Kansas sheriff declines to investigate Gov. Laura Kelly after request from Republican PAC
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The sheriff in the state's capital city declined a week before Election Day to pursue a criminal investigation of the incumbent governor previously called for by a Republican political action committee.
The Republican Governors Association Kansas 2022 PAC had requested that Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill, a Republican, investigate Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's administration and re-election campaign.
"After a preliminary review of this matter, it has been determined that no criminal investigation will occur at this time," Deputy Abigail Christian, the Shawnee County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, said in a Tuesday email. "However, should additional information come to light, the matter will be re-examined by our Criminal Investigations Division."
How a TV ad led to ethics complaint against Kansas governor
The call for a criminal investigation stemmed from a Kelly campaign attempt in May to get television stations to stop airing an RGA ad. The dispute was over a "rough roads" TV ad, one of the RGA's first in the Kansas election cycle, which pushed back on a Kelly ad on being "middle of the road."
The Kelly campaign's attorneys from the Marc Elias law firm sent letters to TV stations, pressuring them to take down the RGA ad. The letters included a memo from Department for Children and Families Secretary Laura Howard to Will Lawrence, Kelly's chief of staff, disputing the facts of an RGA claim on food stamps. Stations didn't stop airing the ad.
The RGA responded with an ethics complaint, claiming it was unethical and illegal for Howard as a government employee to allegedly aid a political campaign, or for Kelly's office to allegedly pressure her to do so. The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission found the complaint sufficient but subsequently dismissed it.
Kelly called the complaint "a nothingburger."
More:'A nothingburger': Kansas ethics commission finds Republican complaint sufficient — then tosses it
Republican PAC made criminal referral to sheriff and district attorney
In June, the RGA filed a criminal referral with the Shawnee County sheriff, as well as District Attorney Michael Kagay. The referral cited state law on state employee involvement in political activities.
"Laura Kelly and her staff have literally taken her egregious abuse of taxpayer-funded resources for her political campaign to potentially criminal levels," RGA spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said at the time.
In August, the RGA referred to law enforcement documents obtained through an open records request.
The emails showed Ryan Wright, Kelly's deputy chief of staff and a former interim secretary of the Labor Department, requested Howard draft the memo to Lawrence. The memo refuted the claims in the RGA ad, and was sent by Kelly's campaign attorneys to TV stations the same day it was drafted.
A records request by The Capital-Journal for DCF communications related to the RGA ad turned up "no responsive documents."
In September, the sheriff's office confirmed it had received the RGA's request for a criminal investigation. At that point, the matter was being reviewed and no official case had been opened as investigators worked "to determine whether any violation of Kansas law has occurred."
"The administration has not improperly coordinated with the campaign," Kelly administration spokesperson Brianna Johnson said in September. "These emails show what we already knew — that the administration asked for routine information to address misinformation. This is why the Ethics Commission dismissed the RGA’s complaint earlier this summer."
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas sheriff rejects RGA request to investigate Gov. Laura Kelly
