Election-year review of disaster relief funds draws rebuke from Kentucky governor

By BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press

FRANKF ORT, Ky. (AP) — Disaster recovery funds set up by Kentucky’s Democratic governor to assist victims of tornadoes and flooding will be scrutinized by the state auditor’s office. The review was requested Thursday by a GOP-led legislative panel. It comes in the midst of the state’s gubernatorial campaign as Gov. Andy Beshear seeks reelection. The auditor’s office says it will conduct a special examination of the Beshear administration’s “acceptance, administration and expenditure” of donated relief funds. The funds assisted victims of tornadoes that hit western Kentucky in 2021 and floods that inundated the Appalachian region in 2022. Beshear says the funds have been “fully transparent.”