Joe Sonka November 5th, 2007

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

We already know about the millions of tax dollars that Mitch McConnell directed to former staffer Hunter Bates for “music players” sent to Afghanis (shocking that those didn’t work, isn’t it?). Now we have more government handouts for Mitch’s favorite lobbyist. From Cheves at the LHL:

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is pushing $1 million in federal funds to help e-Cavern, a Louisville company whose lobbyist, Gordon Hunter Bates, is McConnell’s former chief of staff and 2002 campaign manager.

McConnell, the Senate minority leader, put his earmark in the spending bill that pays for the U.S. Treasury Department, which awaits a conference committee to iron out differences between the Senate and House versions.

Since 2004, McConnell has earmarked $2.5 million for e-Cavern, which leases out space in a 3-million-square-foot, man-made cave near the Louisville airport. Under a deal proposed by e-Cavern and funded by the Treasury Department, the University of Kentucky uses the cave to study the effectiveness of underground storage of computer data from the financial sector in the event of disasters or terrorist attacks.

E-Cavern started to win earmarks after it hired Bates in 2003 to replace a previous lobbyist.

Bates, a 2003 candidate for Kentucky lieutenant governor until he was disqualified for living in the Washington suburbs, spent years on McConnell’s staff and continues to raise campaign funds for him. Bates and his wife have made at least $146,000 in donations to Republican politicians, including $17,200 to McConnell. E-Cavern is one of at least eight of Bates’ lobbying clients to directly receive assistance from McConnell, either through earmarks or friendly legislation.

Executives of e-Cavern have made at least $11,500 in donations to Republican politicians, starting in 2004, including $2,000 to McConnell and $2,500 early this year to former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup, R-Ky., in her GOP primary challenge to Gov. Ernie Fletcher. Northup put a $1 million earmark for e-Cavern into the federal budget last year, but because the government operated in fiscal year 2007 under a continuing resolution, not an actual budget, that earmark was lost.

McConnell and Bates did not respond to requests for comment this week.

Our Treasury is basically Mitch McConnell’s own play money that he uses to buy influence and reward donors. For another year, at least. If only child labor laws didn’t prohibit poor children from working as lobbyists, they might actually have a chance at getting healthcare…

• Hunter Bates , Mitch McConnell
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