Bob Babbage

Founder

As Founder of the firm, Bob Babbage has been a leader for significant laws, major public financial commitments, as well as civic progress. 

As the grandson of Kentucky Governor Keen Johnson (1939-1943), Bob and his family have been at the center of political life in Kentucky for many years. Twice elected statewide to public office in Kentucky as State Auditor (1988-1992) and Secretary of State (1992-1996), Bob has spent a lifetime shaping public policy. Having also served as a key assistant to Kentucky Governor Julian Carroll (1976-1979), a top aide to the former mayor of Lexington, KY, and as an advisor to former University of Kentucky President Otis Singletary plus White House advance staff for Walter Mondale, Bob’s experience in the public sector spans decades and traverses all levels of government. 

But some of Bob’s most important work has come as the leading lobbyist of Babbage Cofounder. Cofounder, a name that stems from Bob’s visionary efforts to cofound Leadership Kentucky, launch the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership program in Kentucky, and help initiate the Lexington Dream Factory, is a foremost government relations and corporate strategies firm focused on turning concerns into action and initiatives into results. 

Babbage’s accomplishments have come at the federal, state and local levels, and include landmark events such as the 2004 Federal Jobs Act resulting in a $9.6 billion farm provision, critical legislation affecting technology deployment and tax issues, and advocacy for new laws that have led to health advances in diabetes and cancer. 

Babbage sees clients as causes, cofounders in new, positive, effective campaigns for improved dialogue with outcomes for better public decisions. Bob formed the firm 21 years ago. He is frequently referred to as a “leading lobbyist” in the region by popular press from the Courier-Journal to the LANE Report and the Huffington Post.  For the past 15 years, Bob has been consistently ranked by major media as the top lobbyist in Kentucky.

Early in his career Bob served as assistant to the mayor of Lexington, then assistant to the Governor, and served on assignment for the advance staff of the White House (1975-80). In 1981 Bob led the ticket in Lexington, his hometown, for Council at-large representing the entire community on the merge government Council. Re-elected in 1985, Bob was the sponsor of 911, making the city an early adopter of advanced emergency services. 

In 1987 Bob ran for state auditor, winning an upset in the Primary by a landslide, then receiving more votes than any candidate on the November ballot. Reorganizing the largest team of accountants in the state, and creating a unique partnership with major accounting firms, dozens of audits that were years behind were brought current. The office also created evidence in connection with prosecutors to take on longstanding waste and abuse. 

Then in 1991, Bob was elected Secretary of State, leading implementation of the Motor Voter Act. Kentucky Senator Wendell Ford was the sponsor, and Bob was in the Rose Garden audience for the Presidential signing ceremony. In 1994 Bob made the front page of the Sunday New York Times for the “first state election vote count on the web” — a novelty. 

After finishing second in the Democratic Primary for Governor, the winner — Paul Patton — made Bob chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party. After a short tenure, Bob became Vice President of U. S. Corrections in Louisville, which was sold to a major national corporation. Soon after, Bob ramped up Babbage Cofounder. 

Bob is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University (journalism and political science) and holds master’s degrees from the University of Kentucky Patterson School of Diplomacy and Lexington Theological Seminary (social ethics). He completed the Harvard University Senior Executive Program. 

Joining top state and regional leaders and Kentucky’s prominent congressional delegation, Bob is recognized as the “architect” of the award-winning DC Fly-In, managed by Commerce Lexington, and similar projects for Louisville and Northern Kentucky. He received a “Washington Influential” honor in 2012. Bob has also been recognized as Kentucky’s “top Frankfort lobbyist” by various media sources including the Lexington Herald-Leader, Louisville Courier-Journal and Huffington Post. This distinction has spanned both Democrat and Republican-led administrations. He has been one of the state’s “20 most influential” non-elected leaders by the Louisville Courier-Journal and one of the “Top 40 Kentucky Leaders” by The Lane Report, a leading statewide business magazine. 

Bob enjoys providing moderate “context and perspective” on politics for the NBC TV affiliate in Lexington as well as WVLK-AM radio. He writes the legislative preview each January for the major publications.