Emails Suggest Kansas GOP Candidate Skirted Campaign Finance Rules, Watchdogs Say

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The Kansas City Star

Kansas Republican congressional candidate Amanda Adkins may have skirted federal election law by representing herself as a candidate before filing the appropriate paperwork, campaign finance watchdogs say. Brendan Fischer, director of federal reform at the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center, said that if Adkins hired a consulting firm she would have likely exceeded the $5,000 threshold. “These emails indicate that Adkins hired the consulting firm High Cotton in July 2019, which likely cost more than $5,000. High Cotton, as Adkins’ agent, then sent at least two emails stating unequivocally that Adkins was a candidate for KS-03,” Fischer said in an email. Fischer noted that “the language in the emails was not hedged in any way: the emails did not say that Adkins was considering a possible candidacy, they said she had decided to run but just had not announced.” Fischer said the evidence suggests that Adkins should have filed with FEC earlier in the summer and that at a minimum the expenditures made before her official filing should be disclosed on her October campaign finance report.

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