Biden angers Kentucky Democrats over judicial nomination

The fallout continues over White House plans to nominate a conservative Republican judge to a federal district seat in Kentucky, with Democratic officials and abortion rights advocates imploring President Joe Biden to change his mind.

Also on the abortion rights front this week, a judge has temporarily blocked Kentucky's trigger law that banned abortion from going into effect, with the attorney general's attempt to appeal the order batted down by the Kentucky Supreme Court.

On the politics front, this week's newsletter also has a rundown on what all of the candidates for governor and other statewide offices raised in the last quarter, plus a peek behind the curtain of the mystery group that filled GOP state House primary races with attack ads in May.

Beshear calls nomination 'indefensible'

A lot has happened over the past week...

Responding to The Courier Journal's story on the planned nomination of Chad Meredith, Gov. Andy Beshear at his press conference last week joined Rep. John Yarmuth in strongly criticizing the move as "indefensible" and calling for Biden to change course.

The judicial vacancy for a potential Meredith nomination was announced the next morning, with subsequent reports revealing a White House email to the governor announced Meredith would be nominated on the very day that the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision.

Another White House email to Beshear's office attempted to clarify that the Meredith information was "pre-decisional and privileged," but the governor's office reversed course on its previous denial and released it to us.

So, is Biden going to officially pull his planned nomination, or is the apparent deal with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell worth all the backlash from Democrats? Watch this space.

Abortion ban on hold for now

The Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade briefly closed the doors of Kentucky abortion providers, until a Jefferson Circuit judge granted their motion for a temporary order to block the trigger law.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron made several attempts to appeal the order, which was denied by the Kentucky Court of Appeals and Kentucky Supreme Court, but a more permanent ruling on the lawsuit in the Jefferson Circuit could come soon.

Reporter Debby Yetter — a must-follow on this issue last week, this week and every week — has a rundown of all the different Kentucky abortion laws that are currently tied up in court and where they stand.

If you want to get all the political news from The Courier Journal and a whole lot more, you'll want to check out this great deal for new subscribers! 

Quarles leads GOP field in fundraising

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles has an early fundraising lead over his Republican rivals in the 2023 race for governor, pulling in well more than Attorney General Daniel Cameron and state Rep. Savannah Maddox.

On the Democratic side, Beshear had another quarter of raising more than $1 million, lifting his total haul since last summer to nearly $3.5 million.

Here's our deep dive into all the quarterly campaign finance filings submitted Tuesday for statewide candidates in 2022, including a Republican candidate for attorney general who raised an impressive amount that may stave off serious challengers.

Who is Commonwealth Conservatives?

Remember the mystery group sending out attack ads in the GOP state House primaries this May, despite not registering with Kentucky's election finance agency or revealing any of its representatives?

Well, we finally uncovered one of the representatives of Commonwealth Conservatives LLC — an Ohio man who happens to be tied to a dark money network that has spent millions of dollars worth of ads in GOP primaries in recent years.

Here's our dig into that dark money network that has eluded scrutiny from election regulators and government ethics watchdogs for years.

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today at the top of this page.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Biden angers Kentucky Democrats over judicial nomination