FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - State law forbids a lobbyist from giving to the campaigns of candidates for the Kentucky General Assembly. That way, lobbyists, whose job is to influence lawmaker decisions, can’t sweeten things with a political donation.
But lobbyists can give - and they give a lot - to the state political parties, which use much of that money to support their candidates to the General Assembly.
It’s an end-run, but one that’s completely on the up and up.
Last year, registered lobbyists contributed $319,805 to the two state parties, with nearly all of that money going to the Republican Party of Kentucky.
Campaign finance reports, filed by the parties for 2018, show registered Kentucky lobbyists - and their spouses - contributed $292,430 to committees of the Republican Party of Kentucky (more than 91 percent of the total) and $27,375 to the Kentucky Democratic Party (not quite 9 percent of the total).
Many of Frankfort’s most successful lobbyist-donors are former - or current - top officials of the Republican Party of Kentucky.
The contributions came in a year when Democrats - energized by mass teacher demonstrations against Gov. Matt Bevin’s proposals for pension reform - had high hopes of making big gains in the Kentucky House. In the end, those hopes were quashed as Democrats gained two House seats, and Republicans controlled the 2019 session with a 61-39 super majority.
“A truth about campaign finance is that money tends to find a way,” explained Carrie Levine, deputy federal politics editor and senior reporter for the Center for Public Integrity.
“If a law is passed to try to control the influence of big money, donors consider the legal options they have and donate. For campaign finance regulators, it’s always sort of a game of whack-a-mole.”
Mike Lonergan, spokesman for the RPK, said in a statement that the party is proud of the efforts of its leaders and grassroots supporters to “turn Kentucky around after years of failed Democratic control.”
Lonergan contrasted the GOP’s donor list, packed with the names of lobbyists, with that of the Democratic Party under Gov. Steve Beshear from 2007-15. “Unlike the Democrats and their special interest allies - particularly big unions and their bosses - we don’t get to fund campaigns off the backs of government employees and otherwise use them for partisan politics.”
An examination of the GOP’s finance reports shows that a relatively small group of lobbyists provide a significant and steady cash flow - even for an organization with a growing number of big donors, as it has gained total control of the two chambers of the legislature and the governor’s office.
The $292,430 amounts to about 12.6 percent of the direct contributions the party took in last year from people and political action committees, the RPK’s finance reports show.
The largest donor to the RPK last year from the lobbying corps was John McCarthy, of Louisville, who with his wife contributed $30,000.
McCarthy is a former chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky. His lobbying firm, McCarthy Strategic Solutions, lobbies for 70 different groups, including tobacco giant Altria Client Services, Churchill Downs, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners and Greater Louisville Inc.
Legislative Ethics Commission records show he was paid $850,677 in fees by his many clients last year.
“I can’t speak for others, but my commitment to the Republican Party goes back to 1990. My first job was at the Republican Party of Kentucky as a researcher,” McCarthy said.
“My contributions are to support the efforts of the Republican Party of Kentucky to elect folks at all levels - that’s a function of the party. It’s legal, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of for supporting the party you believe in.”
McCarthy is one of several top lobbyists who donated to the GOP last year who have deep roots with the party. Lobbyists Ellen Williams and Steve Robertson are also former chairs of the RPK.
McCarthy, Williams, Robertson and lobbyist Libby Milligan are all members of the RPK’s Executive Committee.
Lobbyist Mike Biagi is a former executive director of the RPK. And lobbyist Amy Wickliffe is a former finance chair for the party.
Lobbyist Patrick Jennings, who donated $15,000 to the RPK last year, has been the party’s finance chair since late 2017.
Jennings lobbies for 36 different groups in Frankfort, including the Kentucky Bankers Association, Swedish Match, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association and Dell Technologies. Ethics commission records show he was paid $798,838 in fees by his clients last year.
Like McCarthy, Jennings said he has deep roots in the party and in working for its candidates.
“You see people in my profession providing support through the state party because that’s the place that we’re ethically allowed to make contributions. And, of course, contributors can’t direct where they’d like that money to be used,” Jennings said. “That’s the decision of the chairman of the party, executive director and political director and others within that operation.”
The lobbyist donations in 2018 mark a shift heavily toward the Republican Party from the 2014-15 period, when lobbyist donations were split more evenly between the two political parties. At that time, Democrats held the governorship and a narrow majority in the House, but the Republicans had a solid majority in the Senate.
Consider lobbyist Bob Babbage, who was elected state auditor (1987) and secretary of state (1991) as a Democrat and ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1995. Babbage and his wife gave $12,500 to the RPK last year and nothing to the Democratic Party.
In 2015, Babbage and his wife gave $10,000 to the Kentucky Democratic Party and $2,650 to the RPK.
Babbage, ethics commission records show, was the highest paid lobbyist last year, making $879,100 from about 30 clients, including Brutus Capital Holdings, Cash Express and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund.
Babbage declined comment.
Levine, of the Center for Public Integrity, said such a shift in support from a lobbyist is not so surprising.
“It’s a natural pattern, money follows power. … Lobbyist contributions will flow to those in charge, to help people they are trying to influence,” she said.
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