Andy Beshear's allegiances questioned in latest ad from GOP group backing Westerfield

cn|2 Pure Politics ^ | 7/22/2015 | Nick Storm

[Republican Wildcat]

The Republican Attorneys General Association is keeping up their mid-July ad barrage against Democratic candidate Andy Beshear, seeking to bring attention to Beshear’s background.

In the ad, the group specifically targets who Beshear would represent as attorney general. The 30-second spot points to a lack of law enforcement experience for the candidate, who is an attorney with Louisville-based Stites and Harbison.

“How about the special interests bankrolling his campaign raising questions of ethics? Or the companies he’s worked for but would oversee as attorney general,” a narrator in the 30-second ad says.

When asked by Pure Politics and other media outlets, Beshear has refused to name clients he has represented that could potentially conflict with cases before the attorney general’s office, saying he would follow procedures outlined by the Kentucky Bar Association to ensure proper ethics.

Beshear has also noted that there have been other attorneys general in the state who have made the jump from private to public practice who have followed a similar procedure.

The RAGA ad, which is running primarily in the Lexington TV market, also focuses on a popular refrain tying the Democratic candidate to President Barack Obama.

“Beshear is an Obama supporter who has never prosecuted a single criminal and is bankrolled by special interests,” said RAGA Executive Director Scott Will. “We doubt this is what Kentucky wants in its next attorney general.”