And now for a word about the reaction to yesterday's Huffington Post article, "Does the Attorney General Go to Work? An Investigation."

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kentucky-attorney-general-daniel-cameron…;

The article's title is somewhat misleading, given the fact that the focus of the story is not on whether Daniel Cameron's "goes to work” but on the unexplained discrepancy between what public records show about the card that admits him to the Capitol and his presence in the Capitol to conduct the public’s business. 

A better headline might have been: "Why did Kentucky's Attorney General dodge questions about public records raising doubt about how often he works in the the Capitol?"

Op-ed writers don't caption their submissions. This much I know from experience. Perhaps reporters at Huffington Post do not either. 

It should, however, be noted that the article was subcaptioned:

“An open records request shows Daniel Cameron hasn’t used his key fob to get into the state Capitol for the last three years. His office won't say why. Huh?”

No one, including the reporter for the Huffington Post, Jennifer Bendery, questioned whether Cameron is "at work" for the Commonwealth as its elected attorney general. As local reporters noted, the story contained multiple pictures of Cameron in various places throughout the Capitol. 

And multiple explanations were offered for why public records do not reflect his use of his personal identification (or swipe) card to enter the Capitol. Bendery identified several possible explanations.

Why, then, the wall of silence when she sought the actual explanation? 

Her story was about the resistance of the Attorney General and his staff -- whose track records on open records and transparency is shockingly poor -- to provide her with that explanation. It focused on a candidate for Governor who apparently holds himself to a lesser standard of accountability to the public, and -- by inference -- what that might bode for the future were he elected Governor.

Bendery wrote:

“The weirdest part of all of this, though — and the only reason we’re writing this story at all — is that Cameron’s office has repeatedly refused to explain what the deal is.

“In a series of email exchanges over the last few weeks, Cameron’s aides insisted that the attorney general has been coming in to work and that there’s nothing weird about there being no record of him entering the building for years.

“‘This is not correct,’ Atley Smedley, Cameron’s deputy communications director, said of the idea that the attorney general is not going into his office. ‘Attorney General Cameron has regularly come to his office since he assumed the position of Attorney General in December 2019.’

“Smedley did not respond to a follow-up email asking why the attorney general’s key fob logs are all blank if he’s been coming into his office. When HuffPost followed up again, asking the same question, Cameron’s communications director Shellie May responded.

“She dodged the question and said the attorney general works hard.

“‘Attorney General Cameron works tirelessly advocating for the men, women, and children of all 120 Kentucky counties,’ May said. ‘The records do not accurately reflect the comings and goings of General Cameron or any elected official, nor can any conclusions be drawn from them.’

“HuffPost followed up again, last week, and shared still more public records showing that Cameron had been using his fob key to enter the Capitol between May 2019 and January 2020 — eleven times in total. 

“Asked what changed with Cameron’s entry into the Capitol after January 2020, a Cameron aide requesting to be referred to only as ‘a spokesperson for the office’ had this to say:

“‘What makes it clear that Daniel Cameron has been on the job working for Kentuckians, among other things, is the fact that he has sued the Biden Administration dozens of times to stop its misguided policies.  And he has stopped the Beshear Administration from violating the rights of Kentuckians on multiple occasions. The key fob records do not accurately reflect the comings and goings of General Cameron or any elected official, nor can any conclusions be drawn from them.’

“So, still no explanation.

“HuffPost tried one last time on Tuesday to give Cameron’s office a chance to explain why there’s no record of him using his fob key to enter the Capitol for three years when there used to be a record of him doing so. No response.”

Are members of Cameron's staff "shooting themselves in the foot by obfuscating," as I suggested in discussing the question with Bendery. Absolutely!

It has been suggested that this is less than newsworthy. Some, for example, have suggested he chooses not to use his official parking space proximate to the Capitol and enters through the garage. I remain, frankly, surprised by this reaction. 

Given past governors' resistance to accountability in explaining their comings and goings, these repeated deflections by Cameron’s staff do not bode well. 

https://apnews.com/article/a48f189659b3d53a75cfc528b1d2fa90

And given this Attorney General's calculated multi-pronged assault on open government, transparency, and accountability, it is fair to ask the question, "why is there no record of Daniel Cameron using his ID card to swipe into the Capitol.” It is equally fair to expect a straight answer. 

https://kentuckylantern.com/2023/05/25/daniel-cameron-enemy-of-open-gov…

https://kentuckylantern.com/2023/06/27/a-judge-rejects-camerons-disrega…

The latter is the story. 

It's a story about obfuscation, not parking spaces and alternate points of entry into the Capitol.