As the Republican Party advances in its House majority, all eyes are on the party’s divisions, particularly the conservatives and the so-called RINOS, who join with Democrats in the name of compromise. The connections between corporate donations and Republicans are well-known, and one donation in Kentucky has raised questions about the ties between the minority Speaker of the U.S. Senate from Kentucky and a pharmaceutical business that provides, among other things, vaccinations.

Kentucky Republican Party spokesperson Sean Southard issued the following statement: “the Republican Party purchased the lot next door to our Frankfort headquarters and is planning an expansion project. Our current headquarters was acquired in 1974. With the growth of the Republican Party in Kentucky, we have a need for additional space.”

“As we raise funds into the building fund account, we are following both federal and state law. The funds raised into this account can only be used for certain expenditures related to the building and are not eligible to be spent on candidate or issue advocacy,” Southard replied to questions about the enormous size of the corporate donations.

A $1 million contribution is considered substantial. Last month, the pharmaceutical firm Pfizer gave $1 million to the Kentucky Republican Party. We Love Trump writes that the substantial payment from the COVID-19 jab producer is thought to be the largest contribution to a political party in state history.

Pfizer’s contribution is particularly dedicated towards the mentioned building’s project. It will be utilized to extend the Mitch McConnell Building in the state capital of Frankfort. In Kentucky, the rules surrounding contributions to construction funds have altered as recently as 2017.

“A sign identifies the party headquarters as the Mitch McConnell Building, in honor of U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky,” the Kentucky Lantern reports.

The Republican Party of Kentucky received a $1 million donation from Pfizer to expand its headquarters – The "Mitch McConnell Building"

— DailyNoah.com (@DailyNoahNews) January 9, 2023

Continued from the Kentucky Lantern:

A report filed by Republican Party of Kentucky Building Fund last week with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance listed the $1 million from Pfizer along with five other big corporation contributions in the final quarter of 2022 totaling $1.65 million.

The fund had raised just $6,000 throughout the first three quarters of 2022, so this is an extraordinary amount of money.
Other major corporate donors to the fund by the end of 2022 included:

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., New York, $300,000;
Altria Client Services LLC, of Richmond, VA., $100,000;
Comcast Corp., of Philadelphia; $100,000;
AT&T, of St. Louis; $100,000;
Delta Air Lines, of Atlanta, $50,000.

State and federal campaign finance regulations limit the amount an individual or political action committee can donate to the executive committee of a political party. (A individual may not contribute more than $15,000 annually.) And corporate payments to the executive committee of a political party are illegal.

Nonetheless, a provision of a campaign finance statute enacted by the General Assembly in 2017 permitted each party to create a construction fund that can take limitless contributions. It also permitted the building fund to accept corporate contributions.

More on this story via The Republic Brief:

The election registry website says that money in a party building fund “may be used for expenditures related to the purchase, construction, maintenance, renovation, and repair of the state executive committee’s main headquarters facility.” CONTINUE READING…