JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

This is the day many of you guys have been waiting for — Yard Sign day.

Marcus Leach and I picked up an order of 500 this afternoon from Gill Studio in Lenexa.

Marcus is with Citizens for Responsible Research, a campaign committee financed almost exclusively by Brad Bradshaw, a lawyer and physician from Springfield. My Committee to Stop a Bad Cure works loosely with his committee. Marcus is working on behalf of Bradshaw’s committee.

Anyway, I like the signs a lot, particularly the words “$800 MILLION TAX,” which is the total amount (at a minimum) that the proposed half-cent sales tax for “translational medical research” would raise.

I planted the first sign in my yard yesterday afternoon.

I have 200 signs; Marcus kept 100 for his committee’s distribution; and 200 are going to the League of Women Voters.

Any of you who would like one or more, contact me by email — jim.fitzpatrick06@gmail.com.

Let’s plant these yard signs and stake out our turf….NO ON JACKSON COUNTY QUESTION 1.

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Meanwhile, the money keeps a rollin’ into the coffers of Citizens for Research, Treatments and Cures, the Civic Council-sponsored committee that is going all out financially to try to push Question 1 over the top on Nov. 5

St. Luke’s Health System made two $10,000 contributions within the past week, bringing its total contribution level to $40,000. In addition, St. Luke’s Foundation has given $10,000.

Is it any wonder that St. Luke’s is able to dump $50,000 or more into the election? The private, nonprofit hospital would love to get its hands on $8 million a year of taxpayer funds for 20 years. Not that it needs it, of course, because the hospital probably is generating tens of millions of dollars more than it spends each year, as it is. 

Other large contributions in recent days: Mariner Holdings, an investment advisory firm in Leawood, $25,000, and Kansas City Southern Railway, $10,000.

The CEO’s of Kansas City Southern and Mariner Holdings undoubtedly are members of the Civic Council, an organization of the area’s top business and law-firm leaders. The Civic Council does not reveal its list of members.

As an organization, the Civic Council has donated $600,000 to the cause, and, yet, oddly, the organization never sends one of its members or leaders out into the community to speak in support of Question 1. It always sends minions, usually lawyers from the Polsinelli firm, which is in line to do a significant amount of legal work for the proposed Translational Medicine Institute of Jackson County.   

The cures committee has raised $1.5 million or more.