Attorney General's Office refers State Police

Given Jack Conway's campaign contribution to the Greg Fischer for Mayor campaign, the Attorney General's office was wise to transfer the investigation to the Kentucky State Police so that they could look after the matter.

Robert Foster, commissioner of the AG’s Department of Criminal Investigations, wrote to both the state Republican and Democratic parties on Monday, saying the office was referring the matter to state police because of politics.

“Given that General Conway has contributed to the Fischer campaign and given that the Kentucky Democratic Party supports all Democratic candidates, including General Conway, in order to avoid the appearance of impropriety in this matter, we are referring both of these complaints to the Kentucky State Police for any action that it deems appropriate,” the letter says.

The Kentucky Republican Party last week requested Conway’s office appoint a special prosecutor to investigate independent candidate Jackie Green’s endorsement of Democrat Greg Fischer, after an e-mail from Green to his campaign staff surfaced that said Fischer “raised the issue of our team playing a role inside gov.”

It is unclear what Green meant to that. E-mails between Green and the Fischer campaign, also made public last week, say only that Green was offered “significant input” in the creation of an environmental office that Fischer would create as mayor.

Days after the GOP request, Democrats made a similar request when Louisville Metro Council President Tom Owen said that Heiner offered Tyler Allen “significant input” into transportation matters if Allen would endorse him. Allen is a former Democratic mayoral primary candidate, who was defeated by Fischer in May.

Matt Erwin, a spokesman for the Democratic Party, said having the state police take the lead in the investigations is fine with the party.

“If the AG decided another body should handle it, we’re satisfied with that situation,” Erwin said.