State chamber billboard under fire

The political action committee for the Kansas Chamber of Commerce has set their sights on state Rep. Julie Menghini, D-Pittsburg.

The PAC erected a campaign sign, located on Fourth Street in Pittsburg attacking Menghini voting record on jobs, taxes and health care.

“Our mission is pretty simple and that is to make Kansas the best state to do business,” said Jeff Glendening, vice president for political affairs for the Kansas Chamber. “We feel there is a very good chance in Terry Calloway to upgrade.”

Menghini is being challenged by GOP nominee Calloway in the November general election. He said that the sign caught him off-guard.

“I had been in Dallas and someone asked me a question about it and I didn’t know what they were talking about,” Calloway said. “I looked at it and decided to put some emphasis on learning those issues.”

Both the Chamber and Calloway said that neither camp discussed the sign, or its contents, before it was put up.
“It surprised him as much as it surprised anyone else in town,” Glendening said.

Carol Williams, with Kansas Government Ethics, said that, if there is no collusion between the candidate and a group, the group can spend as much money as they wish. If there were collusion, it would have to be reported as a campaign contribution. The limit to that contribution is $500.

The sign takes issue with a recent 1-cent statewide sales tax increase that passed the Kansas Legislature during their 2010 session — of which Menghini did vote in favor of. It also accuses Menghini of supporting federal health care after she voted against a measure that would allow Kansans to opt out of the federal plan. Glendening said that the third point, regarding lost jobs in Pittsburg, was because of the statewide sales tax increase and a 2009 vote against the comprehensive energy bill that included a provision for any new coal-fired power plants to be required to have 5 percent coal from Kansas.

Menghini said that she stands behind the votes that have been brought into question.

“I think they are very big stretches of the truth,” Menghini said. “I think they might have started with a grain, but I think I brought jobs to southeast Kansas and I know I saved jobs to southeast Kansas.”

She added that her vote to increase the state sales tax helped to save “at least 20 jobs” within USD 250. She said that if the tax failed and Republican proposed budget cuts were initiated, the Pittsburg school district would have lost up to $1 million, leading to teacher and other staff layoffs.

“I am firmly convinced that that money saved more jobs than people could comprehend,” Menghini said.

Someone else who is taking issue with the Kansas Chamber attacking candidates for office is House Minority Leader Paul Davis. The Lawrence Democrat said that the sign attacking Menghini is “grossly misleading.”

“This is an organization that has a very narrow political agenda and is being financed by a very small group of people,” Davis said. “They want to pursue an agenda that is not in favor of supporting our public schools or universities and is solely focused on eliminating taxes for large businesses.”

Glendening said that other candidates across the state will be targets of similar signs and that the Chamber PAC has scheduled meetings to line out what other candidates will be targeted. He said that Menghini was the first because of the proximity of Pittsburg to Missouri and what he called the adverse affect of the sales tax to border communities.

“Pittsburg, being on the border, we talked about the increase to the sales tax and we feel that hurts everyone, but really those towns on the border,” Glendening said.

And Davis said that he was sure there will be more across the state, but said that the message was not paid for by people in the legislative district and “don’t have the needs of that district at heart.”

“There have been groups from the outside that have tried to impact elections before, but people have realized that they don’t have the best interest of the electorate at heart and they have not been well-received,” Davis said.

Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140