Sea Change

The numbers are in.

During the 3rd Quarter:

Lynn Jenkins: Raised $134,829.90, Spent $131,846.68, Cash on Hand $489,211.81, Debt $101,231 

Mystifying. She barely broke even for the quarter and still has over $100k in debt. Any poll you look at has her down by an average of 20+ points. She should be spending a lot more money. Is it possible she has tossed in the towel already on this race? 

Nancy Boyda: Raised: $243,043.61, Spent $165,421.82, Cash on Hand $891,725.57, Debt $286,742

Definitely in the driver’s seat with $604, 983 to use (subtracting her large debt). In a district that voted 60% for Bush in that last Presidential election, she is going to need every dollar.

Jim Ryun: Raised $447,382.75, Spent $683,838.64, Cash on Hand $222,592.62, Debt $0

Evidently has decided that making it through the primary is better than conserving money. Still has $222,592 on hand, but better hit his donors hard starting on August 6th. 

If fundraising numbers and media buys are any indication, we’re looking at Ryun versus Boyda, Round III coming up in November. 

On the short list of Democrats listed as vulnerable in November listed in today’s Politico is Nancy Boyda. 

“If there’s one moment in the freshman congresswoman’s brief congressional career that could come back to haunt her, it’s when she walked out of a House Armed Services Committee hearing last July during retired Army Gen. Jack Keane’s testimony after he suggested that the surge was showing signs of success. 
“There was only so much you could take until we, in fact, had to leave the room for a while,” Boyda said upon returning to the hearing. 

While her actions might have been celebrated in some congressional districts, the 2nd District of Kansas is not one of them. It’s solidly Republican, veteran-heavy and home to Fort Riley, where the Army’s 1st Infantry Division is based. Her sudden departure and her comments will likely be visited again and again during the general election campaign. 

“Even nonmilitary personnel understand that when you’re storming out of committee meetings, it’s not doing your job. You’re not representing the district,” Kansas GOP Executive Director Christian Morgan said, previewing a GOP line of attack against Boyda. 

Another remark that won’t do Boyda any favors occurred soon after she took office, when she told ABC News that people who aren’t pleased with the course of the Iraq war “should have thought about that before they voted for President Bush not once, but twice” — a comment perhaps best left unsaid in a district that voted for Bush not once, but twice. 

Boyda will likely face a rematch against Jim Ryun, the Republican incumbent she upset in 2006, though Ryun first would have to overcome his primary election opponent, former state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, who is also a credible candidate. ”

Who said politics is not a full contact sport? The information I share below is neither from Jim Ryun nor Lynn Jenkins’ camps (as best I can tell). It is simply floating around the political grapevine in the 2nd District of Kansas and I thought I would track it down. Given that Nancy Boyda made character a central theme in her runs for office in 2004 and 2006, I thought this juicy tidbit was too much fun to pass on.

Evidently Nancy Boyda filed a marriage license to marry a gentleman named Graham Kirk Wilkie back when her maiden name was Palmer (unless there are two Nancy E. Palmers running around Johnson County at that time).

What is the problem with that, you ask?

The problem is that her divorce from a man named David Thrutchley was not yet final. The date on the marriage license is 8/24/1988. The divorce from Thrutchley was not final until 1989 at the earliest.

So let’s break this down. She was married to a man named David, filed for divorce from him, but before the divorce was final got a license to marry a man named Graham but ended up marrying a man named Steve. 

It’s hard to find too much as Nancy has had the documents surrounding this sordid affair sealed. I can understand if the documents were sealed to protect young children. But that was 20 years ago. Her children are now adults.

So my question is this-if Nancy Boyda is the same Nancy E. Palmer listed on the marriage license from 1988, who is the reporter who is going to step up and ask her the hard questions?

Unfair, you say? Hardly. Nancy Boyda is the one who made character an issue the last two election cycles. If she is not the same Nancy E. Palmer on the marriage license, she can simply clear it up.

But if she is, there are a lot of people in the 2nd District who are going to recoil with the “ick” factor.

Maybe we should just start calling Nancy Boyda “Two Face.” She has been telling the 2nd District of Kansas from the first day of her tenure in Congress saying she will not take Washington, DC money. Yet her FEC report is choked full with labor union PAC donations, donations from Democrat leadership and all kinds of Frontline money-and has been since day one.  The very same Frontline money she promised she would not take.

Now she is going around the district saying she has asked the DCCC not to spend a dime on her re-election when she knows full well the DCCC has already bought the airtime. It is a cheap diversion from what is really happening. Nancy Boyda is lying to her constituents, trying to have it both ways in hopes that the voters of the 2nd District aren’t paying attention to her creative wordsmithing. 

