Appellate court upholds state ban of gifts, money to Kentucky lawmakers

Kentucky lawmakers cannot accept gifts from lobbyists and lobbyists cannot make campaign contributions to candidates for the state legislature, a federal appellate court ruled Thursday in a victory for the state’s legislative ethics code.

The ruling by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a June 2017 ruling by U.S. District Judge William O. Bertelsman of Covington.

The appellate ruling involved a September 2015 case in which state Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, and two Libertarian political candidates sued to overturn state laws limiting campaign contributions to $1,000 and prohibiting gifts to legislators from lobbyists.

Bertelsman declined to rule on the issue of campaign contribution limits, saying the issue was moot because the legislature in 2017 doubled the limit. He did, however, rule that legislators cannot set up caucus campaign committees, which give unlimited contributions to campaigns.

He also said the state’s prohibition on gifts to legislators was too vague.

The Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission on Thursday issued a news release praising the appellate court’s decision to reverse Bertelsman’s ruling and uphold the constitutionality of the ban on gifts and contributions from lobbyists, which is in the Kentucky Code of Legislative Ethics.

It said the appellate court agreed that these measures, “enacted to prevent corruption and protect its citizens’ trust in their elected officials,“ are constitutional.

In its 26-page ruling, the appellate court said “Kentucky’s legislature acted to protect itself and its citizens from the damaging effect of corruption. Because these laws are closely drawn to further Kentucky’s anti-corruption interest, they pass constitutional muster.”

“One of the most important purposes of the legislative ethics law is to forbid legislators from soliciting things of value or campaign contributions from lobbyists,” said Anthony Wilhoit, chairman of the ethics commission. “This decision is a clear win for the integrity of the legislative process, as emphatically recognized by the Court of Appeals.”

He noted that the ethics commission was defended by the office of Attorney General Andy Beshear.

Schickel said he was “disappointed” with Thursday’s ruling and his attorney. His attorney, Chris Wiest of Crestview Hills, said “we will be seeking to take this to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

In their lawsuit, the politicians argued that the ethics law violated their constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection by restricting their access to people who want to help them.

Wilhoit noted that the Kentucky General Assembly passed sweeping ethics reforms in 1993 that put restrictions on campaign contributions from lobbyists and their employers to legislators. The reforms came after Operation BOPTROT, an FBI investigation in 1992 that exposed 15 legislators who sold their votes. House Speaker Don Blandford of Owensboro was among those sent to prison.

In 2014, state lawmakers enacted a “no cup of coffee” ban in Kentucky’s ethics law, which Wilhoit said “further strengthened the law and continues to keep the legislator/lobbyist relationship on a professional basis.”

In the 26 years since the 1993 enactment of the legislative ethics law and the creation of the independent, citizen-run Legislative Ethics Commission, no Kentucky legislator has been indicted or convicted for misusing his or her legislative office, Wilhoit said.

“This stands in marked contrast to the experience of many other states, where legislators are often investigated, indicted, and convicted of public corruption,” he said. “Kentuckians are justifiably proud of this record, and it enhances public confidence in the General Assembly.”

This story was originally published May 30, 2019 at 6:13 PM.