Author
Tom Loftus
Billionaire TikTok investor, charter school advocate puts $8 million into Paul affiliated PAC
Jeff Yass, the Pennsylvania billionaire and major investor in the parent company of TikTok, contributed $8 million last month to a super PAC affiliated with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. The super PAC is called Protect Freedom PAC, and a report it filed with the FEC on Wednesday says Yass gave the $8 million […]
Republican Party of Kentucky building fund hits $2.9 million with horse racing interests’ help
FRANKFORT — Churchill Downs contributed $100,000 and The Jockey Club gave $50,000 earlier this year to the Republican Party of Kentucky’s fund drive to renovate and expand its party headquarters in Frankfort. The two recent contributions are listed in a report that the RPK’s Building Fund filed this week with the Kentucky Registry of Election […]
Beshear’s In This Together PAC brings in almost $100,000 in latest report
FRANKFORT — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s parents and several longtime donors to his political committees gave to his new political action committee in February. The new Beshear PAC is called In This Together, and it raised nearly $100,000 in contributions last month, according to a report it filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission. Beshear […]
AG Russell Coleman’s biggest donor is a California pharmaceutical exec
The largest donor to the various political committees supporting Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman last year is a newcomer to Kentucky’s world of political giving and lobbying: FFF Enterprises Inc., of Temecula, California. FFF Enterprises describes itself on its website as a “leading supplier of critical-care biopharmaceuticals, plasma products and vaccines.” It first registered to […]
McConnell’s fundraising has slowed though he’s got plenty of money in his reelection account
Gov. Andy Beshear’s new political action committee reported last week that it raised $30,681 in its first month of existence. The PAC is called In This Together and was created two months after Democrat Beshear won reelection over Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron. It was established as a way for Beshear and his supporters to […]
Gambling interests put big money on Kentucky governor’s race via party governors associations
FRANKFORT? – Gambling interests ponied up big to outside groups that spent more than $30 million on last year’s race for Kentucky governor. Kentucky’s horse race tracks that have expanded into new forms of legalized gambling gave big to the Democratic Governors Association in 2023 which spent $19.2 million backing Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection. […]
Pair of billionaires bankrolled super PACs that spent $10 million trying to defeat Beshear
FRANKFORT – Two billionaire mega-donors bankrolled a quartet of super PACs that spent nearly $10 million over five months last year in an effort to elect a Republican governor in Kentucky. Reports filed this week with the Federal Election Commission show that Jeff Yass, a billionaire options trader and “school choice” crusader from the Philadelphia […]
Spending to lobby Kentucky legislature hit all-time high in 2023, spurred by gambling bills
FRANKFORT — Gambling interests drove lobbying spending in Frankfort to a record level in 2023. More than 800 corporations, associations and other groups reported spending $24.7 million to influence the Kentucky General Assembly last year, according to data posted Thursday on the Legislative Ethics Commission‘s website. That breaks the prior record of $22.4 million spent […]
Weddle blames Beshear fundraiser for letting him make illegal political contributions
FRANKFORT — London Mayor Randall Weddle says he told a fundraiser for Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection in late 2022 that he planned to make political contributions of others on his credit card, but instead of being warned that such a move would be illegal, the fundraiser told Weddle, “Okay sounds great.” Weddle also said that […]
Here’s who gave to Beshear-Coleman inauguration committee
FRANKFORT — Special interest political action committees and wealthy political donors provided the vast majority of $684,000 raised in the closing weeks of 2023 by the inauguration committee of Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jaqueline Coleman, according to a report filed Wednesday by the committee with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. The report […]
Cameron never came close to matching Beshear campaign’s fundraising
FRANKFORT — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection campaign raised and spent more than four times the dollars raised and spent by his Republican challenger Attorney General Daniel Cameron in this fall’s general election — a difference that figured in Beshear’s victory. Reports filed this week by the two campaigns covering fundraising and spending through the […]
How wealthy donors legally gave even more to Democratic Party during Beshear’s campaign
FRANKFORT — Ahead of? last month’s governor’s race, London Mayor Randall Weddle and other Kentuckians gave big to a type of political committee that allows wealthy donors to make massive legal contributions.? Weddle, whose earlier excess contributions to Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection effort had drawn regulatory scrutiny, contributed $550,000 on Oct. 3 to a national […]