New Records Reveal Kelly’s Official Staff Asked DCF for Campaign Memo

September 15, 2022

Photo Credit: Charlie Riedel, AP

The Republican Governors Association Kansas 2022 PAC is releasing new records it obtained from the official office of Democrat Governor Laura Kelly related to the criminal referral filed against Kelly and her staff earlier this year. The records were also shared with the Shawnee County Sheriff last month at the Sheriff’s office’s request.

The records, available here, show that Kelly’s office did in fact use state resources to create a document that was shared with and used by her campaign attorneys in a failed attempt to pull down a TV ad critical of Kelly’s record that same day. RGA Kansas filed a criminal referral in June asking law enforcement officers to investigate Kelly’s office for violating Kansas’ public integrity laws, specifically K.S.A. 75-2953(a). Violations of this statutory command are a Class C misdemeanor.

Read more about the records and Kelly’s misuse of state resources in The Kansas City Star.

“Democrat Laura Kelly and her staff have taken her egregious abuse of Kansas taxpayer resources to potentially criminal levels,” said RGA Kansas spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez. “Even worse, they did so with the Kansas Department of Children and Families which, despite Kelly’s promises to fix, advocates say is ‘not fixed by any stretch of the imagination and still needs continued work‘ as foster care children sleep in offices and runaway at one of the highest rates in the country.”