FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Registry of Election Finance continues to investigate hundreds of thousands of dollars in excess campaign contributions that London Mayor Randall Weddle gave through “straw donors” to help Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear win reelection in 2023.
But the matter is not expected to be discussed at Wednesday’s meeting of the registry’s board of directors.
John Steffen, executive director of the registry, told the Kentucky Lantern Tuesday that the agency continues to investigate the Weddle contributions, “but we’re not ready to bring it back to the board yet.”
At issue are hundreds of thousands of dollars listed as having been contributed to Beshear’s campaign committee and the Kentucky Democratic Party by Weddle’s family members, employees of his company WB Transport, and close business associates.
The large bundles of contributions from Weddle’s family, friends and associates were first revealed in an April 2023 story in the Lantern that concluded the Weddle group was the single largest group of donors to Beshear’s reelection.
Weddle has said that days after publication of that article he reported directly to Beshear that much of the money was actually donated on Weddle’s personal credit card. Beshear’s campaign and the Kentucky Democratic Party then refunded $202,000 in contributions that had been made on Weddle’s credit card.
Later in 2023 the registry began its investigation. In February the registry staff recommended the case be brought to a close with a finding that Weddle had committed numerous unintentional violations of the law and be fined up to $5,000 per violation. Weddle’s attorney, Guthrie True, of Frankfort, told the board at that meeting that the recommendation was a fair settlement of unknowing violations of civil law. True did not return a phone message left at his office on Tuesday by Kentucky Lantern.
But several board members in February said there were far too many unanswered questions about how the huge and unusual bundles of contributions came about and did not want to surrender its ability to refer the matter to a prosecutor for investigation of possible criminal violations. The board voted 6-0 to send the matter back for further investigation.
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Written by Tom Loftus. Cross-posted from the Kentucky Lantern.
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