Senate President David Williams (R) Under Fire For Unethical/Illegal Fundraising

Mark Hebert has this interesting development of yet another instance unethical, and possibly illegal, conduct by Senate President David Williams (R) as he seeks fundraising from registered lobbyists:

The new heads of the Kentucky Democratic are "seriously considering" filing an ethics complaint against state Senate President David Williams.

According to party vice-chairman Jennifer Moore, she's looking into the possibility that Williams violated legislative ethics rules when he asked Frankfort lobbyists to pleadge donations money that would be used for 2008 campaigns of republican senators. It's illegal for Frankfort lobbyists to give directly to legislators or caucus funds controlled by legislative leaders. Williams has said that was not the case with his solicitation.

But Moore says there are serious questions about Williams' conduct. No lobbyist has filed a complaint against Williams. At least two have told me they felt pressured to give and questioned the legality of the "pledge cards" but believed it would be political suicide to file a complaint against the powerful senate president.

While I've not seen this mentioned in stories, recall that Williams was accused of similar conduct last September when U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz) headlined a fundraiser for the Republican State Senate Caucus where no less than 18 registered legislative lobbyists were listed as co-hosts.

Comments

[Robert Cumming]

Glad to see Jennifer Moore take an interest in Williams most recent machinations. She successfully prevailed over Dana Stepehenson's residency issues making a name for herself, and I'm quite sure she may even relish the challenge probing Williams alleged lobbyist "shake-down" case.