KS Republicans move to oust ethics official responsible for investigating lawmakers
Update: The Kansas Chamber of Commerce confirmed receiving subpoenas. Read more here.
Kansas Republicans are seeking to oust the director of the state’s ethics watchdog agency amid widespread discussion in the Capitol that an investigation involving GOP lawmakers is underway.
The Kansas Chamber of Commerce confirmed Friday that staff of its organization have received requests for information from the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission but didn’t immediately release further details.
Senate Republicans have proposed requiring the commission’s director to have been an attorney in good standing for the past three years. House Republicans indicated they plan to accept the proposal.
The move would render the current director, Mark Skoglund, unqualified for his position. Skoglund’s law license is currently suspended. Under current law, directors of the ethics commission are not required to hold law licenses and historically have not.
Skoglund said in an interview that he chose to allow the license to lapse in 2015 because it was not a requirement of his job.
“I did not want to continue paying a high expense for something I was not using,” Skoglund said.
Two motions filed in a campaign finance complaint Wednesday allege Skoglund misrepresented his status as an active attorney during a prior hearing. In a sworn affidavit, Skoglund said the issue was “not material” to his role as ethics commission and therefore he did not speak up to correct a hearing officer who said he was an active attorney. The dispute was first reported Thursday by the Topeka Capital Journal.
Sens. Rob Olson, an Olathe Republican, and Richard Hilderbrand, a Baxter Spring Republican, proposed the move during a conference committee on election bills Friday morning. They framed the change as a common sense measure. No bill making that change has been filed in the Legislature this year and lawmakers have held no formal hearings to vet the proposal.
The 11th hour move, right before lawmakers adjourn for much of April, came amid rampant discussion in the Capitol of an expansive investigation by the commission. The ethics commission has declined to confirm the existence of the investigation.
But Chamber of Commerce lobbyist Eric Stafford told reporters that members of the business group had received requests for information — possibly subpoenas — from the commission.
“Yes, some people have,” Stafford said. “I don’t know everybody who’s received them.”
Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, declined to comment. House Speaker Ron Ryckman, an Olathe Republican, said the Kansas Constitution “is clear that legislators are not subject to civil, legal process” during session, meaning that no legislators could be lawfully subpoenaed at the moment.
In a conference committee Thursday evening, Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, alluded to rumors of subpoenas in the Statehouse. Friday morning Rep. Vic Miller, a Topeka Democrat, questioned the timing of the move saying he’d heard similar rumors.
“I’ve been hearing rumors for the better part of a month that there are some 30 subpoenas issued to members,” Miller said during a conference committee meeting.
“This kind of activity that just happened in that room lends credence to the rumors,” Miller told reporters after the meeting.
Miller asked Republican senators on the committee if they were aware of the rumors or had themselves received subpoenas.
Senators Richard Hilderbrand and Rob Olson both said no.
“I have no direct knowledge of any subpoenas,” Olson said. “I would have thought this would already have been a requirement.”
Olson and Hilderbrand both told reporters they were unaware of the current status of Skoglund’s law license, though Skoglund told reporters Friday morning the move was “transparently aimed” at removing him from his post.
Skoglund said he had had no conversations with lawmakers about his law license or possible changes to the requirements of the post.
The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission has wide latitude to investigate government officials and lobbyists for campaign finance violations and other breaches of Kansas’ ethics law.
“Obviously there are serious issues when an entity that is under the oversight of the ethics commission attempts to create legislation targeted at undermining the ethics commission,” Skoglund said. “There are serious concerns about that that anyone who cares about democracy should be concerned about.”
This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 11:08 AM.
