PAC Attack: Kentucky Dem Gov Candidate Adam Edelen Under Fire for Super PAC Ties

Kentucky Democrat Adam Edelen has built his campaign on the promise that he won’t make use of PAC money.
 
But a new Insider Louisville report details that Kentuckians for a Better Future, a PAC supporting Edelen’s candidacy, has been bankrolled by six donors “mostly consisting of family members and business partners” of Edelen and his running mate, Gil Holland. So far the PAC has received $682,000 in contributions and has already made six-figure media buys to support Edelen’s candidacy. Included in that total is:

• $500,000 from Holland’s mother-in-law
• $41,000 from another Holland relative
• $25,000 from a co-owner of one of Edelen’s companies
• $15,000 from an engineering firm that shares office space with both Edelen and PAC vendors

It was also revealed that Kentuckians for a Better Future uses a public relations firm run by another Edelen business partner and officemate. This has raised concerns of illegal coordination between Edelen’s campaign and the PAC, but it also contradicts with his campaign message.

Making the allegations more egregious is Edelen’s relenteless focus on the supposed evils of PAC money, which has been the underpinning of his primary campaign. Here are five times Edelen has said on the campaign trail that he isn’t taking PAC money – all while he and his running mate’s family and business associates were running one to support him:

“Adam Edelen’s gubernatorial campaign continues to reek of hypocrisy as more details emerge regarding his shady ties to a PAC bankrolled by he and his running mate’s family and business partners,” said RGA Deputy Communications Director John Burke. “Edelen’s ties to Kentuckians for a Better Future raise serious questions about his ethics, undermine a central tenet of his candidacy, and show that he cannot be trusted to lead.”