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A fundraiser for Mike Kane, running for re-election to the 5th District, will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday, June 5, at the Due West Ranch, 134th and Donahoo Road, Kansas City, Kansas.
The fundraiser will include a meet-and-greet with the candidate.
Several more candidates have filed for local offices, according to a list from the Wyandotte County Election Commission office.
The candidates on the May 18 list:
For mayor-CEO of the Unified Government: incumbent Mark R. Holland, David Alvey, D. Keith Jordan and Janice Grant Witt.
For Unified Government at-large 2nd District: Tom Burroughs and John “J.D.” Rios.
For Unified Government Commissioner, District 1: incumbent Gayle E. Townsend.
For Unified Government Commissioner, District 5: Incumbent Mike Kane and Sarah Kremer.
For Unified Government Commissioner, District 7: Incumbent Jim Walters, George Cooper and Jim A. Gibson.
For Unified Government Commissioner, District 8: Incumbent Jane W. Philbrook, and Kendon McClaine.
For Sheriff: Incumbent Donald Ash and Marvin L. Main.
For Board of Public Utilities, District 2: Incumbent Thomas W. Groneman.
For Board of Public Utilities, at large position 1: Incumbent Mary Gonzales and Nikole C. Owens.
For Board of Public Utilities, at large position 2: Ryan Eidson.
For Kansas City Kansas Community College Board of Trustees, regular term: Thomas G. Earp, Colton J. Gibson.
For Kansas City Kansas Community College Board of Trustees, unexpired term: Tyrone Garner.
For the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education, regular term: Maxine Drew, Wanda Brownlee Paige, Stacy Yeager, Joseph A. Straws III, Maria Cecilia Ysaac.
For the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education, unexpired term: Korri Hall Thompson.
For the Turner Board of Education: Joy D. Beery, Jeff Davidson, Steve Russell, Daniel Soptic.
For the Piper Board of Education: Desiree Fergus.
For the Bonner Springs-Edwardsville Board of Education: Jeff Tinberg.
For Bonner Springs City Council, Ward 1: Patricia E. Welicky.
For Bonner Springs City Council, Ward 2: Tom Stephens.
For Bonner Springs City Council, Ward 3: Rodger Shannon.
For Bonner Springs City Council, Ward 4: Joe Peterson.
The filing deadline is noon June 1.
Window on the West
Opinion column
by Mary Rupert
State Sen. David Haley, D-4th Dist., said last week he is thinking again about running for mayor.
It’s not because he wants to, Sen. Haley said, it’s because he just doesn’t see anyone he would like to vote for among the four candidates who have filed. If there was someone else he could support, he would like to. His comments are reminiscent of a voter dissatisfaction held by many before last year’s presidential election.
The four candidates who have filed are incumbent Mayor Mark Holland, and challengers David Alvey, D. Keith Jordan and Janice Witt.
“I’d like to have a candidate to run, to encapsulate the true hopes and possibilities of a broader Wyandotte County,” Sen. Haley said.
Explaining his comment, he said in a very broad sense, the county is now the beneficiary of ancillary revenue being generated by the Kansas Speedway and Village West area. At the top of the agenda would be what the county could do with additional resources from Village West, and how could the community share in the bounty of it. That includes the reduction of taxes.
While he is aware of the healthy campus proposal, the northeast redevelopment plan and the SOAR initiative to address blight, he said he just didn’t have faith in any of the four candidates to follow through on them.
The UG’s charter also needs to be redone, he said, and there needs to be a provision in it that ensures that vacant positions will be filled in a timely manner. It also needs to be examined to make sure that commissioners from all UG districts can run for mayor without giving up their positions.
“I’m not alone, I need someone to vote for,” he said. So far, he has no announcement that he will run, but he is considering it, he added.
Sen. Haley has worked with colleagues in his party and across the aisle in the Kansas Senate in order to get several bills passed during his tenure.
Filing deadline for the city and school board offices is at noon June 1.
To contact Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].