Chris Steineger
Chris Steineger (b. January 8, 1962, in Kansas City, Kansas) is a former Republican member of the Kansas State Senate, representing District 6 from 1997 to 2013. On January 22, 2010, he announced his candidacy for the statewide office of secretary of state, challenging Democratic incumbent Chris Biggs.[1] Steineger lost the party nomination to Biggs on Tuesday, August 3, 2010, receiving nearly forty percent of the vote. Steineger switched to the Republican Party in 2010 after previously serving as a Democratic senator.[2]
Steineger owns and manages rental property, develops residential real estate, and manages other financial assets. He has experience at all three levels of government including staffing for U.S. Representative Jim Slattery in Washington D.C., as an assistant in the City Administrator’s office in Kansas City, KS, and as a tax auditor and collector with the Kansas Department of Revenue. He has also worked in the private and nonprofit sectors. His father is former Sen. Jack Steineger, a veteran of the Kansas Legislature for 28 years.
Policy positions
State Senator Chris Steineger supports the following issues:
- Encourages careful conservation of natural resources and use of sustainable energy resources
- Health care system should be restructured to have universal coverage and also cost the state less.
- Supports firearm ownership
- He has a focus on early education
- Local governments should be consolidated
- Cuban trade embargo should be ended[3]
He has also sponsored/co-sponsored these recent pieces of legislation:
- A bill to decrease the number of Kansas Legislators[4]
- A bill to establish a county consolidation commission[5]
- A resolution encouraging funding for the United States Airborne Laser defense program[6]
- A resolution to create a budget stabilization fund[7]
County Consolidation
On February 14, the Senate Ways and Means Committee introduced legislation, SB204, that would reduce the number of Kansas counties from 105 to 23. The bill, championed by Sen. Chris Steineger (R), is designed to strengthen counties and improve efficiency. A Wichita State University study has found that such a consolidation could result in hundreds of millions in yearly savings.[8]
Committee assignments
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Steineger served on these committees:
2009-2010
In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Steineger served on these committees:
- Administrative Rules and Regulations (Member)[9]
- Assessment and Taxation (Member)
- Education (Member)
- Financial Institutions and Insurance (Ranking Minority Member)
- Joint Committee on Information Technology (Member)
- Joint Committee on Legislative Post Audit (Member)
Noteworthy events
Ethics complaints
Not long after launching his campaign for secretary of state, the Kansas State Ethics Commission accused Steineger of violating the state's campaign finance laws.[10] Along with being implicated for using financial contributions from his state senate campaign to pay for poll conducted on behalf of his secretary of state committee, he faced being charged with infringing on a state law that "prohibits [state] politicians from seeking contributions from lobbyists, corporations, unions and political action committees while the Legislature is convened from January to May."[11] Several days after these allegations were first reported, Steineger said that "a preliminary review of emails sent on behalf of his campaign for secretary of state indicated requests for donations went to several registered lobbyists" and that he would take full responsibility for the actions of the campaign.[12]
On Tuesday, May 18, 2010, the Kansas State Ethics Commission ruled that Steineger "improperly used his Senate campaign fund to pay for polls testing his name recognition ahead of a possible run for statewide office."[13] At the same time, however, the commission was unable to find sufficient evidence to say he knowingly violated state campaign finance laws by requesting contributions from lobbyists while the State Legislature was still in session. Steineger was then ordered to pay a fine of $5,000.[14]
Campaign treasurer
At the same time he faced accusations that he acted in violation of state campaign finance laws, Forward Kansas, a liberal-leaning news website, reported that Mike Sager, Campaign Finance Director for the Steineger secretary of state campaign, had been "indicted for a felony count of stealing from his campaign funds and, also, a misdemeanor count of filing false campaign finance reports in order to subsequently cover up the theft."[15][16]
Steineger admitted to the Kansas City Star that when he originally hired Sager, he was not aware of his past. Since discovering that, however, he had since fired him as his campaign treasurer.[17] Two days after the story was published, he refused to take questions on the matter with another online news source and sent a campaign spokeswoman to "dodge questions."[18]
Elections
2012
- See also: Kansas State Senate elections, 2012
Steineger ran for election in the 2012 election for Kansas State Senate District 6. Steineger ran unopposed in the August 7 Republican primary and was defeated by Pat Pettey (D) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[19][20]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Pat Pettey |
62.1% | 11,637 | |
| Republican | Chris Steineger Incumbent | 37.9% | 7,106 | |
| Total Votes | 18,743 | |||
2010
- See also: Kansas Secretary of State election, 2010
| 2010 Race for Secretary of State - Democratic Primary[21] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Democratic Party | 60.3% | ||
| Democratic Party | Chris Steineger | 39.7% | |
| Total Votes | 80,872 | ||
2008
- 2008 Race for State Senate, District 6 - Democratic Primary and General Election[22][23]
- Chris Steineger ran unopposed in both contests
2004
| 2004 Race for State Senate, District 6 - Democratic Primary[24] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
 Chris Steineger (D)
|
65.8% | |||
| Stan S. Frownfelter (D) | 34.1% | |||
| Total votes | 5,067 | |||
| 2004 Race for State Senate, District 6 - Democratic Primary[25] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
| Chris Steineger (D)
|
79.2% | |||
| Joy Holt (F) | 20.7% | |||
| Total votes | 18,241 | |||
2000
- 2000 Race for State Senate, District 6 - Democratic Primary and General Election[26]
- Chris Steineger ran unopposed in both contests
1996
| 1996 Race for State Senate, District 6 - Democratic Primary[27] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
| Chris Steineger (D)
|
40.7% | |||
| Pat Huggins Pettey (D) | 39.0% | |||
| Gary Christ (D) | 20.3% | |||
| Total votes | 5,727 | |||
- 1996 Race for State Senate, District 6 - General Election[28]
- Chris Steineger ran unopposed
Campaign contributions
2008
According to Follow the Money, Steineger raised $50,468 in 2008 for his state senatorial campaign.[29]
Listed below are the top four contributors:
| Donor | Amount |
|---|---|
| Howard Grace | $2,000 |
| Cerner Corp. | $1,500 |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City | $1,000 |
| Kansans for Lifesaving Cures | $1,000 |
Scorecards
Kansas Economic Freedom Index
The Kansas Economic Freedom Index is a project of Bob Weeks, creator of the blog Voice For Liberty in Wichita. The purpose of the Index "is to identify Kansas legislators who vote in favor of economic freedom — and those who don’t."[30] Legislators receive a rating from 0-100 percent based on their votes on bills promoting economic freedom.
