UPDATE:

CLICK HERE (Warning: PDF Link) for the full court file (73 pages) from the Henry case proving him wrong.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here’s the June 30, 2006 letter from the FEC I just mentioned on the radio. Click here (Warning: PDF Link) for that.

Original story below:

That Steve Henry is a character, isn’t he? Here’s my story from yesterday. Check it all out for a trip down the Henry memory hole, in video.

That’s all behind us. Or is it?

Let’s see. (Sorry, I’m not shutting up yet) I know everything and I am going to talk about it.

Steve Henry pleaded guilty to three charges. Guilty. He is guilty. Then he had the gall to spew forth every absurdity you can imagine to the press. He blamed Greg Stumbo for his troubles left and right (not reality - Greg’s office rejected the case and that’s why Leslie Holland spent $15,000 to get complaints before the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance). He blamed me and said I used him to get a job with Bruce Lunsford (not true, obviously, as is backed up by the thousands of pages of evidence in the hands of the police and the court). And he blamed Leslie Holland (saying she was unemployable, perjured herself, attacked her medical condition, etc). He is certifiable.

So. Listen up, Steve: Just stop. You’re finished politically. The legal system has done its job. You screw up again in the next two years and you have to do jail time at Metro. You never know when to stop with the corruption and it’s finally gotten you into a heap of trouble. You didn’t stop when I confronted you in 2006 and look where it has gotten you. This is terribly sad. Good friendships and the public trust flushed down the toilet. And for what? Your ego.

How dare you accuse me of lying about everything you did - it was all documented!

How dare you attack Greg Stumbo for coming at you with a “witch hunt.”

YOU are the guy who pleaded GUILTY to THREE CHARGES. You illegally used funds from a federal account for a state race. You illegally used money from two 501(c)3 non-profits (with the knowledge of your wife, since one was her fake veterans group) to pay for your gubernatorial race.

Innocent people don’t plead guilty, don’t pay KREF fines and most certainly don’t forfeit $600,000. Innocent people don’t usually agree to be sentenced to 12 months in jail.

Really. You deserve it. And the beauty of all this? Everybody in the press is reading this at this very moment and they’re all thinking the same thing.

Some mainstream coverage of the mess:

• Steve Henry accepts plea deal [FOX41]
• Here’s the Fox41 video [Click Here]
• Judge pronounces Henry guilty in election finance case [Ralph Dunlop]
• Ex-lt. go. enters plea in election-finance case [WHAS11]
• Steve Henry accepts plea deal on campaign funds (read it) [John Cheves]
• Henry accepts plea deal, admits no guilt to alleged campaign violations [More WHAS11]
• Steve Henry found guilty of violating campaign finance laws [More Ralph Dunlop]

Excerpts from Ralph’s story:

The case against him amounted to nothing more than a “political witch hunt” instigated by then-Attorney General Greg Stumbo, Henry told reporters. His accusers were liars, he said, and the evidence against him was weak.

Weak? Guess that’s why he was convicted. Found guilty on all three charges and given a jail sentence. Liars? Haha. Right.

“Why is she here?” Henry wanted to know.

Maybe because she filed the complaint with the KREF and has spent three years seeing this case through prosecution?

Henry also contended that when Holland’s complaint was filed with the registry and with the attorney general’s office, Stumbo should have delayed a possible prosecution until the registry had finished its administrative proceedings.

So Greg should not have followed the law in recusing himself and appointing a special prosecutor? Okay. Good call.

“I don’t know what kind of doctor Steve Henry is, but I know he’s not a lawyer. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Crawford said.

“If he’s the innocent person he says he is, why did he stand up there and accept a conviction? If he doesn’t believe we had the evidence, why did he agree to a plea bargain? He knows we could prove this case.”

Crawford also said he personally interviewed Henry twice about the allegations, and “he didn’t have answers that satisfied me.”

Oh snap.

From Greg Stumbo:

“The final outcome and resulting plea agreement is proof positive that the investigation was warranted. It is unfortunate that Dr. Henry still continues to point fingers, and cast blame, rather than taking responsibility for his personal conduct.”

Exactly.

The summary includes the assertion that Henry reimbursed himself in the amount of $1,391 from his federal “testing the waters” account after he announced his candidacy for governor; that he paid two campaign workers, Jacob “Jake” Payne and Holland, a total of nearly $10,000 from the federal campaign account, also after his announcement for governor; and that he donated three computers owned by the federal account and valued at $2,340, to the state race.

-SNIP-

Payne, the campaign worker, also was paid a total of $678 with funds from the Kentucky Prostate Cancer Coalition Inc. for work on Henry’s 2007 race for governor, according to the statement of facts. Henry is a prostate cancer survivor, and the founder and president of the coalition.

What was that about me lying? Again, I told the truth and Steve Henry did pay me illegally. I still have the cancelled checks. I didn’t receive much of from the $10,000 amount as it was all reimbursement (I think - it’s been three years!) for campaign supplies.

In summary: Steve Henry is guilty and the facts prove it.

Let’s put this issue to bed. I’m sick to death of it and am sad for our Commonwealth.