The lobbying group's catchy slogan is "Who's for kids and who's just kidding?"
And its aim, backed by two of the region's biggest charitable trusts, is to put the heat on Kansas policy-makers who don't live up to the group's goal of putting children's issues at the top of state government's priority list.
Hannah Walter, 3, works on counting skills with Heather Gilliam, early interventionist with Brookcreek Learning Center, 200 Mount Hope Court. The Kansas Children's Campaign seeks to make youth issues a political priority in the state.
Kansas Children's Campaign has a board deeply stacked with former political heavyweights of the moderate Republican persuasion and that already has some conservative Republican legislators feeling edgy about the plump-coffered group's aims.
"We have a lot of groups out there now focusing on children's issues," said Rep. Brenda Landwehr, a conservative Wichita Republican. "I'm not sure why we need another one."
Landwehr, an outspoken critic of the state's child welfare system, said she expects the newly formed Kansas Children's Campaign to support raising taxes and starting new programs rather than forcing more efficiency from existing efforts.
"That's all I ever hear: 'More money, more money, more money,'" Landwehr said. "But that can't always be the answer. I wish they'd research the programs we already have and tell us what's effective, what's ineffective and what we can do to get more out of what we're already doing."
Landwehr, a four-term incumbent who serves on the House budget committee, also is bothered by the prospects of being labeled anti-children because she's against raising taxes and adding programs.
"I'm not anti-children," Landwehr said. "I just wish people would come in with ideas that don't always have us writing a bigger check."
Kansas Children's Campaign officials insist their efforts are strictly nonpartisan, their issues not yet defined.
"We'll not be endorsing anyone. There won't be a litmus test or anything like that," said Gary Brunk, executive director of Kansas Action for Children, an association that lobbies on behalf of children and recently launched the Kansas Children's Campaign.
The four-year campaign is underwritten with $2.4 million in grants from the Kansas Health Foundation in Wichita and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo.
Modeled after a Florida program, the Kansas Children's Campaign plans to use invitation-only discussion groups on Jan. 30 in Topeka, Feb. 6 in Manhattan, Feb. 13 in Overland Park, Feb. 22 in Kansas City, Kan., Feb. 27 in Wichita and March 6 in Garden City to come up with a three-issue platform.
"At this point, we don't know what those issues will be," Brunk said. "They'll be defined by the community at-large."
Reaching voters
Once the priorities are defined, Kansas Children's Campaign will begin polling candidates, having community forums and educating voters on how candidates differ on issues. Plans call for using direct mail, paid advertisements and other marketing techniques to reach voters most likely to vote and contributors most likely to give to candidates' campaigns.
"The goal is to make children's issues the first thought on politicians' minds rather than an afterthought," Brunk said. "And to do that, you've got to get frequent voters, contributors and community leaders to tell the candidates, 'This is what we want to see happen.' And to make that happen, you start by making them aware of the issues, which is what this is all about."
In 2002, the campaign will restrict its activities to the cities and counties involved in the initial discussions.
These six counties, Brunk said, account for "40-plus percent of the state's population."
The campaign will take on five more counties in its second year; 10 more in time for the 2004 elections.
Brunk said Douglas County will be included in the 2003 discussions.
No conservatives
Kansas Children's Campaign is governed by an 11-member board composed of well-connected Republicans and Democrats. Among them:
l Robert Stephan, R-Lenexa, former attorney general.
Sheila Frahm, R-Colby, former lieutenant governor.
Tim Emert, R-Independence, former Kansas Senate majority leader.
Rochelle Chronister, R-Neodesha, former state representative and welfare secretary.
Jill Docking, D-Wichita, former U.S. Senate candidate.
Dick Bond, R-Overland Park, former Kansas Senate president.
None of the 11, Landwehr said, are conservatives.
"I'd be a lot more comfortable with what they're trying to do if there were some conservatives on their board," Landwehr said.
Melly Schmidt, director of Kansas Children's Campaign, said the board plans to "broaden its base" in the coming weeks.
Bond, president of the Kansas Senate from 1997 through 2000, is chairman of the campaign's governing board.
"All of us who've served in the Legislature Democrats, moderate Republicans, conservative Republicans have done a poor job for children," Bond said. "Children have not been the highest priority of state government. They've not ranked anywhere close to highways or prisons or tax-cutting and so many other issues the Legislature gets concerned with.
"I'm sorry if that makes someone feel paranoid. But as a former legislator who made a conscious effort to keep these issues in mind, I must say I feel kind of guilty for not having done enough."
Sen. Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, sees nothing wrong with the campaign's approach.
"I remember a few years back when chambers of commerce were trying to get the highway plan passed, and they started the Economic Lifelines group and went around the state creating a grassroots demand for highways and it worked," said Praeger, who's been in the Legislature since 1991.
"If that approach was good enough for highways, then it ought to be good enough for kids," she said. "I'm all for them."
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