2009 Ice Sculpture
The top Meadowlark topics for 2008 were all about political money and governmental ethics. The following is a topic summary with details given below.
1. New reports for last minute political money can make a difference.
2. More transparency is needed in Kansas governmental ethics.
3. Why is franking abuse ignored?
4. Why do political appointments often correlate with political contributions?
5. IRS stonewalls non-profit political money investigation for 2006.
1. New reports for last minute political money can make a difference. New contribution and expenditure reports are now required by law in Kansas during the last few days before an election and are posted online by the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission. Several Meadowlark articles addressed the money in these new reports, including:
- Late Money Reports in Kansas Elections, Nov 1, 2008.
- Summary of “Last Minute” PAC Contributions and Expenditures, Aug 11, 2008.
- D.C. LGBT group “buying” State Rep District 84 for Inga Taylor in Wichita, Aug 1, 2008.
- Kansas Democrats to spend another $22,000 to take out Democrat incumbent Senator Gilstrap, Aug 1, 2008.
The knowledge of a huge amount of late political money in the State Rep District 84 race likely made the difference in that contest.
2. More transparency is needed in Kansas governmental ethics. The Kansas legislature should consider a number of changes to improve information about political money in Kansas. Kansas has a long history of poor political money disclosure:
- Kansas raises grade to “D+” in political money disclosure, Sept 25, 2008.
- We need more transparency in the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, Oct 23, 2008.
Political money from out-of-state PACs can be “hidden” since the verified statements filed by out-of-state PACs are not published online. These out-of-state PACs are not considered in forming the “official” list of Top 20 PACs in Kansas, nor is all the money raised and spent in Kansas used in forming the Top 20 list:
- Over $500,000 missing from online PAC reports in Kansas, Dec 4, 2008.
- Missouri sunshine exposes Kansas political money, July 25, 2008.
- Missing Campaign Finance Reports, Aug 1, 2008.
- Ethics Commission’s “Top 20? PAC list missing 10 PACs?, July 18, 2008.
- Political Money Rankings of 228 Kansas PACs, March 16, 2008.
One can asked hypothetical questions about campaign reports to the Ethics Commission and get answers. However, once a specific concern about a report is raised, often there is no way to get any answer about actions or inactions by the Ethics Commission about the matter. Kansas badly needs more transparency by requiring the Ethics Commission to publish a summary of all investigations and include key findings and actions that are reviewable by the public.
- Kansas Ethics Commission ignores missing $25,000 payment by PAC?, July 2, 2008.
- Kansas Ethics Commission can’t find political activist, who didn’t file PAC report, but newspapers can?, July 1, 2008.
Why are huge amounts of unitemized contributions allowed? If KNEA can raise money on a statewide basis and then give “rebates” to local chapters, why can’t the local chapters report the contributions from the members that enable the rebates? Why can some PACs only report contributions from the state PAC and not their members?
- Half Million in Unitemized Contributions to KNEA PAC, July 16, 2008.
New laws are needed to give some transparency on these huge unitemized contributions. To their credit, some unions report all contributions by members when it’s not required by state law.
3. Why is franking abuse ignored? We are having budget problems both at the state and national levels, but there is little accountability when tax dollars are wasted. For example, the Kansas Democratic Legislative Leadership is always looking for more money for education. Yet this Leadership wasted enough dollars on franking that could have paid the salary of a new teacher?
- Democratic U.S. House members from Kansas, Moore and Boyda, spent $367,954 of tax dollars on franking in 2007-2008, Oct 15, 2008.
- Update on Franking Abuse by Kansas Senate Minority Leader Hensley: $53,564 on 161,277 franked pieces, May 7, 2008.
- State Rep Rardin’s FOURTH franked piece to kick-start his re-election campaign, June 8, 2008.
- Franking Abuse by Kansas Democratic Legislative Leadership, April 17, 2008.
- Clerk of U.S. House hides franking records from average citizens, Aug 15, 2008.
Why does the U.S. Congress hide their franking records by requiring someone to travel to Washington, DC to see them?
4. Why do political appointments often correlate with political contributions? The recent blatant selling of the U.S. Senate seat by Illinois Gov. Blagojevich is troubling, but are we in Kansas just a bit more discreet in the political money that results in political appointments? Is attention to public needs a more important consideration in appointments than political contributions?
- Whom will Sebelius appoint to Kansas Supreme Court? A judge or Obama/Sebelius donor?, Dec 8, 2008.
- Crony appointment to judicial nominating committee better than trusting voters in JoCo?, Oct 14, 2008.
- Gov. Sebelius appoints donor to chief hearing officer for Court of Tax Appeals, July 6, 2008.
- Did $13,000 given to Gov. Sebelius play part in Supreme Court Nominating Commission appointment?, June 28, 2008.
- Gov. Sebelius appoints new District Court judge – one of her political contributors, June 5, 2008.
- Gov. Kathleen Sebelius Withdraws Carmichael Appointment to Kansas Human Rights Commission, May 5, 2008.
- Gov. Kathleen Sebelius appoints HUGE Democratic Donor, John Carmichael, to Chair Kansas Human Rights Commission. Is Carmichael exempt from Kansas Ethics Laws?, Feb 29, 2008.
- District Court Nominating Commission Works as Designed: 3 of 3 nominees are Democrats in a county with 21% Democrats, May 12, 2008.
- Members of Kansas Board of Healing Arts Gave Nearly $25,000 to Gov. Sebelius’ Campaigns, March 30, 2008.
5. IRS stonewalls non-profit political money investigation for 2006. Two non-profits spent huge amounts of money in the 2006 elections in Kansas. The IRS refuses to disclose any information about these two non-profits and refuses to explain why these groups have not filed IRS 990s.
To search all Kansas IRS 990s for these non-profits, the Meadowlark requested all IRS 990s for all Kansas non-profits from the IRS. The IRS spent about 8 months in 2007 and 2008 to decline a request for free access to the IRS 990s in Kansas, which would give some information about all non-profits in Kansas. In April 2008, the required payment was sent to the IRS for payment for all Kansas IRS 990s for the last three years. The IRS cashed the check within 5 days, and then three months later said they had not received payment. Four months ago the IRS was provided a copy of the cancelled check but the IRS still refuses to provide the open records. And this was for an investigation of the 2006 elections in Kansas!
Meanwhile, another investigation is underway about a non-profit and its PAC for incomplete information on its IRS 990 for the last several years.
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Tags: Campaign Finance, Elections, Ethics, government transparency, Kansas Government, PACs, political money disclosure, Verified Statements
