McConnell’s money
For decades, federal and state ethics laws have required candidates for public office to disclose names of their campaign contributors.
But — for big campaigns, at least — the average citizen has no hope of figuring it out. Reports filed by candidates are difficult to interpret and far too long to digest.
For instance, if you printed out all the reports filed by the political committees of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell for his last election cycle (Jan. 1, 2009 through Dec. 31, 2014) the stack of reports would stand more than four feet high.
That stack stands in a corner of my office.
I started building the stack two years ago because I’ve always recognized the truth in the oft-quoted words spoken more than 100 years ago by Ohio industrialist Mark Hanna after he raised record-breaking amounts from wealthy individuals and corporations to elect William McKinley president in 1896.
“There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money and I can’t remember what the second one is,” Hanna said.
As bureau chief for The Courier-Journal in Frankfort, I’ve tracked contributions to governors — and published lists of top contributors to governors — for 30 years.
Those lists have proven handy in later explaining to readers things like why a particular company won a state contract or why a particular person won a coveted appointment to a state university’s governing board.
“Big donors are essentially the owners of a campaign,” said Richard Beliles, chairman of Common Cause of Kentucky. “It’s important to know who they are even when there is no quid pro quo … At the least, big contributions give the donors access to an elected official.”
David Donnelly, president of Every Voice, a national non-profit that works to reduce the influence of money in politics, said knowing who the big givers are gives voters a sense of a candidate’s priorities and how they will govern. But Donnelly added, “For most voters — given how much money is given to candidates and how that big money looks the same from candidate-to-candidate regardless of party — disclosure actually tells the story that we’re shut out of the political system.”
Considering that McConnell is the most powerful Republican in the United States, I decided two years ago that at least one Kentucky reporter ought to attempt to determine who his biggest givers are.
I began by printing out the campaign finance reports filed by his re-election committee and his own political action committee (called “Bluegrass Committee”) with the Federal Election Commission and typing names of contributors into my own database.
Later, last year when the huge reports with hundreds of pages listing givers were filed, I downloaded the lists of givers into my database.
I also added the reports filed by the outside group Kentuckians for Strong Leadership, operated by close allies of McConnell, which ran an independent advertising campaign dedicated to re-election.
Unlike McConnell’s own committees, independent groups like Kentuckians for Strong Leadership can accept contributions of unlimited size. And they got them. The largest was from Robert McNair, a big Republican donor who is chairman and founder of the Houston Texans, who donated $500,000 to the pro-McConnell group last Sept. 10.
My database grew, as did a second one with names of givers to McConnell’s Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes.
The Courier-Journal used the data for a report last October which attempted to describe where the two candidates were getting their money. But that report was incomplete because data on millions of dollars in contributions to the campaigns made after July 1, 2014, was essentially not available in an electronic format for analysis prior to Election Day.
It wasn’t until well into 2015 that I was able to get that data through the end of 2014. I decided it was worth the effort to complete the database for the winner of the election — McConnell.
My database has 23,250 contributions gathered from reports filed with the FEC by McConnell’s re-election committee, his PAC (Bluegrass Committee) and the independent super PAC Kentuckians for Strong Leadership for the period between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2014.
My lists of big contributors are the product of my analysis of that data: Countless queries of my database adding together contributions of multiple employees of the same company (and their spouses) who gave to McConnell committees and KSL.
I did hundreds of Google searches, and constantly consulted Center for Responsive Politics’ website Open Secrets, to see if donors whose employer was not listed in reports belonged with a group.
I decided I needed to produce two lists. One has the biggest givers to McConnell’s campaign, his PAC, and Kentuckians for Strong Leadership. This list is dominated by the few big donors who wrote six-figure checks to KSL.
The second list excludes KSL contributions and lists my findings on the biggest givers to McConnell’s campaign committee and PAC. This list shows the groups that bundled contributions of multiple employees (and usually the group’s political action committee) to give to McConnell.
This exercise is an analysis: Each total represents my determination of the combined contributions from the giver listed, its PAC, employees, officials and others closely affiliated with the giver.
As my intention is to show what could be called the largest “outside the family” contributors, my lists do not include the substantial contributions made by McConnell himself or members of his wife Elaine Chao’s family.
One last point: Determining the biggest contributors for McConnell’s re-election is more than a difficult task. It is impossible.
