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The Kansas Meadowlark |
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The Kansas Meadowlark |
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Dec 10, 2007 |
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"Wichita Voters
for Truth" Political Action Committee Ignores Reporting
Requirements. |
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A group of political activists in Wichita created a PAC and mailed a negative hit-piece against a State Rep candidate. The PAC closed it postal box without a forwarding address, but never filed a campaign contribution report in Jan 2007. The Kansas Ethics Commission's list of PACs and Contribution reports shows this curious "Terminated" entry on Jan. 17, 2007: |
| The Statement of Organization shows one person, Bruce A McKinney, is the Chair and Treasurer of this PAC. |
The address given above is the address of Mail Drop Plus, which provides
a re-mailing service:
The address of Mail Drop Plus is 1133 S Rock Rd Ste 3, Wichita, KS 67207-3357 and their phone was 316-683-7008. This phone has been disconnected, and according to the "Just the Facts" article in the Oct 25, 2007 Wichita Eagle, the Kansas Department of Revenue is trying to collect back taxes:
The phone number given above, 316-992-6115, was McKinney's contact number for the Wichita Pride Celebration, according to this web page posting on June 6, 2006. The one Receipts and Expenditures report filed by this group showed a modest amount of money raised after the PAC was formed on Sept 27, 2006 until the end of the reporting period on Oct 26, 2006: |
| This report only showed four contributors to the Wichita Voters for Truth PAC: |
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There are at least two technical problems with this report that were
never challenged by the Ethics Commission. Why are no dates given
for the contributions? What kind of contribution was made by Colleen
Kelly Johnston? There is no appropriate box checked.
Carol Williams, Executive Director of the Kansas Ethics Commission, was asked why no termination report was available for this PAC, and how the PAC could terminate without explaining what they did with their money. This was Ms. Williams' response:
Was the notation about no forwarding address from a U.S. Post Office "Postmaster" or the owner of the now defunct Mail Drop Plus? One could make the case that there is "no harm, no foul" with a PAC collecting money and then terminating without spending it. But what about the mailing sent by this PAC in State Rep District 86? This mailing below was received by at least some voters in State Rep District 86 on Nov 1, 2006, but was never reported as part of a contribution report by this PAC: |
The back side of the mailing said::
The picture on the back side is like the front side shown above, but with the pregnant woman's belly showing, along with this return address and statement of payment:
The Ethics Commission tried to contact this PAC at its defunct Mail Drop Plus address, but apparently did not try to contact Chair/Treasurer B.A. McKinney at the address he gave when he made a contribution. This contribution address is the same address given by the Wichita Eagle in a Jan 22, 1998 article when McKinney ran for Wichita City Council, District 1. Apparently, the Ethics Commission did not try to contact Mr. McKinney at this address, which he has had for a number of years. But even without a notice from the Ethics Commission, Mr. McKinney is responsible for filing the PAC report with the Ethics Commission if money was spent for political purposes. All of the contributors to this PAC are political activists in Wichita and they all should be knowledgeable about campaign reporting requirements. While technically Mr. McKinney is responsible for the missing contribution report, a "follow the money" approach indicates that John and Cheryl Carmichael had the largest financial interests in this PAC and possibly may have been the "brains" and money behind this project: |
All of the Contributors to Wichita Voters for Truth are Liberal, Democratic Activists
| Contributor | Known Political Activities / Comments |
| Bruce A McKinney |
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| John Carmichael |
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| Cheryl Carmichael
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| Colleen Kelly Johnston
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While there is no evidence that State Rep Judith Loganbill had anything to do with the Wichita Voters for Truth PAC, there are some "connections" between this PAC and Loganbill's campaign through members of the Kansas Equality Coalition. Perhaps it is only coincidental that the current Chair and Vice-Chair of the Kansas Equality Coalition were involved:
I'd be interested to ask Mr. McKinney if Mr. Witt had anything to do with setting up this PAC. I'd be interested in asking both Mr. Witt and Mr. McKinney how the contributors to this PAC learned of its existence. The content and tone of the hit piece against Beemer was not surprising given these contributors to Loganbill:
Other contributors to Loganbill's campaign included this list of participants in the Kansas Democratic Party money scheme used in 2006-2006, which indicates this likely was a district targeted by the Democrats:
Apparently, Loganbill used the "Kansas Coordinated Campaign" to let the Kansas Democratic Party manage many aspects of her campaign:
Bottom Line: If the Kansas Ethics Commission refuses to take action against this group of political activists for not filing a campaign contribution report, then everyone should get to use this scam and not file their January 2009 contribution reports by simply not leaving a forwarding mailing address. |
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K a n s a s M e a d o w l a r k @ g m a i l . c o m |
