Kansas law is quite peculiar in letting out-of-state PACs have fewer reporting requirements than in-state PACs. Out-of-state groups are allowed to spend huge amounts on Kansas politics and not have their “verified statements” shown online. There is no online list of out-of-state PACs that get to hide their political participation in Kansas’ elections. As previously reported by the Meadowlark recently, some of these out-of-state PACs should be listed in the “Top 20″ list of Kansas PACs, but this does not happen.
In a preliminary look at the verified statements filed in 2008, over $500,000 of political money is not being reported online to the public for out-of-state PACs. A huge $100,000 transfer was reported on a single sheet of paper, but was never published online. Why?
Tags: Campaign Finance, Ethics, LM-2 Report, PAC Reports, Political Action Committee (PAC), SEIU, Verified Statements
Kansas conflict of interest statutes require many involved with state government to file Statements of Substantial Interest (SSI) forms once a year at the end of April. In state fiscal year 2008 there were 9225 individuals required to file, yet about 120 individuals have not yet filed the required report. Most of the individuals failing to file are at state universities. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Conflict of Interests, Ethics, Kansas Open Records Act, Statements of Substantial Interests
JoCo Republicans met on Nov 17 and elected new county officers, as well as 92 delegates, 46 men and 46 women, to the 3rd District Republican Party meeting to be held on Dec 10. In addition, 96 alternate delegates were chosen.
“Moderate Republicans”, often called liberals by conservatives, won the entire slate of new officers, but tactical errors by the moderates seemed to have allowed conservatives to win all the district delegate positions. Even popular moderates, like Steve Cloud, Andy Wollen or Pat Colloton, only won alternate delegate positions likely due to these tactical errors. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Conservatives, Moderates, Republican Party
Today’s meeting of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission included two civil fine hearings, as well as a number of civil fine assessments, and decisions about recent missing “Paid for by” attributions.
The big story was the $2500 fine levied on the ProKanDo PAC, the the $500 fine on a Sheriff candidate. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Civil Fine, Ethics, failure to file, ProKanDo PAC
Johnson County Republicans held their reorganization meeting last night to elect new officers and new district delegates. This was one of many county meetings that is part of the statewide reorganization of the Kansas Republican Party.
Late on Monday the Kansas City Star reported that 17 elected precinct committee individuals would not be given the privilege of voting on Johnson County Republican leadership because of their support for Democratic Party candidates. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Democratic Party, Party Loyalty, Precinct Committee, Republican Party, Republicans for Moore
Mary Ca Ralstin, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for State Board of Education in the November general election, has been a Republican for Democrat Dennis Moore for at least four election cycles (8 years). This year both Ralstin and her husband, James, were listed in the recently published article about the 2008 class of Republicans for Moore. Read the rest of this entry »
Every election cycle since 1998 the Dennis Moore campaign solicits “Republicans” to support his congressional bid even though he’s a Democrat. 2008 was no different and Moore’s web site asked for “Republicans” to support Democrat Moore for Congress.
The 2008 “Republicans for Moore” list appeared in the Olathe Daily News and the Johnson County Sun newspapers, and perhaps others (see below). What is known politically about this group? Read the rest of this entry »
On Monday the Meadowlark published an article giving details about how the Kansas City Star publisher was registered to vote in both Missouri and Kansas. Several other Internet news outlets picked up this story, including the Election Journal, but some blogs confused “double registration” with “double voting.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: vote integrity, Voter Registration
Election workers in Johnson County proudly wore special “Presidential Election” pins as they helped voters in Johnson County cast their votes in a number of contests, ranging from the U.S. president to Johnson County ballot initiatives.
In early October I knew I would likely be unemployed starting on Nov. 1, so I sent an E-mail to the Johnson County Election Office asking if I could serve as an election worker in any capacity anywhere in the county. At that time the election office did not need additional workers. But after some cancellations a few days later, they accepted my application. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Election Worker, Elections
The Kansas City Star publisher is registered to vote in Kansas City, MO as Gregory M Zieman, along with with his wife, Rhonda Chriss Lokeman, also of the Star, in Kansas City Ward 8, Precinct 8.
The Star’s publisher is also registered to vote across the state line in Overland Park, KS as G. Mark Zieman (first name is “G. Mark” in the database) in precinct OP-5-4, at the same address as his daughter identified in an Aug 1997 Star article.
While there is no evidence that Zieman has ever voted in the same election in both states, Zieman’s case shows how poor voter records can be, and begs for the Star to promote voter registration reform. E-mails to Mark Zieman at the Star on June 2, 2008 and June 4, 2008 about his dual registration were never answered.
Tags: vote integrity, Voter Registration