Bluegrass Committee
Following Mitch’s Money, Presentation by Doug Price on August 10th, 2020
This week’s Following Mitch’s Money is about a PAC Mitch created in 1989 called the Bluegrass Committee. The first recorded year saw receipts of $41,500. Compare this to the 2020 cycle when $1.5 million was raised. Over the years this PAC has raised $12.8 million and spent $12.3 million.
The top donor companies include Eli Lilly, BC/BS, Duke Energy, 21st Century Fox, Boeing, FedEx, Prudential Financial, Google, Home Depot and many other names that you would recognize. All combined these companies have contributed to Mitch through the Bluegrass Committee a total of $390,000 in the 2020 cycle and $465,000 in the 2014 cycle. Keep in mind the 2020 cycle is only half over so expect these numbers to grow. Additionally, these companies have made all time donations of $651 million and paid lobbyist almost $3.9 Billion. Have I said before there is too much money in politics? Again, Mitch believes otherwise.
I have no idea when it happened but this is what I believe: It is well established Mitch knows the key to winning elections is Money. He decided to use this belief to eventually propel himself to be the Senate Majority Leader. Corporations and high dollar donors donate to Mitch because he can deliver the goods in Legislation benefiting the Corporations and/or his wealthy patrons.
Mitch began distributing contributions to fellow Senate Republicans and potential candidates. The Bluegrass Committee PAC has distributed money to 36 of McConnell’s 40 then current GOP colleagues. It’s paid off — in 2003, McConnell became the Senate Republican Whip and in 2007, his party made him Senate Minority Leader. In 2015 he became the Senate Majority Leader.
Our guest tonight is the President of the Kentucky Education Association so I thought I would see if the National Education Association or its members had made a donation during the 2020 election cycle to Mitch. Uh, that would be a hard NO, but I did find a large donation to Lindsey Graham — $5 bucks! Must be a relative?
In January 2019, Tom Loftus wrote the following: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has a well-stocked political action committee, called Bluegrass Committee.
The PAC of the most powerful Republican in Congress gets little from people — and doesn’t bother with small donors. Instead, it vacuums the lion’s share of its contributions from PACs of special interest corporations and associations that lobby lawmakers.
With the contributions, McConnell also helps himself by winning the gratitude and support of other Republicans — whether fellow members of the Senate’s Republican Caucus or state legislators and mayors across Kentucky — as he heads toward his own re-election year in 2020.
Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics said:
“He wants to build that farm team back home with people he believes are qualified, but also are indebted to him as they rise through the ranks.”
I think you can consider KY Sec of State Michael Adams, KY AG Daniel Cameron and KY AG Commissioner Ryan Quarles as part of the Kentucky Farm Team.
“McConnell is a powerbroker in Washington, and PACs would naturally think twice about not showing up at his fundraiser,” Krumholz said. “… He’s just got to put out the welcome mat, offer the opportunity to the lobbyists and corporate PAC directors to toss their checks into the fishbowl at these fundraisers that are ubiquitous.”
In 2020 Mitch’s Bluegrass Committee PAC donated $10,000 each to Andy Barr, James Comer, Brett Guthrie and Hal Rogers plus $5,000 to David Young of Iowa. IMO this is just another example of Mitch laying the groundwork for support in the House related to Senate bills. In the Senate his PAC donated a total of $170,000 to Senate Republicans; including Cornyn, Graham, Loeffler, McSally, Perdue and Sasse.
The Bluegrass Committee PAC donated $316,000 to elect Republicans to the General Assembly last year — with many candidates in closely contested races getting the maximum $4,000 each. This total also includes $50,000 that McConnell’s PAC gave to the super PAC Kentuckians for Strong Leadership, which targeted spending in a handful of close races.
http://www.kref.state.ky.us/krefsearch/ (contributor searches to candidates)
Over the years the Bluegrass Committee has contributed over $1.2 million to Kentucky state races. Representatives, Senators, County Judges, Ag Commissioner. Do these contributions come at a price?
http://www.kref.state.ky.us/krefsearch/ (contributor searches to candidates)
Does all of the money in politics come with a high price? When money exchanges hands is there a Quid Pro Quo? If a politician doesn’t behave correctly is the money pipe turned off? I think we all know the answer to these questions.
We need new leadership in Kentucky. We need change. If Mitch heard that word (change) his thought would immediately be about money. We need a different kind of change in November. We need to Ditch Mitch on November 3rd.
Doug Price is a member/treasurer of the MMRC and a regular participant on the #MoscowMitchMonday live stream, discussing Mitch and Money. Doug is an advocate of governmental change on the State/Federal level and has periodically worked on Democratic campaigns dating back to the 80s. Follow Doug on Twitter @ PriceDoug
