By John Celock
The Republican Governors Association is up with a new commercial that swings the Kansas governor’s race debate from sex toys to lap dances.
The RGA Tuesday released an ad focused on Democratic gubernatorial nominee Paul Davis’ words about “past behavior” being an example and the revelations that he had been receiving a lap dance during the 1998 raid. Davis was not arrested in the raid and was an attorney for the owner of the strip club. The strip club story has become an issue in the competitive race between Davis and Gov. Sam Brownback (R).
“The best example of future behavior is past behavior,” the ad quotes Davis as saying days before the strip club story became public.
Davis’ 1998 visit to “Secrets” in Coffeyville, was first reported earlier this month by the Coffeyville Journal. In the story, the paper quotes a police report saying that sheriff’s deputies first found Davis in the club’s back room receiving a lap dance from a stripper in a G-string. Davis identified himself as an attorney for the club’s owner and was released by police and not charged with any crime. The club’s owner was arrested for selling meth.
Davis has said that he was in the “wrong place at the wrong time” in response to the story coming to light. Davis’ campaign also pointed to reports that a Brownback associate is being investigated by the FBI regarding his lobbying activities.
The ad also highlighted that in 2011, Davis, the state House minority leader, voted against a bill to ban strip clubs in Kansas. The bill, which passed the House but failed in the Senate in 2011, has been a perennial issue in the state. The bill was defeated in 2013 in the House.
The strip club story comes as the Kansas gubernatorial race takes a slightly X-rated turn. The strip club report was followed by state Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley (D-Topeka) criticizing the state Department of Revenue’s planned auction of sex toys from a sex shop that owed $163,000 in back taxes as Brownback’s plan to plug a budget gap following his income tax cuts. The Revenue Department has said that the auction is routine and will only recoup the taxes owed. A review of the tax agency’s website shows that the agency routinely holds the auctions from businesses to recoup taxes, selling among other items mufflers, ice cream and flowers.