‘Really bad optics’: Kelly slams GOP push to weaken KS ethics laws amid investigation
Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday condemned a Republican effort to weaken the state’s campaign finance and ethics laws amid an ongoing and wide-ranging investigation involving GOP officials, even as she signaled an openness to clarifying existing law.
“Well, I think those are really bad optics when the legislation happens to come along at the same time that they’re conducting an investigation into some of those who are taking votes. So yeah, I think it’s very bad optics,” Kelly told reporters at an unrelated appearance at Hollywood Casino in Kansas City, Kansas.
Republicans in the Kansas House are attempting to pass a sweeping bill that would substantially soften the subpoena power of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission and legalize some of the conduct the commission is currently investigating. For the past year, the commission has been scrutinizing possible campaign finance violations by Republicans with an array of figures in Kansas politics receiving subpoenas.
But despite Republican attacks on the commission, Kelly appears willing to support at least some changes, saying that “if there are some things that we can do to tighten up our ethics laws, make them clear so that people don’t inadvertently violate them, I think it’s good.”
Kelly’s comments offer Republicans a path to advance at least some form of an overhaul without a veto fight.
“I don’t think that’s a particularly good idea,” Kelly said of weakening ethics laws, “but I know that there was a lot of discussion going on to modify our campaign finance laws in any way that might make them actually better, more understandable, clearer because I think that is some of the problem that some of the statutes can be left open to interpretation.”
Supporters of the bill have said they worry the Ethics Commission is infringing upon protected political speech and needs to be reined in. Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, has also voiced support for changes to the commission and its investigative powers.
“It doesn’t let anyone off the hook for anything they allegedly did wrong,” state Rep. Paul Waggoner, a Hutchinson Republican, said. “The optics are not ideal but, I mean, this is Topeka you can’t always have the best optics.”
“It’s not designed to gut the ethics laws. It’s just designed to reform procedures.”
Underscoring the sour feelings some lawmakers hold toward the commission, Masterson has previously told reporters he hopes legislation will have a chilling effect on the agency “if it’s the guilty until proven innocent model and legislators aren’t comfortable asking questions.”
Kelly’s criticism of measures that would weaken the state’s ethics laws raises the possibility she would veto the House bill in its current form, however. In keeping with her typical practice, the governor didn’t say explicitly whether she would veto or sign the legislation.
The bill changes campaign finance laws directly related to some of the allegations against Republican leaders, including giving on behalf of another and coordination between candidates and political action committees.
Mark Skoglund, the director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, criticized the bill in a hearing last week as “arrogant,” “brazen,” and “sad.” He suggested the legislation would make Kansas’ campaign finance law among the weakest in the nation.
“HB 2391 is brazen legislation designed to undermine ongoing investigations, obliterate the Campaign Finance Act, eliminate any ability of a state law enforcement agency to investigate violations, and retaliate against the Commission for a major investigation,” Skoglund said in written testimony.
The fate of the House bill remains unclear. A vote on the legislation had been expected this week but didn’t materialize, though Republican leaders could still schedule a debate later in the session. The plan to target the commission has divided even Republicans and it is unlikely that bill supporters could summon a veto-proof majority to pass it in its current form.
The Ethics Commission investigation has been part of the background noise of the Kansas Capitol for nearly a year and burst into the open last spring.
Court records from a handful of current and former Johnson, Shawnee and Sedgwick County Republican officials challenging subpoenas reveal the commission was seeking communications with a wide range of Republican officials including Masterson, his communications director and Jared Suhn, a political consultant. An attorney representing Suhn helped draft the ethics and campaign finance legislation.
Court records allege Suhn, a highly connected consultant, is the target of an investigation into campaign finance violations between 2018 and 2020. Suhn, who runs Game Changer Strategies, has worked for a long list of Republican officials and was the consultant for the political action committee run by Kansas Republican House leadership in 2020 to elect Republican members.
Masterson told reporters earlier this month he had received requests from the commission but that the agency has since dropped the issue.
“Originally they were inquiring about dollars I took from my campaign and gave to the party,” Masterson said. “I didn’t do anything … I’m not worried about any of it.”
The Star’s Jenna Barackman contributed reporting
