Kansas governor’s campaign loans under scrutiny

WICHITA, Kan. – A federal grand jury is looking into loans made to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s re-election campaign and has ordered the state’s ethics chief to testify next week as part of its investigation, according to a subpoena obtained by the Associated Press.

Carol Williams, the executive director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, was summoned to appear before the grand jury Wednesday in Topeka, according to documents the AP obtained through an open records request. She also was ordered to provide documents pertaining to loans Brownback’s campaign received in 2013 and 2014.

The subpoena doesn’t say which loans are being investigated, but the only loans listed on campaign disclosure reports for those years are one from Brownback and others from Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer. Colyer loaned Brownback’s campaign $500,000 in August – the third such loan the governor’s running mate made to their re-election bid – according to a disclosure report filed days before the November election.

The loans, the first of which was made in December 2013, raised eyebrows on the campaign trail because loans in such large amounts are rare in Kansas political races and because the money was repaid within days.

Brownback’s spokeswoman, Eileen Hawley, said the investigation “has no merit.”

“It is a common practice for candidates to make loans to their campaigns and any loans were done in compliance with Kansas law and ethics regulations,” she said in an email.

When asked in August about the reasoning for the loans and repayment, Brownback said, “I’m not going to explain the thought process.”

Some Democrats speculated Thursday the loans were an attempt to bolster Brownback’s fundraising totals, to make the campaign appear in better shape than it was.

A spokesman for Democrat Paul Davis, who narrowly lost the race to Brownback, said before the election that voters “deserve to know where this money came from.”