Follow the Money — Whitney Westerfield

Less than 3 weeks away from the May Primary Election and the truth about one of the Democratic candidates for Governor finally finds its way to light.

Andy Beshear owes his political success, in part, to blood money from Purdue Pharma. We know his former firm was defending Purdue — the maker of the deadly oxycontin — against Kentucky. We know the outgoing AG’s office settled the “billion-dollar case” for peanuts because Purdue’s former lawyer just won election as Kentucky’s newest Attorney General and would be in charge of the lawsuit on the other side; a tremendous conflict of interest. We know Andy Beshear has repeatedly bragged, until Oklahoma’s recent $270 million settlement with the drug manufacturer, about how Kentucky’s was the largest settlement (at a paltry $24 million) in the country. We also know that Andy has repeatedly denied any connection with Purdue in his law practice.

The same cannot be said for his campaign to be AG. Three weeks out from Election Day, when the race was effectively tied, Andy’s good friends at Purdue Pharma dropped $100,000 to the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA):

DAGA’s Form 8872, Year-End Report (2015), available here.

DAGA’s Form 8872, Year-End Report (2015), available here.

The very next day, DAGA sent a cool $250,000 to the Bluegrass Democratic Attorneys General Association, a PAC established to help Andy:

KREF Report

KREF Report

And on that same day, the Bluegrass DAGA sent the $250,000 to a SuperPAC formed to help Andy called the Bluegrass Alliance for Consumer Rights:

KREF Report

KREF Report

Andy Beshear should be ashamed. Maybe a call gets made near the end of the close campaign and a client arranges for some last minute help. Andy benefited from a timely donation of $100,000, earned from the addiction to a drug that was shamelessly and ruthlessly marketed and sold across the country, irreparably harming so many families in Kentucky alone.

This man does not deserve to be a public servant, much less the Governor of the Commonwealth.

Share