Meet these six Kentucky lobbyists and leaders who hold sway with Frankfort legislators

There are 138 state legislators in Kentucky. Most of them spend a majority of their time during session in Frankfort’s Capitol Annex, where their offices are located.

But even in the heat of the legislative session, those lawmakers make up a minority of the nicely dressed patrons of the Capitol Annex Cafeteria.

Instead, the basement food hall is frequently filled with lobbyists, organization leaders and other advocates. They’re there to educate and make the case to officeholders on behalf of clients or organizations.

They’re also there to build relationships with lawmakers, which act as something of a currency for those looking to make change in Frankfort.

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“Time after time, they’ve brought legislators information on issues and the information has at least borne out to be trustworthy,” said Tres Watson, a Frankfort regular and former spokesperson for the Republican Party of Kentucky. “When you’ve built up that level of trust, there’s value for people to say, ‘Hey, can you go present this information to them?’”

Companies from all across the state and nation spend millions to leverage the strong relationships Frankfort’s lobbying corps has built with legislators and bureaucrats. In 2023, a short non-budget session year, they spent a record $24.7 million on lobbying the state legislature, according to the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission.

But it’s not just contract legislative lobbyists that work hard to build relationships with legislators. Executive branch lobbyists and full-time special interest group staffers also crowd the halls of Frankfort to make their pitches and build relationships.

The Herald-Leader spoke with six different lobbyists and advocates for various causes and of different political stripes. Here’s what they had to say about how Frankfort works.

Amy Wickliffe, partner at McCarthy Strategic Solutions

Since the Republican Party took full control of the state legislature in Kentucky in 2016, Amy Wickliffe has regularly ranked among the top-paid legislative lobbyists in the state. She’s often been the highest-ranked woman on those lists, clearing $400,000 and $500,000 in contracts the past two years.

Wickliffe, 43, is partner at the Frankfort-based McCarthy Strategic Solutions, a firm founded by John McCarthy. McCarthy has worked his way up the Kentucky Republican political world since serving on Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s staff in the early 2000s – he’s been among the highest-paid legislative lobbyists in Kentucky over the past decade and was recently selected as the state party’s national committeeman.

What does a day in the life of a successful lobbyist look like? When session is in, it means meetings and research “24/7,” Wickliffe said.

“My attitude is, if legislators are in Frankfort, so am I. So that makes for very long days with most of my day spent at the annex in committee hearings or meeting with legislators about issues my clients are interested in, and I may have a committee or floor vote I’m preparing for thrown in there at least once a week… I thrive in the busy season and if I’m not busy I feel like I’m missing something,” she said.

Like McCarthy, Wickliffe has deep roots with the state Republican cause. Like many other lobbyists, Wickliffe has appeared regularly on Kentucky Educational Television arguing on behalf of her preferred party. Also like other lobbyists, she’s been a regular financial contributor to her state party.

Wickliffe said that one misconception about her business is that lobbyists are seen as mercenaries for whoever will pay to leverage their relationships. Not true, she said.

“That’s just not the case with our firm. We all have our own set of values, and when it comes down to it, if you’re going to advocate effectively for a client, you need to believe in and align with what they stand for,” Wickliffe said.

An example of believing in the end goal for her is the passage of Marsy’s Law, a bill and constitutional amendment that enshrined certain rights for crime victims.

“I have the privilege of working in the victim-centered policy space, representing those who work with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse,” Wickliffe said. “Carrying their voices, experiences and needs to policy makers is some of the most important work I get to do.”

Ashli Watts, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President and CEO

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is regularly the biggest legislative lobbying spender in Frankfort, spending more than $400,000 in each of the last two years to advocate for a pro-business agenda.

At the head of the organization, which serves member businesses across the state, is Frankfort veteran Ashli Watts. The 41-year-old has held her role as president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber since late 2019 and was recently named chair of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s “Committee of 100.” The organization has its headquarters in Frankfort.

Under Watts, the chamber’s biggest Frankfort push was cutting the state’s personal income tax to zero. That process began with a bill from House Appropriations and Revenue Chair Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, passed in 2022.

Such outside groups as the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy worry that reducing the tax will lead to service cuts and budget vulnerability should a recession occur. However, the chamber has held steady in its belief that getting the income tax – the state’s largest single source of revenue – to zero will benefit its member businesses and the state.

