Name: Indictment connects Kentucky GOP election attorney to Ohio House speaker’s bribery case
Brand: courier-journal.com
SKU: courier-journal-com-68
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Indictment connects Kentucky GOP election attorney to Ohio House speaker’s bribery case

preview

Louisville Courier JournalView CommentsLOUISVILLE, Ky. — An attorney who&nbsp;has served as general counsel for Republican committees&nbsp;and candidates&nbsp;in Kentucky is mentioned in a massive political bribery case&nbsp;in Ohio.Eric Lycan is affiliated with a political dark money group that is accused by federal prosecutors&nbsp;of serving as a corporate slush fund for .Lycan incorporated Generation Now as a political 501(c)(4) group in 2017 and serves as its treasurer. It is accused by the FBI of illegally funneling $60 million from FirstEnergy Corp. affiliates to assist the&nbsp;campaigns of political allies of Householder, so that he could pass a $1 billion bailout of two aging Ohio nuclear plants and block an anti-bailout voter referendum. referred to Lycan as "the attorney" and describes two other unnamed political committees funneling money to campaigns that were&nbsp;incorporated by Lycan: the&nbsp;Growth &amp; Opportunity PAC and the&nbsp;Coalition for Growth &amp; Opportunity. He served as treasurer for both groups.Background:Lycan served as the general counsel of the Republican Party of Kentucky from 2016 until April 2019&nbsp;and has served for almost three years as the general counsel of the Republican majority leadership of Kentucky’s House of Representatives.He also previously served as counsel for the 2014 campaign of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, chairing its Lawyers for Team Mitch group for attorneys supporting his reelection.Lycan has also served&nbsp;as treasurer of or&nbsp;incorporated&nbsp;several political committees and groups in Kentucky, such as Kentucky Rise PAC, a federal super PAC that in 2014 contributed more than&nbsp;$35,000 to a slew of Republican state House candidates and the House Republican Caucus Campaign Committee in the party's attempt to win back the majority in that chamber.He was also the registered agent for Kentucky Tomorrow, Inc., a federal super PAC that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads and mailers to try to elect Republican House members in 2018 and Gov. Matt Bevin in 2019.&nbsp;Bevin's unsuccessful reelection campaign in 2019 also paid Lycan's firm $3,396 in legal fees.A Republican Party of Kentucky press release listed Lycan as one of Kentucky's alternate delegates for the 2020 Republican National Convention.Lycan did not return an email seeking comment on the indictment and Generation Now.&nbsp;See also:Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne said Republican leadership is aware of the investigation in Ohio and is "not involved in any manner.""It is our understanding that no allegations have been made that Mr. Lycan participated in any illegal activity," Osborne stated.&nbsp;"The Kentucky House Majority expects the highest standard of ethical conduct from our staff and we have no indication of anything other than that."A joint statement from state&nbsp;House Democratic leaders Joni Jenkins, Derrick Graham and Angie Hatton called the&nbsp;allegations surrounding the Ohio House speaker "deeply troubling," adding that "we will monitor the case closely given media reports that it has a connection to the Kentucky legislature.”Lycan is an attorney at Lexington law firm Embry Merritt Shaffar Womack PLLC. His&nbsp;biography page on&nbsp;the firm's website touts his "two decades of experience providing strategic counsel to a broad range of industries, organizations, candidates and public officials on law and public policy, including campaign and issue advocacy, government ethics and regulatory compliance."In addition to his work on McConnell's campaign,&nbsp;Lycan's bio states he has&nbsp;advised gubernatorial campaigns in Kentucky and&nbsp;Ohio and legislative caucuses in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It also says he served&nbsp;as counsel&nbsp;"to multiple campaigns, super PACs, trade associations and non-profit organizations, including one spending over $10 million in support of Senator Ted Cruz in the 2016 Presidential primary."'Quite shocked':Shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday, the bio page for Lycan on his firm's website deleted five sentences detailing his past work in politics and for&nbsp;clients in industries such distilled spirits and&nbsp;breweries, as well as work for "energy industry clients on corporate and transactional matters, and before regulatory agencies on licensing, enforcement and compliance matters."Lycan incorporated Generation Now as&nbsp;a “social welfare” 501(c)(4) nonprofit, one of the many so-called dark money groups that are&nbsp;not required to disclose its donors.The federal indictment of Householder and his four co-conspirators and the FBI affidavit detail how Generation Now allegedly funneled money from FirstEnergy's affiliates through Lycan's two other political committees to support the campaigns of Republican House candidates backed by Householder in 2018 and 2020.In return, the indictment alleges Householder backed the passage of the $1 billion&nbsp;bailout for FirstEnergy affiliates and attempted to block a statewide voter referendum to repeal that effort.Top headlines:Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com or 502-582-4472&nbsp;and follow him on Twitter at . Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: .View Comments

Louisville Courier JournalView CommentsLOUISVILLE, Ky. — An attorney who&nbsp;has served as general counsel for Republican committees&nbsp;and candidates&nbsp;in Kentucky is mentioned in a massive political bribery case&nbsp;in Ohio.Eric Lycan is affiliated with a political dark money group that is accused by federal prosecutors&nbsp;of serving as a corporate slush fund for .Lycan incorporated Generation Now as a political 501(c)(4) group in 2017 and serves as its treasurer. It is accused by the FBI of illegally funneling $60 million from FirstEnergy Corp. affiliates to assist...

Indictment connects Kentucky GOP election attorney to Ohio House speaker’s bribery case

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS