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

At least one institution and one individual threw away thousands of dollars in the waning days of the Question 1 campaign.

I have previously reported significant contributions to the Citizens for Research, Treatments and Cures campaign committee through Oct. 31., a week ago today.

But, lo and behold, one chump and one institution gave a total of $20,000 after that.

Now, the world-renowned political consultants working for outlandish fees certainly knew by that time that Question 1 would be going down to an ignominious defeat. So, didn’t they tell this guy and this institution to hold on to their money? That the cause was hopeless?

Guess not.

Maybe it was because, by that point, ace consultant Steve Glorioso had become preoccupied with his impending hip-replacement surgery, which took place Wednesday morning.

Maybe ace consultant Pat Gray had gotten pissed off by then and jumped ship, as he’s been known to do.

Maybe ace consultant Pat O’Neill, who reportedly signed onto the campaign reluctantly, had moved on to planning next year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Or maybe super-ace consultant Jeff Roe had decided he was working for a bunch of losers and simply allowed them to keep pouring money in to the end.

(The end result, of course, was an 84 percent to 16 percent drubbing of Q. 1.)

At any rate, Paul DeBruce, founder and CEO of DeBruce Grain, contributed $15,000 on Nov. 1.

Then, on Monday — Election Eve — Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences tossed $5,000 onto the cash pile just before voters put a wand lighter to it.

Four days earlier, Thursday, Oct. 31, KCUMB had contributed $4,450.

You would think that considering all the KCUMB money the late Karen Pletz made off with when she was CEO, the medical school would be looking to replenish its coffers.

As I said in my Nov. 1 post, the heavy hitters contributed about $1.8 million to the cures committee. On Tuesday night, as the results rolled in, I kept thinking that it was kind of entertaining sometimes to watch super rich people spend their money foolishly.

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Now, as we put this election campaign in our collective rearview mirror, I want to tell you the Top Five reasons why we had to defeat the proposed half-cent sales tax for translational medical research.

Because if voters had approved it…

5) Jim Stowers would have wanted taxpayers to reimburse him the $2 billion he spent establishing the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

4) The “rock star” researchers who would have been hired would have built swimming pools in their south Johnson County backyards.

3) Jackson County would have used part of the money to build a golf course for research retirees.

2) The next time, instead of three weeks notice, the Civic Council would have given the County Legislature three hours’ notice of a proposal it wanted on a ballot.

And the No. 1 reason that we had to beat Question 1 is because if it had passed…

1) The Civic Council’s next proposal would have been a sales tax for therapeutic mineral baths.