By Jack Brammer
Kentucky Lantern
The Kentucky Court of Appeals unanimously has upheld a lower court order that cleared former Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes of ethics violation charges.
In a 17-page order issued Friday upholding an April 29, 2024 decision by Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd, the three-member appellate court said the Executive Branch Ethics Commission missed its statutory deadline to charge Grimes with improperly ordering the downloading and distribution of voter registration data from her public office while she was Kentucky’s secretary of state.
“The Franklin Circuit Court reversed the commission’s decision, finding it was arbitrary, not supported by substantial evidence and time barred. Due to the statute of limitations alone, we affirm,” said the appellate court decision. The three appellate judges were Susanne M. Cetrulo, James H. Lambert and Jeff S. Taylor.
Attorney Jon Salomon, who represents Grimes, said, “We are pleased that a unanimous panel of the Court of Appeals has agreed with the Franklin Circuit Court that the Executive Branch Ethics Commission missed its statutory deadline to bring charges against former Secretary Grimes.
“Those charges should never have been brought — and Secretary Grimes is optimistic that after nearly eight years, she and her family can put this matter behind them.”
Susan Clary, executive director of the ethics commission, said the commission needs more time to review the appellate ruling before commenting. It could ask the appeals court to rehear the case, try an appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court or let the appellate court ruling stand.
Grimes has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2026.
The commission had been investigating Grimes for several years. Grimes, a Democrat and Lexington attorney, was secretary of state from 2011 to 2019 and an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014 against Republican Mitch McConnell. She is the daughter of the former state Democratic Party Chair Jerry Lundergan of Lexington.
In November 2021, the commission fined Grimes $10,000 for two ethical violations pertaining to handling of voter data.
As secretary of state, Grimes was the state’s chief elections officer. In her position, she had access to data from the state voter registration system in the State Board of Elections.
The commission had alleged that Grimes violated the ethics code by sharing voter information without requiring a request under the Open Records Act or other “established process of government.”
Grimes responded that all the voter data at issue was information in the public domain and that she had full legal authority and discretion as secretary of state to access and share such information. She claimed no statute or regulation was violated by the sharing of such public information. She claimed the commission’s charges were barred by the five-year statute of limitations and that the record did not support a finding of any violations of the state executive branch’s code of ethics.
The commission argued that it was not bound by any statute of limitations.
The only allegations pursued by the Ethics Commission were that Grimes allegedly acted unethically in accessing public information in the voter registration system by downloading voter information onto a thumb drive when she was a candidate for reelection.
The commission also looked at whether Grimes improperly shared information on new voter registrations for certain Kentucky House of Representative districts in response to a request made informally through the office of the House speaker without requiring a formal open records request or charging a fee.
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