Kentucky officials are getting a lot of attention from Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao's frequent meetings with officials from Kentucky are raising some eyebrows, Politico reports.

Between January 2017 and March 2018, records show that 25 percent of Chao's scheduled meetings with local officials of any state seeking federal grant money were with Kentuckians. For reference, Indiana and Georgia were next in line with 6 percent of the meetings apiece, Politico reports.

Chao is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who represents the Bluegrass State in the upper chamber, so the news hasn't been received particularly well. In fact, at least five of Chao's 18 meetings with Kentucky officials were requested by McConnell staffers, who reportedly told Chao's team if the officials were "friends" or "loyal supporters" of McConnell. "The marriage is the thing that underlies all of this," said Mel Dubnick, a professor of government ethics and accountability at the University of New Hampshire.

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Chao has maintained she shows no favoritism toward McConnell's state, but the numbers are not insignificant, especially when local officials from other states have complained about how difficult is to schedule a meeting with her office.

A Department of Transportation spokesperson told Politico that Chao has traveled to and met with officials from 31 states since she's been in office, and that her meetings with Kentucky officials are natural due to her ties to the state. Read more at Politico.