This article was originally posted 09/02/2020 on SUBV Facebook page
So, we need to talk just a bit more about Charlotte O’Hara. Who here remembers the 2002 and 2006 Johnson County Commission elections?
O’Hara ran for County Commission back in 2002 and 2006 - Chair, in fact. She lost. We read those campaign finance reports - yeah, we find those fascinating reading. We like to know who funds campaigns.
Between the 2002 and 2006 County Commission races, Charlotte O’Hara “loaned” her campaigns, and then “forgave” the loans, OVER $455,000.00. She spent almost half a million dollars of her own money to try and become the Chair of the Johnson County Commission. Does that worry anyone else? What about being Commission Chair would be worth that kind of money to a person?
Here are the offices O’Hara has run for:
1993 - Olathe School Board
1997 - Community College Trustee
2002 - County Commission Chair
2006 - County Commission Chair
2012 - State Senate
2014 - State Senate
2017 - Overland Park Mayor (she “loaned” her campaign $20K in that race)
She has never been elected to ANY of them. She was appointed, in 2011, to fill a State Rep term when Jeff Colyer left his Senate seat to become Lt. Governor, and Ray Merrick slid over to complete that term. That’s where her KsLeg votes from 2011-2012 came from. (We posted about those yesterday)
Candidates often loan their campaigns a few thousand dollars to get started before their fundraising gets going. They usually pay it back after they raise some money. They’re allowed to “forgive” the loan though, which is how O’Hara spent that kind of money on her own campaign. She was loaning her campaign tens of thousands of dollars in the final days of the election - she knew the money to repay those loans wasn’t coming in. We’ll say it again: What about being County Commission Chair would be worth that kind of money to a person?
Here’s what Stacy Obringer-Varhall has been doing for BV since 2002: Starting a support group for Stay-at-home Moms; being a PTA volunteer and president, working on school carnivals, at the Scholastic Book Fair; doing Chat and Chew with kids; coaching softball; sitting on district advisory committees; working with the Blue Valley Ed Foundation; serving as a School Board member. And much more.
The distinction between these 2 candidates could not be more profound. Help spread the word about the importance of this race to the future of our community.
Comments