Kansas Senate drops effort to remove ethics watchdog as details of investigation emerge

Kansas Republicans moved to oust the director of the state’s ethics watchdog group on Friday before appearing to drop the effort hours later as details emerged of a potentially broad investigation by the agency.

The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, responsible for enforcing the state’s ethics and campaign finance requirements, has issued subpoenas, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce said in a statement accusing the agency of “an extreme fishing expedition aimed at silencing political speech.”

Discussion is rampant in Topeka that the Ethics Commission is conducting a broad inquiry involving numerous Republicans. The commission has declined to confirm the existence of an investigation, though the Chamber of Commerce’s statement confirmed some type of inquiry is ongoing. Democratic lawmakers in meetings Thursday and Friday openly referred to an investigation involving subpoenas.

“The subpoenas issued by the commission do not give a clear reason why they were issued and are nothing more than an extreme fishing expedition aimed at silencing political speech. It is very troubling that a quasi-judicial agency in Kansas would use its power to exercise such a government overreach,” Sherriene Jones-Sontag, a spokeswoman for the Chamber of Commerce, said.

The exact target of the investigation is unclear, but Rep. Sean Tarwater, a Stilwell Republican, said he believes the inquiry involves a political consulting firm.

“One of their members left and took some clients and I think that’s all it is,” Tarwater said. “There certainly is no pay to play. I know some of the people that have received these subpoenas and there’s no way in hell that’s what it’s about.”

Tarwater said he hasn’t been contacted by the Ethics Commission.

On Friday morning, Senate negotiators on a conference committee proposed legislation that would effectively remove Mark Skoglund, the Ethics Commission director. The measure would have required the director to have been an attorney in good standing for the past three years. House Republicans indicated they planned to accept the proposal.

By mid-afternoon, Sen. Rob Olson, an Olathe Republican on the committee, said senators were abandoning the proposal. Olson refused to explain the about face.

“I didn’t see any reason to muddy the waters this late in session,” Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, said in response to questions about the decision.

Skoglund is an attorney, but his 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,” he said.

Jones-Sontag said the subpoenas “appear to be motivated by the commission and its executive director’s desire to change the state’s campaign finance laws.” If the Ethics Commission wants to change the law, it should pursue it with the Legislature, she said.

“However, the commission may want to first focus on getting its own house in order. Recent media reports raise additional concerns about the actions, leadership, and credibility of the commission,” Jones-Sontag.

The Ethics Commission released a letter, signed by every member, voicing confidence in Skoglund. It said on Twitter on Friday that it “is staunchly opposed to efforts that are transparently created to oust the current director. The Commission had a director for decades that was not an attorney.”

“It’s really outrageous on a number of fronts,” said Beth Rotman, money in politics and ethics program director at Common Cause, a national group that promotes government accountability.

“This ethics agency has a job to do for everyday Americans,” Rotman said. “They have a job to do for we the people who have these laws in place, and they have a job to do and if there has been any potential issue they need to investigate, they need to be able to start to do their jobs and go forward with this without potential retribution, which is what this looks like from here.”

On Wednesday, motions were filed in a campaign finance complaint case alleging 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 director 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.

The case involves Fresh Vision OP, an Overland Park group that the Ethics Commission ruled must register as a political action committee.

Olson and Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, a Baxter Spring Republican, had proposed the move to oust Skoglund during a conference committee on election bills Friday morning. They framed the change as a common sense measure. But no bill making that change had been filed in the Legislature this year and lawmakers had held no formal hearings to vet the proposal.

“I’ve been hearing rumors for the better part of a month that there are some 30 subpoenas issued to members,” Rep. Vic Miller, a Topeka Democrat, 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.

Hilderbrand and 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.”

Top House and Senate Republicans did not give clear answers Friday as to whether the Ethics Commission was seeking information from them.

House Speaker Ron Ryckman, an Olathe Republican, read a statement from his phone explaining that during the legislative session subpoenas could not legally be issued to lawmakers.

“There has not been any lawful subpoenas issued that I’m aware of,” Ryckman said. He demurred when asked if there had been any unlawful subpoenas or other requests for information.

The Kansas Constitution prohibits lawmakers from being subjected to “civil process” during the session.

Masterson said earlier in the day that it appeared “somebody is apparently weaponizing the ethics department, so I need to get to the bottom of this.”

In a later statement, his office said it was important for anyone associated with the Ethics Commission to be beyond reproach.

“Recently, on a case involving a citizens group, accusations came to light that the Executive Director held himself out to the commission and respondents as a licensed attorney, when in fact he is not,” said the statement, which was issued before the proposal was dropped.

“That’s what this legislation is about, and nothing more.”