by Mary Rupert
Democratic candidate Jay Sidie, who is running for the U.S. House, 3rd District, today went on the offensive against his opponent, pointing out what he said were differences in their backgrounds and in the people they are helping.
Sidie said he would help the middle class, while he stated his opponent, incumbent Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-3rd Dist., helps wealthy funders such as Koch Industries.
“The economy does well when the middle class does well,” said Sidie, in a speech to the Wyandotte County Third Saturday Democratic Breakfast at the Dotte Spot Bar and Grill at 81st and Parallel Parkway. The pump needs to be primed to get the economy running well, he added.
When asked his position on increasing the minimum wage, Sidie, who has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, said, “The middle class has to make a decent wage for the economy to work.”
Sidie also said he was in favor of veterans’ issues, protecting Social Security, and Medicaid expansion. He said he would like to have a debate with Yoder.
During the speech, Sidie emphasized his background as a non-politician and a non-lawyer. He is a businessman from Mission Woods, Kan., who has an MBA in finance and worked 17 years for Archer Daniels Midland, starting as a commodity trader and becoming a vice president, before opening his own business.
Sidie tried to tie Yoder to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. He said Yoder has the same “trickle-down” economic philosophy as Brownback.
He said Brownback and Yoder are both lawyers, and lawyers are trained to fight for their clients. Many lawyers who become politicians view their major campaign donors as their clients, he added.
Sidie said it’s to his advantage that he is not a lawyer and not a career politician. It’s also to his advantage that Democrats tend to have a higher voter turnout in presidential election years, he said.
Yoder, whose residence is in Overland Park, had raised about 17 times the amount of contributions that Sidie had raised by mid-July, according to campaign finance reports. A look at campaign contributions showed Yoder had raised $1.9 million and had $2.1 million cash on hand in mid-July, while Sidie had raised $113,332 and had $73,444 cash on hand in mid-July, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org).
Sidie said voters should evaluate candidates according to their campaign contributors and according to their voting records.
He asked why his opponent was taking money from payday loan company owners, and from the financial services industry.
A look at the website, opensecrets.org, confirmed that Yoder’s top five contributors in 2015-2016 were Citigroup Inc., $36,000; Waddell and Reed, $34,600; QC Holdings (payday lending), $34,300; Cerner Corp., $28,700; and Poet LLC (bioethanol producer), $25,000. These figures included contributions from individuals at the businesses, added to political action committees of the businesses.
Koch Industries’ political action committee and individuals who work there were listed as the No. 13 contributor to Yoder’s campaign, with $12,000 in donations. which includes $11,000 from Koch PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The top five industries giving to Yoder’s campaign were securities and investment, commercial banks, health professionals, real estate, and lawyers or law firms, according to the website.
A look at some of the larger contributions ($1,000 and more) in the Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports for Sidie showed Vishal Kiron Adma, physician, $1,000; Jerry Lee Bartlett, retired, $1,000; Elisa Fink-Rochford, writer and editor, $4,400; Steve Karbank, real estate company chairman, $1,800; Joyce Karyotokis, dental assistant, $1,000; Cherie Kiser, lawyer, $5,400; Brad Manson, attorney, $2,700; Virginia Miller, ranch manager, $1,000; Richard Ng, restaurant owner, $1,000; Phyllis Pease, artist, $1,000; Chris Reeves, consultant, $3,000; Paul Rochford, analyst, $1,000; Diane Shumaker, retired, $2,700; Ingred Sidie, graphic designer, $2,700; Terri A. Springer, retired, $2,700; David Zamierowski, retired physician, $2,700; AmeriPAC: The Fund for a Greater America, $5,000; Johnson County Democratic Central Committee, $1,000; and United Transportation Union PAC, $5,000.
Sidie won the three-candidate Democratic primary Aug. 2 in the 3rd District, and Rep. Yoder won the Republican primary against one conservative opponent.
The general election is Nov. 8.