17 January 2024
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – A ban on corporate donations in Wichita elections is still in place, despite a proposal that would have reversed it.
About a dozen people stepped up to the podium at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, speaking both in support of and against the ban on corporate donations passed by the previous City Council early this month.
In all, there were about 90 minutes of debate, leading to a delayed vote.
“To me, if you can contribute $500 to an LLC and $500 through yourself, and it’s a vote by the people, that doesn’t seem like a fair and transparent way of doing things,” said Jennifer Connelly, who attended the meeting.
Connelly spoke against changing the policy, but others say donations made directly to campaigns are more transparent than donations to political action committees.
“If you can’t as a corporation make a donation, what are you gonna do,” said Deb Lucia, Sedgwick County Republican Party Chair. “Now you’re gonna put money into a PAC and its totally hidden, you will not know who made the donation to the PAC.”
Several public comments referenced Mayor Lily Wu’s campaign funding.
She far out-raised incumbent Brandon Whipple in the last election cycle. In the finance report filed just days before the election – he raised about $72,000 to her $221,000.
“A large majority of my campaign contributions actually came from individuals,” said Mayor Wu. “If you can look through the dozens and dozens of pages of people who donated to my campaign, you can see these were real people.”
Mayor Wu said she’s grateful for all donations and that at the end of the day, a candidate wins because of their ideas, not the amount they raised.
The City Council is expected to vote on changes to the campaign finance ordinance rule on March 5.
In the meantime, Wichita residents are encouraged to attend district advisory board meetings and reach out to council members with input.