The Kansas Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee has made campaign contributions to the primary election opponents of eight Republican members of the Kansas Senate that it sees as impediments to private sector job creation, according to reporting in the Lawrence Journal-World.
According to its website, the Chamber PAC “supports and endorses incumbent state legislators and other candidates for state office who support the Kansas Chamber’s legislative agenda, promote the tenets of free enterprise and pledge to make Kansas a better place in which to do business.”
Following is the 2010 Kansas Senate roster with each senator’s score on the Kansas Economic Freedom Index for that year. The names of the senators whose opponents are supported by the Kansas Chamber PAC appear in boldface. You can see that as a group, these senators rank very low in their support of issues important to economic freedom in Kansas.
(Senator Chris Steineger is now a Republican.)
| Senator | Party | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Holland, Tom | D | 0% |
| Francisco, Marci | D | 7% |
| Kultala, Kelly | D | 7% |
| McGinn, Carolyn | R | 7% |
| Morris, Stephen | R | 7% |
| Brungardt, Pete | R | 13% |
| Emler, Jay | R | 13% |
| Faust-Goudeau, Oletha | D | 13% |
| Hensley, Anthony | D | 13% |
| Kelly, Laura | D | 13% |
| Lee, Janis | D | 13% |
| Reitz, Roger | R | 13% |
| Schmidt, Vicki | R | 13% |
| Schodorf, Jean | R | 18% |
| Haley, David | D | 20% |
| Huntington, Terrie | R | 20% |
| Owens, Thomas (Tim) | R | 20% |
| Umbarger, Dwayne | R | 20% |
| Taddiken, Mark | R | 24% |
| Teichman, Ruth | R | 24% |
| Vratil, John | R | 27% |
| Marshall, Bob | R | 31% |
| Ostmeyer, Ralph | R | 31% |
| Steineger, Chris | D | 58% |
| Schmidt, Derek | R | 62% |
| Apple, Pat | R | 69% |
| Barnett, Jim | R | 69% |
| Colyer, Jeff | R | 69% |
| Donovan, Les | R | 73% |
| Kelsey, Dick | R | 73% |
| Petersen, Mike | R | 80% |
| Wagle, Susan | R | 80% |
| Lynn, Julia | R | 86% |
| Abrams, Steve | R | 87% |
| Brownlee, Karin | R | 87% |
| Bruce, Terry | R | 87% |
| Huelskamp, Tim | R | 87% |
| Masterson, Ty | R | 87% |
| Pyle, Dennis | R | 87% |
| Pilcher Cook, Mary | R | 93% |