Cameron tries to get ad off air, GOP paints ‘no good’ week for Beshear | Trail to ’23

This is part of an occasional Herald-Leader series, Trail to ‘23, to catch readers up on all the latest from this year’s Kentucky elections, most notably the governor’s race. There are fewer than five months until the November 7 general election in which Kentuckians will decide the commonwealth’s next governor: incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear or Republican challenger Daniel Cameron.

Daniel Cameron’s gubernatorial campaign does not like an ad that’s now gracing television airwaves.

We know this because, as the Courier-Journal first reported this week, his team has been contacting television stations trying to get it taken down. That hasn’t worked.

The ad, from the Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear-backing political action committee (PAC) Defending Bluegrass Values, connects Cameron to a series of controversial pardons issued by former governor Matt Bevin on his way out of office. Cameron, when he started his term as attorney general, hired multiple attorneys who were involved to some degree in the pardon and commutation processes for those individuals.

Cameron’s campaign takes issue with the wording of the ad, claiming that it makes it seem like Cameron hired a murderer and a child rapist when the ad states that Cameron started his tenure as attorney general “surrounding himself with the same people who helped push Bevin’s pardons – one a child rapist, another who killed his parents.”

In a June 14 letter sent to stations across the Commonwealth, an attorney for Cameron’s campaign called the ad’s statement a “brazen lie.” An attorney for Defending Bluegrass Values, Courtney Weisman, called that claim “illogical and disingenuous.”

“The advertisement never claims that Mr. Cameron hired a murderer or child rapist to work in the Office of the Attorney General. And it is unclear on what basis Mr. Cameron claims that it does. The ad clearly delineates between those ‘who pushed Mr. Bevin’s pardons’ (the staff members) and those who benefited from the pardons (the criminals),” Weisman wrote.

GOP celebrates Beshear’s ‘No Good, Very Bad Week’

Republicans have been celebrating some recent headlines focusing on controversy linked to Beshear.

“Andy Beshear’s no good, very bad week” is the title of a podcast from McConnell-aligned GOP operative Scott Jennings, where the PR executive and commentator skewers Beshear over two stories in particular.

In one, the Courier-Journal found that Beshear had misrepresented a state economic milestone. Kentucky does not have the most people employed in state history, as Beshear had previously stated. However, the state is seeing the highest number of jobs filled in its history – a fact that Beshear’s messaging has since pivoted towards.

A PAC backed by the Republican Governors Association (RGA) has pounced on the controversy surrounding London Mayor Randall Weddle, whose credit card was linked to donations totaling $202,000 to Beshear’s campaign and the Kentucky Democratic Party (KDP). That’s much more than a single individual is allowed to give to parties and campaigns, per federal and state law.

The PAC announced on Friday that it launched a text campaign informing voters of the donations.

About those donations to Cameron...

A report from the Daily Beast detailed donations from leaders at a recovery center in Morehead to Cameron. That center is currently under investigation by a wing of Cameron’s office for Medicaid fraud or abuse, raising questions about a potential conflict of interest.

Cameron recused himself from the investigation in May. The story claims that Cameron did not recuse himself, nor did the campaign refund the donations, until the outlet started to request records related to recusals. Leaders of the center were eventually refunded $6,900 in donations.

Herald-Leader reporting had flagged these donations earlier, but for different reasons. The group of leaders from Edgewater Recovery Center constituted a sizable chunk of money in one report, and that group included the chair of the Rowan County Democrats who served as general counsel to Democrat Amy McGrath’s 2020 U.S. Senate campaign.

‘Liberal Andy Beshear’ ad

The RGA is getting involved on television as well as text. It wants voters to hear that Beshear “is more liberal than you think,” in a new ad from Kentucky Values, which the RGA helps fund.

The ad highlights Beshear’s veto of Senate Bill 150, a controversial GOP-supported bill that banned gender-affirming puberty blockers and surgeries for minors among other things, and the release of prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Children changing genders, criminals released early – some of Washington’s craziest ideas are coming to Kentucky,” the ad states.

How much are they spending?

While ad spending supporting Beshear started off at a much higher clip than Cameron, pro-Cameron forces are starting to catch up.

According to Medium Buying, the DGA-backed PAC and the Beshear campaign have both spent around $1.7 million on ads, with a smaller pro-Beshear PAC dropping $47,000.

Meanwhile, the RGA-supported State Solutions PAC has reserved $1.55 million in ads as of Thursday morning.

Freedom Fest? Cameron says ‘yes’

Cameron is going to Freedom Fest, the Northern Kentucky conservative event that’s previously been focused on former president Trump and the false claim that Trump won the 2020 election.

When asked at a recent event if he’d attend, Cameron responded with enthusiasm.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to go to Freedom Fest,” Cameron said. “I’m excited.”

Why is this notable?

It shows that part of the Cameron campaign’s project is to court the further right, diehard pro-Trump wing of the GOP. The event’s host, Eric Deters, got fourth place in this year’s crowded GOP primary that saw Cameron win in landslide fashion. Deters, a huge Trump fan, was critical of Cameron’s ties to U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, throughout the primary. McConnell and Trump have openly feuded in recent years.

But Cameron sees an opportunity to bring together the more ‘establishment’ and pro-Trump ‘anti-establishment wings of the party. He name dropped Deters alongside more moderate GOP gubernatorial contenders like Somerset Mayor Alan Keck and Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles.

“Whether it’s Eric Deters or mayor Keck here in Somerset, or Ryan Quarles, or the candidates that were in the race, whether you’re a Liberty Republican or you’re a Leader McConnell Republican, or Hal Rogers Republican, or a pro-life Republican, anywhere you find yourself on the spectrum: my view is that we’ve united this party,” Cameron said.

Deters claims that former president Trump has the event on his schedule. Two of Trump’s sons are slated to speak.

While Cameron name-dropped several top contenders in the GOP primary, he didn’t mention one: third-place finisher Kelly Craft, who Cameron said he hasn’t spoken with since election night.