The political action committee affiliated with Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is fueling conservative campaigns across Kansas with a fundraising bonanza of $66,000 since late July.
Road Map PAC, with a big injection of $25,000 from AT&T, has been dropping money at the doorsteps of some its favorite candidates. Overall, the PAC has spent $51,428 for the three-month reporting period that ended Oct. 25.
It spent $9,500 alone in Johnson County, including $1,000 donations each to conservative Senate candidates Jim Denning, Jeff Melcher and Greg Smith.
The PAC also gave $1,000 to Kay Wolf, the lone Johnson County moderate Republican to beat a conservative in the primary. Wolf is running against Democrat Kyle Russell, who is mounting a pretty visible campaign in northeast Johnson County as he tries to force Wolf to defend her moderate credentials with Brownback's support.
The PAC also gave $1,000 to conservative Republican Anthony Brown of Eudora, who is trying to pick off Democratic state Senate incumbent Tom Holland, who is incredibly well financed for this general election campaign.
Another $1,000 went to Republican Steve Fitzgerald of Leavenworth who is trying to take down Democratic state Sen. Kelly Kultala.
The Road Map PAC probably has a good reason to want to be rid of Holland and Kultala. They formed the ticket that lost to Brownback in 2010. Their defeat would wipe away a quarter of the Senate's eight Democrats.
The PAC took in money from a number of high-profile corporate contributors, including $6,250 from the Heavy Constructors Association of Kansas Cit and $5,000 each from BNSF Railway and Security Benefit Life Insurance and oil executive A. Scott Ritchie III of Wichita.
Road Map PAC is affiliated with Road Map Solutions, the governor's policy organization.
Road Map Solutions is headed up by his former chief of staff David Kensinger, who often lobbies for the governor behind the scenes, including firing off after-the-fact emails to reporters about news stories he doesn't like or takes issue with.
The PAC is named after the governor's 2010 campaign promise to lay out policy road map for making Kansas better.