Watts told the Herald-Leader that part of her success in Frankfort in such areas as tax reform can be attributed to the relationships she and others at the chamber have built with lawmakers.

“Everything is built on relationships and trust,” she said.

“My point of view is to not necessarily look at the letter behind someone’s name, but get to know them, get to know what area they’re from and the constituents they represent. The nice thing about working for the chamber and representing businesses is everyone has businesses in their area and everyone has a local Chamber of Commerce – there is going to be something that we agree on.”

When it comes to taking stances on certain issues or bills, Watts emphasized the organization takes its stances based on a “very rigorous” membership-led process subject to chamber board approval.

Sometimes that includes taking stances against, or staying relatively quiet on, socially conservative bills.

“Eleven years ago, we probably weren’t talking about any social issues, or anything dealing with the LGBTQ community, or criminal justice reform or even childcare issues.” Watts said.

“I do think at the end of the day, our main point is: ‘What does it have to do with business?’ If it has to do with business, we can draw that line if our members feel strongly about it. But some of those issues really haven’t impacted business.”

Sara Osborne, lobbyist at MML&K Government Solutions

There are 138 members of the state legislature and more than 1,000 bills are likely to be filed this year. Helping each member understand the impact of that many bills is a math problem that Sara Osborne, 40, said lobbyists play a role in solving.

“Somebody has to help people understand what those are what they mean, and I think this job gives you a lot of opportunities to do that,” she said.

Osborne works for MML&K Government Solutions, the Frankfort-based lobbying arm of the politically prominent McBrayer firm. She has experience in two Democratic governors’ offices in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Under former governor Steve Beshear, the current governor’s father, Osborne served as executive director for the Office of Intergovernmental Services in the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.

In general, lobbyists with Democratic backgrounds are more likely to lobby the Executive Branch while Republican-leaning individuals focus more on lobbying the GOP-dominated state legislature.

“I guess it’s just the nature of of where our country and our state is right now, but I don’t think it has to be that way. I have plenty of Republican friends and colleagues and legislators I have great relationships with — and I had folks in the Bevin administration like that, too,” Osborne said.

In the past fiscal year, Osborne made about $154,000 in executive branch lobbying contracts according to records from the Executive Branch Ethics Commission.

She said the biggest thing she communicates to others looking to make a difference in Frankfort is to be honest at all times.

“If you don’t have an answer, it’s OK to say you don’t know. Don’t lie. The biggest thing is, once you get that kind of reputation, you never get to take that back,” Osborne said.

Osborne takes particular pride in helping clients understand the state’s COVID-19 regulations, as well as lobbying on behalf of the bourbon industry. In the bourbon space, she said the interests of clients (looking to entice more visitors to their distillery) and the state (looking for more tourism dollars) align.

She’s been involved in efforts to change pass laws that allow distilleries to provide a fuller experience to Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail visitors.

“Ten years ago, you could take a tour and that was it. You couldn’t have any experiences, you couldn’t taste anything. We wanted to surpass Napa and the wine industry, and I think we’re on our way to doing that, but it took year after year of taking small bites at the apple to create the experience in the industry,” Osborne said.

“That’s created a reason, a major reason, for people to come to Kentucky.”

Richard Nelson, Commonwealth Policy Center Executive Director

The Commonwealth Policy Center has a vague name. However, it’s stance on social issues is always crystal clear.

As executive director Richard Nelson, 54, tells it, the four pillars of the conservative organization are:

• Sanctity of life (manifesting largely as anti-abortion policy.)

• Religious freedom.

• Man-Woman marriage.

• Sound fiscal policy.

That’s a relatively straightforward list, but the ways in which the Commonwealth Policy Center in Frankfort has engaged in the political arena are myriad and varied.

The center hosts candidate trainings for like-minded conservatives, puts on events at churches decrying the alleged dangers of “transgender ideology” while also promoting private faith-based schooling.

It also directly lobbies legislators, distributes template letters to send to local school boards, provides direct support to candidates – all of this and more for the purpose of advancing social conservatism in the state.

Helping to make Kentucky an “abortion-free state” (the state’s ban offers very limited exceptions) and playing a role in flipping the House to become Republican in 2016 are two of the organization’s greatest achievements, Nelson said.

