Kansas chamber subpoenaed; ethics official’s ouster sought

When the Republican senators made the proposal Friday, one House negotiator, Democratic state Rep. Vic Miller, of Topeka, said he’s heard for about a month that about 30 lawmakers have received ethics commission subpoenas, but he acknowledged having no evidence.

By

State News

April 1, 2022 - 5:19 PM

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A powerful Kansas business group said Friday that it has received subpoenas from the state ethics commission for information about campaign finance activities as Republican lawmakers moved to oust the commission’s top staffer.

A spokesperson for the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, long influential among Republicans in the GOP-controlled Kansas Legislature, said in a statement that the Governmental Ethics Commission has launched “an extreme fishing expedition aimed at silencing political speech.”

The chamber declined to comment on the exact details of the subpoenas.

That statement came after GOP senators negotiating with House members over an elections bill proposed setting new qualifications for the ethics commission’s executive director. The change would remove current Executive Director Mark Skoglund from the job.

Related
February 22, 2023
April 4, 2022
July 14, 2020
September 27, 2018