Overland Park councilman fined thousands for ignoring campaign finance violations
In 2019, an Overland Park city councilman spent $87.57 from his campaign fund at Men’s Wearhouse in violation of state campaign finance rules.
The shopping trip ended up costing a little more than that. Now the councilman and his campaign treasurer will split a fine of $540.
The fine was imposed by the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission after first-term Councilman Scott Hamblin and his treasurer, Tara Brune, skipped a hearing on the matter Wednesday.
In an email, Wednesday, Hamblin denied any knowledge of the hearing or violations.
The commission said that Hamblin’s campaign failed to file two required campaign finance reports in the past year and never reimbursed his campaign for the Men’s Wearhouse purchases.
Commission staff, executive director Mark Skoglund said, spoke to the campaign several times about the issues but no action was taken.
“They’ve ignored this for a year,” he said. “They had opportunity to resolve it for quite a long time. They did not resolve it.”
The commission opted to fine Hamblin and Burke $270 each for misuse of campaign funds and $5,000 each for failure to file reports.
The $5,000 fine can be dropped to $1,000 if the reports are filed and the fine is paid within 30 days.
Hamblin, elected in 2019 to represent the 6th Ward in southern Overland Park after suing the city for condemning land he owned for a road expansion, has had a turbulent tenure.
Last July, he was arrested after Overland Park Police were called to his residence. He was charged with one count of domestic battery with no priors, a class B misdemeanor.
In December, a Johnson County judge dismissed the charge, but told prosecutors they could refile the case at a later date. It was dropped after an essential witness was quarantined for COVID-19 exposure and unable to testify. The alleged victim also did not show up to testify at trial.
Before the charge was dismissed, six Overland Park City Council members called on Hamblin to resign. They argued that the charge brought against Hamblin damaged the city’s reputation, and his alleged behavior was a violation of an elected official’s ethical duties.
At the time, several council members said they could not support Hamblin remaining on the council, but they did not have the authority to remove him from office. Hamblin refused to step down.
Councilman Logan Heley said Wednesday that he continues to call for Hamblin’s resignation.
“Scott Hamblin has lost the moral authority to serve our community and should resign from the Overland Park City Council immediately,” Heley posted on Facebook.
Hamblin has often found himself at odds with the majority of the City Council.
Less than a month after he took office, he ruffled feathers when he asked officials to rescind a tax incentive package that was approved before his election.
Hamblin and Councilman Faris Farassati also drew pushback from some of the rest of the council when they created their own website where they post council members’ voting records.
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 3:16 PM.
