Kentucky Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo, who is running in a two-way Democratic primary for Senate in 2010, appears to have been caught on tape saying some nasty things about Gov. Steve Beshear — who has endorsed his campaign.
A YouTube was first posted online last week by KY Revolution, a site supporting underdog Republican candidate Rand Paul (a son of Ron Paul), containing what sounds like Mongiardo accusing Beshear of doing nothing to help his campaign:
“Who’s doing a fundraiser this quarter? Steve Beshear is — for Steve Beshear, one in Lexington, and one in Louisville,” Mongiardo is heard saying. “He is trying to dry my money up. He (Beshear) is screwing me every way possible, and what do I get out of it? “We finally begged him to show up for one in Northern Kentucky. He is not going to lift a finger, he is not going to do a damn thing, he is just going to show up and his name is going to be on the invite.”
Mongiardo campaign spokesman Kin Geveden told us that Mongiardo does support Beshear, and vice-versa. “Lt. Governor Mongiardo strongly supports Gov. Beshear, he’s very grateful for him attending a fundraiser as a special guest that just concluded in northern Kentucky,” said Geveden. “There are other events that the Governor will be attending as a special guest in the fourth quarter. The Lt. Governor is very grateful for the Governor’s efforts and strongly supports the governor.”
I pointed out to Geveden that while there are certainly edits in the audio, it sure sounded to me like there were coherent sections within it. Does he acknowledge or deny that this is Mongiardo’s voice on the tape, saying negative things about Beshear? “I’m not gonna give credibility by responding,” said Geveden, “by commenting on what is clearly a heavily edited, spliced together tape, anonymously posed on the Internet.”
Beshear spokesperson Jill Midkiff gave us this statement: “The Governor continues to support Daniel Mongiardo and his candidacy for the Senate. We have no further comment on an anonymous posting on a blog.”
