State Integrity news for Kansas from SII partner KCUR:

A Kansas district attorney concludes that a series of meetings of key members of the legislature called by Governor Sam Brownback broke the state's open meetings law.  But there will be no charges and no fines and the investigation left a number of questions about the unannounced meetings and the open records law itself.

Read and hear more from KCUR - Kansas City.

State Integrity news for Missouri and Kansas from SII partner KCUR:

In Missouri -- one of only four states without campaign contribution limits -- single donors have made contributions this year as large as $750,000.

Meanwhile, across the border in Kansas, the state does have contribution limits, but national groups like Americans for Prosperity are for the first time getting involved in primary races for Kansas Legislature seats.

Read and hear more from KCUR - Kansas City.

State integrity news for Kansas and Missouri, from KCUR:

Open records are not fully “open” anywhere in Missouri, but ironically the National Freedom of Information Coalition is headquartered in the state. Ken Bunting, executive director for that organization cites a recent nationwide study by the Center for Public Integrity that gives Missouri a C- for overall opennes and accountability and an F for access to public information.

Doug Anstaett of the Kansas Press Association says records in that state are also far from open.

Read and hear more at KCUR - Kansas City.

State integrity news for Kansas, from Kansas Watchdog:

The 2000 Kansas Legislature approved the restoration of the Kansas State Capitol with a price tag of $90 million to $120 million and an eight-year timetable. It’s still several years from completion, and the price tag has risen to $320 million.

In an age when just about everything is on the Internet, the contracts for the Capitol’s restoration are not. The mammoth document isn’t even available in an electronic format, such as a text or PDF file, said Shelley King, an attorney at the Kansas Department of Administration’s Office of Chief Counsel.

Read the rest of the story at Kansas Watchdog.

State integrity news for Kansas, from the Wichita Eagle:

Kansans deserve better than this. That’s why, while they’re on the subject, lawmakers should act now to put a better system before voters on the November ballot.

The Kansas Senate GOP leadership is reviving the proposed reform, which would essentially fire the legislative mapmakers for dereliction of duty and turn the process over to a five-member bipartisan redistricting commission. The Legislature still would approve the commission’s maps, but only with up-or-down votes.

Read the rest of the story at the Wichita Eagle.

State Integrity news for Missouri and Kansas from SII partner KCUR:

In the first portion of Wednesday's Up to Date, Steve Kraske welcomes former KPR statehouse reporter Peter Hancock and former Business Journal and the Star reporter Mike Sherry to share the results of the data they collected for the project.

University of Kansas political science professor Burdett Loomis and Missouri State University political science professor George Connor join Hancock and Sherry to discuss the findings and explain what they mean for the states' residents and governments, how influence and corruption is treated in Kansas vs. Missouri.

Listen to the discussion from KCUR - Kansas City.

State Integrity News for Kansas and Missouri from SII partner KCUR:

No state gets an “A” in a study of government transparency and corruption risk released by Public Radio International. Kansas ranked fairly high for safeguards, at number 9. Missouri finished at number 21.

Both received “passing grades,” but with lots of room for improvement.

Listen to the story from KCUR - Kansas City.

Corruption news for Kansas, from the Lawrence Journal World:

As the Kansas secretary of state, Kris Kobach’s most important job is to oversee elections in the state. To a greater extent than any other elected state official, that requires secretaries of state to distance themselves from partisan involvements. Establishing that distance apparently is difficult for Kobach, who has continued to be involved in issues and dealings that raise questions about his political impartiality.

He continues his work — in his “spare time,” he claims — on illegal immigration issues around the country. He also raised some eyebrows when he agreed to be the honorary chairman of a Republican candidate’s campaign for the Kansas Senate. Now, Kobach has formed his own political action committee, called the Prairie Fire PAC. 

Read the rest of the story at the Lawrence Journal World.

Corruption news for Kansas, from ABC News:

A local prosecutor is warning Kansas legislators and Gov. Sam Brownback to preserve records and electronic files about gatherings at his official residence as "potentially relevant evidence" in an investigation into complaints that the sessions violated the state's open meetings law.

Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor sent a letter to all 40 state senators and all 125 House members, directing them to preserve not only their records, electronic files and "tangible items," but the same materials for their staffs. Taylor said Thursday night that he also sent it to Brownback's office, his secretary of administration and the administration's information technology director.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News.

Corruption news for Kansas, from the Wichita Eagle:

The former head of the Kansas Bioscience Authority misspent agency funds and destroyed documents on his computer that had been subpoenaed by a prosecutor investigating the agency, according to an in-depth audit of the state-funded authority. The 203-page audit questioned some of the agency’s contracting practices.

“Our analysis found 301 payments without a contract, including 102 payments that violated KBA’s Contract Policy,” the audit said. “The total contract cost involved totaled $1,219,271.81 in payments without a contract, including $571,828.20 in payments which violated Contract Policy.”

Read the rest of the story at the Wichita Eagle.