PAC spent $51,000 for consultant fees to send $1,000 each to six candidates … and what else?
JAN 20, 2026
In its recent January campaign finance filing, Mike Kelly’s Amberwave PAC reported raising $78,000, spending $62,000, with $27,000 in reserves for the 2026 elections.
Kelly, chair of the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners, is using his PAC to “purify” the elected Commissioners to be only Democrats, who will support his left-leaning agenda in the “non-partisan” board he leads.
In 2024 Kelly’s Amberwave PAC spent over $200,000 to oust one Republican Commissioner and ensure two Democrats were easily elected.
Contributions. In the recent filing the largest portion of contributions to the Amberwave PAC was $60,000 from mostly Kansas City area labor unions:
- $20,000 IBEW PAC Educational Fund, Washington, DC.
- $20,000 Pipefitters Local Union 533, Kansas City, MO.
- $10,000 Mid-America Carpenters Regional County Missouri-Kansas Area PAC, KCMO.
- $10,000 Operating Engineers Local 101 PAC, KCMO.
Other large contributions totaling $11,000 included:
- $6,000 from Osage LLC (Cannot be found in the Kansas Secretary of State’s business search, but Olathe address matches Hi Line Construction LLC in Johnson County Contractor Licensing Search)
- $5,000 from “Richard Chavez Jr” (Spelling should be “Richard Chaves” according to a Missouri Ethics Commission summary for the KCMO Northland Strong PAC?)
Expenditures. The PAC sent $1,000 contributions to each of six Democratic candidates (in “non-partisan” contests):
- $1,000 each to Chad Carroll, Lee Cross, Geoff Holton, Dawn Rattan for JCCC Trustee. [Gerald Lee Cross contributed $2,500 as Gerald Cross to Amberwave and received $1,000 back from the PAC as Cross for JCCC Trustee.]
- $1,000 to Jennifer Gunby, Water One District.
- $1,000 to Julie Aldridge, USD 231 School Board.
All six of these Democratic candidates won their elections.
Huge payment for consulting?
The Amberwave PAC report contained 26 contributors and 13 expenditures and vendor Databasically received over $51,000 for ”Consultant Consulting and campaign execution?”
More transparency should be provided in the report for such a huge expenditure.
Details
The Jan. 10, 2026 Amberwave PAC Campaign Finance Receipts and Expenditures Report can be viewed online using the Campaign Finance Viewer provided by the Secretary of State. [For the first time in 20 years, such reports are not available at the Kansas Public Disclosure Commission website, and it’s unclear when they might appear.]
Amberwave Contributors
Contributors to Amberwave PAC reported in Campaign Finance Receipts and Expenditures Report, Jan. 10, 2026.
Do readers have information about the other contributors?
Amberwave Expenditures
Expenditures by Amberwave PAC reported in Campaign Finance Receipts and Expenditures Report, Jan. 10, 2026.
Mystery continues about related nonprofit
Mystery still surrounds the “related” 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Amberwave Impact Fund, which was revealed in an amended Statement of Organization filed by the Amberwave PAC in Oct. 2025.
How is nonprofit Amberwave Impact Fund related to the Amberwave PAC?
There was speculation in Oct. 2025 this announcement might mean some involvement in the Nov. 2025 election, but that never happened (or was never found).
The Amberwave Impact Fund was registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit effective on April 21, 2025, but its name or EIN identifier have not been found in any search.
The Impact Fund’s board consists of Mike Talboy, (D-Shawnee), Wade Kiefer (D-Olathe), Emily Hage (D-Roeland Park), and Mike Kelly (D-Prairie Village, and Chair of the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners). The address above is an attorney’s office in Topeka.
So, perhaps the Amberwave Impact Fund will appear in 2026?
Related
Turning Those Red States Blue…the Arabella Way
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JAN 18Read full story
Described in a Watchdog Lab article from Sunday, the DC-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit Global Impact Social Welfare Fund in 2023 gave $500,000 to the Delaware-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit Local Jobs & Economic Development Fund, which gave $85,000 to Kelly’s Amberwave PAC.
Mike Kelly’s Amberwave PAC crushes opposition in JoCo Board of County Commissioners election
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APRIL 22, 2025Read full story
In the 2024 general election, Democratic candidates for the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners enjoyed sizable money advantages from their own campaigns. For example, in District 3 Democrat challenger Julie Brewer spent $89,217 while Republican incumbent Charlotte O’Hara spent only $30,712. Amberwave PAC took a dual approach to ensure all Democrats won. For example, Amberwave spent an additional $20,631 to help Julie Brewer, while also spending $18,730 to oppose Charlotte O’Hara.
“Nonpartisan” Johnson County contests are very partisan
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OCTOBER 29, 2024Read full story
Amberwave PAC in 2024 received money from Gov. Laura Kelly’s PAC, a national left-leaning nonprofit, and labor unions, and then spent the money only for Democrats in “nonpartisan” JoCo Commissioner contests.
Disclosure
I was appointed to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission in March 2024, which was renamed last year to the Kansas Public Disclosure Commission.
Views in Watchdog Lab articles are my own and in no way represent the Kansas Public Disclosure Commission.