Counting Kansas City Council Campaign Cash

There are 33 people running for a place on Kansas City council in 2023 and at the outset of election season most denizens of this cowtown don't know much about them.

Accordingly . . .

TKC UNDERSTANDS THAT MONEY TALKS AND DETERMINES THE FATE OF LOCAL POLITICOS!!! RIGHT NOW WE COUNT CANDIDATE CASH TO HELP VOTERS JUDGE THESE CONTENDERS!!!

Sorry to break it to the noobs . . . But money is the lifeblood of politics and offers a good indication about the strength of any candidate or campaign.

Here's how our list works . . .

More than anything the work of this post is to put names with faces. Our list looks from left to right and then top/down. We found links to candidate campaign websites, Twitter profiles or a relevant news article for readers who want to do more research.

About the numbers . . .

We checked every council candidate listing filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Our pet peeve . . . Candidates who are too lazy to file even a "limited activity" report. Note that the lack of reporting incurs a measly 10 buck find capped at 3K up until election time. The deadline for the last reporting period was in January and we feel like candidates had more than enough time to document SOMETHING before we started keeping track.

TKC reality check . . . Not reporting campaign finances isn't fair to those candidates who follow the rules and file disclosures. Moreover, one of the big reasons that these disclosures are required is so that voters can judge how a candidate runs their campaign.

There is more to report on the topic of campaign cash but the main number we wanted to share was MONEY ON HAND AT THE END OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD.

We're now in the heart of campaign season until the April primary so these numbers give voters a glimpse at where candidates stand and what kind of support they've been able to muster so far.

A few general things we've noticed . . .

- Overall donations are down. This council election just isn't as important to the people who typically donate, judging by the lower numbers we're seeing. At this point in many previous elections at least half a dozen of the at-large candidates often held war chests as high as 6 figures.

- A few crowded races are drawing the most cash.

- There's a shameful number of races that are basically uncontested. All things considered, there's not a lot that will inspire voters to rush out and vote in April.

With that noted . . . We welcome any comments and hope this info proves somewhat useful and possibly sparks more discussion . . . Check-it . . .

First District