Bennett—with two Ts
The donor—Michael Bennett, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Kentucky—contributed $1,000 to Cameron on May 7, nine days ahead of the primary election, according to Kentucky campaign finance records. That same day, Bennett gave $500 to the Republican running to fill Cameron’s slot, Russell Coleman, on top of a previous $1,000 donation in September.
Coleman was Bennett’s predecessor and former boss at the top of the Western District, where he was appointed by former President Donald Trump. Both Republicans, if elected, would be directly responsive to Bennett’s probe.
The double-down
Legal experts told The Daily Beast that the donations lend the appearance of “political interference” and “publicly picking sides.”
Delaney Marsco, senior legal counsel for ethics at nonpartisan watchdog Campaign Legal Center, told The Daily Beast that voters have a right to know that Bennett is appearing to demonstrate “political interference” or “favoritism” in connection to his official duties.
“The public absolutely has a right to know that DOJ employees are not avoiding even the appearance of political interference or favoritism in department activities. In this case, it certainly could raise questions about whether the donating individual is attempting to influence an investigation that would impact their office,” Marsco said.
She added that this kind of transparency is critical when it comes to political donations, noting that absent those disclosure rules, “we would never even be able to pose the question.”
Jordan Libowitz, communications director at watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, agreed with Marsco’s analysis, telling The Daily Beast that Bennett appears to be “publicly picking sides” in who will run the state he’s investigating.
“At the very least, there’s an optics issue, since the current governor is running for re-election and the U.S. Attorney tasked with investigating the state is publicly picking sides in who will run it,” Libowitz said.
A Western District representative would not comment on the investigation, citing internal policy. A spokesperson from the DOJ’s D.C. office confirmed that the probe is ongoing but declined to comment on the donations. Spokespeople for the Cameron and Coleman campaigns did not reply to The Daily Beast’s questions, and neither did the offices of the Kentucky attorney general or governor.
Best Western
A DOJ press release from the time explained that the probe—a joint effort between the civil rights divisions in the Western District of Kentucky and main justice in D.C.—centers on whether the commonwealth “subjects adults with serious mental illness” in the Louisville area to “unnecessary institutionalization” in violation of provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The announcement included a statement from Bennett, who said his office would “vigorously enforce the ADA.”
The statement noted that the DOJ had notified both Beshear and attorney general Cameron ahead of the announcement.
But Beshear—who preceded Cameron as AG—claimed that investigators hadn’t contacted his office until “roughly an hour” before publishing what he characterized as an “aggressive” press release that didn’t match the tenor of their discussion. The Democrat added that he was “surprised” that the feds hadn’t reached out to any state officials or requested documentation before publicizing the investigation.
Rare bird
DOJ guidance says that U.S. Attorneys, who are typically political appointees, qualify as “further restricted” employees whose political activity is limited under the law. While those employees may make campaign contributions, a review of campaign finance data shows that active USAs rarely do so.
A search of Kentucky filings by employer and occupation returned a total of two such donors: Bennett, and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine, Halsey Frank, who gave a total $350 last year—also to Coleman. On the federal level, records searches for donations by employer and occupation returned a total of 16 hits over the last decade.
Bennett, however, is not a confirmed political appointee. He has served as acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District since January 2021, when his Trump-appointed predecessor stepped aside at the end of the previous administration. That predecessor, of course, was Russell Coleman—the current Kentucky AG candidate who now enjoys Bennett’s financial support.
The “grim reaper” connection
While it’s typical for DOJ political appointees to cycle out when the White House changes hands, what’s not so typical about Bennett’s position is that President Joe Biden still hasn’t been able to advance a nominee to fill Coleman’s old slot—a congressional roadblock that has been chalked up to the Senate’s master obstructor, Minority Leader and fellow Kentuckyian Mitch McConnell.
It also turns out that the same person chiefly responsible for Bennett’s enduring post in the Western District is also a close ally of Daniel Cameron—an association that dogged the rising GOP star in the hostile primary. A former “McConnell Scholar” at the University of Louisville, Cameron later served as McConnell’s legal counsel and is widely seen as a potential heir when the octogenarian retires.
Lay of the land
The news of Bennett’s donations comes amid a bitter campaign roiling with accusations of financial impropriety.
Both parties referred the opposing gubernatorial candidate to the FBI for campaign finance allegations this month. For his part, Cameron cited a Kentucky Republican mayor’s bungled $200,000 bundling operation in support of Beshear. The next day, the Kentucky Democratic Party told the feds that Cameron may have violated ethics laws in connection with donations from an addiction recovery company his office was investigating—donations that Cameron had personally solicited, The Daily Beast reported.
The Cameron and Beshear campaigns have so far reported receiving nearly $300,000 combined from the health industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
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