The companies inside a modern-style office building in downtown Topeka have been good to state Sen. Sandy Praeger in her bid to become the state’s next insurance commissioner.

Thousands of dollars in campaign contributions have poured into the Lawrence Republican’s coffers from AmerUS Annuity Group, related companies and their executives, according to campaign finance reports. The companies, which sell various types of insurance, are regulated by the insurance department.

For AmerUS, it’s just business.

The insurance commissioner has “a lot to do with our business, and it’s a very important position,” said John Mugler, vice president for government relations for AmerUS Annuity Group.

But Mugler said he was not expecting any favors in return for helping Praeger become the next insurance commissioner.

“I don’t think you do it for the positive; you don’t want the negative. If someone calls and asks for money, you don’t want to say no. I don’t think anybody at any level expects to get something from it, nothing like a bill passed or something. Those days are over with.”

Praeger said her ability to take money from high-dollar special interests and vote against their interests when she thinks that is the right thing to do has been proven time and again as a legislator for the past 12 years.

Opponent’s ammunition

But her political opponents are turning up the heat as Tuesday’s Republican Party primary draws near.

Bryan Riley of Wichita, who is being vastly outspent by Praeger, said Praeger’s television ads should have a disclaimer that reads: “This ad made possible through the generous support of the insurance industry.”

Riley, too, accepts money from insurance companies, but hasn’t raised nearly as much as Praeger.

Democrat Jim Garner, who awaits the winner of the GOP primary, also has made Praeger’s solicitation of insurance money one of his top issues.

“Quite simply, if your campaign is funded heavily by the industry, you cannot be an independent commissioner,” Garner said.

The current commissioner, Kathleen Sebelius, the Democratic nominee for governor, has refused to accept funds from insurers. Garner has said he wouldn’t accept money from the industry, either.

A list of Praeger’s campaign contributors reads like a Who’s Who of establishment Kansas politicians.

555 S. Kansas Ave.

Term-limited Gov. Bill Graves, a fellow moderate Republican, has refused to get involved in the GOP primary for governor but has endorsed Praeger for insurance commissioner. His wife, Linda, has donated $100 to Praeger.

Praeger also has received contributions from Robert Ellsworth, a former ambassador to NATO and former Kansas congressman, former Gov. Mike Hayden, dozens of movers and shakers from around the state and Lawrence, and just as many political action committees representing powerful interest groups such as doctors, bankers and insurance companies.

From January through July, she raised nearly $128,000.

Of that amount, she received at least $17,000 from insurance companies and executives located at 555 S. Kansas Ave. in Topeka. Those contributions came in from June 28 through July 16.

The companies and their chiefs are well-known in political circles. They include AmVestors Insurance Group, AmVestors Investment Group Inc., AmerUS Annuity Group, American Investors Sales Group Inc. and others.

‘A corporate citizen’

Most of the companies have given the $2,000 limit and their executives have given more money. Mark Heitz, chairman and chief executive of several of the companies, has given $1,300. Praeger also received $640 in office furniture from AmVestors Financial.

“There’s a lot of insurance company support for her out of that same building,” Riley said. “For a lot of people, that might raise eyebrows.”

Praeger has said Riley’s protest was a smack of desperation.

She said the donations were within the legal limit of $2,000 per election cycle because they came from separate entities.

Praeger has argued that it would be unfair not to take contributions from insurance companies and then take contributions from other entities such as trial lawyers or health care groups. All will have business that relates to the insurance department, she said.

Mugler said there was nothing sinister about the contributions. He noted his company contributed to a candidate in the treasurer’s race, an office that has nothing to do with the insurance business.

The contributions, he said, are “just part of being a corporate citizen.”