$47,000 in “Brotherly Love” bought the JoCo “Discover Vision” Sheriff?

Safe from easy public view in Topeka is a PAC report from 2004 that explains much about the election of Frank Denning for Johnson County Sheriff in 2004. With weak open records laws in Kansas, this PAC report can be purchased for $0.50/page if you know where to go and whom to ask at the Secretary of State’s office.

The brother and sister-in-law of Sheriff Frank Denning are his supporters, but how many know the amount of money Jim and Marearl Denning spent in 2004 to elect Frank Denning Sheriff? Isn’t $47,000 in “independent expenditures” to elect a relative to public office worthy of some public discussion? Yet, the Kansas City Star apparently has never asked why Denning’s brother, Jim, might be so interested in seeing him elected Sheriff in Johnson County? This shouldn’t be an issue in Denning’s re-election bid?

Jim Denning is the CEO of Discover Vision Centers in Independence, MO, and appears in many Kansas City area TV commercials. Jim and his wife, Marearl, live in Overland Park, and are the Republican precinct committee for their precinct. But, why were Jim Denning and his wife motivated to spend $47,000 to get brother Frank elected Sheriff? Why isn’t that a fair question?

Here are portions of the Citizens for Justice PAC contribution report from 2004:

This report showed $47,000 in contributions from just two contributors: Frank Denning’s brother, Jim Denning, contributed $11,000 + $20,000 + $5,000 = $36,000, and sister-in-law, Marearl Denning, contributed $11,000. Without Frank Denning’s brother and sister-in-law donating $47,000 to his campaign via the Citizens for Justice PAC, would Frank Denning be sheriff today?

Almost all the money ($20,000 + $20,000) was spent on cable TV advertising with Keystone Media from Austin, TX. An additional $5412 was spend on the production of the TV commercial with Artemis Marketing in Austin, TX. Legals fees with Shugart Thomson & Kilory accounted for the remaining expenditure ($270 + $899). Most of the expenditures are tied to the Discover Vision Centers in Independence, MO, where Jim Denning is CEO:

A July 18, 2004 Kansas City Star article, “Sheriff [Myers] says challenger violated finance law”:

Sheriff Currie Myers’ camp has alleged that Myers’ challenger in the Republican primary broke a campaign finance law with a television commercial.

Last week Myers released a contract with Time Warner Cable that secured the broadcasts of a commercial on behalf of his opponent, former undersheriff Frank Denning. The contract, said Myers’ campaign spokeswoman, Valerie Jung, suggests that Denning illegally cooperated with a political action committee.

But Denning said the suggestion was untrue because he did not know about the ad before it was broadcast.

Denning’s brother, Jim Denning, said that the PAC he leads made the ad in support of Frank Denning and bought broadcast time without the candidate’s knowledge, as an attorney told him the PAC must do to stay within the law.

A media firm that handled the contract should have told the cable company that the ad was for the Citizens for Justice PAC, but mistakenly wrote that it was for Frank Denning’s campaign, Jim Denning said.

The 2004 Star article never mentioned the amount of money spent on ads on behalf of candidate Frank Denning. This was the only article about about the Citizens for Justice PAC that appeared in the Kansas City Star based on a NewsBank search. Why isn’t the Star the least bit interested in why a relative “bought” a public office? And just how “independent” were those expenditures?

The election results show Frank Denning won the August 2004 primary 40,153 votes (52.5%) to Myers 36,391 (47.5%). Denning’s brother spent $47,000 to win by 3762 votes, which works out to almost $12.50 per winning vote.

If then Sheriff Currie Myers had a brother that could spend $47,000 on a PAC to support him for sheriff, would Denning be sheriff today? Part of a Dec 18, 2006 Meadowlark article showed how the press had been unfair to Currie Myers when defeated by Frank Denning in 2004.

The Dennings’ other known political contributions make the huge $47,000 expenditure even more of an enigma:

Kansas contributions from the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission:

FEC contributions from Open Secrets:

Why did Jim Denning as a Republican precinct committeeman give $2000 to Democrat Dennis Moore in 2004?

In Dec 2006 Jim and Marearl Denning, as the Republican Precinct Committee from Overland Park, Ward 5, Precinct 2, mailed out an endorsement using Discover Vision Centers’ envelopes and postage for Rick Guinn from their Discover Vision Centers office in Independence, MO. Why are the Dennings also interested in particular District Attorney candidates? They wanted Guinn for DA in 2006 as Morrison’s replacement, but now support Steve Howe for DA?

Because of the $47,000 in “independent” financial backing from his brother Jim Denning and the Discover Vision Centers, shouldn’t we call Frank Denning the “Discover Vision Sheriff” of Johnson County?

Frank Denning will face Ken Smith in the August Republican primary.  See the online video of their candidates forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Johnson County Community College.

• The left-leaning and unprofessional Kansas press maligns and impugns Phill Kline, Kansas Meadowlark, Dec 18, 2006.
• Denning’s brother “buys” JoCo sheriff’s election for him with Citizens for Justice PAC, Kansas Meadowlark, Aug 8, 2004.

Tags: Citizens for Justice PAC, Disccover Vision Centers, Frank Denning, Jim Denning, JoCo Sheriff, Marearl Denning