FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A prominent labor group on Tuesday called for an ethics investigation into Kentucky Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron for soliciting and accepting campaign donations from leaders of a labor organization. drug treatment under the control of his office since last year.
Kentucky’s AFL-CIO, which has strong ties to Democrats, has asked the state’s Executive Ethics Commission to investigate the “circumstances surrounding” donations to the Cameron’s gubernatorial campaign. with campaign finance laws.
He continued a back-and-forth on campaign finances in the race for governor of Kentucky. Cameron is challenging Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in one of the nation’s most closely watched elections this year.
Beshear’s campaign has recently been put on the defensive by an influx of campaign donations — tied to a single credit card — that have gone to the Kentucky Democratic Party and its campaign, resulting in refunds of more than $200,000 in donations. Cameron’s office asked the FBI to investigate the Democrat-related case.
Meanwhile, Cameron’s campaign said it returned $7,600 in executive donations with Edgewater Recovery Centers. Asked to respond Tuesday to the request for an investigation into the Edgewater affair, Cameron’s campaign referred to its previous statement on the matter. In the statement, Cameron said his “approach” to Edgewater-related campaign donations was to “review, recuse and repay.” The donations were first reported by The Daily Beast.
Cameron solicited donations during a call earlier this year to an Edgewater representative, according to Michael Denbow, a lawyer representing Edgewater. A Cameron campaign official made a follow-up call to the same rep, and there was an exchange about a possible fundraiser that never happened, Denbow told The Associated Press recently.
Edgewater has been under investigation since 2022 by the Office of the Attorney General’s Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse. A case number indicates the investigation began last year, Denbow said. Edgewater received a subpoena in early March as part of the investigation, he said. Edgewater denies any wrongdoing in the matter.
Cameron withdrew from the Edgewater inquiry in May.
Londrigan, the state chairman of the AFL-CIO, said in a press release on Tuesday that it was “appropriate, timely and legally significant” that an investigation be undertaken into Edgewater’s donations.
Edgewater Recovery Centers offers alcohol and drug addiction treatment for both men and women, according to its website. Edgewater is a state-licensed behavioral health organization offering “multiple levels of care,” with facilities in a handful of Kentucky communities, the website says.