Just spoke with Attorney General Jack Conway on the telephone.

Regarding his potential candidacy for the United States Senate, he says he’s still focused on serving as Attorney General. There are many issues he’s still focused on including cyber crimes legislation and wants to make sure things are really moving in the direction in which they need to move before he makes a decision public.

When asked, “What’s the single biggest issue facing Kentucky right now on the national stage?” he says, “The economy, of course, and educating our workforce so we can properly escape these economic troubles. Healthcare, our figurative currency across the globe and foreign relations– all which directly impact our State’s economy.”

Conway also said that Democrats, “need to keep their options open, keep their powder dry” when asked about Daniel Mongiardo’s candidacy. He further stated that, “it’s not likely Mongiardo will avoid a contested primary.”

Conway indicated that he’s continuing to work with folks within the Democratic Party to make sure it’s in the best interests of the Party and the voters in Kentucky. AKA, he’s working with the DSCC (our assumption). He said that if and when he concludes the time is right, he’ll “pull the trigger” and jump in. He says he’s also regularly speaking with Auditor Crit Luallen and Congressman Ben Chandler.

Jack made clear that it is important that Mongiardo keep his duties as Lt. Governor separate from those duties as a candidate for the U.S. Senate. If Mongiardo is campaigning or discussing the Senate race, that’s on his own time and the state shouldn’t be footing the bill.

We’d like to remind readers that not only is it important for the Lt. Governor to maintain total separation of Campaign Daniel and Lt. Gov. Daniel, it’s imperative. You’ll recall that he ran into quite a bit of trouble over an illegal political action committee called DANPAC just a couple years ago.

And while the Legislative Ethics Commission dismissed the complaint over DANPAC’s illegalities, they took issue with his ignorance of the law:

Although Mongiardo’s name has been cleared, the commission’s order did question the soundness of his decision to associate with a fund-raising committee without first researching the law.

“Although aware that his involvement with DANPAC might raise legal problems, he apparently made no effort to explore exactly what those might be with any appropriate agency,” said the order. “Instead he relied, at least initially, on the advice of someone whose knowledge of Kentucky election law appears to have been somewhat short of adequate.

“Looking into the law before leaping into involvement of any kind with a permanent committee would have been a better course to follow and likely would have rendered this proceeding unnecessary as well as sparing the Senator unwanted publicity,” the order said.

Past campaign finance foibles require extra attention be paid to every line of every FEC report Mongiardo will file.