Comer accuser challenges him to lie detector

Under fire for allegations of abuse by a former girlfriend, gubernatorial candidate James Comer lashed out Wednesday and said he believes someone in rival Hal Heiner's camp offered money to people to make accusations against him.

"We have a great deal of confidence that people involved in this have been offered money by the Heiner campaign," Comer said during a meeting with the Cincinnati Enquirer's editorial board Wednesday.

The Heiner campaign denied it offered money to anyone, including Marilyn Thomas, the woman who accused Comer of abusing her physically and emotionally nearly 25 years ago.

"After calling Ms. Thomas a good person last week, Jamie Comer is questioning his accuser's mental health and completely lying about Hal Heiner," said Doug Alexander, a spokesman for Heiner. "Jamie Comer is desperate to save his failing campaign and willing to say anything to distract voters. His wild accusations are completely false and backed up only by the delusions of his own mind. He has not offered one shred of evidence."

Thomas said she had never been offered money by anyone associated with the Heiner campaign.

Scott Crosbie — who has been in contact with Michael Adams, the Lexington blogger who first aired abuse allegations, and is the husband of Heiner's running mate — said he didn't offer anyone money. "Never, not once," he said.

Adams also said in an email he never has been offered money.

As the controversy entered the fourth day, Thomas herself laid down a challenge to Comer.

"Ask Jamie if he would consent to sitting in a room with me and taking a polygraph," she said in an electronic message to The Courier-Journal.

Comer's campaign didn't reply to the challenge directly but said that he would assist in a Northern Kentucky grand jury's investigation into efforts by a blogger to uncover evidence of abuse by him.

Comer has denied all allegations of abuse.

The issue has all but consumed the race and flared Wednesday morning during a Republican gubernatorial debate on "Kentucky Sports Radio," a show aired in Louisville, Lexington and nearly three dozen stations across the state.

In the debate, Comer denied an allegation by Thomas' mother — an 83-year-old former Catholic nun — that he called her home early one morning some 25 years ago and threatened her daughter.

Comer denied all allegations in the story. "Her mother said there was a phone call late at night, it came from me. That's just not true."

Comer has tried to place blame for the controversy on Heiner, saying he tried to foment discussion of rumors that he had abused Thomas.

Rival candidate Matt Bevin jumped into the fray during the debate, siding with Comer. "Hal Heiner has surrounded himself with the surliest and sorriest people who have smeared and assassinated other people in this race," Bevin said.

Thomas, a Union County native who is now a film producer living in New York City, said she came forward only after Comer was quoted by the Lexington Herald-Leader denying that any abuse ever took place. That newspaper raised the issue of abuse in a story about Scott Crosbie's contacts with the blogger.

On Monday, in a letter to The Courier-Journal, Thomas said that during a two-year relationship while they attended Western Kentucky University, Comer hit her and became particularly enraged after they left a Louisville abortion clinic.

Her mother, Mary Rose Thomas, told The Courier-Journal that Comer called at 2 a.m. one morning. "I couldn't understand everything he was saying, but he said something about your daughter's going to be killed," she said. "... It was something like that."

A former roommate of Thomas also said she believed Thomas was being abused at the time and recounted Comer bringing Thomas back to the dormitory at WKU after she went to the Louisville abortion clinic.

Comer's roommate at the time said he never saw any evidence of abuse and knew nothing about an abortion. Comer has vehemently denied taking Thomas to an abortion clinic.

During the debate, Comer said he plans to sue The Courier-Journal for publishing the story and blamed Heiner for the fact that the allegations came forward. He told host Matt Jones that Heiner is the "Christian Laettner" of Kentucky politics. Jones' show focuses on University of Kentucky athletics and Laettner is a former Duke University basketball player reviled by UK fans.

Reporter Joseph Gerth can be reached at (502) 582-4702. Follow him on Twitter at @Joe_Gerth. Reporter Tom Loftus contributed to this story.