Questions about Mike Kelly's 2022 campaign finance reports
Questions about Mike Kelly's 2022 campaign finance reports
At least four individuals appear to have exceeded contribution limits last year
Updated Nov. 15, 2:05 PM to include answers from Cole Robinson, Kelly’s campaign manager.
Mike Kelly, who was elected chair of the Johnson County Board of Commissioners, filed two primary and two general election reports with the Johnson County Election Office last year. Several amended reports were also filed.
A review of these reports suggests at least four individuals exceeded the $500 contribution limit during either the primary or general election.
In particular, Cole Robinson, manager of Kelly’s campaign, appears to have exceeded the $500 limit by $10,260 in the August primary.
The final arbitor of such matters is the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.
Feedback from Kelly’s campaign is welcome to answer the questions below, or rectify any misinterpretations of his reports. [Feedback was received Nov 15, 1:41 PM.]
Questions to Mike Kelly’s Campaign
On Monday the following six questions were sent by email to Mike Kelly and members of his campaign staff, including Hannes Zacharias (treasurer), Cole Robinson (manager), and Claire Reagan (finance director).
See information below from the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission about limitations on contributions to a county office, which provides context for some of the questions.
Q1: Why do a number of line item and aggregate in-kind contributions exceed the $500 limit by individual for the election cycle?
Examples from general election …
In-kind contributions shown above from Anh Rongish ($600) and Marilyn Kelly ($750) are clearly above the $500 limit for the election cycle.
Issues with in-kind contributions by Claire Reagan and Cole Robinson are discussed below.
Cole Robinson responds:
Campaign staff at times accumulated spending in excess of the $500 campaign finance limit. However, all excesses beyond $500 or less were cleared off by the day of the election, primary or general. You can find settlements of these excesses on Schedule C. The discrepancy you are encountering is that finance reports are due a number of days before the actual elections, so you may see loans being carried before they are settled by the due date.
Q2: Why are the house numbers in the street addresses for Claire Reagan and Cole Robinson changing with each in-kind contribution above?
The changing addressees do not match their voter registration addresses.
Cole Robinson responds:
The house number issue for the personal residences of various individuals is a clerical error that needs to be corrected. It appears that by clicking and dragging to copy the personal information for each individual, Microsoft Excel auto-changed the house number field which is why you see it increasing by one at times. We will need to amend the address information.
Q3: How do "in-kind" contributions become loans? Was there some sort of written agreement for conversion of an "in-kind gift" to a loan, especially larger ones over $1000?
Cole Robinson responds:
In kind contributions in excess of $500 are automatically campaign loans because the money must be settled prior to the election. If there is a loan or pending debt before an election, it is declared on Schedule D.
Q4: Were in-kind contributions used to "hide" vendor information that would be required if entered on a Schedule C Expenditures form?
The expenditures form requires company name, address, purpose and amount.
Cole Robinson responds:
All in kind expenses are itemized and labelled on Schedule B - there were no attempts to hide any of these transactions.
Q5: What should be done about aggregate contributions by Cole Robinson and Claire Reagan exceeding the $500 limit for the primary election in 2022?
The amended July 25, 2022 report shows Cole Robinson's loan to the campaign was $10,260 over the limit for an individual contribution during the primary.
Claire Reagan's $354.02 loan appears to be under the $500 limit for the primary but not when combined with her direct monetary $254.02 contribution (see below from amended filing), $608.44 > $500 limit.
Cole Robinson responds:
You must reconcile the outstanding loans from 7/25 with the subsequent finance report that covers the next reporting period. You will see the settlement of these campaign loans/debts on Schedule C.
Q6: What steps can you take to avoid similar issues in future filings?
Cole Robinson responds:
Aside from the clerical issue with Excel auto-formatting the house numbers incorrectly, all other campaign finance laws were followed. We worked with Governmental Ethics to ensure continual compliance.
Answers from the Kelly campaign were published here within an hour of when they were received.
Questions to Ethics Commission about Limits on Local Candidates
After reviewing the Mark Kelly campaign finance reports from 2022, the following questions were sent on Oct. 29 via email to the Kansas Government Ethics Commission for clarification on limitations in local campaigns.
Executive Director Mark Skoglund replied by email with the answers below on Oct. 31.
Q1: What is the contribution limit to a candidate for local office, like school board, city office, or county commissioner?
If covered under the Campaign Finance Act, $500 for the primary and $500 for the general. If not under the Campaign Finance Act (for example, school board elections other than Wichita #259 are not covered by the Act), there are no limits.
Q2: Is there a different contribution limit for monetary contributions vs in-kind contributions?
Monetary and in-kind contributions are treated identically. If someone has given $400 in in-kinds to a county commission candidate, they can only give $100 in monetary contributions during that election cycle.
Q3: Are there any limits on what a candidate can contribute to a local campaign? Or loan to a campaign?
A candidate has no limits on what they can self-fund to their own campaign. These amounts may be designated as loans.
Q4: Are there any special limits on what a campaign manger can contribute to a local campaign? Or loan to a campaign?
Campaign managers are subject to the same limits as any other individual giving to a campaign.
Q5: Can in-kind contributions be converted to a loan?
A contribution is generally identified as a loan at the time it is made, and outstanding loans are designated on Schedule D. A loan must be paid down to the contribution limit before the primary and general, though of course since candidates are not limited, they can have substantial loans to a campaign.
Q6: Can in-kind contributions be used to avoid details of reporting requirements for a campaign expenditure?
Yes. In-kind contributions are reported, but the way in-kinds are reported in Kansas can create transparency issues.
Q7: Does the Ethics Commission have authority to enforce state laws on campaign reports filed by local candidates with their county election offices?
If the election falls under the Campaign Finance Act, yes. Otherwise, no. The Act and KGEC jurisdiction extends to all county elections, first class cities, the Wichita School Board, and the BPU in Wyandotte County. Other elections, such as second class cities, third class cities, school board, etc., are outside the jurisdiction of the Ethics Commission. There are a few statutes that apply to those elections but those statutes are up to DAs and county prosecutors to enforce.
Additional Background Information
Mike Kelly can give his campaign unlimited in-kind contributions, but it’s unclear why the house numbers in his address changed with different in-kind contributions:
[During the 2022 campaign Kelly’s street address was 5700 Roeland Dr. in Roeland Park. Since being elected Kelly moved to a Prairie Village address.]
Treasurer, Hannes Zacharias, was the Johnson County manager from 2009-2017.
Finance chair, Claire Reagan, a substitute teacher, was elected to the Olathe School Board last week.
Campaign Manager, Cole Robinson, a commodity and currency trader, is a Ward 1 Prairie Village city councilman. Robinson’s wife, Danielle Hull Robinson, served as district manager for Congress member Sharice Davids until taking leave of absence late last year.
Interestingly, shortly after the Nov. 8, 2022 election Kelly’s campaign started payments that totaled $21,000 to Fresh Ink Freelance LLC, which is owned jointly by Cole and Danielle Robinson.
Kelly’s campaign reports were difficult to work with especially after four attempts failed to OCR (optical character recognize) the PDF image reports for programmatic analysis.
If it smells like a rat and looks like a rat, it's a rat. It's clear how Kelly and his team tried to cover their campaign contributions. The Ethics Committee, if they're worth their existence, should enforce their policies just like all other candidates. They cannot be above the law or the ethics rules.