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JEFFERSON CITY — A longtime Jefferson City lobbyist and friend to Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe will head up a new committee that will raise funds for upcoming inaugural festivities.

Kehoe’s transition team on Tuesday announced the formation of Securing Missouri’s Future, a group that Kehoe friend and lobbyist Andy Blunt is leading.

John Hancock, spokesperson for Securing Missouri’s Future, said Tuesday the committee will release donor names but that there was not a final decision on whether to release amounts donated.

He said nothing has been raised to date. The committee will reimburse the state for any expenses, such as printing services, Hancock said.

Kehoe, a Republican, is set to be sworn in to a four-year term on Jan. 13 at the Capitol in Jefferson City.

Current Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, also raised money for his inaugural festivities in 2021.

That nonprofit announced in January 2021 that it had raised nearly $370,000 for Parson’s inauguration. It also released names of donors.

The Parson committee didn’t release the amounts contributors donated but delineated between larger and smaller amounts. A spokesperson said at the time no donation exceeded $50,000.

The Republican governor tapped numerous GOP donors, companies and trade groups to cover his inaugural events.

On Monday, Parson’s Uniting Missouri PAC accepted $150,000 from Moving Missouri Forward, the inaugural committee.

Before Parson, former Gov. Eric Greitens, broke with past governors in 2017 when his committee issued a list of benefactors but refused to release amounts donated, and the total amounts raised and spent.

Some donation amounts did eventually become public.

For example, the Osage Nation gave over $50,000 to the Greitens inaugural, with Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear saying he wanted to establish a good relationship with the governor. The tribe at the time was trying to open a casino in Missouri.

With Greitens refusing to release donation amounts, public records kept by Osage Nation revealed the amounts of the tribal donations.

Kehoe’s transition team said Tuesday that inaugural happenings would include a private Mass, meet-and-greet with the first family, an inaugural ball, a “Salute to Heroes� event to honor veterans, military members and first responders, and the swearing-in ceremony.

Blunt, son of former U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, said in a statement he was honored to serve as chairman of the inaugural committee.

“The inauguration, focused on Securing Missouri’s Future, will lay the groundwork for the implementation of the governor-elect’s ambitious agenda to make our streets safer, improve the economic well-being of Missouri families, and ensure Missouri is doing its part to support common sense policies to secure our nation,� Blunt said.

Blunt serves as CEO of Husch Blackwell Strategies and also is executive director of the Missouri Cable Telecommunications Association.

He has listed more than 30 companies and organizations as clients, including heavy-weight national firms like BNSF Railway Company, Microsoft and tobacco-giant Altria.