Details about this story

• Source: Kansas City Star
• Date: May 13, 2007
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Michael Mansur , Jeffrey Spivak
• Topics: Campaign Finance
• Data Types: Local Data
• Description/Excerpt: The Kansas City Star for the first time conducted a computer analysis of campaign contributions in a city election. The newspaper tracked money flowing into the campaigns of the new Kansas City Council, including Mayor Mark Funkhouser, as well as funds flowing from outside political committees. Among the key findings: The biggest backer of the new council, seated May 1, is not the firefighters union (the historically generous group ranked No. 2) or development lawyers, although they were among the top givers. The No. 1 backer was the carpenters union, which contributed at least $112,000. The carpenters also gave more than $60,000 to losing mayoral candidate Alvin Brooks. The local leader of the carpenters union did not return The Star's phone calls. Burns & McDonnell collectively ranked No. 3 in contributions, in part, because more than three dozen of the engineering firm's employees gave more than $50,000 to winning council candidates. However, campaign disclosures often did not list their Burns & McDonnell connections. A company spokesman said employee giving was not coordinated to influence any election. In all, more than $2.5 million in campaign contributions flowed into the primary and general city elections. But The Star found that the average citizen would have trouble tracking where the money came from.