Could KC dark money group pull off Frank White recall? How much money it’s spent so far
A secretive new group backing a campaign to remove Jackson County Executive Frank White Jr. from office spent $47,000 early this month in support of a recall vote, according to its initial campaign finance disclosure report.
A small portion of that went to pay 33 temporary workers to gather signatures outside polling places on Election Day from registered voters who support removing White from office.
But the bulk of Democracy in Action’s spending went to a national political consulting firm that is based in Kansas City called co/efficient . The company received nearly $30,000 for what was described on the form as a “phone text campaign” in support of a recall.
And $9,500 went to conduct a telephone poll that Ryan Munce, co/efficient’s president and managing partner, said found widespread hostility toward White, a one-time popular Kansas Royals player whose popularity has suffered since he entered politics a decade ago.
Most respondents blame White for rising property tax bills due to the countywide reassessment process.
“Because of the property tax stuff, primarily, he’s pretty resoundingly unpopular,” Munce said. “And so the folks that are trying to create some kind of change certainly have the wind at their back.”
Critics say White’s administration has mishandled the process to set real estate values for tax purposes and has stubbornly refused to make change that lessen the impact of rising property taxes
White claims he has followed state law and that he is not to blame for spikes in his constituents’ tax bills.
Munce also noted that most of those his company polled were unaware that a recall effort was underway. He said he expects that will change if Democracy in Action gears up its operation.
Building on a grassroots campaign
Democracy in Action incorporated last month and began backing an existing petition drive that angry taxpayers started in 2023 on Facebook.
It is unclear who is funding the group. Formed as a “social welfare organization” under 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code, Democracy in Action does not have to disclose its donors. But Missouri law requires that such dark-money groups disclose political campaign expenditures.
Co/efficient often posts poll results on its website. Munce said his client had not authorized its release yet.
However, his characterization of his firm’s poll results track with the results of one done a year ago by Remington Research Group, which found that 55% of county voters surveyed disapproved of White’s job performance. Only 24% approved and 21% were not sure.
That poll of 657 likely voters was done Dec. 1-3, 2023, for the Heavy Constructors Association of Greater Kansas City, which was then gauging taxpayer support for a sales tax to renovate Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs. The association’s executive director, Bridgette Williams, later became a member of a committee of community leaders formed to support passage of a sales tax that would have helped pay for a new downtown stadium for the Royals and major renovations to Arrowhead Stadium.
White opposed the tax, which voters rejected in April.
Afterwards, Munce’s firm worked this spring on a separate campaign to entice the Chiefs with tax subsidies to relocate to Kansas. But he denies that the stadiums issue is linked to the recall effort.
“I can tell you very much on the record that there’s no connection in any way that I have seen to the Chiefs on this particular project,” he said. “It’s unrelated to the sports stuff, as far as I know.”
White is a Democrat. Munce claims co/efficient is a bipartisan firm that works exclusively for Republican candiates running for election on the state and national levels, but tends to work for Democrats in local races.
“We do mostly Democrat work for city and county elections and officials. And then we have kind of a separation of church and state, where we do GOP at the federal and state level,” he said. “So it gives us a good perspective and lets us speak both languages.”
How likely is a recall?
Munce said he is not sure what plans Democracy in Action has, but he doubts the group would spend tens of thousands of dollars on the recall effort unless they were ready to make a serious push to collect enough signatures to set an election that could remove White from his job before his term expires in 2026.
“I certainly expect for them to do something,” he said. “I mean the data, which is our part of the story, very much indicates that the county wants it and that it would certainly be a winning effort – if they put the resources together to get some kind of campaign up and running.”
They – Democracy in Action – are not saying much. Asked for an update on the recall effort, Guy Howard, the group’s executive director, responded with a brief text message.
“There are no new updates,” he wrote. “We are continuing to get signatures on a daily basis.”
Howard has previously declined to identify who is on the board or staff of Democracy in Action or where the group’s funding is coming from. He is Williams’ brother in law, but she says that is a coincidence.
As of early this month, about 15,000 signatures had been collected out of the 42,900 signatures needed to put White’s recall to the voters, according to Oak Grove resident Stephanie Coen, one of the volunteers who has been leading since last year.
Since then, the group has staged drive-through petition signing sessions in eastern Jackson County.
Coen did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
But on the Facebook group Fight Jackson County Missouri Assessments this week, she complained about a lack of support from Democracy in Action in expanding the signature collection effort.
“We are volunteers,” she wrote. “We thought we had help from an organization but have yet to receive anything more than some petitions, clipboards, pens, 12 shirts and 10 signs.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
