“Nonpartisan” contests in Johnson County have become completely partisan, but voters are left in the dark.
OCT 30, 2026
JoCo Commission Chair Mike Kelly started his Amberwave PAC in March 2024 with one of the targets being the county commission contests.
Facebook announcement of the creation of Amberwave PAC on March 15, 2024.
In 2024 Amberwave announced one of its targets was Johnson County Board of Commissioners (as well as Johnson County Sheriff, and Johnson County District Attorney).
On Monday Amberwave PAC filed its campaign report before the general election.
On Thursday Amberwave filed a “last minute” supplement.
Details of the PAC donors are shown below, but let’s focus first on how Amberwave used its money for independent expenditures and contributions to impact local elections, especially the Johnson County Commission.
JoCo Commission
The lone Republican on the Johnson County Board Board, Michael Ashcraft, had a fair fight against Democrat Greg Mitchell until Kelly’s Amberwave PAC appeared.
Amberwave PAC made total independent expenditures of over $45,000 to assist Mitchell in the District 5 commissioner race against incumbent Ashcraft — and then gave Mitchell a $1,000 contribution. See summary table.
Without Amberwave Ashcraft would have had a small advantage in expenditures of $17,800 vs $14,200.
Obviously, Kelly’s PAC intent is to remove any Republican opposition on the Johnson County Board.
In district 1 with Democrat Becky Fast against Republican Ben Hobert, Amberwave added $25,500 in expenditures to the $32,900 already made by Fast. The $58,000 in expenditures between Fast and Amberwave likely will overwhelm the $7,500 spent by Hobert.
It’s curious Democratic candidate, Teresa Erb, in uncontested district 4, can spend as little as $3,500 to be elected.
In 2024 Kelly used Amberwave to eliminate Charlotte O’Hara as a county commissioner. Amberwave spent $20,600 to support O’Hara’s opponent, and separately $18,700 to oppose O’Hara.
Kelly’s PAC is overwhelming any Republican opponent on the commission, and raising the bar for newcomers who will face Kelly’s barrage of PAC money.
Summary of JoCo Commission campaign finance reports with Amberwave contributions and expenditures in blue, which helped the Democratic candidate.
The JoCo Board of County Commissioners serves as the election board for county elections. What happens when all seven members of the board are Democrats in a county with more Republicans than Democrats? That will be ripe for public complaints.
Kansas Board of Education – District 3
Summary of Kansas Board of Ed, District 3 campaign finance reports showing overwhelming help from Amberwave PAC for the Democrat.
It’s unclear why Amberwave decided to help Democrat Amy Diediker in her bid for district 3, Kansas Board of Education.
The PAC’s $24,500 independent expenditure to help Diediker was likely excessive, given Diediker’s campaign expenditures of nearly $46,000.
Republican challenger Jim Mullen filed an “affidavit of exemption” in August since he anticipated not receiving or spending $500 or more. [It’s unclear why McMullen has not filed a new October report.]
Prairie Village Mayor
Summary of campaign finance reports for Praraire Village candidates with Amberwave’s contribution in blue for Cole Robinson. Selders has not yet filed.
Democrat Prairie Village mayoral candidate, Cole Robinson, received a $1000 donation from Amberwave.
Fellow Democrat Inga Selders has not filed her report, so it’s not possible to assess the impact of this donation.
Cole Robinson’s Statement of Substantial Interest shows he is the owner of Fresh Ink Freelance LLC. Fresh Ink Freelance provides consulting services to Mike Kelly’s campaign according to several of Kelly’s campaign reports, including the most recent.
In campaign finance reports JoCo Board Chair Mike Kelly often lists large payments to Fresh Ink Freelance (Cole Robinson) for a variety of services.
JoCo Democratic Party Controversy in PV Mayor’s Race
The Johnson County Democratic Party in their 2026 General Election Guide pre-selected Democrat Cole Robinson for Prairie Village Mayor and refused to list the other Democratic candidate in the race, Inga Selders.
Why did the Democratic Party select Robinson instead of letting voters decide?
The Johnson County Democrats pre-selected Cole Robinson on their election guide and left off the name of fellow Democrat, Inga Selders.
Amberwave PAC Donors
Most of the expenditures made by Amberwave were summarized above. A summary of the donors is shown below as well as a few other expenditures.
PAC report
Amberwave PAC Campaign Finance Receipts and Expenditures Report for Oct. 26.
The report shows three primary contributors.
Recent contributors to Amberwave PAC in recent campaign finace report.
The largest donor to Amberwave in 2026 was Local Jobs & Economic Development Fund, which gave $100,000. This amount was $15,000 larger than its 2024 contribution.
In recent years the main donors to the Local Jobs & Economic Development Fund were “dark money” nonprofit sources found from analysis of IRS 990 tax returns.
Donors to Local Jobs & Economic Development Fund
Terry Matlack gave $25,000 to Amberwave. FEC records show Matlack is a KC Royals minority owner and recently gave $50,000 to the People Over Politics Action Fund, which is a Super PAC supporting Adam Hamilton for US Senate. Matlack’s wife, Cathy, gave $10,000 to Gov. Laura Kelly’s Middle of the Road PAC in 2024.
“Last Minute” expenditures
Amberwave reported $26,880 in “last minute” expenditures.
Expenditures for contributions to the campaigns of Cole Robinson, Becky Fast, and Greg Mitchell were summarized above. Mitchell also benefited from independent expenditures shown above.
These expenditures were also in the “last minute” report:
Additional recipients of independent expenditures “last minute” filing by Amberwave PAC.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cindy Holscher received a $4000 contribution from the PAC.
Apparently, Amberwave paid a $5,709 legal fee to DC-based attorneys, Blank Rome LLP.
The payment to Pablo dePalacios remains a mystery based on the information above (but a Google search shows an Olathe address).
Related
Mike Kelly’s Amberwave PAC crushes opposition in JoCo Board of County Commissioners election
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Amberwave PAC spent about $200,000 in 2024
Should citizens in JoCo trust politics driven by “dark money” and labor unions?
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APRIL 28, 2025Read full story
Amberwave PAC received $85,000 in “dark money” and $65,000 from labor unions in 2024