Tagged: Legislative Ethics Commission

The ethics hearing for Louisville Metro Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin has closed with another dramatic exit by the embattled lawmaker.

Unlike yesterday, today Shanklin answered some questions from prosecutors. She told the ethics commission she was unaware her grandson was incarcerated at the time she signed his timesheet.

But when questions were directed toward her about discretionary spending practices, she—again—walked out at the request of her attorney Aubrey Williams.

Shanklin cites her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

Kentucky businesses and other groups could set a new spending record for lobbying state lawmakers this year.

A report released by the Legislative Ethics Commission shows that $13.2 million has already been spent on lobbying during the first eight months of 2012. The biggest spenders include several tobacco companies, as well as Churchill Downs, Humana and the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation.

During the 2012 General Assembly, lobbyists and their employers spent $8.8 million, which is more than in any legislative session in state history. And this year’s lobbying expenditures are projected to surpass the record of $16.9 million dollars set in 2008.

"And the total spent has really grown quite a bit from about $6.5 million in 1994 up to what appears to be in excess of $17 million for 2012," says Legislative Ethics Commission John Schaaf.