As Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron runs for governor, his office is fielding serious employee complaints describing “hostile,” “cruel,” “threatening,” and “demeaning” treatment from senior officials under the Republican’s purview—including allegations that one unit director took “zoomed in” photos of a detective’s breast.
While multiple employees have allegedly quit under these conditions, Cameron’s office has taken little if any action in response to the complaints, which The Daily Beast received from a public records request. The one outlier appears to have been the case of the inappropriate photos, in which an investigation found in February that the woman’s supervisor “should be reprimanded” for public intoxication. The office investigated her claims, but appears to have taken no action on her other six allegations.
The woman who brought that complaint—an active-duty detective employed in the office of the attorney general (OAG)—is suing Cameron and his office for employment discrimination, hostile work conditions, and workers’ compensation retaliation, according to filings in Franklin County district court.
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The full scope of the allegations, which range from early 2020 to this May, describe a work environment in which a number of employees have felt intimidated and belittled by their superiors—to such an extent that they lodged official complaints.
The complaints allege a work environment that has led to multiple resignations, including among attorneys. And two top Cameron officials—Deputy AG Vic Maddox and deputy solicitor general for criminal appeals Jeffrey A. Cross—are accused of routine mistreatment.
“It is relentless,” one attorney wrote of Cross’ allegedly abusive behavior.
As Cameron seeks Kentucky’s top government position, the allegations paint a troubling picture of an office out of control, streaked with fear and suspicion, where workers are routinely degraded and supervisors not only ignore the complaints but are often at the center of them.
One complaint, submitted by an attorney in Cameron’s office, noted that Cross treated workers in a “demeaning, unprofessional manner” and would “pit employees against each other,” sowing internal mistrust. Cross’ tactics, this attorney claimed, had caused “numerous attorneys and administrative staff members” to resign or retire.
A separate complaint, which the OAG’s then-communications director filed against Maddox this spring, cites gender discrimination against women, conflict with another top official, “sabotage” of official duties, and “threatening/intimidating/humiliating behavior.”
The communications director further recounted an incident in April where Maddox deliberately withheld information from a reporter about Cameron’s recusal from a major case, which had created a media firestorm around conflicts of interest with campaign donors.
The Daily Beast sent detailed comment requests to communications officials with Cameron’s office and his campaign, then followed up on those requests. The campaign never replied, but an OAG spokesperson provided a statement declaring the office’s “utmost respect for its employees” and claiming the office’s investigation found the complaints “lacked merit.”
“The Attorney General’s office has the utmost respect for its employees and takes all complaints seriously. When a complaint is filed, the office investigates the matter and takes action when warranted. Every employee is also aware of the process for filing complaints with the Personnel Cabinet. We take these matters seriously and address them appropriately,” the statement said.
“Here, the office investigated the complaints and found that the first three complaints mentioned lacked merit. Regarding the fourth complaint, a reprimand was issued,” the statement concluded, referencing the reprimand for public intoxication.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Cameron, who was elected AG in 2019, is running to unseat Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, in what’s possibly the most watched gubernatorial race of the year. The campaign has quickly turned ugly, as both candidates have come under fire for alleged ethical breaches in relation to campaign donations, with Cameron’s multiple alleged conflicts squarely centered on his official duties.
But even though the allegations and subsequent internal investigations detailed in the public records involve some of Cameron’s top officials and allies, the AG appears to have made few, if any, changes to his staff. Both Maddox and Cross—whose names appear on OAG filings before the U.S. Supreme Court—are still listed on the OAG website (archived on Aug. 14).
Former Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo told The Daily Beast that his office had never received complaints of this nature, but if he had, officials would have taken swift action.
“Those kinds of complaints—harassment, intimidating behavior—they have to raise concerns,” Stumbo said. “If you don’t manage it appropriately, that stuff spreads like wildfire. I’ve seen it in my private capacity. It’s a cancer that has to be dealt with as soon as you see it, no matter who it is, be that my closest adviser or confidant. I wouldn’t put up with it.”
Stumbo explained that, like the federal Justice Department, the Kentucky OAG employs a battalion of career officials—or “merit employees”—in addition to the political appointees in front office leadership positions, which Cameron is responsible for.
“The front office sets the standard,” Stumbo said. “You can’t blame the AG directly for the individual conduct, but he has to manage his responsibility, how he chooses to react to those problems. The front office sets the tone for the entire department, and you have to have one set of standards that makes it fair for everybody. You have to lead by example.”
But according to the complaints, the tone in Cameron’s office isn’t fair for everybody—or even humane.
