EDITOR'S NOTE: The Kentucky State AFL-CIO endorsed Democrat Greg Stumbo for attorney general.
Why the Black attorney general who announed no charges in the killing of Breonna Taylor is a Republican star.
By JOEL ANDERSON
A month ago, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron walked across a red carpet in D.C. and into the national spotlight. “Good evening,” Cameron said to the Republican National Convention audience, beaming in a sharp blue suit. “My name is Daniel Cameron. I’m 34 years old, and the first African American attorney general in Kentucky history.”
Back home in Kentucky, Cameron was facing pressure to charge three Louisville police officers in the killing of Breonna Taylor. But onstage at the RNC, Cameron was triumphant, singing the praises of President Donald Trump and helping the GOP in its effort to portray itself as inclusive and diverse. “Republicans will never turn a blind eye to unjust acts,” Cameron said, in a brief nod to the turmoil in his home state.
Those words rang especially hollow Wednesday afternoon, when Cameron announced that a Kentucky grand jury indicted one officer on charges of endangering Taylor’s neighbors with reckless gunfire, but that no one would be charged for killing Taylor. In a 52-minute news conference, Cameron’s words, meant to justify the unsatisfying charges, actually did more to explain his meteoric rise through the ranks of Republican politics.