Nothing quite like getting the turkey ready for Thanksgiving—or maybe for Birkenstock sandal wearers figuring out how to massage kale leaves into something that looks like a bird—and thinking about those campaigns coming up for the Kansas House and Senate.

Yes, while you’re checking the cranberries, some of us Statehouse folk are wondering just how much—and whose—money will be spent to elect members of the Kansas House and Kansas Senate next fall.

While filings for the Legislature are trickling in—a lot of legislators wait until the session to file for re-election, when their mileage to Topeka is paid for by the Legislature—we’re figuring that someone will run for everything.

And, last year, 248 candidates for the House spent $3.6 million, on their campaigns and the winning 125 spent $2.76 million. That pencils out to $22,080 per head of winner. But, political action committees and out-of-state organizations spent another $1.9 million that didn’t show up on the candidates’ filings, for a total $5.4 million in campaign spending, not all of which was controlled by the actual candidates.

Senators? They were halfway through their four-year terms, and spent most of that election cycle raising money for their upcoming campaigns next year. While there was a mad scramble for campaign money for folks actually on a ballot in 2014, senators still managed to pry away from House and statewide office races $500,000, which means that they had a total of $1.78 million and an election still two years away.

And, clear back in 2012, the last time senators were elected, it cost an average of about $94,000 to win a Senate campaign, again, just the candidate campaign costs, not those out-of-state and political action committee campaigning expenditures.

So, what are we thinking about while wondering whether to go butter-or-margarine in the holiday mashed potatoes? The likely source of the money for those upcoming campaigns.

In 2014, out-of-state organizations spent $1.15 million to elect House members in Kansas where they don’t even live. Those political action committees? They spent $1.7 million in the House races. Out-of-state organizations wound up spending 21% of the money in those races; PACs spent 32% of that election cycle spending. The candidates themselves? Five percent. And, individual contributors gave $1.3 million or about 24% of the money spent on those campaigns.

Seems a little strange that the link between the candidates and the organizations which spent more than half the money for their elections is a little, well…let’s call it obtuse.

It isn’t really “I give to my neighbor” or to that House member I’ve seen at the fair or walking in the 4th of July parade tossing candy to the kids anymore. Nope, most of the money for the last House election came from political action committees which have specific legislation they are interested in and don’t much care whether the candidate is likeable to the folks he/she will theoretically represent. Those out-of-state organizations generally use the same criteria.

Is this a big deal? Well, maybe, maybe not. It will probably make it worthwhile for us Kansans to figure that individual contributors to campaigns either have the right candidate or the wrong one. But that’s for Kansans who are writing personal checks.

Those PACs and out-of-state contributors? They generally aren’t going to care whether a candidate promises to fight for a new highway turnoff in his/her district or protect Lesser Prairie Chickens.

Might be worthwhile digging into what those PACs and out-of-state organizations want in Kansas.

But it’s probably best to get into that after Thanksgiving dinner. That isn’t anything you’ll want to distract you from pumpkin pie…or its kale alternative.

Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com.

Originally published Nov. 24, 2013

I’m giving my age away a little, but I remember an old Johnny Carson monologue about Thanksgiving. (Hint for people under age 40: He was the guy who hosted “The Tonight Show” before Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon.)

It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and Johnny asked the audience if they had placed their frozen turkey in the refrigerator to thaw. He then concluded that, if they hadn’t, they might as well cancel Thanksgiving.

It really isn’t that drastic an issue; there are other options for thawing that bird. However, frozen turkey seems to be an annual problem, and I’ve heard many creative ideas over the years for getting it thawed in time.
Let me set the record straight. It is NOT safe to thaw a turkey in the trunk of your car, in a closed cold barbecue grill on the patio, in a cooler on the porch, in the garage, basement, bathtub or clothes drier. Even though the turkey may stay frozen on the inside as it thaws, the outside is exposed to the temperature danger zone in these methods and this might result in a food borne illness.

The very best way to thaw a turkey is in the refrigerator. But, Johnny was right– if you don’t get it in the refrigerator soon enough it won’t completely thaw using this method. It takes 24 hours of thawing time in the refrigerator for each 5 pounds of frozen turkey, so a 25-pound bird needs to start thawing on Saturday for roasting on Thursday.

You can also defrost in cold water. This method can be used to finish thawing the turkey that was only in the refrigerator for a day or so. But this also takes time, attention and a lot of water. Place the turkey in a leak-proof bag in a large pot (or cleaned and sanitized sink) and submerge in cold water. The water needs to be changed every 30-60 minutes; don’t just leave the turkey in the same water for hours. The reason for this is the water needs to be kept under 70 degrees the whole time to keep the outside of the bird cold. Thawing this way takes about 30 minutes for each pound, so your 25-pound turkey would have you changing water for 12.5 hours.

If you have a smaller turkey, it could be thawed in the microwave. But because some portions of the turkey may start to get warm in this process, it needs to go straight into the oven immediately after microwave thawing.
You could even cook the turkey directly from the freezer. It will take about 50% more time. So your 25-pound bird would take about 7 to 7.5 hours to roast, and it won’t be stuffed. If you do this method, you could carefully remove the frozen pack of giblets during roasting when the bird becomes thawed enough. (Then throw them away, or remove them from the packaging and finish cooking another way.) Do not try to deep-fry a frozen turkey.

If you really are having trouble finding space to allow a frozen turkey to defrost in the refrigerator for several days, you may consider purchasing a fresh turkey and picking it up just before the holiday. But you’re still going to need to find room for it in the refrigerator unless you start to roast it as soon as you get it home from the store.

Whatever your method of thawing, you’ll need to use a food thermometer to determine when the turkey is done. Be sure the meat has reached at least 165 degrees, measured in several places, before serving.

Johnny Carson was right on the money with many of his clever quips. But a frozen turkey on Thanksgiving morning is not a reason to cancel the whole dinner. You just might have to eat later.

For more information on food safety for holiday meals, see the K-State Research and Extension food safety webpage. You’ll find a lot of helpful hints for making holiday meals delicious– and safe– for everyone at your table.

Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.