* BOMBSHELL * Digging Through The "CESSPOOL" That Is Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Starring Bill Nighbert And Leonard Lawson In Bid Rigging!

Rather than rehash the news, let me point you out to the Courier-Journal.

Below is the story:

LONDON, Ky. -- Road contractor Leonard Lawson paid $20,000 in cash to a state highway engineer who was helping leak confidential bid information on state contracts to Lawson, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court.
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On about eight occasions during 2006 and 2007, engineer James Rummage was directed by Lawson or then-Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert to obtain the Transportation Cabinet's cost estimates for state contracts -- estimates that are to be kept secret until bids are opened, the affidavit states.

Investigators believe Lawson also made "illegal payments" to Nighbert using a business as a conduit, the affidavit states.

The affidavit was given by FBI Special Agent T. Clay Mason to obtain court approval of search warrants for two businesses that Mason said were believed to have records relating to payments made to Nighbert.

The search warrants were approved, and on Monday agents searched offices of the company that allegedly made the payments, Utility Management Group of Pikeville, the affidavit said.

Also searched, it said, were the offices of a Corbin accounting firm, Marr, Miller & Myers.

Copies of the warrants, a list of the documents and computers seized and Mason's affidavit were obtained by The Courier-Journal from the U.S. District Court clerk's office in London.

Rummage, who retired from state government in March, is cooperating with investigators. And the affidavit says that before he retired he "conducted a number of consensual recordings with Lawson and others."

"Lawson told Rummage on one tape that 'they can't trace cash' and made overt offers to assist Rummage with finding and paying for an attorney," Mason's affidavit says. "He also encouraged Rummage to 'take the Fifth' at an upcoming Grand Jury session and to get an attorney they could work with."
'Collection of innuendo'

Lawson, of Lexington, has been a major road contractor and political contributor in Kentucky for more than 20 years. He and his family own interests in construction companies that do business in the central and south-central parts of the state.

In a statement released last night, his attorney, Larry Mackey of Indianapolis, called the affidavit "a collection of innuendo and suspicions and should have never been made public."

Mackey said Lawson has a long record as an honest businessman who builds "award-winning roads" and "does not deserve such unfair treatment."

"At this stage of criminal investigations, the law presumes innocence and imposes heavy burdens on prosecutors and FBI agents not to prematurely release information about matters occurring before the grand jury," the statement said. "Today's events destroyed that presumption and breached the grand jury's secrecy."

Howard Mann, Nighbert's attorney, released a statement that said his client "categorically denies the false and baseless accusations of Jim Rummage."

Mann said that Nighbert had done work for Utility Management Group but did not cash checks from the company while he was working for the state Senate Republican staff most of this year.

"There is nothing unusual or improper regarding Mr. Nighbert's association with" the officers of Utility Management Group, "two highly respected businessmen whom he has known for some time. Mr. Nighbert has not done anything wrong and is guilty of nothing but trying to work and earn a living," Mann said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Taylor declined to comment.
Rummage cooperating

Rummage's attorney, Marc Murphy of Louisville, said of the affidavit's account regarding his client's statements, "I can confirm that that's the story as I understand it."

He said Rummage has been cooperating with the investigators.

"Jim Rummage has recognized he made a mistake. He is trying to correct that error at this time through his cooperation," Murphy said. "The conduct in question was not his idea. Among the things he was concerned about during this period of time was his job security and issues related to that."

The affidavit spells out in detail the course of the investigation, which began last year, into possible leaks of confidential cost estimates for state highway contracts to bidders.

The cabinet has tried to follow an unwritten policy of rejecting a bid if it is more than 7 percent over the estimate, especially when only one bid is submitted.

The current state highway engineer, Gilbert Newman, has said that a leaked estimate could be valuable to a bidder in such situations because he would know he could bid 7 percent over the estimate and still be likely to win the contract.
Statement changed

The affidavit says the engineer in charge of making the estimates "kept a log" of the times Rummage asked him for the cost estimates. Investigators then approached Rummage in February, and he initially "lied about his actions," the affidavit said.

A week later, though, Rummage said he wanted to retract his earlier statement and cooperate with investigators.

"Nighbert or road contractor Leonard Lawson directed Rummage to obtain the (transportation cabinet's) engineer's estimates," the affidavit states. "On some occasions, Rummage delivered the engineer's estimates to Nighbert, but on others he gave them directly to Lawson. On four of these times, Lawson gave Rummage $5,000 cash, for a total of $20,000."

According to the affidavit, bank records show that a check for $36,050 from Utility Management Group, written to a business called Two Bucks, LLC, was deposited in Nighbert's personal bank account on Jan. 7, 2008.

There is no active business registered with the Kentucky secretary of state by that name, according to the affidavit.

Mann said there were inaccuracies in the affidavit and noted that Nighbert's company is actually named Double-Buck, L.L.C.

Utility Management Group is a business formed in 2004 whose Web site identifies its chief operating officer as Greg May of Pikeville and its chief executive officer as Archie Marr, the president of the Corbin CPA firm of Marr, Miller & Myers.

May and Marr could not be reached for comment.

UMG operates and manages the Mountain Water District in Pike County, according to the affidavit.
Nighbert's role

The affidavit says that Marr, in a June 3 interview, said the company retained Nighbert to perform "consulting" services and believed "Nighbert, through his political connections, could assist in developing additional business. However, Marr admitted that Nighbert had done no work for UMG."

In response to a subpoena, investigators also obtained an employment agreement between UMG and Nighbert that calls for him to be paid $125,000 annually and provided a car, the affidavit states.

However, the affidavit says this agreement is questionable. "There is no signature, or date on the agreement," it states.

The affidavit also states, "Investigators believe UMG is the conduit for Lawson to reward Nighbert for his assistance while serving as the KTC Secretary."

Editor's comment: CROOKS, I TELL YA.

CROOKS.

I hope the NEXT stop is a LOOONG trip to Federal Prison.

Yep, the REAL prison, not the club fed one we hear about!

And we hope the investigation continues to unearth the REST of the soory bunch!!