Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer made a personal loan of $500,000 to the re-election campaign of Gov. Sam Brownback on the final day of 2013 to instantly broaden a fundraising cushion over Democratic challenger Paul Davis, documents showed Sunday.

Financial disclosure reports submitted to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission by the Brownback campaign revealed the last-minute loan by the Overland Park surgeon and Republican running mate. The contribution pushed the governor's total receipts for the year to $1.6 million, while the figure for Davis stood at an even $1 million.

The Brownback and Davis campaigns last week divulged broad strokes of their financial prowess, but required annual disclosure reports due Friday added detail not previously made public. Absent a $500,000 loan that would need to be repaid, the new filings presented evidence both candidates were able to raise comparable amounts for the year.

Davis campaign treasurer William Kassebaum said in a statement Sunday a review of the governor's finance documents revealed one-third of his annual total was delivered in one day from one person. The Davis campaign asserted such concentrated giving appeared to run counter to an impression advanced by David Kensinger, a Brownback campaign confidante, that generosity of 10,000 donors had demonstrated the governor's superior statewide appeal.

"Without this loan, Paul's campaign has raised as much financial support as the governor, in half the time," Kassebaum said. "This tells me that Paul has very strong support early in this campaign. I can only speculate why Governor Brownback would think a half million dollar loan from his lieutenant governor on the last day of the reporting period was necessary."

Kensinger, Brownback’s former chief of staff and 2014 campaign spokesman, didn’t comment Sunday about the loan from Colyer. He said in an email the reference to 10,000 donors was in relation to cumulative donations since 2010 to Brownback rather than exclusively in 2013.

Colyer and Brownback, of Topeka, are joining for the re-election run in 2014. Colyer is a plastic surgeon and former state senator who teamed with Brownback in 2010 to return the governor's office to the GOP after eight years of Democratic control.

Davis, the House minority leader from Lawrence, is paired with Jill Docking, a Wichita businesswoman who is part of an influential Democratic political family.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat and Davis supporter, said timing of the loan from Colyer was orchestrated to plant an idea with Kansans that Brownback controlled the statewide race.

"The intent of the loan was to inflate their number and make their report better than it really was," Hensley said. "They issued their news statement so they could get the spin that they wanted when in fact their report shows over the past year they’ve only raised $1.1 million and Paul Davis has raised almost the same amount of money in only four months."

Kelly Arnold, chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, said the Davis campaign had nothing to cheer about because more than one-third of "major contributions" to that campaign were from lawyers or people affiliated with labor unions.

"This report proves that the Davis campaign is underwritten by the same two liberal special interest groups — lawyers and union bosses — that backed (President) Obama's liberal coalition," Arnold said.

A summary prepared by Davis’ campaign staff suggested 39 percent of contributions to Brownback last year were from corporate political action committees, limited liability companies and trusts — excluding the Colyer loan. Four percent of Davis’ contributions were from PACs, corporations or organized labor, the Democrat’s campaign staff said.

Kassebaum’s statement threw cold water on Kensinger's claim reported last week by The Associated Press and other media outlets that Brownback’s fundraising popularity was proven by "10,000 donors." In an email, Kensinger had said: "We have three times as many donors and two and a half times as much cash."

On Sunday, the Davis campaign estimated the governor’s 2013 summary contained donations from less than 2,000 people. Davis’ report showed contributions from 3,300 people.

Kensinger declared inflow of money to the governor created an insurmountable obstacle for anyone aspiring to outmaneuver the Republican ticket. He said Brownback’s $1.9 million in cash on hand exceeded the $770,000 held by Davis to an extent "no candidate in state history has overcome."

Kassebaum said Davis’ capacity to attract resources after declaring his candidacy illustrated the incumbent’s political vulnerability.

"Paul Davis is beginning the election year with more money raised than any gubernatorial challenger in Kansas history," Kassebaum said.