Brooks and Dunn, a country music duo, performs. Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell introduces video biography of Gov. Bush. Gov. Bush delivers his acceptance speech. Anthony Cardinal Bevilaqua of Philadelphia delivers the benediction. Chaka Khan, 7-time Grammy winner, performs.
Kentucky law bans corporate contributions to political parties except their building funds.
But the sponsors have avoided legal problems by paying the restaurants and other vendors, not the parties. Evidently, these folks feel it is an opportunity to meet people in a social setting and get to know folks. McConnell, in the Fox News interview, compared corporate and charitable giving. But Boy Scouts don't pass laws or block laws from being passed, as do McConnell and other senators who appeared at a big event for contributors to Senate Republicans' campaign committee, of which he is chairman. McConnell and other Republican senators helped kill the first version of the national tobacco settlement, which would have prohibited tobacco sponsorship of sporting events.