Money
the real
“Green”
power
by Jennifer Williams
As Evergy is continuing to request increases in rates, is the public aware of how their current budget is being spent? Do they know that the Evergy CEO was compensated over $6.8 MILLION in 2022, Board of Director salaries averaged over $333,000, and stockholders received over $534 MILLION in total dividends paid? Are they aware that executives are rewarded for implementing the global ESG plan, including Evergy’s adherence to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, or that Evergy spends countless hours and dollars in lobbying and campaign donations?
Has the public read Evergy’s company policies that govern their practices? Most likely not.
Below are 5 areas of concern with Evergy’s current business practices that should make anyone, including Kansas legislators, question if the utility monopoly model is still an appropriate method or if it is becoming a method of forcing the public to pay for failing systems that are making executives and investors rich; while leaving the tab with those struggling just to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. Perhaps it is time for another approach to be explored.
This is part 4 of a 5-part Series to address the major concerns in the following categories that are affecting customer rates and the future of our monopolistic public utility.
Hefty Dividend Payments to Shareholders
ESG & “Renewable” Programs
Executive Salaries
Lobbying & Campaign Contributions
KCC and CURB
Lobbying and Campaign Contributions
In their Annual Report, Evergy repeatedly mentions the effects of legislation on future rates, investments, dividends, and other business practices. As a state-regulated utility, they understand the State holds the power through legislation; therefore, Evergy representatives do everything they can to influence those regulations and keep out competition.
Currently, Evergy is using the legislation that is in place, which allows them to continue the monopoly. However, they are actively involved in the political process and have a direct influence on the state legislators regarding legislation that is being reviewed and even issues important to the people that never make it to a vote because Evergy and affiliates successfully thwart many efforts before they can gain any traction.
In the opening letter of the 2022 Annual Report, President and CEO David Campbell said, “In both Missouri and Kansas, we will continue our focus on ongoing constructive working relationships with regulators and all our other stakeholders.”
Evergy’s Public Policy Engagement Notice lists their $661,954 in donations and states the following:
“Our ability to pursue our mission and achieve our vision – for the benefit of all stakeholders – depends on sound public policies, laws and regulations at the national, state and local levels that enable us to provide reliable and affordable electricity to our customers in a safe and efficient manner. As such, not only do we believe it is appropriate to actively participate in the political, legislative and regulatory environments, we believe it is critical to do so – our success, and the success of our stakeholders, depends on us doing so.“
Political Action Committees
Evergy has Political Action Committees (PACs) through which employees may participate in the political process. These nonpartisan, voluntary PACs are organized and operate separately from Evergy, as required by law. Our PACs are governed by employees from across the company, and PAC contributions are made without regard to the private political preference of any director, executive or employee.
Sound Governance and Board Oversight
Our Board and its various committees regularly review and discuss public policy, legislative and regulatory matters that may impact Evergy and its stakeholders. Our Board approves a political contribution budget, based on a recommendation from our Nominating, Governance, and Corporate Responsibility Committee.
. All corporate contributions will promote Evergy’s interests and will be made without regard for the private political preferences of executives.
In 2022, Evergy donated $19,000 to non-partisan committees, $15,500 to national campaigns, $30,850 to Missouri elections (including $2,000 to Mayor Quinton Lucas) and $31,250 to Kansas elections.
As can be seen from the disclosures below, Evergy actively targets those with the ability to make decisions – governors, Senate leaders, house leaders, and even local Johnson County Kansas Commissioners (Fast, Hanzlick, and Kelly). Evergy is listed as a partner on Johnson County Chairman Mike Kelly’s Climate Action KC Plan.
In addition to individual campaigns, Evergy also made corporate political contributions in the amount of $584,354.
They fund both sides of the aisle, with $50,000 to the Republican Governor’s Association and $25,000 to the Democratic Governor’s Association. But what about those larger donations?
Who are these organizations and what are the funds used for?
Above, Evergy shows a $100,000 contribution to Kansas Values Institute, whose 2021 Form 990 tax filing shows their major programs were involved in Medicaid expansion. A dig into their financials can be found by Earl Glynn here showing the dark money associated with this group.
Evergy gave $100,000 to A Public Voice, Inc, an Ohio corporation filing as a 501(c)4 with only one voting member. As with the previous group, there are articles calling out this organization’s dark money as well. Their statement says their “mission is to promote the common good and general welfare by supporting direct democracy efforts, which give the public a direct voice in the operation of state and local government through the approval or defeat of amendments to state constitutions and local charters, and state and local legislation.”
Was this spending related to the two constitutional amendments voted on in Kansas in 2022?
If so, what do the sheriff’s constitutional amendment or abortion have to do with Evergy’s business model?
