Graham was the judge who oversaw most of the grand jury's investigation of hiring practices by the Fletcher administration. Beshear's campaign spokesman acknowledges that Graham is a sometime volunteer worker at Beshear campaign HQ. That sparked this headline on a news release from Gov. Fletcher's campaign: "Witch Hunt Judge Openly Supporting Beshear.....Raises Credibility Questions of Political Motives." Campaign spokesman Marty Ryall says Judge Graham's work for a democrat proves the "hiring investigation was nothing more than a political witch hunt."

Graham told the Lexington Herald-Leader that he's been a friend of Beshear's for 30 years and his involvement with the democrat's campaign shouldn't cast a cloud over the grand jury's work, Graham saying "that's laughable."

It was Graham's ruling on the handling of computer hard drives that, arguably, made it tougher for investigators to find potentially damaging e-mails that might have implicated more Fletcher administration officials in the hiring scandal. Graham allowed attornies for Gov. Fletcher and other suspects to review all seized e-mails to help decide which ones were relevant to the hiring probe, before turning them over to investigators from the Attorney General's office.