NEWS RELEASE
November 20, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kim Geveden
(502) 682-2010
[email protected]
Annette Lee
(502) 498-4008x230
[email protected]
Conway's Refusing to Explain Why He Invested 91% of Stock Holdings - up to $4.98 Million - in Company that Calls Investments in Clean Coal Technology "Wasting Enormous Sums of Money"
Did Conway Invest in Kinder-Morgan in Spring 2009 to Enrich Himself if Cap and Trade Passed?
FRANKFORT --- Yesterday at the Kentucky Association of Counties candidate forum, Attorney General Jack Conway continued stonewalling on questions about his multi-million dollar investment in Texas energy company Kinder-Morgan, one of the largest transporters of natural gas in the United States. He deflected answering questions about his own finances by saying Daniel Mongiardo also owns stock in a natural gas company.
“How does Jack Conway justify investing millions in a Texas energy company that advocates replacing Kentucky coal with natural gas, a company in which Conway stands to profit at the expense of Kentucky’s coal industry, the thousands of Kentuckians it employs, and Kentucky consumers who would have to pay higher electric rates? For Jack Conway to profit at the financial expense of Kentucky families is nothing less than outrageous,” said Kim Geveden, Mongiardo campaign spokesman.
Conway’s investment in Kinder-Morgan came in Spring 2009 came at the same time Congress was trying to pass ‘Cap & Trade’ legislation. According to Natural Gas Week, if a ‘Cap & Trade’ bill passes Congress, use of natural gas will increase significantly while use of coal will go down.
“If ‘Cap & Trade’ passes, which Jack Conway previously supported, he stands to make a huge personal profit at the expense of Kentucky coal and Kentucky families who will have to pay significantly higher electric rates," said Geveden.
Mongiardo readily acknowledged at the candidates forum owning $24,000 (less than 3% of his stock holdings) worth of stock in a natural gas company that he purchased more than 16 years ago in 1993. In sharp contrast, Jack Conway refused to divulge even when he made the up to $4.98 million investment in Kinder-Morgan energy, a substantial 91% of his entire stock assets.
Conway refuses to answer simple questions about his staggering investment in this known anti-coal energy company:
- How much does Conway have invested in Kinder-Morgan Energy?
- From where or from whom did Conway get the millions to invest in Kinder-Morgan?
- What is the specific date Jack Conway invested in Kinder-Morgan? Was it in the days surrounding the launch of his campaign and establishment of his $5 million “margin” account at Hilliard Lyons?
- What is Conway’s relationship with Sara Morgan who contributed the double maximum – $4,800 – to his campaign on September 30, or her husband, Richard V. Morgan, the co-founder of Kinder-Morgan Energy?
“For Conway to equate a $24,000 investment made 16 years ago with his multi-million dollar investment in Kinder-Morgan barely 16 weeks, ago, while ‘Cap and Trade’ legislation was being debated and passed in the House of Representatives is completely ridiculous,” said Geveden. “Voters have a right to know the extent of Conway’s investment and personal relationship with Kinder-Morgan. And Jack Conway has an obligation to provide them with that information, directly and honestly,” he added