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By Tom Loftus
Kentucky Lantern
Another $50,000 from tobacco giant v last month brings money raised to expand the Republican Party of Kentucky headquarters to about $3.65 million.
Nearly all of that money raised in a two-year fund drive came in large contributions from corporations, like Virginia-based Altria, that have lobbying interests in Washington and/or Frankfort.
The Republican-controlled Kentucky General Assembly made the easy financing of the expansion possible by passing a bill that allowed corporations and individuals to make contributions of unlimited amounts to building funds of a political party.
Two years ago the Kentucky Lantern first reported that pharmaceutical company Pfizer helped kick off the fund drive with a $1 million contribution. Ground was broken for the expansion last summer.
The headquarters is named the Mitch McConnell Building in honor of Kentucky’s senior senator.
Here is a complete list of the large donors to the Republican Party effort to raise money to expand its headquarters, according to reports filed over the past two years by the party with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.
• Pfizer Inc., New York, $1,000,000
• NWO Resources, Greenwood Village, Colorado, $500,000
• AT&T, St. Louis, $300,000
• Verizon, Washington, D.C., $300,000
• Metropolitan Life Insurance, New York, $300,000
• Brown-Forman, Louisville, $300,000
• Boeing Company PAC, Arlington, Virginia, $175,000
• Altria, Richmond, Virginia, $150,000
• Microsoft Corporation, Reno, $100,000
• Comcast Corporation, Philadelphia, $100,000
• Churchill Downs, Louisville, $100,000
• Beam Suntory, New York, $100,000
• Delta Air Lines Inc., Atlanta, $50,000
• Keeneland, Lexington, $50,000
• The Jockey Club, New York, $50,000
• Barbara A. Banke Revocable Trust, Geyserville, California, $50,000
• National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Lexington, $12,500
• Toyota Motors North America Inc., $10,000
In its most recent report filed Thursday with the election registry, the building fund listed the $50,000 contribution from Altria, whose family of companies includes Philip Morris USA and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco. That, combined with earlier donations, brought Altria’s total contribution to the fund to $150,000.
The report filed Thursday also disclosed $664,526 in expenses during the last three months of 2024 — nearly all for construction. As of the start of this year the building fund reports it still has more than $2.6 million on hand.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions at [email protected].
