University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, November 28, 1989 9 Report reveals election costs Campaign with most money usually wins Kansas House seat By Derek Schmidt Kansan staff writer The average cost for a seat in the Kansas House of Representatives was $8,352 in the 1988 elections, according to a recent report by a government watchdog group.
ContributionsExpendituresNumber of votesExpenditure per vote
Jessie Branson-D13,95414,1687,865$1.80
Renee McGhee-R8778443,380$.25
Betty Jo Charilton-D7,0657,8943,786$2.08
Bernie Norwood-R11,10211,0733,143$3.52
John Solbach-D (Unopposed)2,1507507,469$.10
Study reveals financial figures for Kansas House candidates The average winning candidate raised $12,088, and a typical losing effort generated only 85,149, according to a study by Common Cause of Kansas. Source: Common Cause/Kansas "Money may not be the sole factor in determining who is elected to office, but it has a very significant impact," said Michael Woolf, executive director of Common Cause of Kansas. Candidates who lack enough money to communicate their messages to the public leave the public poorly informed. Woolf said. "If people don't have a choice on election day, democracy suffers," he said. Eighty-six percent of the contested House races in 1988 were won by the candidates who spent the most money, according to the report. The study was based on data from campaign disclosure forms filed by candidates with the secretary of state. Non-monetary contributions, such as donated goods and services, are included in the figures. The 270 candidates for the 125 seats in the Kansas House in 1988 raised $2.25 million for their campaigns, the study reported. About 55 percent of that came from special interest groups, defined as political action committees, corporations and unions. Burdett Loomis, chairman of the department of political science, said Kansas did not face significant problems, widespread in other states, of contributors influencing legislators. "The huge amounts of money that our legislative candidates receive from special interest groups are a real threat to true representative government in Kansas," Woolf said. "These wealthy groups do not give equally to candidates. They gave 76 percent of their money to incumbents, with whom they have already established a close relationship and wish to have influence in the future." "Kansas politics is pretty clean," he said. "Make that a flat statement." However, Loomis said, growing campaign costs and expenditures could affect that. "It's worth keeping an eye on." Loomis said of campaign financing in the state. The 112 incumbents in 1988 received 62 percent of the contributions, and only 25 percent went to the 112 challengers, the report stated. The remaining 13 percent went to the 46 candidates running for open seats. Loomis said incumbents generally raised more money than challengers, and, because they had more money, would be more likely to nominate candidates and could raise even more Only 23 percent of the state House contributions in 1988 came from individuals, the report stated. The remainder came from political parties or from the candidate or spouse. In Lawrence, all three House incumbents retained their seats in 1988, and campaign costs ranged from $750 to about $14,000. State Rep. Jessie Branson, D-Lawrence, raised $13,954, the most of the five candidates for the three seats. Her Republican opponent, Renee McGhee, raised $877. Bernie Norwood, the Republican challenger for the seat held by State Rep. Betty Jo Charlton, D-Lawrence, but lost than Charlton but lost the election. State Rep. John Solbach, D-Lawrence, was unopposed for reelection in 1968. He raised $2,150, but spent only $750. Thirty-nine candidates statewide spent less than $1,000 each on their campaigns. Solbach, the only incumbent in that group, is the only one who won. The state's most expensive House seat belongs to an incumbent Democrat from Prairie Village. Carol Sader raised $60,048 and spent $57,260 to win re-election, according to the report. That represents a cost of $10.46 for each of the 5,473 votes she received in the general election. Her Republican opponent, Bruce Mayfield, spent $15,757, or $4.33 per vote. Loomis said Johnson County campaigns generally were more expensive than those in other areas of the state because of the high cost of media time. Woolf declined to make comparisons of campaigns by geographic regions. He said that variances among individual campaigns made such comparisons unreliable. "It makes a difference whether there was a real competition in the campaign or not," he said. Besides Sader, four other House candidates spent more than $30,000 in the 1988 election, according to the data from of them, all incumbents, won. State Rep. Gary Blumenthal, D-Merrimack, who spent $31,585. State Rep. Barbara Allen, R-Prairie Village, spent $31,192. House Minority Leader Marvin Barkis, D-Louisburg spent $30,065. Republican, who spent $32,236, but lost to the incumbent Democrat, Sheila Hochuser, who spent $12,622. The 1988 study was the first time Common Cause analyzed campaign expenditures in detail, and Woolf said he could not compare 1988 expenditures with those from previous years. In August, a Common Cause study analyzed the 1988 Senate race. That study showed that State Wint Winter Jr., R-Lawrence, spent $21,448, or $1.11 per vote, compared with $4,572, or $0.48 per vote, for his Democratic opponent, Michael DuPeer. Wint won the election. 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