Like the governor's race, GOP primary for Kentucky treasurer revolves around the 'woke'

Though the Kentucky State Treasury has a relatively small budget and few constitutional duties, the candidates vying to run the office in this year's Republican primary have lofty plans for its role going forward.

The state treasurer is a constitutional officer acting as Kentucky's chief elected fiscal officer, with duties mostly involving the handling of the state's revenue deposits and unclaimed property fund.

This role is so small that many Republicans once favored eliminating the office entirely, with the GOP-controlled state Senate passing a constitutional amendment nine years ago that would have done just that.

Such a desire is in the distant past for the party, as all three candidates running for the GOP nomination want to keep the office in place and expand its influence — largely to combat what they call "woke" companies.

More: Voter guide: Here are the GOP candidates running for Kentucky treasurer

These Republican candidates include OJ Oleka, who was the top deputy in the office of outgoing 2-term state Treasurer Allison Ball; Andrew Cooperrider, a small business owner who fought the state's pandemic restrictions and attempted to impeach Gov. Andy Beshear over it; and Mark Metcalf, the Garrard County attorney who just began his sixth four-year term as the local prosecutor.

The subject of agreement for the three candidates that has played heavily in their campaigns is criticism of companies with ESG practices, incorporating environmental, social and governance factors into their decisions — largely divestiture from the coal industry.

The legislature passed a law last year requiring the treasurer to essentially create a blacklist of financial companies that are boycotting investment in coal and fossil fuels, preventing the state from doing business with them. They followed up this year with another bill prohibiting Kentucky's public pension officials from using ESG practices with investments.

While Oleka, Cooperrider and Metcalf essentially agree on expanding that list and process, the race has been shaken up by two new factors in the closing weeks of the campaign — a very negative and personal round of accusations by Cooperrider against Oleka, alleging the son of Nigerian immigrants is part of the "woke" movement, and Metcalf using his own personal funds to dominate TV ad spending across the state.

Coal, ESG and the 'woke'

Through their campaign materials, ads and comments in a debate on KET, the three GOP candidates have made it clear a priority in office would be going after companies that have gone after coal.

In a campaign video, Oleka said he would focus on "fighting woke companies trying to destroy Kentucky's coal industry through harmful ESG standards."

Metcalf's website indicates he wants to go much further than just state divestment in current law, saying he'll "oppose the granting or maintenance of business licenses permitting pro-ESG entities from doing business in Kentucky."

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Like Metcalf, Cooperrider also suggests venturing into new frontiers of state divestment beyond coal and into the culture wars, stating on his website that JP Morgan Chase has a policy for employees of funding to "transport unborn Kentuckians out of state to be murdered." Noting the state funds in Chase accounts, Cooperrider asks "why are we helping to bankroll abortions?"

Metcalf and Cooperrider also campaigned on protecting gun rights and opposing illegal immigration through the office, with Cooperrider highlighting as wasteful spending the $4.7 million spent on equity, diversity and inclusion coaching for school staff, claiming this was "a large part of the critical race theory that is being forced on our kids in school" — though children are not taught CRT in Kentucky public schools.

Cooperrider, Oleka clash on racism

On May 1, the primary veered onto a new path, with Cooperrider unveiling a website and ad accusing Oleka of being a "Democrat in disguise" who is "trying to con Republicans," citing past tweets that were critical of Donald Trump and his past work with AntiRacism Kentucky, a group he cofounded in 2020.

Oleka started the group after the racial justice protests spurred by the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the mission of which was to "eliminate institutional racism in local and state government policy." In a presentation of the group, highlighted by Cooperrider, Oleka called for the Kentucky Department of Education to require implicit bias training for all public teachers and school leaders.

"People like OJ declaring everyone and everything 'racist' is the root cause of division," Cooperrider's website states. "OJ's trying his best to become Kentucky's Black Lives Matter."

More: Opinion: Why conservatives should be leading the way to end institutional racism

Cooperrider's website also alleges Oleka is "anti-police" and criticizes him for supporting the removal of the statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis from the Capitol rotunda.

In the KET debate, Oleka forcefully criticized critical race theory and said it did not account for his success or that of his immigrant parents. Asked about his participation in a newly created legislative commission on race and equity, Oleka said his belief is that "racism is bad, diversity is good, equal opportunity is best" — but being anti-racist doesn't make him "woke."

Oleka's TV ad mostly consists of different people saying "I like Oleka," but ends with him calling himself "the only true conservative" in the race.

Metcalf self-funds to blanket airwaves

While Oleka and Cooperrider already had some notoriety in political circles across the state before running for office, Metcalf was largely unknown outside Garrard County — until he opened his checkbook in late April.

According to his last campaign finance filing, Metcalf has loaned his campaign at least $193,000 — 86% of its total receipts — which has allowed him to spend nearly $250,000 on his 15-second TV ads across the state. That amounts to double Oleka's ad buys and nearly a dozen times more than Cooperrider.

Metcalf's ad touts him as a combat veteran, prosecutor and "Trump Republican," vowing to "end Biden's recklessness" and "stop illegals from siphoning tax dollars." In the KET debate, he vowed to cut the office's budget by 20%, but did not provide details on how.

Though tipping his hat to Trump in the ad, Metcalf said when asked on KET that the former president did lose the 2020 election, as did Oleka, though Cooperrider said Trump won and Biden was not legitimately elected.

Cooperrider says a large part of his role as treasurer would be to highlight wasteful government spending, with his website using as examples the state funds directed to free COVID-19 testing and more than $400 million of potential tax incentives going to the new $5.8 billion Ford electric vehicle battery plant in Hardin County that is projected to create 5,000 jobs.

More: Kentucky's secretary of state primary pits GOP incumbent against Trump conspiracies

After his unsuccessful effort to impeach Beshear in 2021 over his pandemic orders, Cooperrider made a bid to unseat an incumbent GOP state senator in his central Kentucky district, aligning himself with the small government "liberty" movement of the party, which has a strong base in Northern Kentucky.

Cooperrider lost that 2022 primary, though it took an enormous amount of spending from the state's GOP establishment to do so. In his current race, he has received the endorsement of three Republican House members from the Northern Kentucky liberty movement who were able to knock off incumbent GOP committee chairmen in that same 2022 primary.

Oleka has received a large amount of support from what could be viewed as the Kentucky GOP establishment, with more than 20 state legislators endorsing him and more than 20 of the top lobbyists in Frankfort contributing to his campaign, which had raised at least $217,000 by the beginning of May.

Touting his experience in the office under Ball, Oleka said he led the single-year record of $25 million in unclaimed property being returned to taxpayers, and he has proposed the office could save $3 million — nearly half its annual budget — by eliminating paper checks.

In the KET debate, Oleka accused Cooperrider of not understanding the limited power and duties of the office, saying "this is not a legislative position, this is not an appropriator, this is not someone who makes law ... they implement the law."

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky primary elections: GOP state treasurer race centers on 'woke'