LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - A veteran lobbyist says his multiple cash payments to a high-ranking state official were loans between friends and not bribes meant to maintain a lucrative state contract for his corporate client.
James Sullivan[1] is on trial this week accused of bribing former Personnel Secretary Tim Longmeyer[2] to maintain an annual million-dollar contract for Cannon Cochran Management Services Inc.[3], an Illinois-based company that administers Kentucky’s workers’ compensation claims.
Longmeyer[4] testified Wednesday that he was being pressured by former Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear’s office to give the contract to another company that had been a campaign donor. Longmeyer[5] said he refused because Sullivan[6] was already paying him to make sure the contract stayed with CCMSI[7]. Authorities have said there is no evidence elected officials knew about the bribes or the kickback scheme.
Longmeyer[8] said the first payment came in 2009 following a meeting at a Ruth’s Chris steakhouse in Louisville. Democratic consultant Larry O’Bryan testified Sullivan[9] gave him an envelope filled with $5,000 in cash with instructions to give it to Longmeyer[10]. O’Bryan said he did not look in the envelope, but Longmeyer[11] told him it contained $5,000.
On Friday, Sullivan[12] said he gave Longmeyer[13] $1,000, not $5,000. He said the money was to help his friend Longmeyer[14], who had complained during the dinner about how expensive it was to buy Christmas presents and take his family on a ski trip. He said he never asked Longmeyer[15] about CCMSI[16]’s contract because, while he was a deputy cabinet secretary at the time, he was a political appointee who did not understand how the workers’ compensation system worked.
Plus, he said CCMSI[17]’s contract was not up for renewal in December 2009. He said state officials were pleased with CCMSI[18]’s performance and he did not think the Beshear administration was trying to use political pressure to give the contract to someone else.
“I wouldn’t have wasted time talking to him about it,” he said. “There was no reason to even try to bribe him. (CCMSI[19]) was that good.”
Longmeyer[20] also said Sullivan[21] discreetly slipped him an envelope with $4,000 in cash in a Walgreens’ parking lot in 2015. Sullivan[22] said it was $1,500, and the money was to purchase liquor for a fundraising event for Jack Conway, who at the time had just won the Democratic nomination for governor. Sullivan[23] called it an “in-kind” campaign contribution and said there was never an agreement for Longmeyer[24] to make sure CCMSI[25] kept its contract.