Bollier campaign volunteers sign confidentiality agreements to prevent ‘interference’
Kansas Democrat Barbara Bollier’s campaign requires volunteers sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to guard against election interference, a step not taken by other top level campaigns in the region.
An email from Bollier’s U.S. Senate campaign to prospective volunteers, obtained by The Star, cites concerns about foreign interference as a reason for the precaution.
NDAs, which restrict employees from discussing an organization’s internal matters, have been long used in the private sector and are common for paid staff on political campaigns. Bollier appears to be alone, however, among top tier candidates in the region in requiring volunteers to sign such agreements.
For Bollier’s volunteers, signing the agreement is a condition to being allowed onto the campaign’s Slack channel, a business communication tool.
“With all of the foreign interference we’ve seen in recent election cycles, we want to make sure that our online volunteer community is a secure space for our campaign and our volunteers,” the email states. “We ask all of our Slack members to sign a non-disclosure agreement so we all know that any information you or the campaign shares in Slack will remain confidential.”
A link to an NDA agreement is attached is included in the email.
The agreement applies to employees, volunteers, independent contractors and other service providers, according to the language at the top of the document. Signatories of the form agree to not share any confidential information, including campaign’s data such as election models and other assets.
They also agree not to make any “photographs, videotapes, audio recordings or streaming, in or around the offices of the Organization, of any employee, volunteer or agent of the Organization, of State Senator Barbara Bollier, or at any meeting or event discussing the Organization or its work that is not open to the general public.”
While the Bollier campaign email refers to threat of foreign interference as the reason for NDAs, the language in the agreement is likely geared toward preventing infiltration from domestic political opponents.
In 2018, a member of Project Veritas, a conservative group that surreptitiously films Democratic candidates and progressive organizations, posed as an intern to gain access to Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill’s campaign.
Just weeks before the 2018 election, Project Veritas released the hidden camera videos of McCaskill and her campaign team in an effort to damage the senator’s reelection prospects. One of the videos featured a low-level campaign employee saying McCaskill had downplayed her support for gun control.
McCaskill’s campaign said that the fake intern had access to voter data.
She called on her opponent, then-Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, to launch a fraud investigation. Hawley did not heed her advice and he went on to win the election.
Bollier’s spokeswoman, Alexandra De Luca, said requiring volunteers to sign an NDA agreement was standard practice.
“Our volunteers work with technology that can include proprietary information, and we are committed to protecting the privacy of Kansans at all times,” De Luca said.
However, other top tier candidates of both parties in the region are not taking a similar step when it comes to volunteers.
Republican Rep. Roger Marshall, Bollier’s opponent, requires staff to sign agreements, but does not place a similar requirement on volunteers. The same is true for Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican.
Neither Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids, the incumbent in the Kansas 3rd Congressional District, nor Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla, the Democratic nominee in the Kansas 2nd Congressional District, require volunteers to sign NDAs. They do make staff sign agreements.
However, the Kansas Democratic Party said that it does require volunteers who work with the coordinated campaign on behalf of all the party’s candidates to sign agreements if they have access to voter data.
“Our volunteers that work with technology that includes proprietary information sign an NDA, so that voter information is protected,” said Reeves Oyster, the party’s spokeswoman. “Most campaigns that I’ve worked on have done that.”
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway, the Democratic nominee for Missouri governor, hasn’t imposed any confidentiality agreement on volunteers, but it requires campaign staff and interns to sign one.
Kansas Treasurer Jake LaTurner’s campaign isn’t requiring volunteers or staff to sign NDAs as the Pittsburg Republican runs against De La Isla in the 2nd District.
Davids’ Republican challenger, Amanda Adkins, doesn’t require volunteers to sign anything. The campaign declined to say whether it requires staff to do so, calling it a personnel matter.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
