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 [...]

Continue reading about Political Money & Ethics were Top Meadowlark Topics in 2008

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 [...]

Continue reading about Over $500,000 missing from online PAC reports in Kansas

A new law in Kansas required “last minute” reports of late contributions and independent expenditures in excess of $300 for both candidates and political action committees (PACs) in last week’s August primary election.
The following table is a summary of these “last minute” PAC reports that total $42,552 in contributions and $134,158 in expenditures:

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efg on August 1st, 2008

Campaign finance reports from candidates and political action committees (PACs) were due in the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission Office on Monday.
A number of candidate and PAC reports are missing and “failure to file” letters have been sent to them.
But, enforcement of Kansas ethics laws seems fairly lax, and it’s not clear there’s much of [...]

Continue reading about Missing Campaign Finance Reports

Starting in early 2006 the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission published online “all” campaign finance reports for Kansas Political Action Committees (PACs) and political candidates — these reports are now free for the public to view.
These new online reports are welcome sunshine on political money since before that campaign finance reports had to be purchased [...]

Continue reading about “Missing” PAC reports? Why are out-of-state PACs allowed to hide their reports?