For instance, the complaint that led to the lawsuit this year alleged that the director of the OAG’s cybercrimes unit had committed a number of workplace violations, including “immoral conduct,” “use of intoxicants off-duty,” and capturing “zoomed in” photos of a detective’s breast.
“The conduct that he has been engaging in has been slowly escalating to the point that I am fearful of physical violence,” the detective wrote in her complaint, claiming her supervisor’s behavior “mimic those of an abuser in a domestic violence situation.”
Cameron’s office, however, did not take action on the allegations, only finding that the supervisor “should be reprimanded” for public intoxication and “instructed on expectations moving forward.” It’s unclear if he was.
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It is clear, however, that his accuser was unhappy with that result. Her allegations appear alongside others in an amended complaint the detective filed against Cameron and the Commonwealth of Kentucky in Franklin County this January.
“The case is definitely ongoing, and we do not intend to dismiss it,” the detective’s attorney, Jonathan Kurtz of the Spencer Law Group, told The Daily Beast. “We will continue to investigate and prosecute this case.”
Kurtz told The Daily Beast that the lawsuit alleges Cameron’s office “engaged in acts of discrimination against her because of her status as parent of a child with a disability,” along with her own physical conditions, for which she had accommodations taken away.
The Daily Beast obtained copies of the complaint, as well as Cameron and his office’s response and motion to dismiss, which deny the allegations. The detective has been relegated to desk work, and her supervisor is still employed with the office. This summer, the supervisor received a state-mandated 6 percent pay raise, according to publicly available salary information.
The other complaints, however, allege abusive and toxic behavior much higher up the food chain.
“The director of my division, Jeff Cross, is constantly engaging in hostile, cruel, unprofessional and bullying behavior to everyone in our division,” read a complaint from March 2021, singling out the former assistant AG who Cameron later named as deputy solicitor general for criminal appeals.
“He is bullying and intimidating everyone in the office…attorneys, admins staff, supervisors…everyone,” the complaint stated, describing Cross as “condescending and insulting,” and claiming he had used “information about personal struggles” in criticizing other employees.
“He has made several people, including myself, cry hysterically and seek mental health assistance to deal with the toxic and hostile work environment,” the complaint alleged, noting that the behavior had been ongoing since Cross assumed the supervisory role in early 2020, and that “several people have quit over his abuse.”
“Even when I tried to take responsibility and apologize for my writing not being of good enough quality (because I was in tears and wanted it to be over with) he told me that wasn’t good enough,” the complainant claimed, alleging that a number of employees shared the same concerns.
“It was so bad that my direct supervisor, who was attending the meeting, checked on me afterward and told me it was brutal and he almost cried with me,” the complaint said. “I am not the only person who has been subjected to such behavior. Several people have quit. Several are struggling mentally and emotionally, including myself.”
Around that same time, a second employee filed a similar complaint against Cross.
“I am filing this report after reading news articles about LaShana Harris,” that complaint began, citing the Beshear-appointed Kentucky juvenile justice commissioner who was fired in March 2021.
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“The details of her office are uncannily familiar. The terms ‘bullied’ and ‘creating a toxic workplace’ particularly resonated,” said this second complaint, which came from an attorney working under Cross.
“He yells. He uses belittling language,” the complaint said. “Someone is his target every few days. When it’s me, I just try to think that I’m taking the heat off someone else.”
The complaint accuses Cross of behaving in a “demeaning, unprofessional manner” that “has created an environment in which people are afraid,” “destroyed a productive and positive workspace,” and led to a mass exodus of staff.
“Numerous attorneys and administrative staff members have resigned or retired in response to Mr. Cross’s tactics,” the complaint claimed. “This situation is unsustainable, both by attorneys and administrative staff.”
Among the specific allegations, Cross is said to have fomented mistrust among colleagues.
“Mr. Cross has pressured attorneys into answering questions about our co-workers,” promising that the conversations were confidential, the complaint claimed. “Then he betrayed that confidence in an apparent attempt to pit co-workers against each other. As a result, we don’t trust our colleagues.”
“Attorneys feel like our ‘leader’ does not trust us,” the attorney said.
In response to the complaint form’s prompt—“How many times has this happened?”—the complainant wrote: “It is relentless.”
The office investigated the complaints, but found that the allegations “were not substantiated.” Cross, that report said, “is direct in his communication,” an approach that “makes some staff uncomfortable.”
“However, the Director’s purpose is to improve the quality of the briefs, and some staff acknowledge that he has helped to do that,” investigators found. The report also acknowledged that while six people had left Cross’ division “for various reasons,” “none of those departures were the result of the alleged conduct.”
