KCK’s Kultala May Challenge Yoderin Ks-3 January 20, 2014

KC Star:
Former Kansas state senator Kelly Kultala, a Democrat, said Monday she will run for the House seat now held by U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, a Republican.

She’s expected to officially announce her candidacy Tuesday.

Kultala, 55, is a political veteran. She served four years in the Kansas state senate, losing her bid for re-election in 2012. She also ran for Kansas lieutenant governor in 2010, on the Democratic ticket, and lost.

“I’m disgusted with what’s going on in Washington, D.C. right now,” she told The Star. “Washington D.C. is broken, and Kevin Yoder is part of the problem.”

Yoder, 38, was first elected to Congress in 2010, replacing Dennis Moore, who retired.

While Kultala will be considered a serious candidate in the race, she faces a formidable challenge in November if she makes it through the primary.

Yoder, who lives in Overland Park, had almost $1.8 million in his campaign fund at the end of September, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission. That’s considered a healthy sum in the 3rd district, which includes all of Johnson and Wyandotte counties plus a portion of Miami County.

Kultala, who lives in Kansas City, Kan., isn’t the only Democrat interested in Yoder’s seat. Reginald Marselus of Lenexa has filed for the race, which means an August primary if both remain candidates.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/01/20/4764237/second-democrat-to-enter-race.html#storylink=cpy

Yoder Stays on House Appropriations Panel January 18, 2013

(AP) – Kansas Congressman Kevin Yoder is keeping his seat on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee for another two years.

The Republican lawmaker is in his second term representing the Kansas 3rd Congressional District, which covers most of the Kansas City metro area. He chaired the Appropriations Committee in the Kansas House before being elected to Congress in 2010.

Yoder says he’ll serve on an Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, giving Kansas a voice in congressional oversight of farm programs and policy.

Last month, another Kansas congressman – Republican Tim Huelskamp – was removed from the House Agriculture Committee by GOP leaders angered by his positions on issues.

Yoder said he’ll also serve on an Appropriations subcommittee on general government, and a subcommittee on the State Department and foreign aid programs.

Yoder Explains his ‘No’ Vote on Fiscal Cliff Deal January 3, 2013

Tip O’ the hat to TKC:

Kansas House Casts Early Vote to Keep WyCo in Ks-3 March 21, 2012

(map for Kansas Congressional Districts approved on voice vote Tuesday)
KC Star:
The Kansas House tentatively approved a redistricting plan that keeps Wyandotte County in the 3rd Congressional District.
The House approved the plan on a voice vote, but a second vote for approval will be required.
The plan is very different from one proposed by House Speaker Mike O’Neal who proposed putting Wyandotte County in the First Congressional District, which extended from the Missouri border to the Colorado state line.
O’Neal’s plan took population from Wyandotte County to make up for losses in western Kansas to ensure that each of the state’s four members of Congress represent an equal number of people.
Unified Government Mayor Joe Reardon was in the capitol today meeting and greeting lawmakers. He applauded the House’s decision.
“It just makes really good, solid sense to have Wyandotte County and Johnson County together as a community of interest,” Reardon said.
“I suppose anything could change,” he said. “But I am a big believer in this process that common sense can and will prevail.”
Read more here: http://midwestdemocracy.com/articles/wyco-moving-back-3rd-district/#storylink=cpy

Flip, Flop, Flip, Kansas Lawmakers Kill ‘Big First/KCK’ Plan, Revive It, Then Approve It March 15, 2012

House Approved Congressional redistricting map places parts of Wyandotte County in a district dominated by west Kansas. The proposed district is shaded in pink.

The Kansas House Redistricting Committee has approved a new Congressional map that splits portions of Wyandotte County out of the Kansas City area Congressional District. Wyandotte County and KCK are currently in the Kansas 3rd District. This plan would move portions of the area into the Kansas 1st District. The working title of the map is ‘Eisenhower-B’
The new map would place some part of Wyandotte in a Congressional district dominated by west Kansas. That district is often referred to as ‘The Big First’, since the Kansas 1st Congressional district covers about half of the entire state.
The map is opposed by many local leaders in Kansas City, Kansas.
A Johnson County Democrat, St.Rep Mike Slattery says the idea of splitting Wyandotte County away from Johnson County is a “terrible” idea.
“Why would anyone in their right mind separate these two commonly bound communities from being served by the same congressman? Answer: Politics”, Slattery wrote in a newsletter Thursday morning. Other Democrats in KCK accuse the panel of gerrymandering the district. ‘Gerrymandering’ is a term that means putting the political opposition in politcally difficult territory based on politcs, not population.
Every 10 years congressional districts are adjusted to reflect changes in population.
In a unsual meeting of the committee Thursday afternoon, the ‘Big First/KCK’ plan was killed on an 11-8 vote.
But after another committee member arrived late and tried to get the map reconsidered, the motion was blocked.
So another member who voted with the prevailing side asked for the ‘Big First/KCK’ map to be brought up again.
It was. On the second vote, House Speaker Mike O’Neal broke an 11-11 by voting for the ‘Big First/KCK’ map. He is the author of that proposal.
It’s the second day in a row O’Neal cast the decided vote on the map.
The Committee plan goes to the full House now for its consideration. The Kansas Senate redistricting committee has a different version of a new map. The Senate version keeps Wyandotte and Johnson counties together in the Ks-3.
Developing.