Month: February 2018

O’Malley bails from Kansas governor’s race as donor support falls short

by Jim McLean, Kansas News Service

The Republican race for governor remains crowded, but a little less so with Ed O’Malley’s announcement Thursday that he’s ending his campaign.

O’Malley, a former Kansas House member who last fall took a leave of absence from his job as CEO of the Wichita-based Kansas Leadership Center to campaign, said his inability to keep pace on the fundraising front prompted the decision to withdraw.

“I have realized that the funding necessary to remain competitive through August (when Kansas holds its primary voting) and then November is beyond our reach,” O’Malley said in a media release. “Therefore, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that now is not the time for this candidacy.”

At the close of the first campaign-finance reporting period, O’Malley trailed all the other leading candidates for the GOP nomination, with approximately $220,000.

Gov. Jeff Colyer — who was still lieutenant governor when the end-of-the-year reports posted — led the way with contributions totaling just over $630,000.

Wichita businessman Willis “Wink” Hartman and Kansas Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer reported higher totals – $1.8 million and $713,000– but each made substantial personal contributions to their campaigns.

Former state Rep. Mark Hutton raised approximately $580,000, but his personal contribution accounted for more than one-third of it.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has the highest name recognition in the field due to his controversial work on immigration and voter registration laws, raised just over $350,000.

O’Malley is a 43-year-old moderate Republican. He’d hoped to build a grassroots political movement around the skills he gained creating a new approach to leadership training. That focused on consensus decision making rather than more familiar command-and-control models.

“Neither political party knows exactly how to solve our toughest problems,” he said. “That’s why we need elected officials with the wisdom and skill to bring people together, the willingness to truly listen to differing perspectives and the courage to chart new ways forward.”

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to the original post.
See more at http://kcur.org/post/omalley-bails-kansas-governors-race-when-donor-support-falls-short

Cool today; temperatures drop and snow expected Sunday

National Weather Service graphic

Temperatures were 15 degrees at 8 a.m. Friday, with a wind chill reading of 6 degrees, and cold weather predicted through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

A little snow may accumulate on Sunday, the weather service said. Less than an inch is expected.

Additional snow showers could be possible on Monday night and Tuesday, according to the weather service.

The weather service noted that today is the anniversary of the Feb. 1-2, 2011, blizzard and record snowfall.

Today’s high will be near 37 with mostly sunny skies, the weather service said. A light east southeast wind will become south 5 to 9 mph in the morning, with winds gusting as high as 18 mph.

Tonight, the low will be around 30, with mostly cloudy skies, and a south southwest wind of 8 to 13 mph, gusting to 24 mph, according to the weather service.

Saturday, the high will be near 49, with partly sunny skies, the weather service said. A south southwest wind of 11 to 17 mph will gust as high as 26 mph.

Saturday night, the low will be 24 with mostly cloudy skies and a south southwest wind of 5 to 9 mph becoming north after midnight, according to the weather service.

Sunday, there is a 40 percent chance of snow, with a high near 27, the weather service said. A north wind of 7 to 13 mph will gust as high as 22 mph.

Sunday night, the low will be around 12 with mostly clear skies, according to the weather service.

Monday, the high will be near 36 with partly sunny skies, the weather service said.

Monday night, there is a 30 percent chance of snow after midnight, with a low of 23, according to the weather service.

Tuesday, there is a 40 percent chance of snow with a high near 31, the weather service said.

Tuesday night, the low will be 17 with mostly cloudy skies, according to the weather service.

Wednesday, the high will be near 34 with mostly sunny skies, the weather service said.

Blue Devils fall at league-leading Fort Scott, 79-65

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College got big offensive performances from Sterling Hicks and Juwan Davenport Wednesday but it wasn’t enough to knock Fort Scott off the top rung in the Jayhawk Conference.

Led by Tyler Zinn, the conference’s leading scorer, Fort Scott improved to 3-0 in Region VI play with a 79-65 home court win. Boasting the Region’s best overall record at 17-6, the Greyhounds share first place with Johnson County, a 109-77 winner over Labette Wednesday.

The Blue Devils, who fell to 7-16, return home Saturday to play host to third place Highland (2-1) in the second half of a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. The Scotties (17-6) won at Hesston 93-75 Wednesday.

Hicks scored 26 points and Davenport 22 at Fort Scott as they accounted for 15 of KCKCC’s 21 field goals. Hicks was 9-of-18 from the field including 6-of-11 3-pointers while Davenport was 6-of-10 from the field and converted 9-of-10 free throws.

The Blue Devils shot well, netting 21-of-44 shots for 47.7 percent including 9-of-18 3-pointers and 14-of-18 free throws only to have Fort Scott fire away at a sizzling 60 percent clip (30-of-50) including 10-of-21 3-pointers. The Greyhounds also controlled the rebounding, giving up just two offensive rebounds while winning the board battle 29-16.

Zinn, a 6-1 sophomore who leads the region in scoring with a 21.0-point average and is second in 3-point percentage, led Fort Scott with 26 points including 6-of-10 3-pointers.

Fort Scott built a 41-29 halftime lead and led by as many as 21 points in the second half before holding off a late KCKCC comeback that closed the deficit to 10 points.