Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s campaign was fined $5,000 Wednesday for mistakes made in filing expense and contribution reports for the 2010 election. The Governmental Ethics Commission voted 7-2 to impose the maximum fine after questioning Kobach’s campaign treasurer, state Rep. Tom Arpke of Salina. At issue was nearly $80,000 that was omitted from the reports.
Commission Chairwoman Sabrina Standifer said the maximum fine was imposed, in part, because the campaign maintained that it reported the omissions to ethics officials. “The commission does not condone lack of candor before the commission,” Standifer said. “This is in no way, shape or form self-reporting.”
Carol Williams, executive director of the commission, testified that it was commission staff that first took the matter to the Kobach campaign. She said Arpke later conducted a full audit of the campaign’s expenditures and contributions that had been omitted.
Full Article: Kansas secretary of state fined $5,000 for errors in campaign reports – KansasCity.com.