LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The latest Target 32 investigation looks at whether there is more to the Rev. Louis Coleman's investigations than meet the eye.

Read And Watch Part I Watch Part II Of Target 32 Probe Protestors Converge On WLKY Your Thoughts: Hush Money Or Neccessary?

Target 32's John Boel reported that many one-time targets of his organizations' protests are now paying his groups money.

Boel reported that Coleman may be the most controversial figure in Greater Louisville, contacting the media dozens of times a year, pulling out signs, walking into meetings, confronting people, and accusing governments, schools, and businesses of racist, apartheid practices.

Boel filed open records requests with local governments, universities and school systems asking if they had any contracts with Coleman or the Justice Resource Center or the Black Chamber of Commerce.

Boel discovered that in the last four years, the Justice Resource Center and the Black Chamber of Commerce have been paid nearly $500,000 under those contracts to "identify and inform minority contractors about construction projects."

Boel's investigation revealed that Coleman's organizations had received:

• $150,000 from United Parcel Service
• $40,000 from the U.S. Enviromental Protection Agency
• $12,500 from Jefferson County government
• $67,637 from Jefferson County Public Schools where Coleman is employed as a home school coordinator
• $12,000 from Lexington Urban County government
• $29,250 from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
• $6,250 from Kentucky State University
• $11,250 from the University of Louisville
• $20,000 from the University of Kentucky
• $81,470 from Kentucky state government

It all adds up to $430,000, with the total climbing by the thousands every month, Boel reported.

Coleman defended his organizations' finances.

"That's not a lot of money. (It) may sound like it's a lot of money. That's not a lot of money to run an agency on," Coleman told Boel. "Quite frankly, that's like a pebble in the ocean when you look at contracts state government gave to contractors throughout the state of Kentucky."

While most people have to win state contracts through bids, Boel discovered that Coleman did not win his bids through the competitive bidding process.

Boel reported that the state finance committee made an exception for Coleman "due to the unique relationship of the Justice Resource Center."

"It's money that, personally, it certainly doesn't go to glorify no individual," Coleman told Boel. "Do I look like a person who gets a lot of money? I'm just asking you that. Do I really look like it? The money is basically used for programming. It's used to try to impact an institution that does not want to change."

Boel's Target 32 investigation also questioned the timing of many of the contracts.

After Coleman protested minority hiring at U of L's new football stadium, U of L officials put him on the payroll for their next big project, Boel reported.

School finance Vice President Mitchell Payne said that the timing was "coincidental." He said that he viewed Coleman's stadium protests as "constructive criticism."

After Coleman criticized UPS for not selecting a minority-owned firm to manage its mega-hub project, he landed a $15,000 contract from the company, Boel reported.

Project manager Jack Blaisdell told Boel that he wanted to get started without the turmoil he had seen on other local projects.

Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District spokesman Bud Schardein told Boel that when MSD told Coleman it would not pay his organization to help with minority contractor recruitment on a big construction project, Coleman's protests started two weeks later.

"Anybody that thinks they can hush us up, they're sadly mistaken because we get our marching orders from on high," Coleman said.

Jefferson County Commissioner Russ Maple cast the only "no" vote when the county government approved a contract with Coleman in 1998, because he said that the county already had an African-American woman on the payroll to do the same job.

"That has always been the feeling of people in government and people on the street, that it's hush money," Maple said. "I think that is the thinking -- that people who do business with him, that this is the thing to do, or keep him hushed up so to speak, then that's wasted money."

Former Aldermanic President Steve Magre told Boel that there is "no question" that it looks like hush money. Magre said that he would never agree to a similar contract for the city.

"It's a different Louis Coleman after the contract is signed," Magre said.

Maple said that he didn't see any results from the county contract, but Coleman told Boel that it was because the county was not willing to "make change happen."

Coleman bowed out of the contract a year later, Boel reported.

"Rev. Coleman wrote me a letter, very burning, said that my handshake and smile were misleading," Maple said. "Basically said I was a polite racist because i was taking food out of the mouths of their children."

Coleman did not deny making the accusation, Boel reported.

"I really think he (Maple) is. I have no apology for that. I think he is," Coleman said. "I understand if you've got something in place, and they did have something in place, but it wasn't doing the job."

Boel reported that the attorney general's office is doing an evaluation to see how effective they've been in minority hiring.