Andy Beshear won’t have to prosecute Jerry Lundergan – and he has Donald Trump to thank
Joseph Gerth
Andy Beshear dodged a bullet, and he should thank Donald Trump’s Justice Department for the favor.
Because the feds waited until late June to announce they had evidence Jerry Lundergan broke state laws, as well as the federal laws he was charged with violating during Alison Lundergan Grimes’ political campaigns, Beshear likely won’t have to prosecute his father’s longtime political nemesis.
And that likely allows him to avoid splitting the Democratic Party as the governor’s race roars to a finish over the next four months.
Lundergan still has a lot of friends in the Democratic Party, and they’re fully aware of the bad blood between the Lundergan and Beshear families that dates back to Jerry Lundergan’s and Steve Beshear’s state house races in the 1970s.
And some of the Lundergan supporters wouldn’t take kindly to Andy Beshear putting a boot on Lundergan’s chest as he walks out of office. Heck, they’re doing all they can to pull the lever for Beshear, as it is.
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To be sure, Steve Beshear would likely relish his son being the prosecutor who goes after Lundergan, just as he surely took joy in representing creditors of his old foe, former Gov. Wallace Wilkinson, after Wilkinson was forced to file for bankruptcy.
But even for the sake of settling old scores, Steve Beshear wouldn’t want to risk his son’s political career just because he’s still mad about a feud that goes back more than 40 years.
It will likely be up to either Democrat Greg Stumbo or Republican Daniel Cameron, the two candidates to succeed Beshear as attorney general, to decide if Lundergan should face state charges for allegedly making $345,000 in illegal corporate contributions to Grimes’ secretary of state races in 2011 and 2015.
Lundergan and Dale Emmons, a Democratic political consultant, were charged last year in an alleged scheme to send more than $25,000 in illegal contributions to Grime’s 2014 campaign to unseat Sen. Mitch McConnell.
Federal prosecutors want to put on evidence of a continuing pattern of that behavior and have Jonathan Hurst, Grimes’ former campaign manager, ready to testify that during the 2011 and 2015 races, Lundergan reimbursed him with checks written from the accounts of companies he controlled.
Lundergan has denied any wrongdoing.
It’s becoming increasingly absurd that this conduct is illegal as corporations, following the U.S. Supreme Court ruing in the Citizens United case, are now allowed to make unlimited independent expenditures in political campaigns. But a corporation with close ties to a candidate can’t contribute to her campaign.
The biggest crime, if Lundergan is guilty, is stupidity.
Had he kept another political consultant at arm’s length from the Grimes campaign and simply paid that consultant to make expenditures benefiting Grimes, it would have been completely legal.
We see it all the time.
Politicians like McConnell even go so far as to upload "b-roll" video footage and still pictures to the internet so political action committees and corporations wishing to make independent expenditures have easily accessible photos and video to use in their advertisements.
Everything is legal as long as there is no coordination in the timing and the messaging of the ads between whoever is making the expenditure and the campaign.
But what Lundergan is accused of is still a crime. And if he did what he’s accused of, he should face the charges.
And that gets us back to Andy Beshear.
His office said the federal government hasn’t shared any information concerning Lundergan and it, therefore, doesn’t have any evidence needed to charge him.
“The office will review the information that has been reported and take appropriate steps. It is not unusual in a federal investigation for the prosecutors to wait until the federal action is completed before sharing evidence with local and state agencies,” according to a statement from Beshear’s office.
And even if the feds shared information with Beshear today, it would likely take months to investigate, work with Hurst’s lawyers to get his cooperation and to get the case before a grand jury.
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For that, Andy Beshear owes the feds a debt of gratitude. The last thing he needs right now is a Democratic squabble that could rive the Democratic Party. He'd much rather sit back and watch the Republicans do that over Gov. Matt Bevin's treatment of Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton.
Even if it would make his old man happy to see Lundergan go down.
Joseph Gerth's opinion column runs on most Sundays and at various times throughout the week. He can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/josephg.