|
A review of a list of 2005 Political Action
Committees in
Kansas, obtained recently from the Kansas Secretary of State, shows an odd
PAC.
The Kansans
for a Moderate Majority PAC has a chairman and treasurer both with
Missouri
addresses. There is no
apparent
Kansas
connection to this
PAC.
The PAC chair, Bryce J. Dietrich, gives an address of
920 Ward Parkway #1, KCMO, and apparently was an assistant debate coach and political
activist at UMKC earlier this year (see below).
However, Dietrich cannot be found as a registered voter in either
Kansas
or
Missouri in 2004.
From the list of Kansas PACs, the treasurer of Kansans
for a Moderate Majority PAC, is Matthew J. Caldwell, who lives at 5306
Troost, KCMO.
Caldwell
is a 23-year-old registered
Missouri
voter at that address according to voter registration information obtained
from the Missouri Secretary of State.
In the PAC's
Statement of Organization, Dietrich lists a Kansas phone number,
913-485-3069, with his Missouri address. The organization's address
is PO Box 1082, Mission, but has Caldwell's Missouri phone number,
816-695-8679. This document hints at the group's purpose:
"Electing Moderates to the Kansas State Board of Education."
Internet sources give this information about Kansans
for a Moderate Majority PAC chair, Bryce Dietrich
Tent
State
, which has been camping in the
Quad for the past week, started their protest at 3:45 Thursday
afternoon, to "force the hand of administration," said Tent
State member and UMKC student Bryce Dietrich.
Students camped out last week on the lawn of the UMKC Quad in protest of
the annual increase of tuition, the amount of money spent toward the war
in
Iraq
and University food service.
The contribution report for each Kansas PAC is due next month and may
reveal more information about the intent of this
PAC.
Until then, one can only
wonder what mischief this Missouri-based group plans for
Kansas
politics. Or, what Kansans are using these 20-somethings from
Missouri
for their political purpose? Does
recent history give us any clues or suggest any possibilities?
Is this new PAC the 2006 version of the 2004 "Kansans for a
Moderate Government" PAC, which was used by Dr.
Tiller's ProKanDo PAC to try to control the Kansas Senate elections in
2004?
Flashback:
Lawrence
Journal-World,
Aug 22, 2004
Kansans left in dark about political donors
A
new group called Kansans for a Moderate Government spent what appears to
be -- based on campaign mailings in several legislative races -- thousands
of dollars in the primary campaign. But its July 26 campaign finance
report showed it had only one $250 donation from Jack Ranson, a
high-profile moderate Republican from Wichita, whose wife, Pat, is vice
chairwoman of the state party and a former state senator.
Jack
Ranson said he didn't know much about Kansans for a Moderate Government,
but that he was asked to contribute by a friend whom he declined to
identify. He said he understood the group was "anti-religious
right."
The
group's chairwoman, Lacey Garlow, referred questions about Kansans for a
Moderate Government to the group's treasurer, Jennifer Wright, who
couldn't be reached for comment.
Ranson
also was treasurer of another campaign funding organization called
Responsible Republicans of Kansas Inc., which reported it had $6,793 to
spend one week before the primary.
[Jack Ranson,
who was mentioned above, has connections to the new Kansas
Traditional Republican Majority and its new
PAC.
Ranson's 2004 PAC, Responsible
Republicans of Kansas PAC, also mentioned above, has an odd history
and can be traced back to an IRS
Form 8871, Political Organization Notice of Section 527 Status, filed
on Feb 17, 2004 by Steve Cloud, RNC National Republican Committeeman for
Kansas, using his home address as the address of that group initially.]
The Kansans
for a Moderate Government PAC
Chair, Lacey Garlow was 24-years old in 2004 and had just graduated from
Northeastern
State
University
in May 2003. The PAC treasurer
was 22-year-old ProKanDo "Development Director," Jennifer
Wright. Was it a coincidence
that Wright had been on the debate team at
Cowley
College
in 2002?
Are the similarities just strange coincidences between both the PAC names
and the backgrounds of the 20-something officers of the 2004 "Kansans
for a Moderate Government" PAC and the new "Kansans
for a Moderate Majority" PAC?
Or, is this Dr. Tiller's and ProKanDo's modus operandi?
|
