Can KY political parties spend on proposed constitutional amendments? Courts could decide
Political parties may have to stay mum on one of Kentucky’s most anticipated and most heated political fights this year.
Local political parties, and likely state parties, cannot spend resources advocating for or against constitutional amendments at the ballot box, according to an advisory opinion sent to two Republican county parties last week by the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.
That decision would bar them from political advocacy on the constitutional amendment this November that would allow state funds to go to private and charter schools.
“A county executive committee may not use the funds that it raises for party nominees to support a constitutional amendment. To the extent that members of the executive committee would like to begin raising funds to support or oppose a constitutional amendment, those members interested must form a political issues committee to do so,” Leslie Saunders, the registry’s general counsel, wrote.
The Kentucky Registry of Election Finance opinion was requested by Republican parties in Jessamine and Hardin counties, who asked if county party expenditures on such amendments — they asked specifically about the education amendment, which will show up as Amendment 2 — were allowed.
That opinion may be challenged in court.
According to an agenda for Monday night’s Boone County Republican Party meeting, the county is considering joining a lawsuit related to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.
When contacted, Hardin County GOP Chair Bobbie Coleman deferred questions about a potential lawsuit to two attorneys: TJ Roberts, who just won a Republican primary in a deep red Northern Kentucky House district; and Chris Wiest, an attorney who wields great influence in the Liberty wing of the state GOP.
Wiest told the Herald-Leader that a lawsuit over the matter will be filed in the next week and that other parties beyond Hardin County could get involved. He said he anticipates it will be filed in federal court and that he will seek a preliminary injunction “right out the gate.”
While the specific question was only posed for county parties, the same logic likely applies to the Republican Party of Kentucky and the Kentucky Democratic Party, registry executive director John Steffen said.
“I would say it is likely that the same logic would apply to the state parties, as I have no reason to believe otherwise, but we have not reviewed that question specifically,” Steffen told the Herald-Leader in an email. “Those wishing to advocate or oppose a constitutional amendment should form a political issues committee as provided by statute. Generally speaking, the other committees regulated by the Registry exist to support or oppose candidates for public office.”
Both state parties advocated on either side of an amendment in 2022, when a Republican-backed amendment that would have made it nearly impossible to challenge Kentucky’s abortion ban in court failed by a five point margin.
Republican Party of Kentucky spokesperson Andy Westberry said the party doesn’t have much of an opinion on the matter because “it doesn’t really affect us.”
“While there’s been a couple of posts on social media, the state partly does not get involved in constitutional amendments,” Westberry wrote in an email. “Our sole focus is on electing candidates.”
Westerberry said he believed Democrats would be more affected because their “whole strategy” heading into the fall election is centered around “haranguing about school vouchers.”
The Kentucky Democratic Party has made some posts about the matter, strongly opposing the so-called “school choice” amendment. The matter faces near-unanimous opposition among elected Kentucky Democrats, though the issue does not track as cleanly along partisan lines in other states.
Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman are both vocal opponents of the amendment and have promised to campaign against it.
A spokesperson for state Democrats has yet to respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally published July 15, 2024 at 12:42 PM.
