker Jeff Hoover and three other lawmakers negotiated with a staffer, Bevin held a press conference in the Capitol Rotunda to call for the resignation of every “individual who has settled a sexual harassment case, who is a party to trying to hide this type of behavior.”

“Any elected official or state employee who has settled a sexual harassment claim should resign immediately,” he said.

May is not a state employee, but UMG has contracts to operate public works in Pike County.

In the 2008 complaint, May was accused of propositioning a woman for sex. When she refused, she alleged he asked her to perform oral sex. When she refused that request, she alleged he asked her to “at least touch me.” The woman was an employee at UMG and May was her employer. She subsequently told her husband and resigned from the company, according to her complaint.

In a response to the complaint, May denied the allegations of sexual harassment. The case was voluntarily dismissed in 2010, indicating May and his accuser came to an agreement outside of the courtroom.

The lawsuit wasn’t the first time there was a sexual harassment complaint at UMG. In an earlier complaint that was settled, May allegedly fired a woman who claimed she was sexually harassed by other co-workers. The woman said in a deposition in the lawsuit that May called her “a whore” two days before he fired her.

In his own deposition, May said he believed the woman was acting improperly with male employees and that she was “leading them on and stuff.”

May’s name also came up in the 2015 gubernatorial campaign, that time for donating to Democratic candidate Jack Conway, who’s office decided it lacked probable cause to investigate UMG in 2011 after it was the subject of a critical state audit. Conway called May a “political ally” during the campaign.

In 2010, UMG played a role in a federal investigation of alleged bid rigging in the state Transportation Cabinet under former Gov. Ernie Fletcher. Federal prosecutors alleged Leonard Lawson, the founder of UMG and defendant in the case, used UMG to funnel money to the transportation secretary in exchange for insider information on state projects.

A federal jury found Lawson not guilty. He held a fundraiser for Bevin last month.

This story was originally published October 4, 2019 at 10:09 AM.