That’s because — under the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United case — some outside group can raise and spend unlimited amounts without disclosing their donors. Last year, one such group — Kentucky Opportunity Coalition — raised and spent $8.2 million backing McConnell’s election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at (502) 875-5136 Ext. 10. Follow him on Twitter at @TomLoftus_CJ
TOP GIVERS FOR MCCONNELL’S ELECTION
... includes contributions to McConnell campaign, Bluegrass Committee, and super PAC Kentuckians for Strong Leadership
• Lawrence F. DeGeorge, Jupiter, Fla., venture capital, LPL Investment Group: $505,200
• Robert McNair, Houston, chairman and CEO of Houston Texans: $502,500
• Alliance Coal and its president Joe Craft, Tulsa, Okla., coal mining: $436,350
• John W. Childs, Boston and Vero Beach, J.W. Childs Associates, private equity: $395,200
• Murray Energy, St. Clairsville, Ohio, coal mining: $330,000
• Churchill Downs, Louisville, horse racing: $319,400
• Stephens Inc. and Warren Stephens, Little Rock, investment banking: $251,300
• Blackstone Group, New York, private equity and investment banking: $243,125
• Thomas and Paula McInerney, Westport, Conn., Bluff Point Associates, private equity: $235,400
• Philip H. Geier and Geier Group. New York, marketing, communications consulting: $210,000
• John L. Nau III and Silver Eagle Distributors, Houston, beer distributor: $209,800
• Barbara R. Banke, Geyserville, Cal., chairman Jackson Family Wines: $205,200
• W. Ed Bosarge and family, Houston, CEO of Capital Technologies: $185,400
• North Cypress Medical Center, Cypress, Texas, physician-owned hospital: $183,550
• Humana, Louisville, health insurance: $160,880
• Goldman Sachs, New York, financial services: $138,575
• David Jones Sr. and wife Betty, Louisville, retired Humana executive: $135,000
• NextEra Energy, Juno Beach, Fla., parent of Florida Power & Light: $133,000
• Steven A. Webster, Houston, Avista Capital, private equity: $130,200
• Super PAC for America, Tampa, PAC affiliated with political strategist Dick Morris: $125,000
• JP Morgan Chase, New York, financial services: $122,575
• Houchens Industries, Bowling Green, grocery stores, financial services, etc.: $121,750
• Steven Chancellor and American Patriot Group, Evansville, food service: $120,400
• Elliott Management, New York, hedge funds: $119,800
• Altria Group, Richmond, Va., tobacco: $118,458
The following includes contributions to the McConnell campaign, Bluegrass Committee. Does not include super PAC Kentuckians for Strong Leadership.
• Blackstone Group, New York, private equity and investment banking: $243,125
• North Cypress Medical Center, Houston, physician-owned hospital: $183,550
• Humana, Louisville, health insurance: $160,880
• Goldman Sachs, New York, investment banking: $138,575
• Alliance Coal/Joe Craft family, Tulsa, coal: $136,350
• JP Morgan Chase, New York, investment banking: $122,575
• Houchens Industries, Bowling Green, grocery stores, road building, etc.: $121,750
• Elliott Management, New York, hedge funds: $119,800
• Altria Group, Richmond, Va., tobacco: $118,458
• General Electric, Fairfield, Conn., international conglomerate: $114,825
• Kindred Healthcare, Louisville, post-acute care services: $111,450
• Capital One, McLean, Va., financial services: $98,500
• Brown-Forman, Louisville, alcoholic beverages: $94,000
• Davita Healthcare, Denver, dialysis centers: $89,975
• Delta Airlines, Atlanta: $88,550
• Verizon Communications, New York, broadband and telecommunications: $87,775
• Comcast, Philadelphia, largest broadcast and cable company in the world: $86,750
• BNSF, Fort Worth, Texas, freight railroad: $85,700
• Capital Group Companies, Los Angeles, investment management: $85,500
• Fidelity Investments, Boston, financial services: $82,450
• Ernst and Young, London, tax and other consulting services: $81,900
• Metlife, New York, life insurance: $78,500
• American Express, New York, financial services: $77,380
• Koch Industries, Wichita, Kansas, energy, manufacturing, other: $75,400
• Federal Express, Memphis, package delivery: $75,000