Top lobbyists make a lot more than governor

Through the first eight months of 2014 Frankfort's top lobbyists have made much more money in lobbying fees – MUCH more money – than Steve Beshear will make in salary all year as governor.

Lobbyist Bob Babbage, who once ran for governor, has been paid $562,433 in lobbying fees through the first eight months of this year.

Gov. Beshear, who once was a lobbyist, is paid an annual salary of $138,012.

The 650 corporations and associations that lobby the General Assembly are required to report exactly how much they pay each lobbyist they retain. These reports are filed regularly with the Legislative Ethics Commission.

Recently, these groups reported their lobbying fees and expenses for the period between May 1 and Aug. 31. Listed below are the total in fees paid to particular lobbyists by their many clients from Jan. 1 through Aug. 31, as calculated by the ethics commission and posted on the commission website.

I've listed only those whose fees for the eight months exceed $200,000. Each of the following lobbyists has many clients. Listed with each name is total in reported fees paid to each between Jan. 1 and Aug. 30, the number of clients of the lobbyist, and a sampling of those clients.

Bob Babbage , $562,433

29 clients including Time Warner Cable, Cash Express, Kentucky Community and Technical College systems

Sean Cutter , $457,733

54 clients including Houchens Industries, Citigroup Management, AmeriHealth Mercy

John McCarthy , $435,854

43 clients including Boardwalk Pipeline, Kentucky Assn. of Health Care Facilities, Kentucky Optometric Assn.

Ronny Pryor , $390,195

25 clients including Kentucky Hospital Assn., LifePoint Hospitals, Hospital Corporation of America

John Cooper , $341,164

25 clients including Kentucky Bankers Assn., Kentucky Medical Assn., Toyota.

Patrick Jennings , $319,868

15 clients including AT&T, Consumer Healthcare Products Assn., Swedish Match.

Chris Nolan , $300,806

44 clients including EQT Corp., Citigroup Management, Kentucky State University

Karen Thomas-Lentz , $288,058

16 clients including Fresenius Medical Care, Swisher International, Hewlett-Packard

Ellen Williams , $288,030

38 clients including Houchens Industries, Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky Assn. of Counties

Gene McLean , $285,185

20 clients including Boardwalk Pipeline, AT&T, Kentucky Beer Wholesalers.

John Y. Brown III , $261,957

23 clients including Reed Elsevier Inc., Xerox, SAP Public Services

Kelley Abell , $245,500

24 clients including Ellis Park, Molina Healthcare, Res-Care

Leigh Thacker , $233,912

21 clients including Universal Health Services, Kentucky Assn. of Private Providers, Seven counties Services

Kevin Payton , $227,162

21 clients including Fidelity Investments, Outdoor Advertising Assn., Universal Health Services

Jitter Allen , $224,220

8 clients including Philip Morris USA, Kentucky Cable Telecommunications Assn., Purdue Pharma

Source: Legislative Ethics Commission