Corporations Can Now Make Political Donations In Kentucky

by RYLAND BARTON – 

After a successful challenge to a Kentucky campaign finance law, corporations are now allowed to make contributions to political campaigns through political action committees.

The change comes amid the ongoing fight over so-called “right-to-work” policies. Until last week, unions (usually anti-right-to-work) were allowed to make donations to candidates and political action committees, while corporations that support “right-to-work” were barred from doing so.

Now, under an agreed-upon final judgement, both corporations and unions will be allowed to donate to political action committees and neither will be allowed to make direct contributions to candidates.

Jim Manley, an attorney with the libertarian-leaning Goldwater Institute who argued the case, said that the new rule helps “level the playing field.”

“It’s absurd to think that unions can contribute $1,000 to a candidate and there’s no threat of corruption, but then a single dollar from a corporation is going to destroy public confidence in democracy,” Manley said.

The new policy will affect state and local candidates, but not candidates for federal office.

The lawsuit was brought on by Protect My Check, a Florida non-profit that supports so-called “right-to-work” legislation. The organization argued that Kentucky law unfairly favored unions.

In March, a court ruled that Kentucky’s ban on corporate donations was unfair under the equal protection clause of the constitution.

Bill Londrigan, president of Kentucky’s AFL-CIO, said that unions and corporations shouldn’t be treated with the same rules.

“We’re not the same,” Londrigan said. “Their ability to raise money is a whole lot greater than ours. We can only take money that is voluntarily contributed by union members.”

The lawsuit came as union groups and conservative activists have battled over whether to implement right-to-work policies, which would allow workers to work at a unionized company without having to join a union.

The policy was a major plank of Gov. Matt Bevin’s campaign last year, though the issue didn’t come up during this year’s legislative session.

Several counties in Kentucky passed local right-to-work ordinances in late 2014 and early 2015. A group of unions successfully challenged Hardin County for implementing the policy, with a federal court ruling that it violated federal labor laws.

The case has been appealed to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Protect My Check promised to pay the legal bills for counties who had to defend the laws.

Londrigan said corporations will have a heavy fundraising advantage over unions.

“Because now they can use federal PAC money, which could be huge amounts that could be generated from their corporate executives and their shareholders,” he said.

Five states still have bans on corporate contributions. The Goldwater Institute is also challenging a similar law in Massachusetts.