Remember Elmo Greer & Sons, the London-based highway contractors? Remember when they pleaded guilty to a felony charge of making illegal campaign contributions and folks like Steve Henry accepting them?

Here’s a refresher:

• Exposed: Campaign Finance Shenanigans [September 30, 2007]
• Campaign Finance Fraud & Corruption: Guilty Plea! [January 4, 2008]

Remember when Jack Conway said he would press forward with an investigation?

Here’s an excerpt from a January 5, 2008 Tom Loftus article in the Courier-Journal (“$250,000 Paid In Campaign-Gift Case”):

A London-based highway contractor made a $250,000 payment yesterday and one of its employees pleaded guilty to a felony because of illegal contributions made during last year’s campaign for governor. The payment by Elmo Greer & Sons was part of a settlement yesterday after the state Attorney General’s office sued the company, saying it ‘knew or should have known’ about the illegal contributions by its employee, accountant Phillip Dufour of London … Jack Conway, who will succeed Stumbo as attorney general on Monday, will press forward with the investigation, said Allison Martin, who will be the spokeswoman for Conway’s office. ‘We will continue to work with the Greer company and Mr. Dufour, encouraging their cooperation so that we can have a complete and thorough investigation into this issue,’ she said.”

Fast forward to 2010 when Tom Loftus wrote another article (“Company Yet To Give Data On Campaign”) on February 16:

When one of its employees admitted making illegal contributions during Kentucky’s 2007 governor’s race, road contractor Elmo Greer & Sons of London agreed to tell the attorney general everything it knew about other illegal donations. But more than two years later, the attorney general’s office has not followed through and obtained the information, according to two attorneys for the company. Under the agreement, Greer & Sons avoided criminal charges but stipulated that it would pay $250,000 to cover the cost of the investigation.

That’s right – Jack Conway failed to follow through on his promised investigation of campaign finance fraud and corruption. Which means there’s a cloud hanging over Elmo Greer & Sons – warranted or not – because Jack hasn’t done anything. And the public is left wondering why Jack wouldn’t want to end campaign finance fraud in Kentucky.

Now we know why Jack was so nervous – having multiple staffers (his political folks who work on his state payroll) call to freak out – in 2009 during the end of the state portion of the Henry scandal. He knew he was sitting on his hands for the money machine.

Oh, and don’t hold your breath on any solid investigation regarding the Beshear shakedown of state employees for campaign cash. That’s not happening as long as the top KREF folks have close friends in top jobs in Beshear’s office and definitely isn’t happening while Conway faces a serious bid from a Republican challenger.