An inside look into Frankfort lobbying events: Bourbon, breakfast & Jimmy John’s
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lobbyists spent $484,000 on events in 2024, up 160% from pre-pandemic levels.
- Receptions offer informal access to lawmakers, especially within GOP circles.
- Events, from bourbon receptions to sandwich lunches, vary by access and impact.
Meals and events meant to sway Kentucky state legislators are a growing part of business in Frankfort.
In 2024, the total reported amount that lobbying groups spent on such events was $484,000, a 160% increase from the pre-pandemic average.
The rise has raised some eyebrows among Democrats and observers. Others argue the events — whether that’s an elaborate reception or a quick breakfast — do little to sway policy or are merely a reflection of the increasingly active way the GOP-led legislature is shaping the state.
But what actually happens at a legislative reception?
The Herald-Leader observed one such event in March 2024: a St. Patrick’s Day reception hosted by McCarthy Strategic Solutions, which regularly ranks among the top lobbying firms in Frankfort.
Some dressed down, others still working out the creases from sitting in committee meetings all day, legislators and lobbyists alike took an end-of-session sigh of relief at Goodwood Brewing, just across the Kentucky River from the Capitol in downtown Frankfort.
The group picked through Irish egg rolls, beer cheese, pretzel bites and seasoned chips at a buffet. Tables were decorated with green streamers and plastic gold coins. Legislators sipped on shamrock-themed drinks overlooking the Kentucky River as spring’s first warm evening arrived.
A crowd of Republican legislators cheered “aye,” grinning with pride when Pikeville GOP Sen. Phillip Wheeler’s face appeared on the bar’s television screen. He was featured on a WKYT report defending House Bill 5, a controversial law that added criminal penalties for the homeless, vandals and violent offenders, among other things.
One Louisville legislator joked to a group of others that he was preparing to file a resolution in honor of Kenny Payne, the former University of Louisville basketball head coach who was fired the previous day after a lackluster 12-52 in his only two seasons with the Cardinals.
The Herald-Leader was granted entry into the event with the stipulation that no on-record interviews would be conducted.
This was not a raucous party. Most, if they drank, limited themselves to a couple alcoholic beverages.
But it was a decidedly more relaxed space compared to how the public generally sees the state’s policymakers, whether that be through the KET cameras or at formally arranged meetings in their stuffy offices.
Legislators spoke freely of policy battles, like the Republicans’ increased oversight of the state’s largest school system, as well as upcoming primary challenges.
Most of those in attendance at the McCarthy event were Republican. McCarthy himself lobbies on both sides of the aisle, but is known — as are most of the more successful Frankfort legislative lobbyists these days — for his ties to the GOP.
McCarthy serves as the state GOP’s national committeeman.
Twenty-two different organizations sponsored the reception, chipping in a total of $3,697 to entertain legislators, according to the Legislative Ethics Commission.
These sorts of events are where much of the business of lobbying occurs and has always occurred.
More than 20 years ago, Tom Underwood, a longtime lobbyist who works for The Rotunda Group, was quoted in a Herald-Leader story. At the time, he was referred to as spokesman for the Kentucky Fire Sprinkler Contractors Association, a lobbying contract he still holds today.
“Which would you rather do,” he asked. “Meet with friends after work and have a nice, informal chat over drinks? Or try to talk to someone in the middle of the work day, when the phones are ringing and everyone is tugging on their sleeve for their attention?”
That holds true 20 years later, he said.
“It’d be the same if I were selling widgets in a corporate world. If I’m going to meet with a customer, I’ll do better when I’ve got his full attention,” Underwood said this year.
Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, one of Frankfort’s most vocal social conservatives, said it’s “pretty evident” the events work for lobbyists.
He described their effect as less of a quid pro quo and more setting up a social dynamic that leads people-pleasing legislators to seek approval from their often highly compensated lobbyist friends.
“Some people do things driven by that desire to fit in, to be liked, to be a part of whatever the group considered elite or privileged is doing,” Calloway said. “Sometimes it affects it not based on ‘You bought me a beer and I feel beholden because you bought me a beer.’
“It’s more, ‘I feel beholden because I want you to like me and I want you to feel like I hold some kind of power that you need.’”
He believes that dynamic was at play during the passage of the bourbon barrel tax bill, which is, to the chagrin of local governments home to massive distilleries, phasing out property taxes on the valuable barrels.
The Herald-Leader requested entry at two high-dollar reception events during the 2025 legislative session but was denied: The Buffalo Trace Distillery reception held at the bourbon-maker’s charming Elmer T. Lee Clubhouse and the “Energizing EKY Legislative Reception” hosted by the Eastern Kentucky region’s primary power providers at the downtown Frankfort venue The Foundry.
Not all events are equal, though, and many are far less swanky.
On the same afternoon as the distillery and power company receptions, the Bosnians of Bowling Green had booked a room in the Capitol Annex, serving up Jimmy John’s sandwiches while talking to legislators about their community. Rep. Steve Bratcher, R-Elizabethtown, recalled his time coming to the aid of Bosnians during the armed conflict there in the 1990s.
Event organizer Adela Muhic told the Herald-Leader that Bosnian immigrants make up about 10% of Warren County and a large portion of the growing logistics industry. The event served dual purposes: to let the state’s powerful know that the 10,000-odd Bosnian community is thriving and to inform them of the Balkan nation’s conflict-ridden history.
“I hope this just leads to greater awareness of what we’ve gone through, and we can educate others on what happened and how to prevent it happening in the future,” Muhic said.
With a little over a dozen legislators there, the event was lightly attended. It begged the question of how many of the other lawmakers were sipping old fashioneds at Buffalo Trace or mingling with the state’s power executives downtown.
Some events have become solidly embedded in the culture of Frankfort. That’s true for the breakfast held in the Capitol Annex cafeteria by the Kentucky State Police Professional Association every Friday.
State police and their respective unions are seen as among the most valued interest groups in Frankfort politics. Rarely do politicians speak ill of the KSP, which provides security for the legislature and governor.
Like McCarthy’s event, the gathering provides a space for legislators to speak freely.
This March, Sen. Robin Webb, R-Grayson, jokingly chided Kentucky League of Cities Executive Director and CEO J.D. Chaney about a bill he supported — city law enforcement often lobby through his organization — that would have opened a large loophole for police departments to deny more open records requests.
“This is not about protecting bad officers,” Chaney shot back in a friendly tone over his plate of bacon and eggs.
The bill was weakened to shrink the loophole that day, and went on to become law.
