Gov. Andy Beshear said more than 1,900 driver's licensing credentials had been revoked by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet because of irregularities. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)
Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman say investigators have been looking into a whistleblower’s allegations that immigrants paid temporary contract workers to illegally obtain state driver’s licenses.
Louisville TV station WDRB reported Monday a former clerk at a Kentucky driver’s licensing office said co-workers sold, for $200 each, state driver’s licenses to immigrants who couldn’t legally obtain them because they are in the country without permission. The whistleblower, Melissa Moorman, worked at Louisville’s Nia licensing office through the staffing agency Quantam Solutions.
Moorman told the TV station she was fired when she reported the scheme to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC). She filed a lawsuit against the cabinet and Quantum Solutions in April.
Beshear in a Wednesday press conference told reporters the cabinet regularly reviews driver’s licensing credential applications and had revoked 1,985 credentials for irregularities.
“KYTC immediately contacted law enforcement who are engaged in a criminal investigation, and it includes multiple offices that are both state and federal,” Beshear said. “The revoked credentials, if used, would not work at an airport, would be flagged if pulled over at a traffic stop. We are committed to getting all of the facts and holding anybody who violated the law accountable.”
Beshear said all employees involved had been hired through a “temp agency and have been terminated.” When asked if Moorman was fired by the staffing agency Quantam Solutions or the cabinet after reporting the scheme, Beshear said he didn’t have that information and had not read the whistleblower lawsuit complaint. But he also said some statements in the complaint were “not factual.”
Coleman, the Republican attorney general, at a roundtable with law enforcement in Shepherdsville on Wednesday said his office had been collaborating with Kentucky State Police and federal officials “for some time now on that investigation.”
“The conduct as shared by the whistleblower, has been very concerning that the media has reported on in the last few days,” Coleman said. “It’s a several months-long investigation. It’s been ongoing since long before the media reports of the last couple of days. So that is a very ongoing, very robust investigation at present.”
The report of the whistleblower lawsuit has sparked calls from Republicans in the state legislature and Republican Auditor Allison Ball for investigations into the whistleblower’s allegations.
“If these reports are accurate, this is fundamentally wrong on every level. It’s not just a breakdown in oversight but a betrayal of public trust,” said Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, in a statement on the allegations. “The Kentucky General Assembly will raise concerns and take every action within our authority to correct this wrong and ensure it never happens again.”
Higdon, the chair of the Kentucky Senate Transportation Committee, in his statement referenced previous frustrations Kentuckians have had at regional driver’s licensing offices, which the state legislature established through a law passed in 2020. Previously, circuit court clerks in each county issued driver’s licenses. The 2020 law, signed by Beshear, garnered support and opposition from both parties in the state legislature.
Kentuckians have faced long lines at the offices, and another state law went into effect this year requiring drivers to pass a vision test to renew their licenses.
Ball, the Republican state auditor, sent a letter Wednesday to Beshear and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray requesting a formal explanation regarding the allegations, saying she was troubled by reports of an “alleged black market within the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.”
Beshear, responding to a question from a reporter about if undocumented immigrants were receiving fraudulent driver’s licenses, said that it was a part of the investigation.
“There are a number of different reasons people might try to get fake identification, and I want to make sure I don’t get in front of the Kentucky State Police in their current investigation,” Beshear said. “But when that’s complete, we look forward to sharing any and all of those facts.”
This story was updated to add context regarding the passage of the 2020 law establishing regional driver’s licensing offices.
McKenna Horsley contributed to this report.
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