Surprisingly, former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius filed a conflict of interest statement today with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, even though she resigned her job as Governor and became the Secretary of Health and Human Services on Tuesday.
Today is the 2009 deadline for many Kansas officials to file yearly conflict of interest statements, but it’s unclear [...]
Mark Simpson was introduced as a new member of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission at its meeting last week. Simpson was appointed by Kansas House Minority Leader, Paul Davis, and replaced Carol Zimmerman on the Commission.
Simpson gave this short introduction to other members of the Commission:
“I live in Lawrence … I’m an Assistant District Attorney [...]
After a second secret executive session today, the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission announced that one of the hearings next month will involve the Kansas Speaker of the House, Mike O’Neal (R-Hutchinson).
The Ethics complaint alleges that that O’Neal violated Kansas law “by advocating or causing the transfer of employment as well as participating in an action [...]
Continue reading about Kansas Speaker of the House Faces Ethics Hearing Next Month
At the March 18 Kansas Governmental Ethics meeting, the Commission passed a motion to make available the documentation from the Kris Van Meteren case from February to the Attorney General and the Shawnee County District Attorney. The information was to only be released if requested.
Ethics Commission chair, Sabrina Standifer, announced “… [...]
Continue reading about Van Meteren to appeal $7500 Fine for Free Speech in District Court
Today the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission meeting included a public hearing on a complaint against Carrol Haggard, a communications professor at Ft. Hays State University. Prof. Haggard failed to file a conflict of interest report, known as a Statement of Substantial Interests (SSI), which was due on April 30, 2008.
Continue reading about Fort Hays Prof Fined $300 by Ethics Commission
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (often called the McCain-Feingold Act) allows state and local political parties to use nonfederal funds for the purchase or construction of party office buildings. McCain-Feingold said that state law governs exclusively in regulating spending on state and local party buildings. Prior to McCain-Fiengold, this was never an issue [...]
The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission adjourned without a decision in the civil fine hearing against Kris Van Meteren in January. See the Meadowlark article, First Amendment Defense Thorny Issue for Ethics Commission, for details.
Briefly, Mr. Van Meteren brought a complaint to the Ethics Commission’s attention several months ago, and then talked to the the press [...]
Continue reading about “Free Speech” May Cost Kansas Citizen $7500
A Kansas Political Action Committee (PAC) files political money reports on statewide activities with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, but a PAC reduces to a “Political Committee” for local issues within a county. Kansas Law has very weak reporting requirements for such local committees.
These weak laws are why the public knows little about the $800,000 [...]
Continue reading about Over $800,000 spent by Johnson County Committees on local issues
Oddly, out-of-state PACs have different reporting requirements than in-state PACs, which allow them to “hide” their participation in Kansas politics. These reports are not online, and can only be reviewed at the Secretary of State’s Office in Topeka.
Our weak state laws allow out-of-state groups to file “Verified Statements” that are not published online at [...]
Continue reading about List of Out-of-State PACs Filing “Verified Statements”