Nelson also fights the social conservative fight in the public arena, making occasional appearances on Kentucky Educational Television and commentary in other outlets in the state.

Nelson founded the Commonwealth Policy Center in 2012, after more than 14 years at the state’s other primary social conservative organization: the Family Foundation of Kentucky. Both organizations were involved in pushing for Senate Bill 150, a bill that outlawed gender affirming care for minors among other things.

LGBTQ rights advocates in Kentucky and across the nation called the bill one of the most “anti-trans” pieces of legislation in the nation while social conservatives cheered it for being pro-”parental rights.”

He said a defining feature of the group is civility in its public discourse, which he said plays in important role in persuading folks.

The two biggest upcoming legislative pushes for the center: Passing a “school choice” constitutional amendment that allows the legislature to fund non-public and charter K-12 education, as well as getting a bill passed to limit diversity, equity and inclusion (known as “DEI”) in the state.

What does diversity have to do with the center’s set of issues?

“Our colleges and universities should be welcoming to people of all ethnicities, races, genders, and we should be inclusive in that regard. But the problem we have with DEI is the ‘equity’ part. As I understand that, it’s equal outcomes, instead of equal opportunity,” Nelson said.

Other influential lobbyists

There are dozens of prominent and influential contract lobbyists in Frankfort not highlighted in this story. Here’s a sampling of some of the big names who also are power brokers.

Kelley Abell, Partner at The Rotunda Group: A longtime Frankfort lobbyist, Abell is regularly listed among Frankfort’s top lobbyists. Many of the contracts she carried out in the last year centered around health care, with a particular focus on adult day care. At $582,000, Abell was the highest-paid woman in Frankfort’s legislative lobbying corps.

Bob Babbage of Babbage Cofounder, former Democratic auditor and secretary of state: Babbage regularly ranks among the highest-paid lobbyists in Frankfort, and was even more consistently high on the list when Democrats controlled both the governor’s chair and the House. Between the 2023 calendar year lobbying the legislature and the 2023 Fiscal Year, Babbage made more than $1.2 million from lobbying contracts according to ethics commissions in both branches of government. Major clients are in the health care, technology and nonprofit advocacy sectors.

John Y. Brown, III, Owner and Managing Partner of JYB3 Group and former Democratic secretary of state: Brown has spent a lot of time in Frankfort. As the son of the late governor John Y. Brown, Jr., and an officeholder serving for two terms as secretary of state in the 1990s and early 2000s, he’s now one of the state’s top executive branch lobbyists. With 11 contracts of $24,000 or more, Brown cleared $400,000 from executive branch lobbying alone in Fiscal Year 2023.

Jason Bentley, attorney and lobbyist at MML&K Government Solutions: Like Osborne, Bentley is part of the wider McBrayer firm network. He’s both an attorney, focusing on utility issues, for the firm and a lobbyist for its MML&K Government Solutions. Bentley served as general counsel to the Public Service Commission and as executive director of the Kentucky Office of Energy Policy under Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher in the mid-2000s.

Stephen Huffman, Managing Partner at HCM Government Solutions: Huffman has become a go-to lobbyist for many in the racing industry, with contracts including Keeneland, The Red Mile, and the Breeder’s Cup. Like many other legislative lobbyists, Huffman has ties to the Republican Party and to Ernie Fletcher. In 2023, Huffman was the third-highest paid legislative lobbyist in the state, according to the Legislative Ethics Commission.

Patrick Jennings, Managing Partner at Commonwealth Alliances: Jennings began his political career in U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office, handling tobacco and agriculture issues as a legislative aide. At the turn of the century, he began in Frankfort as the chief lobbyist for the Kentucky Farm Bureau, later founding his own lobbying firm. Between the 2023 calendar year lobbying the legislature and the 2023 Fiscal Year lobbying the executive branch, Jennings made $1.5 million from lobbying contracts.

Marc Wilson, partner at Top Shelf Lobby: Before taking on his current role, Wilson was the managing partner of Commonwealth Capitol Group, LLC. He’s worked on expanding gaming in the state, tax increment financing and a litany of other issues. Some of his biggest contracts from last year include companies in the financial services industry and the behavioral health care space. Wilson’s employer, Top Shelf, has an office in Frankfort branded in the style of the bourbon trail.

