Fact check: On Jim Justice's political contributions
December 24, 2015
By David Borman
According to a website created and maintained by the West Virginia Republican Party, West Virginia Democratic candidate for governor Jim Justice and his family contributed "more than $400,000 to Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear (D), who endorsed Barack Obama."[1] When we looked into this assertion, we found that Beshear did indeed endorse Barack Obama, but the statement becomes less straightforward when looking at the money.[2] In addition to contributing to a number of Republican candidates and causes, the Justices were active donors to the Kentucky Democratic Party (KDP) and to Beshear’s inauguration. The figure of $400,000, however, was a conflation of contributions from the Justice family to Democratic organizations that supported Beshear but worked independently of and were not exclusively dedicated to him and his campaign.
Background
Jim Justice is president and CEO of 47 different companies, including Bluestone Industries, Bluestone Coal Corporation and the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.[3] According to Forbes, Justice has a net worth of $1.65 billion.[4] In May 2015, Justice announced that he would run for governor of West Virginia as a Democrat, seeking to replace incumbent Earl Ray Tomblin (D) who was unable to run due to term limits.[5] A September 2015 independent poll showed Justice leading in the primary election; the poll also had Justice winning a general election against Republican candidate Bill Cole.[6]
The state Republican Party’s chair, Conrad Lucas, told The Wall Street Journal, "The Democratic Party in West Virginia is desperate. They looked for the biggest checkbook in the state and they found Jim Justice."[5] The party launched a website called “The Justice Record,” a list of statements about Justice’s past as a business owner, categorized into four major divisions: “Bad for Coal Safety and the Environment,” “Special Deals and Tax Breaks for Billionaire Jim Justice,” “Litigating Small Business Out of Business” and “Supporting Barack Obama.”[1]
Under “Supporting Barack Obama,” the state party claims, “Billionaire Jim Justice and his family have contributed more than $400,000 to Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear (D), who endorsed Barack Obama.” While the statement contains a link in the $400,000 figure cited, that link is broken. Our emails requesting further clarification from the West Virginia GOP on the source of this number have not yet been returned.
Justice family contributions
We looked into the facts of the Justice family’s political donations at two sources: the official website of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the searchable database for the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance (KREF). We searched for individual contributions to candidates and parties from Jim Justice, his wife Cathy, his son James Justice III and his daughter Jill Justice. The following table displays all contributions to federal and Kentucky candidates and parties registered in these databases.[7][8]
- Note: Click on a tab and show to view the contributions from each person.
Cathy Justice
| Recipient | Date | Contribution amount | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Election Commission | George W. Bush | 7/14/1999 | $1,000.00 |
| 3/15/2004 | $1,000.00 | ||
| Robert Byrd | 11/15/1999 | $1,000.00 | |
| Shelley Moore Capito | 10/19/2006 | $2,100.00 | |
| Democratic National Committee | 10/20/2011 | $30,400.00 | |
| Kentucky State Democratic Central Executive Committee | 4/11/2011 | $10,000.00 | |
| 7/23/2012 | $10,000.00 | ||
| 5/2/2013 | $10,000.00 | ||
| 6/27/2014 | $10,000.00 | ||
| 6/22/2015 | $10,000.00 | ||
| Joe Manchin III | 10/29/2010 | $2,400.00 | |
| 11/6/2012 | $2,500.00 | ||
| Michael Oliverio | 3/29/2010 | $2,400.00 | |
| 8/23/2010 | $2,400.00 | ||
| Nick Rahall | 11/16/1999 | $1,000.00 | |
| 4/14/2014 | $2,600.00 | ||
| 7/13/2007 | $500.00 | ||
| 6/6/2006 | $500.00 | ||
| Jay Rockefeller | 3/15/2007 | $1,700.00 | |
