About this report

Herald-Leader staff writer John Cheves, 34, reported and wrote The McConnell Machine. Cheves joined the newspaper in 1997 and has reported on Kentucky courts, politics and government. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Next month, he begins a yearlong congressional fellowship with the American Political Science Association in Washington.

The McConnell Machine was edited by Herald-Leader enterprise editor Sharon Walsh, former Herald-Leader editor Marilyn Thompson (now national investigations editor for the Los Angeles Times) and David Westphal, Washington editor for The McClatchy Co., which owns the Herald-Leader. It was copy-edited by Will Scott and designed by Jeff Bowen. Lu-Ann Farrar and Linda J. Johnson provided research assistance.

This project began in early 2006 with funding arranged with the Center for Investigative Reporting, an independent, non-profit media organization founded in 1977 that conducts and promotes investigations into subjects of public interest.

At the time, Knight Ridder owned the Herald-Leader. In June, the newspaper became part of McClatchy Newspapers.

The Center, based in California, produces investigative stories that are distributed through newspapers, magazines, books, radio and television documentaries.

For this project, the Center secured funding for Cheves' reporting from the Deer Creek Foundation of St. Louis as part of a series of stories that will take a bipartisan look at the influence of money on politics. Deer Creek had no involvement in reporting, shaping or editing the McConnell stories. Editorial control rested with the Herald-Leader.

McConnell's staff objected to the funding from Deer Creek because the foundation has provided financial support to groups seeking campaign finance reform, which McConnell opposes. After a review by McClatchy, the company determined that reporting by staff members should be paid for by the newspaper.

The company has reimbursed the Center, which will use the money for further reporting on money and politics.