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KEC Introduces Bill Regulating KS Court Retention Campaign Finance

[ Posted Sunday Mar 7 2010, 10:00 am by Thomas Witt ]
[ Last Updated Sunday Mar 7 2010, 10:04 am ]

Dear Kansas Equality Coalition members, supporters, and allies:

Last Wednesday, Kansas Equality Coalition requested introduction of a bill in the Kansas Legislature that will, if passed, bring judges who run for retention into the campaign finance regulations (http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2010/563.pdf). This is a somewhat complicated story, so I'll break it down as clearly as I can.

Some important facts:

- Currently all candidates for elected office in Kansas are subject to campaign finance limits and reporting requirements. Campaigns are regulated by the Kansas Government Ethics Commission (http://www.accesskansas.com/ethics).

- In some judicial districts (such as Johnson County), judges are appointed. They then must run for "retention," rather than election. It's not a partisan election with an opponent; rather, it's a yes/no question on the ballot.

- In other districts (such as Sedgwick County), judges are subject to partisan election. They declare as Republican or Democratic, and run against each other every four years.

- Our Supreme Court and Appellate Court justices are all appointed by the Governor, and are subject to retention every 6 years.

- SB563, as introduced, will bring all offices subject to retention under the campaign finance laws. Candidates for retention will be subject to the same contribution limits and reporting requirements as candidates for Governor, Attorney General, and other statewide offices. Groups independently opposing (or supporting) retention will be subject to the reporting requirements all Kansas political action committees are currently subject to.

Here's why this is an issue:

Last month, Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier requested an opinion from the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission on whether justices running for retention are subject to campaign finance limits and reporting. Justice Beier is running for retention this year, and has been targeted by radical groups on the far-right for defeat. Their hope is to start removing Justices whom they feel are "too liberal," in the hopes that A) Sam Brownback will be the next Governor and B) he will appoint Justices that share his radical agenda.

On February 17, the Ethics Commission responded to Justice Beier with a very brief opinion that stated that Supreme Court Justices, and by extension all judges who face retention elections, are *not* covered by Kansas campaign finance regulations.

This means that Justices and those who oppose them may raise unlimited funds, and not have to report a single dime of where it came from or how it was spent. They will also not have to add disclaimers to political ads, such as "Paid For By Haters who Love To Hate, Crazy Hateful Guy, Treasurer." What we're facing is this: Anyone with deep pockets, anywhere in the country, can dump endless amounts of anonymous cash into anti-retention campaigns and no one will ever know who they are, or worse, who they think they *own*.

This whole situation has been reported, editorialized, and blogged in the mainstream and independent press around Kansas for weeks (see http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&um=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=kansas+beier+retention+ethics for news links). It's also been one of the hottest topics of gossip in the Capitol hallways for the past two weeks. Oddly, though, no one was introducing a bill to fix this problem - it seemed like all the interested parties were waiting for someone else to do the work.

Obviously, selling a seat on the Kansas Supreme Court or Appellate Court to the highest anonymous bidder cannot be allowed to happen in Kansas. While we cannot keep money out of politics, we *can* keep anonymous mountains of unaccountable cash out of Kansas judicial races. This is why we, when no one else was going to get the bill drafted and introduced, stepped up and did the work.

At first glance, this may seem like an odd issue for the Equality Coalition to get out in front on. We all know, however, how important state supreme courts are to protecting the liberties of LGBT Kansans and Americans; just think of what's happened in Massachusetts, California, and Iowa, to name a few. As a community, it's in our interest to ensure that our courts are as free of partisan political influence as possible. The system isn't perfect, and our bill will not make it perfect, but it's a huge and necessary step in the right direction.

The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee will be holding a hearing on SB563 this Wednesday, March 10, at 9:30am, in room 144S. Since KEC is the primary proponent of the bill, I will be first to testify and present our case for the bill. Most of the Senators on the committee appear to be very supportive, and I have heard from parties on the left and the right about the need for this legislation. I don't yet know the lineup of other organizations coming in to testify as proponents, but from the gossip and rumors I've been hearing, it's going to be a diverse group.

Here's what we can all do to help this effort: Write or call the Senators on the Ethics and Elections Committee, tell them you're a KEC member or supporter, and that you want anonymous, unlimited money kept out of our Supreme Court. The committee members, and links to their contact information, are:

Senator Vicki Schmidt, Chairperson
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/searchSenate.do?rep=4470

Senator Pete Brungardt, Vice Chairperson
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/searchSenate.do?rep=4474

Senator Pat Apple
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/searchSenate.do?rep=4461

Senator Terrie Huntington
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/searchSenate.do?rep=4495

Senator Dennis Pyle
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/searchSenate.do?rep=4458

Senator Roger Reitz
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/searchSenate.do?rep=4472

Senator Susan Wagle
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/searchSenate.do?rep=4481

Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau, Ranking Minority Member
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/searchSenate.do?rep=4479

Senator Kelly Kultala
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/searchSenate.do?rep=4493

I also suggest you call your state Senator with the same message. Contact information for all Senators is at http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/searchSenate.do

If you don't know what district you live in, you can use this handy applet that uses your address to look up your voting information: http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/vote/

I apologize for the length of this email, but I think it's important that all members have as full a picture as possible.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email or call me at 316-683-1706.

Thanks for your continued support!

Tom

Thomas Witt, Chair
Kansas Equality Coalition