Kentucky commission claims Alison Lundergan Grimes broke state ethics code

Kentucky's Executive Branch Ethics Commission formally accused former Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes on Thursday of violating the state ethics code while she still was in office.

Specifically, public records show the commission has alleged Grimes violated those rules by:

• Using her position "to direct her subordinates to use state time and resources to download and store information from the Voter Registration System onto flash drives for a personal, private purpose without following the established processes of government to obtain the information."

• Using her position "to direct her subordinates to use state time and resources to engage in political activities."

Concerning the latter allegation, the commission claimed Grimes told an independent contractor who worked with her agency to use the state's Voter Registration System to create lists of freshly registered Democratic voters and told an employee to send those lists to some Democratic candidates for free, and "in a format that is not provided by law."

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Candidates are supposed to pay a fee to receive such data from the state.

The ethics commission voted Thursday to launch an administrative proceeding to officially determine if Grimes violated the state ethics code.

It filed an "initiating order" to begin that process, which lays out its allegations against Grimes.

The initiating order says the ethics commission's preliminary investigation of Grimes dates back to July 2017 and was expanded three times over the ensuing years.

The ethics commission also filed an initiating order Thursday for Erica Galyon, who worked as Grimes' assistant secretary of state.

The commission alleged Galyon violated the state ethics code because of how she handled certain records requests during the 2018-19 timeframe.

Specifically, the commission claims Galyon told State Board of Elections staff to give documents to Grimes' personal legal counsel "in response to an open records request and later denied the same documents in response to an open records request from a member of the news media."

The commission also claims the documents provided to the media "were altered by adding page numbers and watermarks..."

Grimes and Galyon have been accused only of violating the ethics code at this point. They both have 20 days to respond to these initiating orders.

Galyon declined to comment when The Courier Journal contacted her Friday. Grimes couldn't be reached for comment.

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Katie Gabhart, the ethics commission's executive director, said ethics cases generally get assigned to an independent hearing officer, who presides over an administrative hearing where the commission presents witnesses and evidence in an attempt to prove its charges.

The commission must provide "clear and convincing evidence that a person has violated the ethics code," she said.

The hearing officer makes a recommendation to the commission, which then issues a final order in the case. That decision can be appealed in court.

Anyone found to have violated the state ethics code could face fines of up to $5,000 per count as well as a public reprimand, Gabhart said.

If that person still serves in a public office, the commission also can recommend their removal from that position.

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Grimes worked for two terms as secretary of state before she was term-limited out of office. Republican Michael Adams won the November 2019 election and now serves as secretary of state.

The Lexington Herald-Leader and ProPublica published an investigation in 2019 that dug into Grimes' use of the Voter Registration System, among other aspects of her conduct in office.

Morgan Watkins is The Courier Journal's chief political reporter. Contact her at mwatkins@courierjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @morganwatkins26.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Alison Lundergan Grimes broke state ethics code, commission claims