The McConnell Machine

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Lobbyist's close ties to senator pays off for them both — and clients

WASHINGTON -- Kentucky farmers needed help from Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., three years ago as Congress debated a buyout of their government tobacco quotas.

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Archive by category ''The McConnell Machine

THE MCCONNELL MACHINE

Bates' ride from driver to gatekeeper

Sen. Mitch McConnell is famously close-lipped, but not with Gordon Hunter Bates. Barbara Kucera, a University of Kentucky researcher, occasionally talks to Bates about millions of federal dollars McConnell is steering toward a project she shares with Louisville company eCavern.
THE MCCONNELL MACHINE

When Mcconnell's pull fails, his Labor Secretary wife fills in

WASHINGTON -- Millionaire coal magnate Bob Murray knew the name to drop in September 2002, when Mine Safety Health Administration inspectors confronted him about safety problems at his mines: Sen. Mitch McConnell.
THE MCCONNELL MACHINE

Wedded to free trade in China

When Sen. Mitch McConnell married Elaine Chao in 1993, he got more than a wife — he got a river of campaign donations from her family and friends in the Chinese-American business community.
THE MCCONNELL MACHINE

Two for the money

Millionaire coal magnate Bob Murray knew the name to drop in September 2002, when Mine Safety Health Administration inspectors confronted him about safety problems at his mines: Sen. Mitch McConnell. Murray, a large man with a fierce temper, is a huge donor to Republican senators. McConnell, R-Ky...
THE MCCONNELL MACHINE

Foreign aid wins friends; senator's generosity rewarded

WASHINGTON -- One of Sen. Mitch McConnell's "best friends and buddies" -- his words -- is Albert Boyajian, a rich Los Angeles bakery magnate who is a leader in the Armenian-American community.
THE MCCONNELL MACHINE

Get cash-sniffing hounds to find Mitch

— all the way back to 1984.
THE MCCONNELL MACHINE

Senator's pet issue: money and the power it buys

WASHINGTON -- In the early 1970s, Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr., a young and intense Republican lawyer, strode into the political science class he taught at the University of Louisville.
THE MCCONNELL MACHINE

Articles on McConnell stir debate

Marilyn W. Thompson, then editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader, faced a problem last year that is afflicting more and more newspaper editors across the country: She wanted to initiate a major reporting project but lacked sufficient resources to finance it.