Kentucky Supreme Court candidate Pamela Goodwine increased her already-massive fundraising advantage over opponent Erin Izzo in the past month, with the help of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Bloomberg contributed $150,000 on Sept. 30 to Liberty & Justice for Kentucky, a political action committee that intends to spend heavily on ads supporting Goodwine.
Liberty & Justice for Kentucky’s filing with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance this week showed it has raised $375,000 in recent weeks, including $200,000 from the PAC of the Louisville teacher’s union. It also raised $25,000 from Emily Bingham and Stephen Reilly, a married couple in Louisville.
The campaign of Goodwine, who is currently serving in her second term as a judge on the Kentucky Court of Appeals, has also raised more than six times that of Izzo, a Frankfort attorney.
Goodwine’s campaign has raised $313,503, while Izzo has only raised roughly $7,000 from contributors, in addition to $40,000 in funding from herself.
The judge’s campaign and the PAC supporting Goodwine have collectively raised $688,503 over the course of the campaign, nearly 15 times that of Izzo.
In addition to the money advantage, Goodwine also has the vocal support and endorsement of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, whose leadership PAC contributed $2,100 to her campaign.
The governor’s support for a high court candidate is unusual and has been criticized by the Kentucky Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee, a judicial watchdog group concerned about the increasingly partisan nature of the state’s nonpartisan judicial races.
In a June letter to Goodwine, the committee wrote that Beshear’s endorsement could erode public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary.
“While a justice may recuse from a case, the governor appoints the temporary replacement justice,” the committee wrote. “So, we think members of the Executive Branch, especially the governor, should not be involved in judicial elections.”
Last month, Izzo said Goodwine was already “admonished” for accepting Beshear’s endorsement, adding that the $200,000 contribution of the Louisville teacher’s union to the pro-Goodwin PAC “reeks of a significant attempt to buy influence on our Supreme Court.”
“Voters should reject it, and demand fairness and impartiality from our judges at all levels,” Izzo said. “Kentuckians deserve a Supreme Court that is independent, not one acting as a rubber stamp for a left wing SuperPAC and the Teachers’ Unions.”
This is not Bloomberg’s first involvement in a Kentucky judicial race.
In 2022, Bloomberg also contributed $200,000 to Liberty & Justice PAC, which spent more than $700,000 on ads supporting the reelection campaign of Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Michelle Keller and Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd. Both were reelected.
The partisan nature of those two races in 2022 were also criticized by judicial watchdog groups, who decried the corrupting influence of money and overtly partisan campaign messaging.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
