Ethics
The attorney ethics hearing of former Kansas Attorney General and Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline is scheduled for the week of Feb. 21, 2011 in Topeka. Understanding the case is not easy since many of the legal arguments are over matters that were from secret Kansas Supreme Court proceedings, a secret Shawnee County court [...]
Continue reading about Background reading to prepare for Kline ethics hearing
Do you want to become a more effective citizen journalist to keep your local government more accountable? If you do, I will be hosting investigative journalism workshops as part of the Kansas City Post-Party Summit to be held this Friday and Saturday May 7-8 in Kansas City. If you are not interested in citizen journalism, [...]
Continue reading about Investigative Journalism Workshops at KC Post-Party Summit on Saturday
Today’s Kansas Government Ethics teleconference meeting dealt with two requests for waivers of civil penalties for late lobbyist reports, and two opinion requests about outside employment by state workers.
Continue reading about Single wrong digit results in $150 penalty from Kansas Ethics Commission
In a case involving widespread rumors at the state capitol, politics, and an exception provided by an old law, the Kansas Ethics Commission ruled that House Speaker Mike O’Neal (R-Hutchinson) had not violated state ethics laws. The complaint was brought by Democratic State Rep Marti Crow (D-Leavenworth) after O’Neals wife was hired by the chief [...]
Frustrated that the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission took no action on a complaint, last August Kris Van Meteren talked to the press explaining some details in his complaint. But, Kansas law currently gags someone after filing an ethics complaint — even after the Commission fails to act — and Van Meteren was fined $7500 for [...]
[Updated] The election process is confusing enough to voters without intentional misrepresentation via new media on Twitter and blogs. Yesterday, someone used Kris Kobach’s name to setup a fake Twitter account, which could be used to send out Tweets that appear to be from the Kansas Secretary of State candidate. Obviously such messages could be [...]
Continue reading about Twitter Identity Theft: Fake @KrisKobach could confuse voters
On Wednesday, at the monthly meeting of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, Executive Director Carol Williams explained three changes to ethics laws in Kansas recently enacted by the Kansas legislature.
Continue reading about New Ethics Laws Enacted by the Kansas Legislature
After a secret Executive Session held by telephone conference call today, the Ethics Commission announced the complaint was being dropped against Kris Van Meteren for violation of Ethics Commission confidentiality rules. Van Meteren was fined $7500 in Feb. by the Ethics Commission. The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission released an opinion from the Attorney General‘s office [...]
Kris Van Meteren was fined $7500 by the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission in February in somewhat of an unusual case. In March Van Meteren filed a law suit in Shawnee County District Court asking for judicial review of the case. There was secret hour-long Executive Session during the April Ethics Commission meeting, with a member [...]
The Ethics Commission announced this morning a change in the location and the agenda for their monthly meeting scheduled for Wednesday. The meeting is back in the Commission’s conference room and will now only be a telephone conference call. One big item has been dropped from the current agenda: The public hearing of complaint No. [...]
Continue reading about Big Agenda Change in Ethics Commission Meeting on Wednesday
