Lexington brewery owner’s email prompts questions about Kentucky campaign finance laws

An email from a Lexington brewery owner about a Sept. 23 fundraiser for one of the Kentucky legislature’s top Republicans has sparked questions about campaign donation laws. 

Last week, an email from Andrew Bishop, an owner of Ethereal Brewing, circulated online from a now-deleted Reddit post on the Lexington subreddit. Copies of the email can still be found on other sites, like Facebook. The screenshot did not include recipients of the email, but Bishop referred to an upcoming fundraiser for Rep. Jason Petrie, an Elkton Republican who chairs the House’s budget committee. 

“We are doing an in-kind donation. I know how sensitive everyone is to donations to politicians, so we’ve made it easier for you. We are donating roughly $4,500 worth of food, beverage, and rental fee and are asking membership to help by reimbursing us. This way, no one will have to worry about campaign disclosures or names being associated with this donation,” Bishop wrote, before asking that those receiving the email make checks out to the company’s Public House or pay via Venmo or CashApp. 

When asked about the email by the Kentucky Lantern, Bishop said he had been in charge of the legislative affairs for the Kentucky Guild of Brewers for about a month “and had not been fully caught up to speed on the legal aspects of the job.”

Bishop said in an email Wednesday to the Lantern his initial email “was poorly worded and did not reflect the intent of sending it.” 

“I have to own my ignorance to what the email was implying and my mistake in sending it, but there was no intent to hide anything nor was anything hidden,” Bishop said. “I sent it to my peers to help offset the costs of highlighting the industry as well as Lexington.” 

In their criticism, social media users questioned if the reimbursement process described in the email followed state campaign finance laws. They also debated if Petrie’s politics matched those of liberal Lexington beer scene customers.

“The $4,500 was a rough max estimate for planning purposes since we did not know the crowd size. The actual in-kind donation (food and beverages) was $1,134.00,” Bishop continued. “All in-kind contributions were fully disclosed and reported in accordance with all applicable laws. Including providing the itemized invoice of all food and beverages. All in-kind contributions were in accordance with law in regard to being reimbursed by private individuals. As I understand, the financial disclosures will be available publicly to reflect this on the next reporting cycle.”

Bishop emphasized that the fundraiser was “not an Ethereal Brewing event.”

“We were invited to participate in an attempt to highlight the industry and the culture of Lexington,” he said. “The event was a candidate sponsored event in conjunction with the Kentucky Republican Party and as part of highlighting Fayette Co/Lexington. The private event was held at one of our brewery locations on September 23rd, at our ‘public House’ — we were the venue.”

Adam Hope, a spokesperson for the Republican Party of Kentucky said “the party didn’t host the event” and “it was on behalf of the campaign.” He added “the party was unaware” of Bishop’s initial email shared online and “did not have anything to do with it being sent out.” 

Campaign finance rules

John Steffen, the executive director of the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, said the registry is “certainly aware” of the social media posts, but could not “confirm or deny at this time whether we have received any complaints about it or whether we are investigating the matter” in a Tuesday email to the Lantern. 

“Based on the social media post alone, there are certainly concerns about what really transpired, and what, if anything, the candidate himself actually knew about the plans laid out in the post,” Steffen said. “We don’t know whether Rep. Petrie had any involvement in the planning, we just know what the host posted about the event.” 

Steffen said without knowing more about what happened during the fundraiser “some of the concerns would be the fact that corporate contributions to candidates are strictly prohibited, and that the individual contribution limit to candidates is $3500 per election.” 

State law prohibits someone from making a contribution to a political candidate or committee on their behalf, Steffen noted. Another law says that candidates, committees or other political groups “shall not conspire with an individual or other entity to disguise an illegal contribution as an in-kind contribution.” 

“So yes, the reimbursement referred to in the email COULD be a violation of campaign finance laws IF they actually took place as described in the email,” he added. “But at this point we still have no idea how things were actually handled or how they will be reported to us.” 

Petrie did not return a phone call or emails from the Lantern seeking comment. 

Ethereal Brewing also shared a lengthy post about the situation online Saturday. 

“We have heard your concerns and we would like to apologize for the email that was sent out — it was very poorly worded and held a lot of negative implications,” the post said. “We did not do our due diligence in making sure what we’re saying was completely accurate. Our in-kind donation of food and beverage service was disclosed in accordance with the law, but we take full responsibility for the email and any repercussions from it. Period.” 

Ahead of the fundraiser, the Fayette County Republican Party posted a flier about the event online, with the words “Paid for by the Jason Petrie Campaign Fund” at the bottom, that included information about how to RSVP and make donations to the campaign.

Petrie is not facing an opponent this fall in the 16th House District, which includes Logan, Todd and part of Christian counties in Western Kentucky.