Published: September 05, 2008 09:11 am            

Nighbert to appear in court Sept. 12

Times-Tribune Staff Report

The three men indicted Wednesday for a bid-rigging scheme in the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will have their first court appearance next week.

Former Williamsburg mayor and former Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Bill Nighbert, road contractor Leonard Lawson and one of Lawson’s employees, Brian Russell Billings, will appear in the U.S. federal courthouse in Lexington at 2 p.m. Sept. 12.

Attorneys for all three men have said their clients will plead not guilty.

Nighbert, 57, and Lawson, 69, were each indicted on six counts, including theft from a government agency, bribery and obstruction of justice. Lawson’s employee, 37-year-old Brian Russell Billings, was indicted on three counts for his alleged involvement in the scheme to leak confidential KTC project cost estimates to Lawson’s companies.

Before letting road contracts out for bid, KTC has an engineer prepare a cost estimate of the project — a figure kept confidential until after sealed bids from contractors are opened. The indictments allege that on eight different occasions between June 2006 and August 2007, either Nighbert, who was then transportation secretary, or Lawson directed then-deputy chief state highway engineer James Rummage to obtain the confidential KTC cost estimates for Lawson. By obtaining that cost estimate in advance, a single contractor might submit a higher bid but stay below the ceiling the cabinet routinely uses to evaluate bids. That ceiling is 7 percent over internal bid estimates.

The confidential engineer’s estimates allegedly helped Lawson win about 10 road contracts worth approximately $130 million.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.