Kansas Meadowlark: Missouri Interference in Kansas Elections

August 5, 2004

Missouri Interference in Kansas Elections AGAIN!
Steve Cloud gets another $20,000 from Missouri sources
for his control of the Kansas Republican Party

The "Education" issue isn't about helping schools in Johnson County. "Education" is used to maintain power, control and influence in Kansas Republican politics.

Incredibly, Steve Cloud, Chair of the GOP Club of Johnson County, and RNC National Committeeman for Kansas, AGAIN received $20,000 from the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce for his use in Johnson County politics. WHY IS MISSOURI INTERFERENCE IN KANSAS ELECTIONS NOT REPORTED BY ANYONE IN THE PRESS? Cloud received a similar $20,000 payment in 2002 from the Greater Kansas City Chamber. I have reported previously on Meadowlark pages about all the Missouri money that flowed into Kansas elections in 2002.

Review the 7/26/2004 report by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce from the Missouri Secretary of State with all the details being ignored by the press. Click here for a direct link to the Missouri Secretary of State's site. Why can't this information be viewed using Kansas resources?

This appears to be a very clever scheme for Missouri money to be given to a number of Kansas candidates, with the lump sum payment of $20,000 being transferred across the state line to Cloud so he can give a second contribution to many of the same candidates (some received less than the maximum, however). In addition, Cloud used his Kansas mailings to endorse Republican precinct candidates to maintain his control of JoCo Republicans politics, and in turn, Kansas Republican politics.

Why do folks in Missouri care so much about Kansas politics? Could it be the Greater Kansas City Chamber is expecting a quid pro quo from Cloud and his "moderate" candidates when the Bistate issue surfaces in November?

Cloud sent at least three mailings endorsing all state-wide candidates AND the Republican precinct committees using money from the Johnson County Republicans for Education PAC. In addition, Cloud's secretive GOP Club of Johnson County group, which has no reporting requirements, sent two additional post cards with the same endorsements of precinct candidates. With five mailings for his precinct candidates, Cloud is quite effective in winning many precinct races -- including mine. I lost my precinct race even though I tried to make Cloud and his $20,000 from 2002 an issue. Cloud's three mailings in the last few days, likely to everyone in my precinct, was just more effective than the one mailing I sent to a carefully selected set of likely August voters. Money beat sweat in this case.

Two surprises stand out a bit: Senator Karin Brownlee received $250, and Senator Nick Jordan received $500. In 2002, no conservative received any money in the primary contest.

Note the chicanery used by the Greater Kansas City Chamber and Steve Cloud. The Chamber sent their $20,000 to the "Kansas Republicans for Education," which is not the correct name of the PAC. The correct name is "Johnson Country Republicans for Education PAC" according to the list of PACs obtained from the Kansas Secretary of State on July 9th. The address "9400 W. 55th St., Merriam" is the address of Cloud's IBT business, which was used in the January 2003 PAC reports by the JCRE PAC. (The address was switched to IBT's PO Box in January 2004.)

Cloud for unexplained reasons formed a new and apparently related Kansas non-profit corporation, Johnson County Republicans for Education, Inc., at his home address, 13927 W. 82nd St, Lenexa. This non-profit is also registered with IRS as a "527" since Cloud filed an IRS form 8871 on Feb 17, 2004. Any money going through this non-profit can be hidden for perhaps 18-months or more, since an IRS 990 would not be due until next year.

So what address was used in the three JCRE mailings? The mailings were sent from 7933 Foster, Overland Park, which appears to have little activity when viewed from the "front side", 7932 Santa Fe, in downtown Overland Park. A "for lease" sign can be seen in the window on the Santa Fe side of the building.

When will the general public be informed about how much Missouri money now has been spent on Kansas elections, and Republican politics, in both 2002 and 2004?

A lesser story here is how the policies of Kansas government is impeding any timely investigation of Missouri money flowing into Kansas. The Kansas Secretary of State, and the Kansas Governmental Ethics Office, both refuse to put any information online about PACs. One must pay an outrageous fee of $0.50/page to even get the list of PACs in Kansas, and $0.50/page to obtain a copy of any information from PAC reports. Elections are over and people forget about the issues before one can even find out what money is being spent in Kansas. Kansas needs better open records laws and needs to emulate what is being done by the Missouri Secretary of State and the Missouri Governmental Ethics office.