Kris Kobach was chairman of the Kansas Republican Party in 2007 and 2008. Christian Morgan worked for him as executive director. The two ran the office so sloppily and spent money so profligately that the current head of the party, Amanda Adkins, is calling for them to take public responsibility.
Kobach says whatever happened was Morgan’s fault. Morgan was in charge of day-to-day management of the office, Kobach says.
Morgan retorts that Kobach was boss and signed off on what was done.
Each would throw the other under the bus.
But they left a mess in Adkins’ lap. Payroll taxes weren’ paid. Bills piled up. They spent more than $10,000 more than they took in. They kept records so poorly that accountants called in to audit the operation for those two years have thrown up their hands.
Here are key points made in the Topeka Capital-Journal on June 7 of this year:
“ … Johnson County attorney Michael Kuckelman, hired by the Kansas GOP to concentrate on the delinquent federal tax issue, said $18,000 in federal payroll taxes for office employees didn’t get paid for a six-month period in 2008 while Kobach and Morgan were at the helm.
“There was a mix-up,” Kuckelman said. “The payments weren’t made.”
“Penalties and interest assessed by the Internal Revenue Service brought the obligation closer to $22,000, which Kuckelman said was paid off by the state party sometime during the past two months. Kansas withholding taxes also weren’t paid by the party during half of 2008. This delinquent state tax was recently paid, but Kuckelman said he was un-clear on the precise amount.
“In the audit produced in May by the FEC, the party was found to have incorrectly stated on FEC reports the total receipts and expenditures as well as year-end cash on hand in 2007. The party’s 2008 report to the FEC did likewise, but amounts were larger. The documents understated receipts by $111,000, understated disbursements by $176,000 and overstated year-end cash by $93,000.
“The FEC concluded the Kansas GOP illegally mingled money from separate state and federal accounts during the two-year period. FEC auditors say the party accepted $52,000 from corporations in violation of federal campaign law. These donations were used to defray costs of the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. The contributions should have been credited to the party’s state accounts if used for that purpose rather than the federal accounts.
“FEC auditors also determined the state GOP illegally allocated $104,000 from its state accounts for expenses that should have been covered by the federal accounts. The money was spent on lodging, printed materials and get-out-the-vote efforts.”
KOBACH, remember, is running for the Republican nomination for secretary of state; the state election office and the state record-keeping office.
His performance — lack of performance, rather — as chairman of the Republican Party proves him to be unqualified. If he was unwilling or unable to administer the party office himself, he should have hired an executive who was and then made certain that he did the job well— and honestly.
The fact is that Kobach spent his time out of the party office in Topeka and, often, away from Kansas, ignoring the responsibilities he owed to the state Republican Party while draining its coffers. That is Kris Kobach. Electing him to the important post of secretary of state would put Kansas elections and Kansas businesses at peril.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
