Conway
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Legal Newsline) - An independent campaign committee based in Denver has raised more than $600,000 to help reelect Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, according to a filing with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance last week.
The Bluegrass Democratic Attorneys General Association has raised $622,816 so far this year, in an election finance statement filed Thursday.
The list of contributors includes unions, large companies and various law firms.
According to the statement, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, and the American Federation of Teachers each donated $25,000.
Big-name companies Time Warner Cable, LegalZoom.com Inc., Hewlett Packard, Altria Client Services Inc. (the parent company of Philip Morris USA), Pfizer, Aflac, Office Depot and Anheuser Busch all gave the following:
- Time Warner -- $16,666
- LegalZoom.com -- $7,500
- Hewlett Packard -- $25,000
- Altria -- $25,000
- Pfizer -- $25,000
- Aflac -- $1,500
- Office Depot -- $50,000
- Anheuser Busch -- $25,000
Those law firms who contributed include: Thornton & Naumes LLP in Boston, $10,000; Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer in New York, $10,000; and Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz in Memphis, Tenn., $5,000.
Trade associations also donated to the association, according to its statement.
The American Natural Gas Alliance Inc. gave $25,000 while the National Propane Gas Association gave $10,000.
Others who donated include: the Distilled Spirits Council in Washington, $2,500; Maximus in Reston, Va., $10,000; Partner Weekly LLC in Las Vegas, $2,500; The Tyson Organization in Fort Worth, $500; GGNSC Administrative Services LLC in Fort Smith, Ariz., $2,000; Novo Nordisk in West Princeton, N.Y., $20,000; Diageo in Norwalk, Conn., $15,000; North American Universal Management in Overland Park, Kan., $2,000; Genentech in San Francisco, $25,000; and ServiceMaster in Memphis, $25,000.
According to its statement, the association lists Travis Berry as its chairman or treasurer.
Berry also serves as the executive director of the Democratic Attorneys General Association.
According to its website, DAGA is a political organization formed "to support the election of Democrats to the office of attorney general in all of the states and U.S. territories."
"DAGA will make contributions to and expenditures on behalf of Democratic candidates for attorney general and contributions to state and local Democratic Party committees as appropriate," it says.
Berry told the Louisville Courier-Journal on Friday that the Bluegrass Democratic Attorneys General Association is not connected with Conway's reelection campaign and the attorney general has not helped in its fundraising.
"We want to make sure we have adequate resources to defend against attacks that we believe the other side will launch against Jack Conway," Berry told the newspaper of the Kentucky association.
Conway faces Republican and former prosecutor Todd P'Pool in the Nov. 8 election.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.