FRANKFORT — Former Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes was cleared Monday by Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd of charges by the state Executive Branch Ethics Commission that she improperly ordered the downloading and distribution of voter registration data from her public office while she was Kentucky’s secretary of state.

“The court order is a complete vindication of Secretary Grimes,” said her attorney, Guthrie True of Frankfort.

Attorney Jon Salomon of Louisville, who also represented Grimes, said the order shows “there was no substantial violation of any ethics law and the counts against her were arbitrary. “She was just doing her job.”

Grimes, reached Monday night, said, “After years of unrest, the Franklin Circuit Court has finally put to rest baseless allegations of ethics violations.”

She called the judge’s order “a victory for my staff, my administration and our work.”

The commission said it is reviewing the order and would decide whether to appeal. It had said in November 2021 that Grimes must pay $10,000 in fines for two ethical violations pertaining to handling of voter data.

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 former state Democratic Party Chair Jerry Lundergan.

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.

Shepherd, in his 33-page order released late Monday afternoon, agreed with Grimes’ arguments that 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 had charged that Grimes violated the ethics code by sharing voter information without requiring an Open Records request or other “established process of government.”

Grimes submitted that all the voter data at issue was information in the public domain, 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. 

Shepherd faulted the Ethics Commission for not conducting an evidentiary hearing in the case to hear testimony from witnesses.

Because the commission acted against Grimes without a hearing, “the evidence in the record relied upon by Grimes is not disputed,” the judge’s order said.

He also said the complaint against Grimes was filed outside the applicable statute of limitations. 

He noted that the attorney general’s office and the Ethics Commission had been investigating for more than eight years allegations of misconduct by Grimes.

“After exhaustive investigation by both the attorney general and the Ethics Commission, there was no allegation concerning any substantive violation of any statute or regulation regarding the integrity of the voting roll,” the court order said. 

“There was no allegation of tampering with the voting rolls, no allegation of improper registration or voting, no allegation of any irregularity in any vote count or tabulation, no allegation of altering any identification of any voter, no allegation of any action that could impact the outcome of any election during Secretary Grimes’ tenure as chief state election officer.”

The order added that the attorney general’s office never brought any criminal charges against Grimes and that the matter was referred to the Ethics Commission. 

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 on to a thumb drive when she was a candidate for re-election.

The commission also looked at whether Grimes improperly shared information on new voter registrations for certain House districts in response to a request made informally through the office of the state House speaker without requiring a formal Open Records request or charging a fee. 

The judge noted that the commission’s final order did not dispute that Grimes would have lawful access to the voter data but that the crux of its complaint against Grimes was that she “downloaded the lists for a private purpose, without paying the mandatory fees or submitting sworn forms required by law.”

The court order said the commission failed to expressly allege what “private purpose” was served by placing voter data on a flash drive.

“What that ‘private purpose’ could have been is entirely unclear to the court,” the order said. “It further remains unclear what ‘established process of government’ was violated by Grimes’ act of downloading VRS data onto a flash drive. 

“This lack of detail relating to what ‘established government process’ was violated and how using a flash drive constitutes a violation of” cast doubt that the commission was proving its allegation by clear and convincing evidence, the order said. 

Court Order in Grimes Case

The prep races are done, posts have been drawn and it’s full steam ahead to the 2024 Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs. The 20-horse field is set and Fierceness is the 5-2 favorite in the 2024 Kentucky Derby odds despite drawing a long trip around from the No. 17 post. Sierra Leone (3-1) will have to battle traffic near the rail after drawing the No. 2 stall for the Kentucky Derby 2024. So who are the serious 2024 Kentucky Derby contenders and how should you bet the 150th Run for the Roses with the help of a 2024 Kentucky Derby cheat sheet?