The $75,000 Liberty First Project, Inc donation is to a company formed by Senate President Ty Masterson’s policy and communication’s chief, Michelle Schroeder. It appears the company also received $75,000 in 2021 but is currently showing delinquent on its corporate filings for 2023 with the Kansas Secretary of State. It is unknown what the company does with the funds or who all has contributed. At the time of this writing, a website was unable to be found. Their 2022 income taxes have not been filed yet, but the 2021 990EZ shows they are a 501(c)4 with $191,290 cash balance at the end of 2021 and “restricted” listed under the list of contributors.
Source of above info: Evergy Public Policy Engagement
The Evergy Employee PAC also made the following donations for statewide races plus many others for senate and house races.
Sadly, Evergy is not the only energy organization trying to persuade our representatives. With the Biden Infrastructure bill handing out billions in printed money, everyone has their hand out looking to take the “renewable” grants and force the projects with what they claim is “free money” but is really another taxpayer-subsidized expense that only profits the favored corporations.
From NextEra Energy, who is actively forcing the thousands of acre West Gardner industrial solar complex on rural residential Douglas and Johnson County residents, to their attorney partners, and others – energy political campaign contributions to influence Kansas legislators, governors, and other offices are flowing freely.
Take a look at the campaign finance reports of your representatives to see other influencers who may be affecting them, or who are at least trying to persuade them to do their bidding. You can also search by contributor name here.
*Note: As many will point out, taking money for campaigns does not imply working in cahoots with an organization. There are representatives who may appear on the reports as a recipient of these organizations, yet they actively work for their constituents and not the lobbyists.
What is important to research is how those representatives vote and whether those House and Senate leaders and committee leaders allow issues to be heard that are important to the People and that they are not blocking things that the lobbyists are telling them to block.
American Energy Action Fund is a major promoter of “renewables”. Below is just one of many reports showing the amount of campaign contributions they pay on behalf of candidates, via digital advertising and text message campaigns. These types of funds are important to pay attention to because they do not have the lower limits that other direct contributions have. Under the column “candidate” you can see whether the campaign was in support of or in opposition to, along with the candidate’s name
The Kansas Power Alliance PAC is also a player. They claim, “The Kansas Power Alliance represents the clean energy industry in Kansas, helping to deliver energy that is clean, affordable, and made in America.”
One major contributor, Eolian, gave $50,000 to influence elections, on this one report alone. Their website claims they are “one of the most successful energy investors in the U.S.
Eolian, L.P. is a portfolio company of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a leading independent infrastructure fund manager that makes equity and debt investments in infrastructure assets and businesses”
GIP operates out of 10 offices: New York, London, Stamford (Connecticut), Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore and Hong Kong”
Below is a list of donations made by Kansas Power Alliance on their October 31, 2022 campaign report:
The Kansas Power Alliance PAC received contributions from APEX Clean Energy, a Deleware-registered corporation based in Virginia. Whether this company was the inspiration for Governor Kelly’s APEX program (Panasonic and corporate welfare) is unknown at this time.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. Reading all campaign contribution reports and having discussions on those could take days. What is important to note is that these heavy hitters and special interest groups have mega money with mega influence – effectively drowning out the sound of the voice of the people.
Sadly, the people have no control or checks-and-balance system to protect them from lobbyists. They depend upon the people they vote for to remain honest and to act with integrity, in the best interest of their constituents. Elected officials need to be strong enough to withstand the pressure of special interest groups and protect the interest of Kansans firsts.
That’s what it all comes back to. The power of government is supposed to rest in the hands of We the People; not corporations, not PACs, not utility monopolies, and certainly not the “stakeholders” that these organizations and governments keep swooning over in their reports when speaking about who they answer to.
Our government does not owe allegiance to “stakeholders.”
Our utility monopolies should not either.
They say the state-governed utility monopoly is different from other monopolies because they have regulations and oversight. They talk about how the customers are protected by the Kansas Corporation Commission and their citizen board, CURB.
Stay tuned for part 5 showing why that protection is merely a false sense of security with no real representation for the people.
This is why it is so important for WE THE PEOPLE to financially support candidates. Good candidates cannon win without money. It’s a sad fact, but true.
“All corporate contributions will promote Evergy’s interests and will be made without regard for the private political preferences of executives.
That is a troubling sentence. This is not an area of expertise for myself, but even with that lack of knowledge the fact that the CEO makes 6.8 million is enough of a wake up call. The energy industry is complex. My husband’s family worked for the power and light company in Colorado for years. But 6.8 million and the high income for the board would have to make anyone wonder how they could make “detached” objective decisions that would be in the best interests of the consumer and his/her budget.