Joseph W. Craft III

Industry: Coal
Primary Company: Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP)
Age: Born ~1950¹
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma²
Estimated Worth: $1.4 billion as of 2012³

Background

Joseph W. Craft III is president and chief executive officer of Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (ARLP). ARLP is the largest coal producer in Kentucky and the second largest coal producer in the eastern United States. The company operates mines in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia, and sells coal to U.S. electric utilities.⁴

Craft is on the board of directors of BOK Financial Corporation, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Craft is a former board chair of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).⁵

ACCCE‘s membership has included Alpha Natural Resources, Arch Coal, Murray Energy Corporation, Southern Company, Western Fuels Association, Union Pacific Railroad, Peabody Energy, CSX, Duke Energy, Detroit Edison, and many other coal and mining companies.⁶

Kelly Craft, Joe Craft’s wife, served as U.S. ambassador to Canada during the administration of President Donald Trump. While in that role, Kelly Craft told reporters there were “good scientists on both sides” of the climate change debate.⁷

In 2019, Politico reported that President Trump had nominated Kelly Craft to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The role “would give her a front-row seat to the international climate talks that have huge implications for Joe Craft’s business,” Politico noted. She was confirmed to the role despite concerns from Democrats over her inexperience and potential conflicts of interest.

Joe Craft graduated from Hazard High School, Kentucky, in 1968. He has a B.A., Accounting from the University of Kentucky (1972), and a J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law, (1976).He is also a graduate of the Senior Executive Program, Alfred P. Sloan School of Management – Massachusetts Institute of Technology.⁸

Funding

Craft was one of several conservative political donors named in a speech by Charles Koch at the Koch’s 2011 summit in Vail, Colorado.⁹

Political Spending

U.S. Federal Election Commission data suggests that Joe and Kelly Craft gave over $1,000,000 to the Trump Victory PAC.¹⁰ ¹¹ ¹²

According to audio from the Koch brothers’ 2011 Vail, Colorado, summit, and leaked to Mother Jones, Craft was acknowledged as a major donor of at least $1 million to Koch-approved causes.¹³

In his opening remarks to summit attendees, Charles Koch lauded Craft, among others, as a major conservative political donor.¹⁴

Via The BradBlog:¹⁵

In January 2012, Craft reportedly donated approximately $500,000 to Restore Our Future, a super PAC supporting Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. The Crafts were also reportedly chairs of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign at that time. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported:¹⁶

“According to the Federal Election Commission, Craft has personally donated $507,100 since 2007 to federal candidates, political action committees and political parties. The Alliance Coal PAC has donated $340,000 in that same time frame, while Alliance employees gave $900,000.”¹⁷

“In addition, Craft has personally given $3.1 million to so-called Super PACs trying to influence the presidential race. He gave $1.25 million to American Crossroads, a Super PAC started by Karl Rove, whom he was pictured with at the Kentucky Derby this year [2012], and in January and August of this year gave two $500,000 donations to Restore our Future, a pro-Romney Super PAC, according to the Federal Election Commission.”¹⁸

Below is a summary of Joe Craft’s political spending, via campaign finance data exported from the Federal Election Commission. Note that while efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of this data, errors may be introduced in the original finance records.

Joseph W. Craft III