In this month's Hays Chamber of Commerce candidate forum, Democrat Ed Hammond brought up the issue of “dark money” being spent in the state representative race between incumbentState Representative Barb Wasinger and him. Dark money seems to be a big bugaboo for Democrat Hammond (Hammond was a registered Republican until May of this year when hea dmittedly approached the Democrat party to run for office).
A close second, however, is his disdain for the Kansas Chamber’s audacity to support various Kansas candidates with a campaign contribution. Apparently, giving the maximum dollar donation of $500 to candidates somehow beholdens them to vote for every issue the Kansas Chamber champions.
I was curious about his comments, so I decided to evaluate his claims. What I found truly illustrates the sort of blatant hypocrisy that has infiltrated our politics for far too long and eroded our trust in our institutions. In 2020, Democrat Barbara Bollier, who ran against now U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, was the beneficiary of over $20 Million dollars of campaign contributions, the majority of which came from out-of-state contributors and Super PACs, exactly what Hammond would describe as dark money. This year, Democrat Governor Laura Kelly is the recipient of millions of dollars of out of state money and dark money campaign donations. I have yet to see any opposition to the dark money being spent on behalf of Democrat Kelly either.
Indeed, a quick review of Hammond’s own financial disclosures shows he has too taken PAC money. His disclosures also show he has taken money from representatives of the Kansas Medical Society, a proponent of Obamacare expansion, a program he is more than happy to vocally support. Hammond, local, state and national Democrats are apparently perfectly fine with taking the “right kind” money from PACs or special interests when it works in their favor but promote a narrative about how corrupt Republicans are for accepting similar contributions.
More interesting is Hammond’s incessant railing against the Kansas Chamber and its purported terrible influence on candidates he and other state and local Democrats oppose. You see, according to them, if a candidate takes a donation from the Kansas Chamber, that candidate is automatically considered corrupted and state representatives and senators who do so are deemed to be incapable of voting for an issue which in their view is in the best interests of the people they serve.
But here is the most interesting aspect of Hammond’s claims. He served on the Board of Directors of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce for a number of years. How is it acceptable to take a seat on the Kansas Chamber’s board, then turn around and bash it every chance he gets for being a bad influence on Kansas legislators?
I don’t know about everyone else, but from my perspective Democrat Hammond’s criticism of dark money and the Kansas Chamber rings hollow and represents the height of hypocrisy. I believe in our political system, and I believe we can do better. That is why I am voting for Representative Barb Wasinger. I believe our community needs someone who we know lives her values, says what she means, and is focused on real issues that Kansas voters care about.
Chris McGowne, Hays