“There is no evidence to substantiate the claims of a ‘Hostile Work Place’ in the Division of Criminal Appeals,” the investigation concluded.
In May, the then-communications director for the OAG submitted a lengthy complaint against deputy AG Vic Maddox as part of her exit interview.
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Maddox, the communications official wrote, had been “threatening, demeaning, intimidating, humiliating, and highly disrespectful” to her, and displayed “favoritism” by “promoting men over roles assigned to women.”
In one incident, Maddox demanded that the communications director send him an already approved press release, which the communications director alleged was at odds with office protocol.
“He stood in my office and threatened me by stating that if I didn’t send him the release immediately, he was going to walk me down to the AG’s office and he would make me send him the release,” the complaint stated. “When I hesitated, unsure of what to do, he told me to get up out of my chair because he was taking me to the AG’s office.”
Maddox then allegedly yelled at the communications director, who removed herself “to avoid any further demeaning, threatening, and humiliation,” as the scene was witnessed by a number of co-workers.
When Cameron got word of the incident, he called her personally, she wrote.
“He apologized on behalf of Vic and urged me not to quit my job due to his behavior,” the complaint said.
It’s unclear if Cameron took any disciplinary action against Maddox, but Maddox remains the deputy AG.
That complaint also alleges that Maddox sought to take duties from women and hand them instead to men, even if those duties weren’t a fit for those men’s job descriptions or qualifications. At one point in the complaint, Cameron backs him up, but in the end defers to the communications director’s judgment.
“I later spoke with Attorney General Cameron, and he explained that [another employee] had told him that I was overwhelmed and needed help posting—which was not the case—and suggested that [two men] be put in charge of posting,” the complaint said. “General Cameron said that if that would be helpful for me, he was fine with that. When I discussed this with the Attorney General and expressed my concerns, he told me that he would leave social media management to my discretion.”
But Maddox continued to push, according to the complaint, and worked “to deceive the Attorney General regarding the needs of the communications office to promote two male Deputy Communications Directors with the work that was assigned to a female Deputy Communications Director for Digital.”
The communications director also details a number of other incidents where Maddox allegedly interfered with office protocol, including interposing himself with the press and “sabotaging” relationships with the media.
During one incident in April, Maddox allegedly withheld critical information from a reporter inquiring about Cameron’s recusal from a case involving ARKK Properties, related to gambling machine regulations that had created a conflict of interest between Cameron and a bevy of wealthy donors.
Cameron had recused himself from the ARKK Properties case on March 31, after ARKK joined a lawsuit against his office challenging the regulations. On April 19, Lexington Herald-Leader reporter Tessa Duvall asked the communications director about the case, and “if a recusal was merited, why or why not?”
According to the complaint, after Maddox approved the response, he noted, “FYI, the General did recuse himself from this case, but we do not need to disclose that here.”
A week later, Louisville Courier-Journal reporter Joe Sonka inquired about a recusal, and Maddox approved a response confirming that Cameron had removed himself from the case.
“When Austin [Horn] of the Herald Leader found out our office knew of the recusal on March 31 but declined to explain that on April 19 when he inquired, he reached out and both he and Tessa Duvall of the Herald Leader began live tweeting my email correspondence,” she wrote, alleging that Maddox had “exposed the office to negative press” and damaged longstanding media relationships.
Upon reviewing the communications director’s complaint, the OAG “determined that an investigation was necessary.” In response to the favoritism allegation, the report found that “it is reasonable” that supervisors “would request cross-training and shared duties” among a small staff. Likewise, the allegations of intimidation were “unsubstantiated,” as the reported incident was “isolated and not a pervasive behavior.” As for the media allegations, the report found no policy violations but said that “staff have been cautioned regarding media contacts and informed of the requirements outlined in OAG Policy.”
The attorney who filed one of the two complaints against Cross, however, felt otherwise, and expressed concern that the culture inside Cameron’s office could cause systemic damage.
“It’s really hard working in a political office. I don’t know who to trust. I only know that our division went from a place of positivity where everyone loved our jobs to a place where we’re always on the edge and stressed,” the attorney wrote in the complaint, adding that the “productive and successful” appellate team was now being “called into meetings to be told we are the worst attorneys in the Sixth Circuit.”
“I’m proud of the work we do. It is heartbreaking to see so many people walk away even though they love the actual work as well,” the attorney wrote.
“It is purposeful,” the attorney added. “We want to be able to do it with our hearts again.”
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