From the Majority AP:

“For the second straight quarter, U.S. Representatives Carol Shea-Porter, D-NH, and Nancy Boyda, D-KS, received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations also received by Democrats participating in a political fundraising program both vowed to shun, research by the Majority Accountability Project (www.majorityap.com) has found.

In fact, while both won praise back in their districts for bypassing the so-called “Frontline” program, research shows they’ve been taking those checks since its inception.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced in February creation of its 2008 “Frontline Program;” which, according to the DCCC, “lays the ground work for the 2008 cycle by supporting and expanding (House Democrats’) fundraising and outreach operations.” Frontline members, a group of 29 Democrats expected to face fierce re-election contests, receive extra assistance from the DCCC in campaign fundraising. Twenty-four freshmen Democrats are included in that list.

Also in February, Boyda and Shea-Porter refused to join the Frontline Program, reportedly “rejecting financial assistance from their leadership.” Both Congresswomen said participating in the program would jeopardize their independence from party leaders, even though both have been reliable votes for Democrat leaders.

Boyda has sided with Democrat leadership more than 90 percent of the time,according to a review by the Washington Post; while Shea-Porter has been a virtual rubber-stamp for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, voting with Democrat leadership 98.2 percent of the time.

Despite their fierce voting loyalty, both claimed “independence” as the prime reason for publicly forgoing participation in the Frontline program.

“They did invite me, and I really appreciated that,” Shea-Porter told the Concord Monitor. “But I wanted to do what I thought was best for New Hampshire politics.” She told the paper she intended to “run another grassroots, low-budget campaign,” explaining to CQPolitics.com, “it’s really about building trust and relationships.”

Boyda echoed similar sentiments, with her spokeswoman telling the Politico’sJosh Kraushaar, “she ran an independent campaign in 2006, and her constituents want to see her run an independent campaign again.”

But financial records filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) paint a different picture.

The Majority Accountability Project reported in April that both members reversed course on their previous public statements, garnering substantial financial support from party leaders such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Conference Chair Rahm Emanuel and DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen.

Their most recent filings show even more aggressive support from senior House Democrats and other special interests supporting the DCCC’s Frontline Program.

Shea-Porter reported receiving $25,000 from a host of Democrat leaders and committee chairs, including $14,000 from Hoyer, $4500 from Emanuel and $4000 from Pelosi. She also received $9500 in special interest dollars through the DCCC.

FEC records show she also received thousands more in special interest PAC dollars, from the same political action committees giving to Frontline Program candidates. Shea-Porter often received those contributions on the same day as those members who publicly participated in the Frontline Program. All told, Shea-Porter received at least $63,700 in contributions also going to Frontline candidates.

Once again, Boyda did even better. Like Shea-Porter, she received $14,000 from Hoyer and $4,000 from Pelosi and, according to Hoyer’s and Pelosi’s FEC filings, the checks were cut the same day. Boyda previously received $4,000 from Emanuel.

But when special interest dollars are included - the same PAC money given to Frontline candidates - Boyda amassed an impressive $79,250 in contributions.

Boyda, who once said “Big Money and the billion-dollar lobbying industry have controlled Congress for too long,” proved herself no slouch when it came to garnering financial contributions from some of Washington, DC’s most well-known lobbyists.

The Kansas Democrat reported receiving at least $9650 in personal checksfrom a host of rainmakers, including Linda Daschle, the wife of former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, former Congressmen Martin Frost and Tom Downey; Clinton Administration Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, now chief lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association; and former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt’s chief of staff, Steve Elmendorf.” 

There is a lot of chatter on various blogs over the past few weeks regarding in and out of state donations to Lynn Jenkins, Jim Ryun and Nancy Boyda. Evidently all three are taking out of state money. Apparently Nancy Boyda and the labor unions have a close relationship, as do Lynn Jenkins and WISH List. Word is that Lynn Jenkins has an aggressive plan to raise money out of state, even in places like Nevada. Jim Ryun and Texas donors seem to get along well. But a few weeks ago Ryun released his Kansas donor numbers at just over 2,000. That is a healthy number. It was met by deafening silence from Lynn Jenkins and Nancy Boyda. Why? 

So Jenkins delivered what she thought was an 11 gun salute the other day. Apparently, 7 of the guns misfired. Two “arghs.”

Former Republican Chairs give to Sebelius and Morrison, then endorse Lynn Jenkins?

This story posted by the Kansas Meadowlark deserves an “argh.” Maybe even two. For months Lynn Jenkins has been sailing around the 2nd District of Kansas claiming she was pro-life. The Wish List only endorses staunch pro-choice candidates. So which is it? Is Lynn pro-life or has she been lying to the voters in the 2nd District?

Lynn Jenkins’ New York WISH