Leonard Lawson Rears His UGLY Head -- Again!

Supreme Court ruling impacts Pike County race
By Joseph Gerth

While the top players in the U.S. Senate race are lobbing dirt clods in a good old-fashioned mud fight, folks in Eastern Kentucky may be getting a glimpse of the future of politics in this country.

The race is a magistrate's election in the rough and tumble world of Pike County Democratic politics and involves a company with ties to political king-maker Leonard Lawson, fresh off his acquittal on federal bid-rigging charges.

And it could forever change the way politics are played in this state and the country.

The stage was set in January, when the U.S. Supreme Court, on a 5-4 vote, struck down federal prohibitions on corporate and union expenditures to promote the election or defeat of political candidates.

In the past, corporations were limited in their roles in elections, having to funnel money through political action committees.

The ruling also, in effect, struck down a 119-year-old provision in the Kentucky Constitution that prohibited corporations from spending money to affect elections. The provision was put into the constitution in an era when the old L & N Railroad held a monopoly and controlled much of the state.

In his State of the Union address three weeks later, President Barack Obama took on the court, saying the decision would "open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections."

That left Justice Samuel Alito mouthing the words, "simply not true."

While it hasn't opened any floodgates, it has breeched the dam in Pike County, where at least $15,000 worth of corporate money has been spent to beat Pike County Magistrate Chris Harris' re-election efforts, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The newspaper said Harris had the audacity to criticize cozy ties between the company, which operates the county's largest water system, and public officials.

So, funded by $15,000 from the Utility Management Group, which Lawson bankrolled and co-owns, and another $2,500 from the law firm of Democratic State Sen. Ray Jones, which does legal work for the company, a front group calling itself Citizens for Eastern Kentucky Government began airing television ads making spurious claims.

One television station pulled the ads off the air because the group couldn't prove its claims about Harris.

You've got to wonder if this is just the first of many elections in Kentucky in which corporations will become involved.

Will Churchill Downs and Keeneland and other horse racing companies start airing ads directly endorsing candidates who want to allow slot machines at racetracks?

Was this just a dry run for Lawson and does he intend to spend thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of dollars from his various businesses to campaign against the re-election of Gov. Steve Beshear, whose administration turned him into the feds?

Will attorneys general who fight rate hikes by utilities in the future suddenly find themselves facing not only a Democratic or Republican opponent — but a well-funded corporate entity willing to spend millions to stop them from a second term?

And will Kentucky elections forever be changed?

Alito seemed to say at the State of the Union that that wouldn't be the case. We'll see.

Joseph Gerth's column appears on Mondays. He can be reached at (502) 582-4702 or at jgerth@courier-journal.com. His mailing address is 525 W. Broadway, P.O. Box 740031, Louisville, KY 40201-7431.