| 3/15/2007 | $2,300.00 | ||
| 11/12/1999 | $1,000.00 | ||
| Kentucky Registry of Election Finance | Beshear Abramson Inaugural Committee 2011 | 11/29/2011 | $25,000 |
| Kentucky House Democratic Caucus Campaign Committee | 6/3/2015 | $2,500 | |
| Jack Conway | 10/20/2015 | $1,000 | |
| Total donations to candidates and parties | $133,300.00 |
James Justice II
| Recipient | Date | Contribution amount | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Election Commission | George W. Bush | 7/14/1999 | $1,000.00 |
| 3/15/2004 | $1,000.00 | ||
| Shelley Moore Capito | 10/19/2006 | $2,100.00 | |
| Democratic National Committee | 10/12/2011 | $30,400.00 | |
| Kentucky State Democratic Central Executive Committee | 4/11/2011 | $10,000.00 | |
| 7/23/2012 | $10,000.00 | ||
| 5/2/2013 | $10,000.00 | ||
| 6/27/2014 | $10,000.00 | ||
| 6/22/2015 | $10,000.00 | ||
| Joe Manchin III | 10/29/2010 | $2,400.00 | |
| 11/6/2012 | $2,500.00 | ||
| Elliott Maynard | 5/5/2010 | $1,000.00 | |
| Michael Oliverio | 3/1/2010 | $2,400.00 | |
| 8/23/2010 | $2,400.00 | ||
| Nick Rahall | 5/26/1999 | $300.00 | |
| 11/16/1999 | $1,000.00 | ||
| 12/29/1999 | -$300.00 | ||
| 12/29/1999 | $300.00 | ||
| 4/14/2014 | $2,600.00 | ||
| 6/6/2006 | $500.00 | ||
| Jay Rockefeller | 3/15/2007 | $2,300.00 | |
| 11/12/1999 | $1,000.00 | ||
| 3/15/2007 | $1,700.00 | ||
| West Virginia State Democratic Executive Committee | 11/3/2004 | $10,000.00 | |
| 10/1/2014 | $10,000.00 | ||
| 10/6/2015 | $1,000.00 | ||
| Kentucky Registry of Election Finance | Beshear Abramson Inaugural Committee 2011 | 11/29/2011 | $25,000 |
| Kentucky House Democratic Caucus Campaign Committee | 6/20/2013 | $2,500 | |
| Total donations to candidates and parties | $153,100.00 |
James Justice III
| Recipient | Date | Contribution amount | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Election Commission | George W. Bush | 8/5/1999 | $1,000.00 |
| Democratic National Committee | 10/12/2011 | $30,400.00 | |
| Bob Goodlatte | 4/1/2013 | $2,600.00 | |
| Joe Manchin III | 11/6/2012 | $2,500.00 | |
| Nick Rahall | 4/14/2014 | $2,600.00 | |
| Kentucky Registry of Election Finance | Beshear Abramson Inaugural Committee 2011 | 11/29/2011 | $25,000 |
| Kentucky House Democratic Caucus Campaign Committee | 6/20/2013 | $2,500 | |
| Total donations to candidates and parties | $66,600.00 |
Jill Justice
| Recipient | Date | Contribution amount | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Election Commission | Democratic National Committee | 10/12/2011 | $30,400.00 |
| Kentucky State Democratic Central Executive Committee | 4/11/2011 | $10,000.00 | |
| 7/23/2012 | $10,000.00 | ||
| 5/2/2013 | $10,000.00 | ||
| 6/27/2014 | $10,000.00 | ||
| 6/22/2015 | $10,000.00 | ||
| Joe Manchin III | 10/29/2010 | $2,400.00 | |
| 11/6/2012 | $2,500.00 | ||
| Nick Rahall | 4/14/2014 | $2,600.00 | |
| Kentucky Registry of Election Finance | Beshear Abramson Inaugural Committee 2011 | 11/29/2011 | $25,000 |
| Kentucky House Democratic Caucus Campaign Committee | 6/3/2015 | $2,500 | |
| Jack Conway | 10/20/2015 | $1,000 | |
| Total donations to candidates and parties | $116,400.00 |
We found that these family members have donated a total of $469,000 to a combination of campaigns for federal office, for state office in Kentucky, to state and federal political parties, and to the inaugural committee for former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. Of these donations, $100,000 can be directly linked to Beshear, the four donations of $25,000 to his inaugural committee.
Many of the family’s donations have gone to the Democratic Party, both in Kentucky and nationally. In total, the family has donated $150,000 to the Kentucky State Democratic Central Executive Committee, which is the governing body of the KDP. In 2011, as Beshear ran for reelection, the family donated a total of $121,600 to the Democratic National Committee. While these donations may have contributed to support for Beshear or his campaign, they are not, strictly speaking, contributions to Beshear himself.
