Under relaxed law, coal firms plan campaign to defeat 'anti-coal' Democrats in Ky. and W.Va.

Coal companies are planning to take advantage of looser campaign-finance laws in an effort to defeat Democrats and elect Republicans to the House and Senate, John Cheves reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Cheves' story mentions three targets in Kentucky and West Virginia; the industry in the Appalachian coalfield probably faces the greatest challenges from environmental and safety rules being pushed by Democrats, but the internal industry letter on which his story is based could have been targeted to companies in the region and might be part of a broader industry effort.

The Democratic incumbents targeted in the letter are Reps. Nick Joe Rahall of southern West Virginia and Ben Chandler of Kentucky, whose Bluegrass district has no coal but has voters and campaign contributors who earn money from the industry. Rahall is opposed by Elliott "Spike" Maynard and Chandler is opposed by Garland "Andy" Barr. The Senate race mentioned in the letter, from an International Coal Group executive, is the high-profile Kentucky contest between Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Jack Conway, the state's attorney general. Besides ICG, the letter identifies Massey Energy, Alliance Resource Partners and Natural Resource Partners as participants in the effort.

Industries of all kinds are more able to play freely in politics, under a U.S. Supreme Court decision this year that threw out as unconstitutional much of the 103-year-old statutory system that limited the contributions of corporations and unions. It expanded the potential of "527 groups" that operate under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, which applies to a type of political organization. “A number of coal industry representatives recently have been considering developing a 527 entity with the purpose of attempting to defeat anti-coal incumbents in select races, as well as elect pro-coal candidates running for certain open seats,” Roger Nicholson, ICG's senior vice president and general counsel, wrote in the letter.

Cheves notes, "The coal industry already has supported Barr and Maynard through individuals’ relatively small and legally limited donations. But working together as a 527, the companies potentially could spend millions of dollars on political activity, as long as it isn’t coordinated with the Republicans’ campaigns. Lexington attorney and mine safety advocate Tony Oppegard told Cheves, “I think this is certainly troubling, and it’s going to put an entirely different face on American politics now that companies can do this. People are going to have to expect the rhetoric to get heated.” By “rhetoric,” Oppegard presumably means attack ads on radio or television, in direct mail or phone calls, or online. (Read more)

Under Section 527, groups do not have to report their income and expenses until after the election. A Democratic bill to force disclosure of that information failed yesterday to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster in the Senate, "virtually ensuring an onslaught of attack ads during this year's midterm election season," Dan Eggen of The Washington Post reports.