Pedigree, connections, recent history and running style are all considerations that you have to make before placing any 2024 Kentucky Derby bets. With so much information available for horse racing handicappers, having a reliable 2024 Kentucky Derby cheat sheet can help give you a leg up as you put together tickets for the first leg of the horse racing Triple Crown. Before making any 2024 Kentucky Derby picks for the annual Run for the Roses, you need to see our 2024 Kentucky Derby cheat sheet and past performance featuring analysis from renowned horse racing handicapper Jody Demling. 

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2024 Kentucky Derby cheat sheet 

With SportsLine’s Kentucky Derby 2024 cheat sheet, you’ll get valuable information for every horse in the 2024 Kentucky Derby field. The Kentucky Derby cheat sheet will give you post position, connections, odds, career record, earnings, past performances and speed figures. You’ll also get analysis from Demling on each horse, including his breakdown of race favorite Fierceness.

With the fastest speed figure of any horse in this year’s crop of three-year-olds, marquee wins at the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Florida Derby, and arguably the most accomplished connections in the field, Fierceness is a deserving favorite. However, consistency has been an issue at times, as he followed up his maiden win by finishing seventh in the Champagen Stakes and then finished third in the Holy Bull Stakes after an impressive win at Santa Anita during the Breeders’ Cup. Here is Fierceness at a glance ahead of the 150th Kentucky Derby.

Fierceness

Post position: 17
Trainer: Todd Pletcher (Kentucky Derby winner in 2010, 2017)
Jockey: John Velazquez (Kentucky Derby winner in 2011, 2017, 2020)
Odds: 5-2
Career earnings: $1,703,850 (second in Derby field)
Career record (starts-win-place-show): 5-3-0-1
Notable win: Florida Derby (G1)
Best consensus speed figure: 110 (first in Derby field)
Last Race: 1st by 13.5 Florida Derby (G1)

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How to make 2024 Kentucky Derby picks, bets

Demling is also especially high an EPIC double-digit longshot who “keeps getting better and better.” See all of Demling’s picks and analysis now plus give yourself a head start on your research with our 2024 Kentucky Derby cheat sheet racing form featuring past performances and more. This Kentucky Derby 2024 cheat sheet can save you a lot of time and give you a leg up ahead of the first race of the Triple Crown.

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2024 Kentucky Derby odds, futures

After being introduced as the new coach of the Kentucky Wildcats a few weeks ago, Mark Pope is putting together quite the roster for his first year coaching the Wildcats.

Kentucky most likely won’t return a single player from last year’s team, but that means Pope has more roster spots to fill with his guys and he’s doing a terrific job so far.

Pope has wasted zero time adding Amari Williams (Drexel University), Andrew Carr (Wake Forest), Collin Chandler (recruit), Lamont Butler (San Diego State), Otega Oweh (Oklahoma) and retaining Kentucky Mr. Basketball Travis Perry.

Now, he’ll meet with Utah State transfer Great Osobor in Lexington.

Osobor led the Aggies in points (17.7), rebounds (9) and blocks (1.4) last season.

Considering Kentucky already has Carr and Williams at the center spot, Osobor could slide in at either forward spot (depending on how big/small Pope wants his lineup to be) and make an immediate impact at both ends of the floor.

Per Kentucky Sports Radio, Osobor’s family will travel from England and join him on his visit.

Pope and his assistants appear to be establishing a culture and hand-picking veteran guys in the transfer portal with winning attitudes. In addition to Osobor’s meeting this week, Pope is schedule to meet with Dayton transfer Koby Brea on Tuesday.

Check back here for more updates on Pope’s roster build.

Tweet of the Day

Mark Pope is committed to the grind.

Headlines

No. 4 Kentucky drops weekend series at No. 24 South Carolina – Cats Pause

The Cats have now lost back-to-back series.

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BBN is on cloud nine right now.

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This was a fun event.

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Just made sense.

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Well-deserved.

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He should have an immediate role.

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Potential starter for 2025.

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Sunday night fireworks.

2024 PGA Championship odds, field – CBS Sports

Coming to Louisville in two weeks.