'He’d better be there': Investigation explores why there’s 'no record' of Kentucky AG going to work

17 July 2023

HuffPost recently asked Kentucky Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron's office (for the fourth time) why there's no trace of the gubernatorial candidate going into his Capitol building office since January 2020.

The news outlet reports there's still "no response."

Although there's currently "no record of him using his fob key to enter" the building, HuffPost reports at one point, there was.

The news outlet even received a letter from the state office's Finance and Administration Cabinet "saying nothing was left out of the records."

According to HuffPost:HuffPost:

There are several possible explanations for why there is no record of Cameron, who is currently running for governor, passing through security to go into his office.

One is that someone else has been swiping him in with their key fob every single time, like a staffer or a security officer. Another possibility is that Cameron has been entering the Capitol somewhere less secure, where his fob card isn’t needed. Still another possibility is that he’s working out of one of the five other attorney general field offices scattered around the state.

And of course, it's possible the attorney general isn't going in to work much at all.

Former AG aide, Amye Bensenhaver, told HuffPost she assumes "that Cameron is simply being swiped into the Capitol by his security detail or by a state trooper on the scene."

However, she was stumped by the "self-incriminating" answers Cameron's staffers' offered when asked why there's no record of the AG's presence in his office.

When the news outlet emailed Cameron's aides the first time, his Deputy Communications Director Atley Smedley replied, "This is not correct."

"Attorney General Cameron has regularly come to his office since he assumed the position of Attorney General in December 2019" Smedley insisted.

HuffPost asked a second time, receiving a response from Cameron's Communications Director Shellie May, who ignored the question and instead claimed, "Attorney General Cameron works tirelessly advocating for the men, women, and children of all 120 Kentucky counties. The records do not accurately reflect the comings and goings of General Cameron or any elected official, nor can any conclusions be drawn from them."

The third time, "a spokesperson" replied, "What makes it clear that Daniel Cameron has been on the job working for Kentuckians, among other things, is the fact that he has sued the [President Joe] Biden Administration dozens of times to stop its misguided policies. And he has stopped the [Kentucky Gov. Andy] Beshear Administration from violating the rights of Kentuckians on multiple occasions. The key fob records do not accurately reflect the comings and goings of General Cameron or any elected official, nor can any conclusions be drawn from them."

The office was contacted once more Tuesday, July 11, and still received no reply.

Bensenhaver told HuffPost, "I'm surprised they would be so obtuse about this. All they have to do is explain to you that the attorney general, as a matter of practice, does not sign himself in. That's a better explanation than there is no record. They're really shooting themselves in the foot by obfuscating if he’s there. We have to assume he comes in and out of the Capitol."

She emphasized, "He'd better be there."

The news outlet also contacted and received no response from "the Kentucky State Police, which provides security at the Capitol, to ask about security protocols for elected officials entering the building," as well as "the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, which provides Capitol media credentials, with questions about security and access."

HuffPost's full report is available at this link.

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