Mike Sanders takes leave from law practice in wake of FBI probe

Former Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the law firm where he is employed in the wake of a federal investigation into his use of political campaign funds.

“He has personal matters he needs to deal with,” Buford Farrington, a partner at Humphrey, Farrington & McClain PC in Independence, said late Thursday.

Sanders took leave earlier this week. He was absent at meetings of two governmental bodies where he serves as counsel: the city of Sugar Creek and the Little Blue Valley Sewer District.

Farrington declined to say what other governmental clients Sanders might have.

Confirmation that Sanders has gone on leave comes one week after The Kansas City Star reported on the FBI investigation.

The extent of the probe is unclear, but The Star reported on one key aspect involving the alleged misuse of campaign money donated to one or more campaign committees Sanders once controlled.

The avowed co-conspirator in the scheme has known Sanders since both were in grade school. Steve Hill told authorities last year, he said, that Sanders engineered a kickback scheme whereby Hill was paid tens of thousands of dollars for political campaign activities he did not perform.

Hill, who is disabled and now living in an Independence nursing home, said he would cash the checks and keep roughly 10 percent for himself. The rest he returned to Sanders, he said.

Campaign finance reports analyzed by The Star show that Hill was paid more than $60,000 between 2010 and 2013 for get-out-the-vote work and other campaign activities. He said his cut was between $6,000 and $7,000.

Most of the money was funneled through a now-defunct campaign committee called Integrity in Law Enforcement.

The payments ended four year ago this month, Hill said, after he told Sanders that federal authorities were asking questions about campaign payments that Hill’s brother, Joe, had received from Sanders-affiliated campaign funds before Joe Hill’s death in 2009.

Sanders resigned as county executive in early 2016, one year into his third, four-year term, he said to spend more time with his family. Previously he was the elected Jackson County prosecutor.

He has not responded to The Star’s report.

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Mike Sanders takes leave from law practice in wake of FBI probe."