CORBIN — By Ronnie Ellis, CNHI News Writer

Bill Nighbert, the former secretary of the Transportation Cabinet (and former Williamsburg mayor) who was tried — and acquitted — on charges of bid-rigging, is again advising Senate Republicans on transportation matters.

“Just visiting. I’m just visiting,” was all Nighbert had to say when he was seen Tuesday in the capitol annex office of Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville. Nighbert previously advised Williams and the Senate on transportation matters after he left the post of Cabinet Secretary and prior to the charges against him in federal court.

Williams later said he’d asked Nighbert to advise him and Senate Republicans on the road plan which the General Assembly will pass for the next two years.

“I asked him to come back and advise us about the road plan,” Williams said Tuesday afternoon. “He’s not being paid by the General Assembly; he’s not being paid by any government agency.”

Instead, Williams said, Nighbert will be paid from the Republican Senate Campaign Caucus Committee. That committee collects and spends money on behalf of Republican candidates for the Senate.

“We’ll pay him out of the caucus campaign committee for political advice,” Williams said. Asked how much Nighbert will receive, Williams declined to answer, then added, “It’s not nearly what it’s worth.”

Nighbert was paid about $70,000 in his previous stint in Williams’ office.

Nighbert, 58, served as Transportation Secretary for Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher before joining Williams’ staff after Gov. Steve Beshear defeated Fletcher in the 2007 election. 

But he was later indicted along with prominent road contractor Leonard Lawson and one of Lawson’s employees on federal charges of bid rigging. He was accused of leaking internal cabinet bid estimates to Lawson in order to give Lawson a competitive advantage in bidding on state road contracts. Prosecutors charged Nighbert provided estimates on projects worth about $130 million in 2006 and 2007 while Nighbert was still Transportation Secretary.

After a three-week trial in Lexington, both Nighbert and Lawson were found not guilty in late January. Charges against Brian Billings, the Lawson employee, were then dropped. Both Williams and Beshear testified at the trial.

Beshear declined to comment Tuesday when asked for his reaction to Nighbert’s return to Williams’ office. Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, also declined comment at first but then said there is “no reason he, like any other citizen, couldn’t participate.”

Williams said Nighbert’s advice on the road plan will help the Senate sift through significant changes made by the House to the road plan submitted by Beshear. He said Beshear’s plan relied on federal stimulus funds for many projects which were then “re-worked by the House and sent over to us with very few days to analyze it.”

“He’s just helping us analyze the situation. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Williams said.

Sen. Ernie Harris, R-Crestwood, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, said Nighbert’s expertise with technical issues in transportation are helpful to his committee.

“We’re using him really for his technical expertise on the road plan and balancing the budget to include federal and state money,” Harris said. He said the rules governing what federal funding can pay for and what must then be financed by state funds can be complicated.

“He’s probably the most experienced guy outside the cabinet to deal with the technical issues of the road plan,” Harris said. He said he didn’t see any problems because of Nighbert’s past difficulties.

“He was found innocent,” Harris said.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach himat rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.