2010
Chris Steineger received a rating of 58% on the 2010 Kansas Economic Freedom Index.[31]
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Chris lives with his wife Shari in their 1920s Craftsman bungalow in Kansas City, Kansas.
Contact information
Capitol Address:
300 Southwest 10th Avenue, Room 181-E
Topeka, KS 66612-1504
Phone: (785) 296-7375
Toll Free Phone: (800) 432-3924
E-mail: chris.steineger@senate.ks.gov
District Address:
51 South 64th Street
Kansas City, KS 66111
Phone: (913) 287-7636
Fax: (913) 287-6879
Campaign Address:
Chris Steineger
6505 E. Frontage Rd, Suite 6
Merriam, KS 66202
Phone: (913) 403-8084
E-mail: chris@chrissteineger.com
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Chris + Steineger + Kansas + Senate
External links
- Kansas Legislature - Senator Chris Steineger profile
- Chris Steineger personal website
- Project Vote Smart - Chris Steineger biography
- Chris Steineger on Facebook
- Chris Steineger on Twitter
- State Senate Campaign contributions: 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ El Dorado Times, "Chris Steineger Announces Candidacy for Kansas Secretary of State" 22 Jan. 2010
- ↑ Lawrence Journal-World, "Democratic Kansas state senator switching to Republican Party," December 17, 2010
- ↑ YouTube, "Cuban Life" 4 May, 2009
- ↑ Kansas State Legislature - SB 113
- ↑ Kansas State Legislature - SB 198
- ↑ Kansas State Legislature - SR 1859
- ↑ Kansas State Legislature - Concurrent Resolution 1614
- ↑ Hutchnews.com, "Consolidation bill aims to reduce counties to 23," February 18, 2011
- ↑ Kansas State Senate - List of Standing Committees
- ↑ Forward Kansas, "Which Chris Steineger Will Show Before the Governmental Ethics Commission?" 17 May, 2010 (dead link)
- ↑ Topeka Capital-Journal, "Questions cloud Steineger campaign" 26 Feb. 2010
- ↑ Topeka Capital-Journal, "Steineger admits finance miscue" 1 March, 2010
- ↑ Lawrence Journal-World & News, "Secretary of State candidate fined $5,000 for violating campaign finance laws" 18 May, 2010 (dead link)
- ↑ Kansas Watchdog, "State Senator Steineger fined $5000 at Ethics Hearing" 19 May, 2010
- ↑ South Missourian, "Former Missouri House member accused of theft, false report" 28 April, 2006
- ↑ Forward Kansas, "Updated: Sen. Steineger, Please Have the Real Mike Sager Stand Up" 13 May, 2010 (dead link)
- ↑ Kansas City Star, "Steineger often takes the road less traveled" 15 May, 2010
- ↑ The Pitch, "Chris Steineger won't confirm whether he hired disgraced Missouri lawmaker Mike Sager (updated)" 17 May, 2010
- ↑ Kansas Secretary of State, "2012 Primary Election - Official Vote Totals," accessed March 29, 2014
- ↑ Kansas Secretary of State, "2012 General Election - Official Vote Totals," accessed March 31, 2014
- ↑ Associated Press - 2010 Kansas Primary Election Results
- ↑ Kansas Secretary of State - 2008 Primary Election Results
- ↑ Kansas Secretary of State - 2008 General Election Results
- ↑ Kansas Secretary of State - 2004 Primary Election Results
- ↑ Kansas Secretary of State - 2004 General Election Results
- ↑ Kansas Secretary of State - 2000 General Election Results
- ↑ Kansas Secretary of State - 1996 Primary Election Results
- ↑ Kansas Secretary of State - 1996 General Election Results
- ↑ Follow the Money - Campaign Contributions for Chris Steineger, 2008
- ↑ Kansas Economic Freedom Index, "Homepage," accessed January 13, 2012
- ↑ Kansas Economic Freedom Index, "2010 Kansas Economic Freedom Index," May 18, 2010
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Kansas State Senate District 6 1997–2013 |
Succeeded by Pat Pettey (D) |