Candidate, party and inauguration contributions
As best we can tell, the $400,000 number cited by the West Virginia Republican Party includes a combination of donations from the Justice family to Beshear’s inaugural committee and contributions to the state and national Democratic Party. We found a similar number in the Louisville Courier-Journal, which noted “$416,600 worth of contributions to Kentucky Democratic political causes from coal operator Jim Justice and family since 2011.” The paper included donations from the Justices to the DNC because “these contributions were made when dozens of Gov. Steve Beshear's supporters were making huge contributions – adding up to more than $1 million - to the DNC.”[9]
What is the relationship between donating to a party and support for a particular candidate? In theory, if we added all donations to the DNC, the KDP and Beshear’s inaugural committee, the number would total close to the $400,000 figure cited by the West Virginia GOP. But this assumes a level of coordination that the KDP says does not exist.
When we spoke to Patrick Hughes, the chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party, he told us that contributions to the party are "totally independent" of contributions to a campaign or candidate. Hughes said that money given to the state party cannot be earmarked for certain races and that party donations are used for "national and state-level campaigns" as well as initiatives within the party and paying the party's bills. Hughes further informed us that a donor "cannot condition his donation on the party spending it in a particular way" because the party is an "independent operation." In short, while donations to the KDP may certainly have been used to support Beshear, a donation to KDP is not, in fact, a donation to Beshear.[10]
What about inauguration funds? The $100,000 Justice and his family donated to Steve Beshear’s inauguration are certainly linked to the governor, as the West Virginia GOP claims, but are these the same as contributing to Beshear? What are these funds used for? Again, the answer is complex. According to KREF, candidates or those raising funds for an inaugural event must first register as a separate inaugural committee. They also note, “Expenditures made by an inaugural committee should be directly and primarily in support of the inaugural event.”[11] When we spoke to Emily Dennis, general counsel at KREF, she explained that the relationship between a campaign and an inaugural committee is “like apples and oranges.”[12] According to a press release from the governor’s office, the 2011 inauguration was “covered by private funds” exclusively in an effort to be “mindful of the current economic hardships across Kentucky.” The press release included a series of inaugural events that these donations funded, including a worship service, parade and swearing-in ceremony.[13]
As of July 2015, almost four years after the inauguration, we found that the fund had a remaining balance of $279,840.04, according to KREF records.[14] Dennis told us that unused funds from an inaugural committee can either be rolled into another inaugural committee for the same candidate(s) or donated to an IRS-designated 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.[12]
Conclusion
The West Virginia Republican Party, in a website on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Justice’s record, claims that Justice and his family “have contributed more than $400,000 to Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear (D), who endorsed Barack Obama.” We found this to be a conflation of a number of Justice family donations that may have supported Beshear but did not necessarily contribute to the former governor or his campaigns.
While the family has donated a total of $469,000 to federal and Kentucky politicians and parties, only $100,000 could be directly linked to Beshear, as part of the fundraising for his 2011 inauguration. The Justices did make large contributions to the Kentucky Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee, both of which supported Beshear among other politicians and causes, but these contributions would be considered distinct from donations to Beshear or his campaigns.
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Sources and Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 West Virginia Republican Party, "The Justice Record," accessed December 22, 2015
- ↑ Louisville Courier-Journal, "After meeting with Obama, Gov. Steve Beshear likes the president’s chances," February 24, 2012
- ↑ Justice for West Virginia, "About Jim," accessed December 22, 2015
- ↑ Forbes, "Jim Justice, II," accessed December 22, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Wall Street Journal, "Jim Justice, West Virginia Billionaire, Launches Campaign for Governor," May 12, 2015
- ↑ Metro News, "Justice leads both Kessler & Cole in MetroNews West Virginia Poll governor races," September 4, 2015
- ↑ FEC, "Justice Family Contributions," accessed December 22, 2015
- ↑ Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, "Justice Family Contributions," accessed December 22, 2015
- ↑ Louisville Courier-Journal, "Here's how much Justice has given to Beshear/Dems," July 31, 2014
- ↑ David Borman, "Phone interview with Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Patrick Hughes," December 18, 2015]
- ↑ Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, "Inaugural Committees," accessed December 22, 2015
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 David Borman, "Phone interview with Kentucky Registry of Election Finance General Counsel Emily Dennis," December 18, 2015
- ↑ Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office, "Governor’s Inauguration to be Frugal, Family-Friendly Celebration," November 28, 2011
- ↑ Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, "Beshear Abramson Inaugural Committee, 2011," September 30, 2015
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