Beshear pledges cooperation with road contract investigation

The office of Governor Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) released a statement today saying the current administration would cooperate with a federal investigation into potential illegalities in the state's transportation department during his predecessor's tenure.

"We have been and will continue to cooperate fully with the federal investigation into allegations of impropriety at the Transportation Cabinet during the previous administration," said Beshear in the statement. "I was elected to create a culture of integrity at the cabinet and throughout state government and we are making substantive progress toward that goal. Our full cooperation with this investigation from the beginning has been an important part of that process."

Former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert was one of the targets of an affadavit alleging that he and road contractor Leonard Lawson collaborated to obtain sealed construction estimates from state engineers.

Between 2006 and 2007, Lawson was then awarded over $130 million worth of contracts after he obtained that information, according to the affadavit.

Nighbert served in the administration of Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher, who was defeated by Beshear last year after Fletcher was the subject of several investigations and indicted by a grand jury on counts of conspiracy, political discrimination, and official misconduct.

Those charges were later dropped.

Investigators are currently searching for a link between a company that made a payment to Nighbert earlier this year and Lawson.

Lawson is a major road builder in the state who has also contributed significantly to Republican and Democratic politicians.