Julie Burkhart, Chair ProKanDo PAC, at Kansas Governmental Ethics meeting in November
The April 2009 ProVote News, the newsletter of the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition, announced that Julie Burkhart was their new Executive Director.
Kansas newspaper reports as recently as late March quoted Ms. Burkhart as the Executive Director of the ProKanDo PAC, but an April 16 Wichita Eagle article quoted “ProKanDo’s former executive director, Jule Burkhart.”
This is a curious move given Gov. Sebelius’ likely departure from Kansas to be Health and Human Services Secretary. With Gov. Sebelius out of Kansas, there has been considerable speculation about what Dr. Tiller and his ProKanDo PAC might do politically.
Dr. Tiller, his wife, or the ProKanDo PAC only gave Gov. Sebelius $38,450 directly, but ProKanDo did much more to help Gov. Sebelius and Kansas Democrats indirectly. Many of the articles at the bottom give some details of that help.
Burkhart had been the Executive Director of the ProKanDo PAC since 2002. The ProVote News gave some other details of her background:
Before growing ProKanDo into Kansas’s largest PAC, I worked with Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. In Washington State, I had managed a wide spectrum of political races and worked with the Washington State Democratic Central Committee and the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee. In my spare time, I’ve stood up for LGBT rights and rallied to stop the war.
The ProKanDo PAC raised and spent a huge amount of political money and was a huge political force in Kansas. While the ProKanDo PAC never gave money directly to Gov. Sebelius, Kansas Democrats and Sebelius benefited enormously from the $2.4 million in ProKanDo expenditures (including in-kind salaries), shown in Table 1:
Table 1. Political Money Raised and Spent by ProKanDo PAC, 2002-2008
|
Report
|
$ Raised
|
$ Spent
|
$ In-Kind
|
| 2002-10 | $190,970 | $142,257 | $6,682 |
| 2003-01 | $177,075 | $236,706 | $9,999 |
| 2004-01 | $141,434 | $119,806 | $76,000 |
| 2004-07 | $120,937 | $120,678 | $34,398 |
| 2004-10 | $69,492 | $80,741 | $20,400 |
| 2005-01 | $54,322 | $46,679 | $20,400 |
| 2006-01 | $216,636 | $164,828 | $81,660 |
| 2006-07 | $243,655 | $109,463 | $40,800 |
| 2006-10 | $128,710 | $304,108 | $27,200 |
| 2007-01 | $62,196 | $72,704 | $13,600 |
| 2008-01 | $229,999 | $224,415 | $82,250 |
| 2008-07 | $146,329 | $151,692 | $40,800 |
| 2008-10 | $150,732 | $130,658 | - |
| 2009-01 | $15,405 | $36,968 | - |
| TOTAL | $1,947,892 | $1,941,703 | $454,189 |
Notes:
- Sources: Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, 2005-2006, 2007-2008 and Kansas Secretary of State (new source since July 2008; search for “Pro Kan Do” and “ProKanDo”; can be hard to read multi-page TIFF images)
- Most in-kind contributions are for staff salaries. Expenditures + Salaries = $2.4 million.
As the Executive Director of the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition, Ms. Burkhart will be affiliated with a number of liberal groups:
- ACORN
- AFSCME Council 72
- AFT Local 420
- Americans for Dem. Action
- CWA District 6
- CWA 6355
- Democracy for Missouri Freedom Inc.
- KC Fed. of Teachers Local 691
- Laborers Local 663
- Loretto Women’s Network
- MFT
- MidMO Labor Club
- Missouri Women’s Coalition
- Missouri Women’s Leadership Coalition
- Missouri NEA
- NARAL Pro-choice MO
- NOW
- PROMO
- SEIU MO/KS State Council
- SEIU Local 200
- Teamsters J.C. 13 DRIVE &Local 245
- UAW Region 5
- UFCW Dist Local 2
- UNITE-HERE!
- United Steelworkers District 11
- Women’s Political Caucuses in St Louis & Kansas City
The address of the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition, 5585 Pershing, Suite 150, St. Louis, is a bit controversial because of the other political groups in the same building. The Political Fix at stltoday.com in Sept 2007 said:
The building on Pershing is home to various local arms of the Service Employees International Union and the Progressive Vote Coalition, commonly known as Pro-Vote, which is a coalition of unions, teachers groups and community organizations.
Several links hint at some of the activities in this building, such as
- NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri used the SEIU phonebanks to call for a candidate
- Phone bank for Barack Obama for President
The Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition is part of the national group USAction:
USAction builds power by uniting people locally and nationally, on-the-ground and online, to win a more just and progressive America. We create the nation’s leading progressive coalitions, making democracy work by organizing issue and election campaigns to improve people’s lives.
At present there is no USAction affiliate in Kansas.
In addition at least one non-profit is at the same address: Missouri Citizen Education Fund.
The Missouri Citizen Education Fund (MCEF) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that conducts research on critical public policy issues facing our state, and provides training in citizenship skills to increase public participation in the political process.
Ms. Burkhart will likely have her hands full with her new job.
Related:
- Summary of Gov. Sebelius, Dr. George Tiller, ProKanDo PAC information, Kansas Meadowlark, March 3, 2009.
- Ethics Commission Fines Candidate $500 and PAC $2500, Kansas Meadowlark, Nov 19, 2008.
- Details of ethics charges against ProKanDo PAC, Kansas Meadowlark, Oct 23, 2008.
- IRS stonewalls investigation of Kansas non-profits active in politics in 2006, Kansas Meadowlark, Aug 2, 2008.
- Kansas Ethics Commission ignores missing $25,000 payment by PAC?, Kansas Meadowlark, July 2, 2008.
- Integrity of Kansas Elections Less Important to IRS than “Privacy Rights” of Groups Abusing Non-Profit Laws, Kansas Meadowlark, Nov 16, 2007.
- The Snoop Dog Page (updated), Kansas Meadowlark, Oct 29, 2006.
- How can the Kansans for Consumer Privacy Protection “non-profit” legally give $34,000 to the ProKanDo PAC?, Kansas Meadowlark, Aug 24, 2007.
- The ProKanDo PAC raised and spent more political money than any other Kansas PAC, but wasn’t listed in the top 20 PACs in Kansas in 2006?, Kansas Meadowlark, Aug 20, 2007.
- Strange political money transfers between ProKanDo PAC and Young Democrats of America 527, Kansas Meadowlark, Aug 20, 2007.
- How the names of political contributors of over $52,000 were hidden on the ProKanDo PAC Reports, Kansas Meadowlark, Aug 20, 2007.
- Were ProKanDo’s award winning political phone calls, “In the Dog House,” paid for by a PAC or a Nonprofit?, Kansas Meadowlark, March 22, 2007.
- $100,000 Contribution from Kansan in 2002 Paying Dividends for Kansas Democratic Party in 2006?, Kansas Meadowlark, Oct 3, 2006.
- The paragraph deleted today: Tiller and his ProKanDo PAC Used Health Records from Clinic for Fundraising, Kansas Meadowlark, Feb 25, 2005.
- Dr. Tiller hijacks education issue: Channels secret money to influence Kansas Senate Races in 2004, Kansas Meadowlark, Oct 30, 2004.
Tags: Dr. George Tiller, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition, ProKanDo PAC, USAction
