publisher’s Note: This story was updated on Saturday at 10am with contributions from Michael and Kimberly Dudgeon. The Dugdeons are incorrectly listed as non-Franklin County residents in the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.
Governor Andy Beshear raised more than three times as much campaign money from Franklin County’s residents as former Governor Matt Bevin, according to reports from their campaigns showing receipts up to 15 days before the election.
Beshear won 61.5% of the vote from Franklin County and Bevin got 36.1%. Beshear, then attorney general, received donations from 243 Franklin County individuals totaling $ 227,548.54, according to his campaign reports.
Bevin received donations from 54 people in Frankfurt totaling USD 72,275.90.
That former According to his reports to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, the governor funded about 42 percent of his own campaign.
Both candidates received significant contributions from individuals in Frankfurt with ties to the state government and corporations. A number of Beshear Frankfort employees have been appointed to serve in the governor’s administration.
Kentucky law limits contributors to $ 2,000 per campaign, per election. If you include the primary and general election, a contributor can give a candidate no more than $ 4,000. There is no limit to how much candidates can add to their own campaigns.
The largest single donors to Beshear in Frankfurt were Ray Perry, James and Rebecca Goodman, Larry Roberts, C. Michael Davenport, Jerry Johnson, Holly McCoy-Johnson, Deron Thompson, Michael Dudgeon and Kimberly Dudgeon, who each contributed a maximum of $ 4,000.
Ray Perry has been named co-chair of the Public Safety Cabinet on the Beshear Transition Team. James and Rebecca Goodman donated a total of $ 8,000 to Beshear’s campaign. Rebecca Goodman has been named by Beshear to co-chair the transition team for the Energy and Environment Cabinet. James Goodman is the director of simulcasting operations at Keeneland.
Larry Roberts was Secretary of Labor in the administration of Andy Beshear’s father, Governor Steve Beshear. Roberts took office following the resignation of then incumbent Labor Secretary Mark Brown in 2013. Roberts was reappointed Secretary of Labor under Governor Andy Beshear.
C. Michael Davenport is a Frankfurt real estate developer and owner of C. Michael Davenport Inc. Davenport contributed a maximum of $ 4,000 to Beshear and Bevin’s campaigns.
Jerry Johnson is currently the Chief of Staff to the Executive Vice President, Health Affairs at the University of Louisville. Johnson was Executive Director of the Board of Claims / Crime Victims Compensation Board in Frankfurt. He served as an advisor to Governor Paul Patton for eight years.
Holly McCoy-Johnson has been named Secretary to the Cabinet of Finance and Administration by Beshear.
Deron Thompson is the state government’s security advisor.
Michael Dudgeon is the owner of Milam Farm LLC and the Vice President of Investors Heritage. His wife, Kimberly, owns a flower shop and gift shop in Milam House. Each gave Beshear the maximum of $ 4,000.
Crit and Lynn Luallen donated a total of $ 7,965.35 to Beshear’s campaign. $ 465.35 of their contributions were an unspecified contribution in kind. Crit Luallen was lieutenant governor last year of Steve Beshear’s tenure, ending Jerry Abramson’s tenure. She previously worked as a state auditor from 2004 to 2012. Lynn Luallen is an affordable housing consultant.
Chadwick and Lenee Peach gave Beshear a total of $ 7,150. Chadwick Peach is the owner of Peach Contracting and Construction. Lenee Peach is a real estate agent at Bluegrass Realty.
Vickie and Lee Wise gave Beshear $ 5,000 together. Vickie Wise is part of the Beshear Justice and Security Cabinet team. She is the head of the Office of Criminal Appeals, a position she was appointed to in 2015 by then Attorney General Beshear. Lee Wise is a retired investigator who worked for the Attorney General’s criminal investigation division.
The following donated $ 3,000 each to Beshear’s campaign: Michael Hawkins, Marcelyn Matthews, Bradley Robson, Ronald Easterly, and William Johnson.
Hawkins is an attorney with Michael L. Hawkins & Associates, a law firm specializing in personal injury.
Marcie Matthews has been appointed to Beshear’s transition team as part of the transportation cabinet. Matthews is the vice president of DLZ, a consulting firm serving the architecture, engineering, and surveying industries. DLZ Kentucky Inc. has signed multi-million dollar contracts with the state since 1999, according to the Secretary of State’s contract database. According to campaign finance reports, DLZ employees have given $ 30,400 to candidates from Kentucky since 2014.
Robson is an engineer at Palmer Engineering, another company that has won multi-million dollar contracts with the state transportation cabinet, according to the state’s contract database. Palmer Engineering employees have donated $ 70,490 to candidates in Kentucky since 2014, according to campaign finance reports.
Easterly is a retired doctor. Johnson is a lawyer.
The following contributors donated $ 2,000 or more to Beshear’s campaign: Kimberlee Perry, Robert Stewart, Allyson Taylor, Nancy Walton, Rose Gayle Hardy, Ryan Bussell, Bill Braden, Terry Sebastian, Joyce Wilcher, William Harrod, Debra Gall, Beth Jurek, Lois Ann Ratliff, Stuart Reagan, Patrick Grugin, Joseph Pyles, Michael Dudgeon, Carol Hurn, Laurie Meyer, Russell Romine, Bradley Meyer, Margaret Woods, Jason Luking, and Prakash Patel.
Bevin also had significant donors in Frankfurt.
Together with Davenport, Robert Gable and David and Leighan Dickerson each contributed a maximum of 4,000 US dollars.
Robert Gable is a businessman and longtime member of the Kentucky Republican Party. Gable ran for governor in 1975 and lost to incumbent Democrat Julian Carroll. Gable was chairman of the state’s Republican Party from 1986 to 1993.
David Dickerson was Bevin’s Secretary of Labor from 2018. He and his wife Leighan donated a total of $ 8,000 to Bevin’s re-election campaign.
Another notable contributor to Bevin was attorney Paul Harnice, who donated $ 3,980. His sons, John and William Harnice, who are both college students, also contributed to Bevin. Together, the Harnice family gave the governor $ 6,480.
Art and Eunice Montfort together donated $ 6,000 to Bevin’s campaign. Art is the founder of Art’s Electric Inc., where Eunice leads the human resources department.
Mitchell and Virginia Green gave Bevin $ 5,000 together. Mitchell Green is a Principal at HMB Professional Engineers. As of 2009, HMB Engineers Inc. has signed $ 1.4 million contracts with the Kentucky Department of Highways, according to the Secretary of State’s contract database. HMB employees have donated $ 41,050 to candidates in Kentucky since 2014, according to campaign finance reports.
The following people gave at least $ 2,000 for Bevin’s re-election: David Wicker, a retired attorney; William Kirkland, Attorney at Kirkland, Cain & Horn PLLC; Brad Nolan, President of Nolan Commercial Properties; and Lloyd Hillard, chairman of the Central and Southern Kentucky Market Advisory Board for WesBanco. Hillard was President of Farmers Capital Bank Corp. before it was acquired by WesBanco in 2018.
Beshear took office on Tuesday. The law requires each campaign to submit another financial report 60 days after the November 5th elections. Beshear’s founding committee will also have to report. The financial reports are available online at http://www.kref.state.ky.us/krefsearch/.
Noah Oldham, a journalism student at the University of Kentucky, covered the 2019 gubernatorial race for The State Journal.
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