A report written by an attorney for a special House committee says the panel couldn't prove that Gov. Matt Bevin stopped a road project in retaliation against a Democratic lawmaker who rejected the governor's request to become Republican.
The Courier-Journal obtained a copy of the report from former House Speaker Greg Stumbo, who lost his bid for re-election last fall.
The 27-page report written by Nashville attorney Eli Richardson says the committee couldn't fully look at the issue. That was mostly because the Bevin administration wouldn't let Transportation Cabinet officials testify about the road project in Jessamine County and because the committee wasn't able to get testimony from the lawmaker, Rep. Russ Meyer, the newspaper reported Thursday.
The report did find that Bevin pressured Democratic Rep. Kevin Sinnette of Ashland to change parties. Bevin has strongly denied the allegation.
Bevin spokeswoman Amanda Stamper did not respond to a phone message or email seeking comment on the report.
The report did question the state's payment of $625,000 in damages to the contractor for the delay.
The report said "it is possible" that cabinet officials can explain the payment but that those officials would not appear before the committee.
"Absent such explanation . the Committee must conclude that the payment to Allen Co. of $625,000 in 'liquidated delay damages' currently is unsupported," it said.
The committee was hindered in seeking answers by the lack of testimony of key players, Richardson wrote.
Bevin officials said Gov. Steve Beshear's administration was to blame for rushing the bid when there was no chance the property could be secured to begin work on time. Beshear said that wasn't true and that the project could have begun on time.
Last summer, Meyer told reporters he believed the project was stopped because he refused Bevin's attempts to get him to switch parties. He released a voicemail he said Bevin left on his cellphone in 2015.
Bevin said on the voicemail that he was disappointed by what he had been hearing and wanted to make sure Meyer understood how decisions he was about to make would affect "you, your seat, your district."
Sinnette was the only significant witness to testify before the committee. The report found that Sinnette was telling the truth when he said Bevin pressured him to switch parties.
Sinnette's testimony was specific, consistent with accounts he gave in news reports, and not contradicted by other evidence, the report said. But the report added, "Some may find distasteful a request to switch political parties, accompanied by what may be considered 'political' threats. But that does not make such conduct illegal or even wrongful."
