I, Mark McGaha, after hearing the prepared statements of Jeff Hoover aired on his family's radio station a day prior to any summons being served upon his friend and client Judge Mickey Garner, find it necessary to set the record straight.

While Mr. Hoover stated that the issuance of these summonses were politically motivated by me due to the timing, if it had been my choice, warrants would have been issued within hours of the incident occurring. However, sometimes a person will act too quickly and make mistakes. So, after speaking with local counsel, the recommendation was made to allow the Attorney General's office to investigate the incident that occurred on December 14th of last year.

Attorney General Jack Conway's office appointed a prosecutor, who selected a Kentucky  State Police Detective, who investigated the case. A Special Judge was appointed, and all were selected from outside Russell County.

As many of you may know, Frankfort moves at its own pace and that is usually slow, or as my dad would say, “they run in bulldog gear.” Finding a special prosecutor itself took several weeks, then he requested the appointment of the special investigator and that took several weeks. The investigator had to take time to interview individuals, adding further to the delay.

And aside from that, please remember that it is not Garner who is running against me in the County Attorney's race it is Hoover's employee. Since my race is not against Garner, it begs the question of how Hoover can hold a straight face when he says that these charges were politically motivated on my part.

Maybe he should direct his criticism toward Frankfort and the AG's office, but he knows that office independently investigated before deciding to bring charges and prosecute this matter.

After the KSP detective completed his investigation, the special prosecutor had to request the special judge to sign the summonses. They were prepared, April 2nd, I was contacted to sign them, and it was not until April 9th that they were served on Garner.

They seem to forget that at one time Garner called me some kind of idiot. Now they are saying to folks that I'm some kind of political mastermind? Maybe I should thank them for the compliment. But while Hoover and Garner are both seasoned politicians, this is just my first term in office.

I wonder if, after all this time in office, they have forgotten that no one is above the law. Garner is not above the law. Maybe things have been done for different reasons in the past, but I assure you that these criminal summonses were not prepared by  the attorney general's independently appointed prosecutor for political reasons.

Sincerely,

Russell County Attorney,

Mark McGaha