Sherman Brown, partner at McCarthy Strategic Solutions

Sherman Brown has the longest client list of any person lobbying the executive branch. He has contracts to lobby for 109 businesses and organizations. In fiscal year 2023 – which began July 1, 2022 – Brown made just over $333,000 on executive branch contracts, according to Executive Branch Ethics Commission records.

In total, corporations and other groups paid Executive Branch lobbyists $8.2 million in Fiscal Year 2023 while they spent $24.7 million lobbying the legislature in calendar year 2023.

Like Wickliffe, Brown is a partner at McCarthy Strategic Solutions.

Unlike Wickliffe and McCarthy, though, Brown is a loyal Democrat. He was involved in Democratic campaigns for a decade before becoming a lobbyist. He held vital roles as finance chair and deputy campaign manager in former Democratic governor Steve Beshear’s 2007 and 2011 campaigns.

This experience is part of what makes him such a sought-after lobbyist for clients looking for help with administrative regulations, bending the ear of a cabinet official, state contracts and more. McCarthy’s website calls Brown a “trusted resource to Governor Andy Beshear.”

“My day focuses almost exclusively on Kentucky’s Executive Branch,” Brown said.

“I have known Gov. Beshear for almost 20 years. Over all that time I have been very fortunate to have developed great relationships with him and members of administration. Having that long relationship with Gov. Beshear makes assisting clients with the various levels of his administration that much more satisfying.”

The campaign world still comes calling, though – albeit in an unpaid and informal fashion.

“I do get calls from time to time from candidates and campaign staff, and I’m happy to pass on tips about messages or strategy. I do that because I enjoy helping,” Brown said. “Once you’ve experienced the thrill of a campaign - even years later it’s still something I enjoy.”

What’s been Brown’s greatest success as a lobbyist? One of the most talked about pieces of legislation 2015, Senate Bill 192 an omnibus opioid bill that also expanded the state’s “Good Samaritan” law, barring someone rendering aid to someone overdosing from being charged with possession of a controlled substance or drug paraphernalia.

Brown worked late in session to get that language added – and it’s personal for someone whose family has been affected by drugs.

“I pleaded with the sponsor in the House to listen to our version of the language. Just recently, my nephew, a police officer in Northern Kentucky, was telling me about how the Good Samaritan law saved someone that he responded to, administering Narcan and saving their life. He had no idea that his uncle had helped write that language,” Brown said.

Aaron Thompson, Council on Postsecondary Education President

Dr. Aaron Thompson has one of the best stories in Frankfort.

“The reason why I do what I do really comes deeply from a value proposition based on where I came from. My father was illiterate, my mother had an eighth-grade education. I was born in a log cabin in a segregated Appalachian community.”

Given that background, Thompson, 67, sees it as his calling to trumpet the benefits of education in changing your station in life. The former professor has been the president of the Council on Postsecondary Education – the state-funded organization that oversees Kentucky’s public universities and colleges – since 2018.

The council, based in Frankfort, is overseen by a governor-appointed board.

In Thompson’s capacity at the Capitol, that means working with those in government that have the power to invest in and regulate higher education. Thompson says he’s built a solid rapport with many legislators.

“Whether it’s behind closed doors or in committee, they know I’m going be transparent, honest, straightforward. They know I’ll do whatever I can to make sure the role higher education plays in the state will be valuable for the state,” Thompson said.

But how that will play out on two major topics facing Kentucky higher education this session – the budget and anti-diversity, equity and inclusion legislation – remains to be seen.

Thompson said after years of colleges tightening their belts post-recession, “the last couple of sessions we’ve done pretty good, but we still aren’t where we need to be.” This year, he’s pitching universities and colleges to policymakers as a smart “return on investment.”

On anti-DEI legislation, Thompson argues against both the material effect of anti-diversity, equity and inclusion legislation and the message it could send.

He said that while bill sponsors don’t mean it this way, some people in the state from marginialized groups could interpret anti-DEI legislation as not wanting diversity at all.

“It’s already hard for us here in Kentucky to get people to believe there’s a value to education, especially in higher education,” he said. “But if you have people thinking that you’re saying, ‘Well, we don’t want you here,’ whether that’s what you’re saying or not, they’ll feel even less likely to want to be a part of those institutions.”

Though he said he would prefer that no legislation takes an anti-DEI posture, he aims to work with the legislature to discuss such a bill that wouldn’t hurt higher education in the state.