TOPEKA — The Kansas Legislature’s end-of-session avalanche of votes was disrupted by an abrupt attempt to force out the state ethics commission’s executive director, allegations of a pay-to-play Medicaid maneuver and fallout from an unusual lawsuit pitting Republican political consultants against each other.
Action under the dome before adjournment early Saturday included Republican lawmakers’ surprise attempt to write into state law a requirement the executive director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission hold a Kansas license to practice law. The target of their ire was executive director Mark Skoglund, the top regulator of legislators’ campaign finance activities who fell out of favor among some Republicans.
The final hours also featured disclosure the ethics commission issued subpoenas to GOP legislators and political operatives, including the Kansas Chamber, as part of an investigation into political action committees tied to conservative causes and legislators.
The subpoenas seek documentation of written exchanges with PACs and individuals, potentially in search of evidence PACs coordinated with campaigns. There is bipartisan dread the subpoenas were a consequence of a lawsuit and bitter end of the long partnership of Singularis Group founders Kristian Van Meteren and Jared Suhn, who specialize in serving Republicans.
House Speaker Ron Ryckman, who didn’t talk about how many of his GOP colleagues received subpoenas, said the Kansas Constitution made clear legislators couldn’t be subjected to the civil legal process during the legislative session. In other words, the ethics commission had no business sending subpoenas to House members while they were performing their official duties.
“There’s no way any member could be lawfully subpoenaed by the ethics commission at this time,” Ryckman said.
Attorneys Ryan Kriegshauser and Joshua Ney, who represent Suhn in the dispute with Van Meteren, accused the ethics commission’s executive director of misrepresenting his legal credentials in a separate campaign finance case involving a mayoral race in Johnson County.
GOP lawmakers proposed a law be passed requiring the commission’s executive director to have a valid law license. Ney, who also represents the Johnson County residents in hot water with the ethics commission, filed a document that said the law license of the commission’s director, Skoglund, expired years ago. During a recent hearing on the Johnson County case, Skoglund didn’t immediately correct for the record a statement that he had a Kansas license in good standing.
Senate President Ty Masterson said the must-be-an-attorney reform was necessary because Skoglund had essentially “weaponized” the regulatory body responsible for enforcing ethics and campaign law. Lawmakers have complained Skoglund’s work on subpoenas was initiated after the Legislature declined to show interest in Skoglund’s reform legislation.
‘Deeply concerning’
On Friday, six members of the state ethics commission said in a joint statement the partisan attempt to change hiring requirements of the executive director was motivated by an unwarranted desire to get Skoglund fired.
It’s a move that commissioners said ought to be “deeply concerning” to Kansans.
“We wholly support executive director Skoglund and staunchly oppose this effort to undermine the governmental ethics commission,” commissioners said.
Much remains unknown about the Kansas political firestorm related to subpoenas, lobbying activity, campaign finance expenditures, the ethics commission and the lawsuit.
But the Van Meteren and Suhn dispute offers a glimpse at how conflict can spiral out of control when money, ego and revenge delved into legal and political proceedings.
