Senator seeks more immediate disclosures from ’527s’

State Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown

FRANKFORT — A state senator has prefiled a bill that would require independent political committees known as 527s to disclose during campaigns how much money they have raised and spent.

A horse industry group that formed a 527 is active in a state Senate campaign now under way in the 14th District, which includes Marion, Mercer, Nelson, Taylor and Washington counties.

Former Democratic Rep. Jodie Haydon of Bardstown is facing Republican Rep. Jimmy Higdon of Lebanon in a Dec. 8 special election to replace Republican incumbent Dan Kelly, who resigned to accept a circuit judgeship appointment by Gov. Steve Beshear.

Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, said he would urge the 527 known as Keep Our Jobs in Kentucky Inc. to follow the spirit of his legislation and disclose its finances on the same schedule as the candidates during the current special election.

“The voters should know what’s going on,” Thayer said. “The public deserves to know whose money influences elections. If a 527 is attempting to influence the outcomes of a state election, it needs to disclose their contributors and expenses as do the candidates themselves.”

Keep Our Jobs in Kentucky already has run two ads in the special election. One gave a biography of Haydon, and the other criticized Higdon. It accused Higdon of voting to cut education and some other programs, but not the legislature’s budget, as well as voting to increase the gas tax.

This is misleading, state Republican Party Chairman Steve Robertson said. He said that the cuts mentioned in the ad were part of a budget initially backed by House Democrat leaders, and that Haydon unsuccessfully sponsored a bill in 2004 to increase the gas tax by 8 cents.

Higdon joined many Democrats last year in voting to keep the gas tax from dropping with the price of gasoline, Robertson said. The freeze of the gas tax was designed to save the state millions in revenue.

Keep Our Jobs in Kentucky also was involved in a special election this year for a state Senate seat in northeastern Kentucky. It is backing candidates sympathetic to expanded gambling to help the horse industry.

Thayer said his prefiled bill is similar to a measure that the Senate approved this year but the House did not pass.
Under the bill, any 527 involved in a state election or a constitutional amendment vote would have to disclose its finances during campaigns.

Now, a 527, named after a section in the U.S. Internal Revenue Service code, does not have to disclose its finances until it files its tax returns.

Thayer said his bill will be considered in the 2010 General Assembly that begins in January.

–Jack Brammer