Special election set for Dec. 8 ...
Family, equine interests, Democratic party among big donors to Haydon campaign

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 5 p.m. -- Early donors to Democrat Jodie Haydon's race for the open 14th District state senate seat includes a group of heavy hitters tied to family, friends, contractors, businessmen and the thoroughbred racing industry.

The report Haydon's campaign filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance for the period ending Nov. 6 included more than 40 individual donations of $1,000 and many more donations of lesser amounts.

Among the $1,000 contributors to Haydon's campaign are horse racing investors from Illinois. Richard Duchossois ($1,000 donation) of Barrington, Ill. Duchossois is founder and chairman of the family's privately-held company, The Duchossois Group. He is CEO of Arlington Park race track and a board member of Churchill Downs. Churchill and Arlington are part of the Duchossois Group's portfolio of investments. Other donors from the company include Duchossois Group CEO Craig Duchossois and Janet Duchossois ($1,000 each); Duchossois President and COO Robert Fealy, ($1,000).

Other horse racing/ag-related $1,000 donors include Charles Kenyon of Shelbyville, a human resources employee of Churchill Downs; thoroughbred breeder Carl Pollard of Goshen; R. Rankin of Upson Downs Farm in Goshen; and Linwood Hardy, a retired tobacco farmer in Cadiz.

Other $1,000 donors include Henry Hinkle, head of Hinkle Contracting, a building and road construction company; KEPAC, the Kentucky Education Associations political action committee; Daniel Logsdon, Gov. Steve Beshear's deputy chief-of-staff; and the political action committee of the Plumbers & Pipefitters union Local 502.

Haydon reported donations of more than $12,000 from individuals who identified themselves as contractors and their spouses.

Other notable contributors include Bardstown City Councilman Bill Sheckles ($100) and St. Catharine College President Bill Huston ($500).

The state's Democratic party is listed with in-kind donations of $128,574, including $100,000 for television advertising. The state Senate Democratic Caucus contributed $10,000.

SHOW ME THE MONEY. With four weeks before the election, money is necessary to maximize each candidate's exposure prior to the Dec. 8 special election. In the August special election to fill the open 18th District state senate seat, Democrat Robin Webb raised more than $400,000, spending more than $350,000 on her successful Senate bid against Republican Jack Ditty. Ditty raised $211,000, spending $209,000 on his campaign. Ditty lost by fewer than 300 votes, due in part to the entry of a Democrat-turned-Independent candidate who ran on an anti-expanded gaming platform similar to that of Ditty's.