Wichita oil executive Wink Hartman, a potential candidate for Kansas governor in 2022, is creating a political action committee to help elect candidates supporting economic growth.
Hartman, a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2018, is forming Kansans for All PAC.
The PAC will help elect “pro-economic growth Republican candidates dedicated to common sense management of government.”
Hartman said he wants to elect candidates who are “focused on fiscal common sense, job creation, cleaning up the state’s foster care crisis and helping rural communities.”
“Kansas is at a crossroads and this year we need to elect candidates who will bring common sense conservative government to Topeka,” Hartman said in a statement.
“Gov. Kelly and others in Topeka are not focused on the common-sense values that Kansans discuss at their kitchen tables,” he said.
It was unknown how much Hartman is planning to put into the political action committee, but he plans to have an “active, robust organization.”
Hartman would have the deep pockets to fund the PAC.
He recently wrote off $2.4 million in loans that he gave to Kris Kobach’s unsuccessful 2018 campaign for governor.
Hartman used the announcement of his PAC to criticize the governor for a number of her policies, including a proposal to tax digital goods.
He targeted Kelly’s proposal to reorganize the state’s social service agencies, which is facing opposition in the House and Senate.
He said the Department for Children and Families should remain a standalone agency and not merge with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.
The governor has wanted to bring the agencies together under one umbrella so their services would be more easily accessed by families.
Hartman said DCF needs to be a standalone agency with dedicated leadership.
Hartman said the governor’s reasons for wanting to merge the agencies “can be solved through simple management reforms.”
In an interview in January, Hartman told the Sunflower State Journal he was 90% sure he would run for governor in 2022.
“I am positioning myself to be available and run for that office,” he said. “Today, I cannot see anything on the horizon that would make me change my mind.”
