Milton Wolf, the conservative candidate who tried to unseat Pat Roberts last year is back in the news today making his own waves by taking on Governor Sam Brownback on the issue of transparency.
Earlier in the week, Bryan Lowry, a reporter for the Wichita Eagle broke a story involving Shawn Sullivan, Governor Brownback's budget director. The piece found here pointed out that the Brownback administration may have avoided the open records rules by skirting it through private email addresses.
Sullivan, it appeared had sent an early draft of the budget to outside lobbyists before it was seen by any legislator. While this is not uncommon for outside validators to get a look, the fact it was done through an uncheckable email address led to some serious ethical concerns. Now, Milton Wolf is willing to hoist the Brownback administration on their own petard.
Milton Wolf also takes the argument a step farther:
Asking whether or not this early disclosure to lobbyist amounts to insider information, effectively providing lobbyist with spending directives prior to the release of the budget.
The Budget, which of course documents not only tax policy but also planned expenditures could pose as a potential early dump of information for those who use it as investment guidance. While this sabre rattling has resided mostly amongst tea party and left wing advocates in the state, Dr. Milton Wolf put a public voice on it by making his announcement in twitter of his general thoughts of it, siding with those who believe this may blur the line between outside advice and an unfair advantage.
Representative Hineman, a Republican, voiced ethical concerns over the loophole as well today.
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“There’s a transparency issue here that ought to be considered,” said Rep. Don Hineman, R-Dighton.
Hineman questioned the administration’s commitment to transparency and said Sullivan’s explanation that he used private e-mails because he was home for the holidays “doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Transparency has had a rough go in the state house this session, as cameras for the public were turned off, and rules to require a documenting of the vote went down to failure in rule changes. The rules as set by the house maintain the ability in the end to vote and introduce legislation anonymously.
Representative Stephanie Clayton (R, Overland Park) has been one of the principle advocates for transparency and change within the body leaving her to say this about the current state of the issue between the legislature and the public:
With Republicans calling out the Brownback administration over the level of transparency, will email sent to lobbyists through a private account enough to motivate change?