Amberwave PAC spent about $200,000 in 2024

April 22, 2025

This is the first of two articles about Mike Kelly’s Amberwave PAC. This article focuses on the impact of Amberwave’s spending for or against candidates running as JoCo commissioner candidates in the 2024 general election. A follow-up article will address other aspects of campaign finance filings by Amberwave PAC.

Amberwave PAC was launched in 2024 by Mike Kelly (D), who is the chair of the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners, to steer Johnson County government. One particular focus of the PACwas county commission contests.

Commissioner elections are “non-partisan” but that is a façade in Johnson County. Spending by Democrat Mike Kelly’s Amberwave PAC from Democratic-funded sources guaranteed defeat of all three Republicans in 2024 BOCC contests.

BOCC Candidate Expenditures

All commissioners serve four-year terms. Districts 2, 3 and 6 held elections in 2024.

In 2024 candidate spending alone favored the Democrats in all three commissioner contests.

In District 2 Democrat Jeff Meyers spent about 20% more than Republican opponent Mark Hamill, but in the other two districts Democrats Julie Brewer and Shirley Allenbrand spent nearly three-times as much as their Republican rivals.

Campaign expenditure information summarized from 2024 JoCo Commission candidate reports.

See Data Details below for breakdown by campaign reporting period.

Amberwave PAC Expenditures

Kansas PACs are to report expenditures for or against a candidate if amounts exceed $300.

I believe there may be errors or omissions in the current Amberwave PAC reports, and current reports may not accurately reflect all spending for or against BOCC candidates in 2024.

On Monday I sent Amberwave PAC Chair, Danielle Robinson, an email asking nine clarifying questions about the PAC’s three 2024 reports. This article will be updated if revised information is obtained.

The Oct. 28, 2024 Amberwave PAC reportshows “Other transactions” of $199,380, which should have details in a Schedule D.

The last two pages of the report are not labeled “Schedule D,” but provide information summarized by contest and by candidate. It’s unclear why those two tables do not sum to the reported “Other transactions” amount.

The table below is from p. 5 of that report.

Campaign expenditure information summarized from 2024 Amberwave PAC reports.

A “last minute” report filed by Amberwave PAC on Oct 31st showed $2,244.51 spent to support the three Democratic candidates. That information is not included in this analysis, since it cannot be found in the Jan. 10, 2025 report, where it should have been included, along with other expenditures that may have been candidate specific.

See Data Details below for breakdown by campaign reporting period.

Election Results and Expenditure Comparisons

Let’s consider the campaign spending by candidates and the Amberwave PAC in the context of the official election results, which show Democrats swept all three contests.

2024 general election results and comparisons of candidate expenditures with Amberwave PAC expenditures.

Both candidates in District 2 spent about $1 per vote, but with Meyer’s spending $4719 more, he won by 5349 votes.

In District 2 Amberwave spent another $0.85 per voter in favor of Meyer, and $0.32 per voter against Hamill.

Instead of near parity in money spent by voter in District 2, there was $1.86 net spent in favor or Meyers and only $0.71 net spent in favor of Hamill. That gave Meyers a 2.6-to-1 advantage. Because of Amberwave, Meyers’ spending per voter was enhanced by 84% and Hamill’s was reduced by 31%.

The Amberwave spending in Districts 3 was overwhelming to help the Democrat and harm the Republican. Already ahead in her own spending by nearly 3-to-1, Julie Brewer gained additional Amberwave spending in her favor, and negative spending against Charlotte O’Hara. Overall, Brewer enjoyed an 8-to-1 net spending advantage per voter over O’Hara.

In District 6 Amberwave spent more for the Democratic candidate than in District 3, and less against the Republican candidate than in District 3. Overall, Shirley Allenbrand had a commanding 5-to-1 net spending advantage per voter over Mike Storm.

2026 First Look

Board Chair Mike Kelly, and Commissioners Becky Fast (District 1), Janeé Hanzlick (District 4), and Michael Ashcraft (District 5) will face election contests in 2026.

Becky Fast has the most cash at this time.