Cameron’s office culture concerns, what other candidates raised & more | Trail to ‘23

Whether it’s $2,100 or $2,000 — the new and old maximum amount individuals can give to political candidates in Kentucky — both are lot of money.

But many folks gave that to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in his re-election bid, as well as to GOP challenger Attorney General Daniel Cameron. To be exact, 1,345 people doled out $2,000 or more to Beshear and 555 gave that amount to Cameron since the general election began, according to recent reports from the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.

The max, or near-max, donations amount to more than half of the total individual contributions to both candidates. 52.7% of the Cameron campaign’s $2,193,028 individual contribution haul came from such donations, while 55.6% of Beshear’s cash hauled in $5,018,132 from individual donations.

While both campaigns, same as their respective parties, are hard at work to ensure a claim over the governor’s chair, there are also several outside groups spending in the race. While Beshear’s campaign warchest has dwarfed Cameron’s, spending from these groups in support of Cameron is close to equal that of outside groups supporting Beshear – $13 million to $13.8 million.

About $4.24 million of Beshear’s $5 million itemized individual haul is from Kentucky. Just over $1 million of that is from Louisville, the state’s largest city and a Democratic stronghold. Around $700,000 of that total is from Lexington, the state’s second-largest city. All told, about 34% of Beshear’s individual contributions came from those two cities.

One occupation group stood out among others on Beshear’s donor list: attorneys. People who listed attorney as their job gave Beshear more than $660,000. One firm in particular padded that stat. Employees of Morgan & Morgan, which touts itself as America’s largest injury law firm, gave $128,000 in contributions to Beshear, the largest contribution total from any single employer during this reporting period.

Like Beshear’s donor list, attorneys played a major role in funding Cameron’s campaign. Attorneys were the largest occupation group contributing to Cameron, clearing $170,000. Several of those gave max or near-max donations.

A lower proportion of Cameron’s individual contributions came from the state’s two biggest cities, 23%, than Beshear. Cameron brought in less money from Louisville than Beshear, garnering about $353,000 from the city. About $155,000 came from Lexington.

Pace of the ads

While Beshear and pro-Beshear forces have clearly outraised and outspent their counterparts so far, the pace of advertisements on television as well as direct mail for both sides was roughly even in mid-September.

Buoyed by outside groups like the ones largely funded by Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass as well as one funded by the Republican Governors Association, the pro-Cameron side purchased a total of $1.43 million in television ads Sep. 12-18.; only about $121,000 of that came from the Cameron campaign, according to ad tracking firm Medium Buying.

The pro-Beshear side spent about $1.56 million during that time, with more than $437,000 coming from the Beshear campaign.

Allegedly ‘toxic’ division in AG’s office

Another story from a national outlet about Cameron’s office came out this week.

The Daily Beast spoke with several former employees working in the criminal appeals division of the Office of the Attorney General who complained of a toxic environment created by former deputy solicitor general Jeffrey Cross, who left the division for another post last month. Some of the attorneys noted that Cameron was disengaged with the division while the office under Cross was described as a “micromanaging nightmare,” and “emotionally abusive.”

A spokesperson for the office said that an official complaint against Cross was “thoroughly investigated and found to have no merit.”

“The Attorney General’s Office has the utmost respect for its employees and takes all complaints seriously. When a complaint is filed, the Office’s human resources department fully and carefully investigates the matter and takes action when warranted. Every employee is also aware of the process for filing complaints with the Personnel Cabinet,” the spokesperson wrote.

How much did the down-ballot candidates raise?

While all eyes have been on the recently released governor’s race finance report, the rest of the tickets on both sides of the aisle have been raising serious cash.

GOP candidate for attorney general Russell Coleman leads the pack with about $916,000 cash on hand, having raised $389,000 since his uncontested primary concluded and carried over a large chunk from the primary season. Coleman’s maximum donors include an executive from a major ‘gray machines’ company, the CEO of Cracker Barrel and Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, for whom Coleman worked in Washington.

Coleman also received contributions from PACs linked to McConnell, Second Congressional District Representative Brett Guthrie, R-KY, and the prominent conservative megadonor Charles Koch.

Coleman’s Democratic opponent, Louisville Rep. Pam Stevenson, raised $225,000 during the general election period, about a third of that carried over from the primary, and was left with $112,000 cash on hand.

Notable Stevenson donors include California food industry billionaire Lynda Resnick and Junior Bridgeman, an entrepreneur who’s one of the wealthiest former athletes in the world. A PAC tied to former Kentucky candidate for Congress and U.S. Senate Amy McGrath also chipped in a $2,000 donation.

Other Democrats down the ballot were slightly out-raised by their Republican counterparts, but not by much – the one exception being Democratic treasurer candidate Michael Bowman, whose $61,000 raised beat Republican Mark Metcalf’s $38,000. Democratic

However, all down-ballot Democrats received about $90,000 of in-kind contributions, meaning services worth that amount, from the Kentucky Democratic Party during the general election period.

In the 2019 election, Democrats were defeated handily up and down the ballot. Secretary of State Michael Adams, who faced a popular former Miss America, is the only current GOP statewide officeholder to have won by single digits – in his case 4.6%.

Here’s the total amount raised, including carry-over amounts from the primary, and cash on hand figures for every down-ballot candidate:

Attorney General

• (R) Russell Coleman: $968,741 raised, $916,483 cash on hand

• (D) Pam Stevenson: $224,984 raised, $111,716 cash on hand

Secretary of State

• (D) Buddy Wheatley: $165,692 raised, $152,358 cash on hand

• (R) Michael Adams, incumbent: $225,345 raised, $222,763 cash on hand

Commissioner of agriculture

• (R) Jonathan Shell: $178,152 raised, $172,781 cash on hand

• (D) Sierra Enlow: $121,858, $107,592 cash on hand

Auditor

• (D) Kim Reeder: $113,844 raised, $69,154 cash on hand

• (R) Allison Ball: $116,480 raised, $115,562 cash on hand

Treasurer

• (R) Mark Metcalf: $38,065 raised, $20,482 cash on hand

• (D) Michael Bowman: $60,791 raised, $18,442 cash on hand

Cameron camp calls Beshear education plan ‘unfeasible’

Beshear’s relationship with the GOP-controlled legislature was skewered once again by the Cameron campaign, this time at a “Moms for Cameron” event hosted by Cameron’s wife Makenze. She said Beshear’s plan to give an across-the-board 11% raise to all school employees was laughable because he doesn’t have the power to make it happen without legislative action.

“These 11% raises, I would imagine, that’s not feasible. And he does not have the power to do that,” Makenze Cameron said, according to the Associated Press.

The Kentucky Democratic Party released a response to the story saying the Cameron team was “mocking” teacher raises.

Cameron has a more modest plan to raise teacher pay to $41,500 from roughly $35,500, paired with a proposal to catch students up from learning loss that took place during the remote learning age with summer tutoring and more.

Some districts in Kentucky pay more than that for starting teachers – Fayette County was the first to get its starting pay over $50,000 – and the statewide average salary last school year was $56,375. Beshear has said, citing National Education Association statistics, that the average teacher starting salary in Kentucky is $38,010.

Cameron has stated that he crafted his plan in consultation with the legislature and is confident that it will pass if elected.