Governor Steve Beshear is criticizing the secret recording of a campaign meeting of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell that was leaked.
Two members of Progress Kentucky, Shawn Reilly and Curt Morrison, have been implicated by a Jefferson County Democratic official as being behind who secretly recorded the McConnell meeting.
Kentucky Democratic leaders have been largely silent on the situation since the news broke last week. But after being asked Wednesday about the recording, Beshear said he found the whole situation—both the secret taping and McConnell's remarks — to be awful.
"I think it's deplorable, just in general, about taping conversations and that kind of thing. I find it about as deplorable as I do Senator McConnell's political tactics that he was talking about," Beshear says.
And Beshear says McConnell may have more to lose in the end.
"Instead of planning on running a campaign to talk about what he's doing and what he's accomplished, they are obviously planning a campaign on tearing down whoever may be running against him. And I think people are sick and tired of that kind of politics and I think it might backfire on him," he says.
Both Reilly and Morrison say they are cooperating with an FBI investigation into the recordings.