Greg Smith and his family know the meaning of pain and loss. Their daughter, Kelsey Smith, was abducted from a Target parking lot and murdered, found later at Longview Lake in Jackson County Missouri. Her killer will serve the rest of his life in Hutchinson, Kansas prison.
That terrible day for the Smith family led to his work in politics, and his desire to bring his Republican brand to the state house. Unless you’ve been through this kind of loss, or a violent crime, can you really understand the way in which it shapes your life. Years later, however, several Kansans are wondering whether or not the death of Kelsey Smith, and her memory, are being abused in the hopes of political gain.
The decision to look into the happenings that have followed that fateful day resulted in an article by Steve Vokrodt at the Kansas City alternative paper “The Pitch”.
While Smith’s devotion to his daughter hasn’t been in question, the article touches on a serious concern of social ethics: has the Smith Campaign been washing money through his daughter’s charity for personal benefit? That question has sparked Republican infighting, calls for a determination by the state ethics commission, and concerns over how campaign funds can be used.
Kansas Republican campaigns can generate a lot of money for their candidates. At the end of a race, the money can go several places. It can be given to the state or county party, a typical target. Campaigns may also give their money to non-profit organizations as a matter of charitable giving. Several campaigns give their money to outside causes they believe in, knowing the people who donated to their campaign support that use.
Greg Smith, according to the Pitch and campaign finance reports also put money into a charity — the Kelsey Smith Fund — a charity he runs.
Smith on a few occasions has sent donor funds from his campaign account to the Kelsey Smith Foundation, a nonprofit from which he draws a salary. On July 20, 2015, Smith's campaign donated $1,137 to his foundation. He had also sent contributions to the foundation the preceding two years.
Campaigns are allowed to donate money to nonprofits, but whether those funds can go to a nonprofit that pays the candidate is a murkier question.
"Candidates are permitted to donate campaign funds to any organization which is recognized as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization or any religious organization, community service or civic organization but only if the candidate receives no goods or services unrelated to the candidate's campaign as the result of the payment of such donations," says Carol Williams, director of the Kansas Ethics Commission.
The question is a serious one. Greg Smith draws a salary from the Kelsey Smith fund. Using campaign funds which have been donated for political purposes to fund an organization that pays the candidate seems to skirt the guidelines intended by the State Ethics commission.
Donations from Smith’s campaign to his charity are documented and as the Pitch notes, they aren’t a one time occurrence. Whether or not this is ethical — and several Johnson County Republicans raised questions about it — has yet to be determined.
But if a candidate is allowed to sweep campaign funds into an organization they draw a paycheck from, it opens the door wide open for candidates to turn campaign funding into a second job of sorts, taking money donated to their campaign to pay non-campaign expenditures. This potential loophole, allowing a non-for-profit to become the gateway to move funds from campaign to personal expenses creates a giant ethical concern.
When moderate Republican Barbara Bollier (R-Prairie Village) questioned the practice in Facebook, forums filled with denouncements and namecalling from her own facebook page to other Republican commentary. Emails labeled those who who wanted a final ruling from the ethics commission as “fake Republicans”.
The Republican war on Moderates under Brownback has turned the moderate members of the majority without any real voice in the state house. At the Republican state convention, moderates were used to raise money and portray their party as “a big tent” but in private and in email exchanges related to Kansas Conservatives, elected and prominent Republicans referred to them in this way: “Why do we tolerate these pro-choice anti-conservative b*(&?” (note: they did not actually spell out the word, I assume out of their own belief)
While the attitude of rank and file conservatives may be more.. vulgar, they aren’t alone. In a Desoto town hall, 2014, when questioned about Representative Stephanie Clayton’s position taken at an Overland Park Chamber of Commerce meeting on issues, Senator Julia Lynn (R-Senate District 9, Gardner, Desoto, Olathe) replied: “Well, sounds like her.. she’s not a real Republican.”
Whether they are fake Republicans or Real Republicans, the question of ethics is cannot be defused by a debate of their party adherence. There is no denying that Greg Smith made campaign payments to his charity — a charity that pays him.
Whether Real Republicans, Fake Republicans, Or Democrats seek an answer on that question really doesn’t matter. What does matter is simple: under Kansas ethics laws, can campaigns fund non-for-profits that will pay them? And is this a loophole we want to allow in the law.
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