Westerfield says if elected AG he’ll fight federal government overreach, aggressively prosecute online crime

Kentucky Attorney General candidate Whitney Westerfield, above right, talked to staff at the News Journal during a campaign swing through Corbin last week.

A Republican candidate for Kentucky Attorney General says the office needs to be more aggressive is investigating and prosecuting online crimes, should be more transparent in its dealings with private attorney, and more diligent in its fight against federal government “overreach.”

Third District State Senator Whitney Westerfield (R-Hopkinsville) is one of three candidates on the ballot for Attorney General for the May Primary Election.

Westerfield visited Corbin last week and touted his unique experience as an advantage he has over his opponents. He is an attorney who served as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in Hopkinsville from 2007 to 2012.

“I’m the only candidate that is going to bring the experience to bear that we need in the office,” Westerfield said. “I’ve got frontline prosecuting experience and I’ve worked for public safety personally with law enforcement winning cases and keeping my home county safe.”

Westerfield said some things need to change in the Attorney General’s Office to make it more effective.

For instance, he advocates for a more vigorous and robust effort to investigate and prosecute cybercrime — things like the proliferation of child pornography, online scams and data breaches. He said testimony from Kentucky State Police recently before a Kentucky Senate committee revealed that only about two percent of online crime is tracked and prosecuted.

“What are we seeing? We are seeing the growth of the Internet exponentially … it’s just exploding,” Westerfield said. “We are going to exist digitally more and more and that means more of this crime is going to happen.”

To that end, Westerfield said more funding is needed so that more expertise can be brought to bear to battle online crime. Also, he said the Attorney General’s Cybercrimes unit could do a better job of partnering with local law enforcement agencies.

As a state senator, Westerfield has filed bills that would bring more transparency to the Attorney General’s office by forcing more disclosure regarding use of private attorney’s to prosecute lawsuits and criminal cases. The bill, which has failed three times to pass in the General Assembly, also would cap contingency fees awarded to firms who win settlements in things like fraud or product liability cases.

“These attorneys are hired where a certain expertise or knowledge is needed in highly technical cases … the Attorney General routinely bids that out, or just picks a firm,” Westerfield said. “There’s nothing wrong with that, the Attorney General needs the power to hire private attorneys to do that, but there needs to be more transparency. Contracts for those attorneys should have to be bid out and, if not, a detailed written opinion about why that wasn’t done should be written.”

Westerfield contends that too often, selection of private attorneys on contingency through the Attorney General’s office is done for firms that are “friendly, or has certain political relationships.” If elected, he said he could put in place the changes he’s advocated through legislation on his own.

Finally, Westerfield said current Attorney General Jack Conway, along with other candidates in the race, are unwilling to “take on the federal government” in areas where he feels like state’s rights are being violated, or regulations are being promulgated that hurt Kentucky industries.

“We have EPA regulations and proposed regulations that are killing our coal industry and are farmers,” Westerfield said. “The federal government has overstepped its bounds on things like education policy, immigration, religious liberty … all of these things are fronts we need to be fighting on, and the current Attorney General and other candidates have no interest in doing it.”

“If I’m elected, I’ll have the power to fight back for Kentuckians and plan to do just that.”

Westerfield is being challenged in the Republican Primary by Louisa attorney Michael T. Hogan. Andy Beshear, son of Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, is unopposed in the Democratic Primary.