Randall Weddle, then a candidate for London mayor, listens as Gov. Andy Beshear helps celebrate the opening of WB Transport's new warehouse in April 2022. (Screenshot with permission of WYMT)

London Mayor Randall Weddle, currently under the scrutiny of Kentucky campaign finance regulators for excess contributions to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s 2023 reelection efforts, is continuing to make hefty political contributions.

Weddle donated $75,000 on May 1 to the Democratic Governors Association, according to a disclosure that the DGA filed recently with the Internal Revenue Service.

Weddle and his family, employees and business associates generated the largest bundles of political contributions for Beshear’s reelection. An analysis by Kentucky Lantern last year showed Weddle’s group gave at least $305,000 — and probably more — to Beshear’s reelection campaign and the Kentucky Democratic Party in 2022-23.

Beshear campaign, Kentucky Democratic Party return $202,000 linked to London mayor

After Kentucky Lantern’s report, the Beshear campaign and Democratic Party refunded $202,000 to Weddle because — according to Beshear’s campaign manager — that amount of contributions previously reported as being donated by various Weddle relatives and employees had actually been drawn on a credit card belonging to Weddle and his wife Victoria.

It is illegal for any individual to give more than $2,100 to any state campaign committee per election, and illegal for anyone to give more than $15,000 to a state political party. The Kentucky Registry of Election Finance is investigating Weddle’s excess donations.

The controversy over the Weddle contributions for Beshear did not slow down Weddle’s donation pattern last year. He continued to make large political contributions including — with wife Victoria — $75,000 to the Democratic Governors Association (DGA)? in May of 2023.

Many Democratic donors from Kentucky gave to the DGA last year. The DGA’s purpose is to help elect Democrats as state governors, and getting Beshear reelected was the DGA’s priority last year. (The DGA spent more than $19 million on an independent advertising campaign in Kentucky in 2023 aimed at reelecting Beshear.)

Weddle’s contribution of $75,000 this May can’t help Beshear, who is now term-limited, get elected governor again.

And Weddle was not the only big Beshear donor to give to the DGA in the spring.

• Case Coal Sales, of Louisa, a company headed by Todd Case, a massive donor to Beshear’s political committees who was appointed to the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees by Beshear, gave $35,000 on May 8. (Todd Case gave $15,000 to the DGA in the spring of 2023.)
• Jack Dulworth, a Beshear insider who heads the nonprofit company that manages Beshear’s Kentucky Derby tickets and party, gave $15,000 on April 15. (Dulworth also gave $15,000 to DGA in the spring of 2023.)
• Bernie Mason, of Ashland and a principal in MBM Management, gave $15,000 on May 8. (MBM Management also gave $15,000 to the DGA in the spring of 2023.)

There were no similar contributions to the DGA from Beshear’s major Kentucky donors in the six months following his election in 2019, IRS records show.

Weddle did not return a phone message left at the London mayor’s office. The DGA did not return a phone message and emails. The Democratic Party of Kentucky did not return a phone message.

Andy Westberry, communications director for the Republican Party of Kentucky, said, “With all the controversy surrounding the previous illegal campaign contributions, I find it very interesting that Randall Weddle continues to cut these large checks.”

John Steffen, executive director of the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, said he could not comment on the agency’s investigation beyond saying that it is continuing. He said he did not know when it will conclude.

Earlier this year attorneys for Weddle filed papers with the election registry saying that Weddle put excess contributions on his credit card only because he was assured by a fundraiser for the Beshear campaign that advancing contributions of others in such a way would be fine.

But Eric Hyers, who managed Beshear’s campaign for governor, disputed Weddle’s account of what happened saying that the first the Beshear campaign learned of possible excess contributions by Weddle came in April of 2023 and that the campaign quickly took steps to refund the money to Weddle.

If the election registry ultimately concludes a violation of campaign finance laws occurred it has the authority to impose a $5,000 fine per violation. It also can refer the matter to the state attorney general or local prosecutor for possible criminal violations.