Koch, Kansas Chamber and Brownback lead last-minute election spends

Koch Industries, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Gov. Sam Brownback are spending in a big way in the waning days before Tuesday’s primary elections, boosting candidates who support Brownback’s conservative stances as they face challenges from moderate Republicans.

The contributions and spending from July 22 to Wednesday were disclosed in last-minute campaign finance reports filed with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.

Also weighing in, though in smaller amounts, were Kansans for Life, Kansas Firefighters, the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Beer Wholesalers Association and the Mainstream Coalition.

By far the biggest contribution in the final days of the campaign was $70,000 that Koch gave Wednesday to the Kansas Chamber Political Action Committee.

In the past week, the chamber PAC has spent about $82,700.

Spread across three affiliated political action committees, almost all the money has gone for direct-mail ads targeting moderate Republicans who are trying to regain ground they lost to Brownback since 2012.

Supported by two previous governors, Republican Bill Graves and Democrat John Carlin, moderates are hoping they can cash in on Brownback’s low approval rating after several years of budget shortfalls and school-funding controversy.

Among the south-central Kansas beneficiaries of the chamber’s mail campaign were incumbent state Reps. Les Osterman, R-Wichita, $1,886; and Kasha Kelley, R-Arkansas City, $2,064.

Osterman is being challenged in the primary by Nick Hoheisel and Kelley by Anita Judd-Jenkins.

The chamber PAC also sent mailers on behalf of Sens. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona, $4,765; and Larry Powell, R-Garden City, $3,664.

And the chamber paid $2,450 for a mailing for a candidate identified only as “Humphries.”

The only Humphries on the state ballot is Susan Humphries of Wichita. She’s running against Randy Banwart for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Dennis Hedke.

Also benefiting from chamber-paid mailers in the campaign’s final days are candidates Trevor Jacobs, Fort Scott; John Prescott, Ellinwood; Kathy Martin, Clay Center; Doug Blex, Independence; and John Faber, Brewster. Those mailers cost about $2,000 to $2,600 each.

The state chamber also sent about $54,600 to two affiliated PACs, the Main Street PAC and the Quality Schools for All Kids PAC.

Main Street PAC – not to be confused with the moderate Mainstream PAC – got $34,630 from the chamber PAC and spent it all in the past week.

About $10,000 went to mailings benefiting former state Rep. Joe Patton of Topeka, who’s trying to unseat moderate Republican Sen. Vicki Schmidt in a rematch of their 2012 Republican primary.

Also benefiting was Renee Erickson of Walton, with $7,891 in ads for her race against Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick.

The PAC also spent $3,586 on mailers and $5,000 on broadcast ads benefiting Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson, being challenged by Ed Berger, also of Hutchinson.

Also benefiting from Main Street mailings: Powell, $3,664; Lowell Peachey of Hutchinson, $2,231 in his race against Rep. Steve Becker, R-Buhler; and Rep. Jerry Lunn, R-Overland Park, about $2,000 as he faces a challenge from Joy Koesten of Leawood.

The Quality Schools PAC got $20,000 from the chamber to pay off past invoices for mailings benefiting Reps. Keith Esau, R-Olathe; Charles Macheers, R-Shawnee; and Bill Sutton, R-Gardner; as well as Mark Leenerts of Topeka.

The amounts of those expenditures were not disclosed; each was marked “invoice pending.”

Brownback’s personal leadership committee, Road Map PAC, spent $21,000 in direct contributions to Republican candidates in the past week.

Among the south-central Kansas recipients were Sens. Ty Masterson of Andover and Dan Kerschen of Garden Plain, who each got $1,000.

Receiving $500 each were Reps. Steve Anthimides, Dan Hawkins and Joseph Scapa, all of Wichita, and Jan Pauls of Hutchinson.

Kansans for Life, the state’s leading anti-abortion PAC, reported a $25,000 contribution dated Monday from Road Map.

KFL reported spending $7,277 to mail voter guides and $350 worth of robo-calls, but did not name the candidates supported in the effort.

In other last-minute spending:

▪ The Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce received $8,000 and spent $8,795. Spending details were unavailable due to a technical glitch at the Ethics Commission.

▪ Mainstream PAC spent $5,400 on endorsement postcards on behalf of moderate Kansas City-area candidates Lesa Gabel, Dinah Sykes, Tom Cox, Jan Kessinger, John Skubal, Mitra Templin and Koesten.

▪ Kansas State Firefighters PAC reported $2,000 in spending, $500 each for Schmidt and Reps. John Doll, R-Garden City, and Kathy Wolfe-Moore, D-Kansas City. Also Dan Brenner of Holton.

▪ Sen. Mike Petersen, R-Wichita, facing a challenge from Jo Hillman, and Jeremy Alessi, running against Roger Elliott for an open House seat in east Wichita, won the beer party endorsement. Petersen got $1,000 and Alessi $500 from the Kansas Beer Wholesalers Association PAC. The PAC also listed $3,148 in “mailer” expenses but didn’t disclose who they were for.

This story was originally published July 29, 2016 at 4:33 PM with the headline "Koch, Kansas Chamber and Brownback lead last-minute election spends."