Uber adds Gov. Sam Brownback’s former campaign manager, others as lobbyists

Ride-hailing giant Uber has signed several high-profile lobbyists — including Gov. Sam Brownback’s former campaign manager — to represent it in an expected fight in the Kansas Legislature over new regulations for the industry.

Brownback, a Republican, vetoed a bill April 20 that would have imposed stricter insurance regulations and background check requirements for drivers for Uber and similar services.

Mark Dugan, who managed Brownback’s successful 2014 re-election campaign, registered as a lobbyist for Uber seven days later on April 27, according to the secretary of state’s office.

The governor’s office said Dugan played no role in the decision to veto the bill. Dugan did not return a request for comment about his contract with Uber.

The company, which enables customers to hail rides using an app on their smartphones, began the session with two lobbyists, Matt Hickam and Beka Romm.

As of Monday, it had hired six more since the Legislature passed S.B. 117.

Supporters of the bill said they would try to override the veto during the wrap-up session that begins Wednesday.

The bill would have required drivers of ride-hailing services to undergo background checks by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and certify that they have comprehensive and collision insurance. Lawmakers said the bill was needed for public safety, but Uber threatened to pull out of Kansas if it became law.

Instead, the company expanded into Lawrence, Topeka, Leavenworth and Manhattan three days after Brownback’s veto. It already operates in the Wichita and Kansas City areas.

Rep. Scott Schwab, an Olathe Republican, said last week that the expansion was proof that Uber’s threat to pull out of Kansas was hollow. He said the Legislature had a consensus from moderate Republicans, conservative Republicans and Democrats that the bill was a good fix.

Will McCollum, Uber’s general manager for Kansas and Colorado, said the new lobbyist hires show the company’s commitment to the Kansas market.

“And hopefully those kinds of actions will back up those kinds of words … so hopefully, we’ll be able to get to a situation where there’s not an overturn vote,” he said. “And come a year from now we’ll be talking about another bill and the market will have had a year to prove itself.”

McCollum said he would not discuss details of the lobbyists’ contracts.

The other new Uber lobbyists are: Jason Watkins, who also serves as a lobbyist for the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce; Watkins’ business partner, Scott Schneider; Jonathan Small, the state’s former adjutant general and a lobbyist for Koch Industries; John Bottenberg, a Topeka-based lobbyist with clients that include AT&T, Westar and Kansas Speedway Corp.; and Steve Palmer, a lobbyist with Grayling, an international public affairs firm based in Washington.

This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 7:36 PM with the headline "Uber adds Gov. Sam Brownback’s former campaign manager, others as lobbyists."