By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
June 15, 2011

Summer season is here, but Kansas City’s Municipal Officials and Officers Ethics Commission isn’t thinking about flip flops. They’re thinking about this past election season.

Several city and mayoral candidates exceeded the city’s campaign contribution limits set forth by Ordinance 2-53.

City of Kansas City Internal Auditor Roy Greenway presented his findings on the campaign committee disclosure reports during the May 25 ethics commission meeting.

Ordinance 2-53 sets campaign contribution limits on municipal elections, which are up to $3,000 per contributor for primary and general elections for mayoral candidates; $2,500 per contributor for primary and general elections for at-large city council candidates; and $1,500 per contributor for primary and general elections for  in-district city council candidates.

Candidates who exceeded the campaign contribution limits included:

Mayoral candidates:

•Mark Funkhouser, $5,000 from James B. Nutter

•Deb Hermann, $3,500 from Transystems Corporation

In-district candidates:

•Aaron Benefield, $2,000 from Sequoia Logistics

•Michael Fletcher, $5,000 from Geoffrey C. Garth and $2,000 from Mike T. Yonke; two $1,500 contributions from Operating Engineers Local 101

•Russ Johnson, $3,000 from Transystems Corporation

Both Hermann and Johnson returned the excess funds and provided copies of the cancelled checks. Funkhouser’s campaign treasurer, Takamasa Morita, said via e-mail he would “address this issue soon.”

Benefield e-mailed Greenway, stating he was not aware of Ordinance 2-53 until he received Greenway’s letter May 13, 2011.

“Had I been aware of Sec. 2-53 I would have made every effort to comply and/or return any funds that exceeded the campaign contribution limit,” Benefield wrote to Greenway.

Ethics commission members requested Greenway follow up with Benefield and Funkhouser before the next meeting to find out how they plan to address the issue.

Several other candidates were called into question regarding violating Ordinance 2-53, but were cleared. Misunderstandings included duplicated line items, in-kind donations, reimbursements for yard signs, among others.

Fletcher “witch hunt”

Initially, only two campaign contribution violations were associated with Fletcher’s campaign. However, on Feb. 4, 2011, and Feb. 11, 2011, Fletcher received a $1,500 contribution from Operating Engineers Local 101. Greenway notified Fletcher of the possible violation on May 11 and requested a response by May 25. Fletcher didn’t respond.

“I believe that is still an open item,” Greenway told Northeast News of the Operating Engineers’ contributions. “It hasn’t been resolved and it needs a resolution.”

During the May 25 meeting, the ethics commission focused on Fletcher’s two campaign contributions from July of 2010. Fletcher first received notice of the Garth and Yonke campaign contribution violations Jan. 27, 2011.

He responded to Greenway via e-mail Feb. 2, 2011, stating he did not violate the city’s ordinance since the State of Missouri does not set campaign contribution limits. Therefore, he said, Missouri law trumps the city’s ordinance. The city didn’t agree.

When Fletcher’s campaign treasurer Charles Menifee attended the Feb. 9 ethics commission meeting, Menifee stated, “Up until a month ago, I wasn’t aware of campaign contribution limits… At the time the contributions came in, I did not knowingly accept them as being contrary to the limit.”

Adhering to Ordinance 2-53, ethics commission members said Fletcher had 30 days from the Feb. 9 meeting to return the excess funds. When the ethics committee held their April 20 meeting, Fletcher had yet to return the funds.

During their May 25 meeting, ethics commission members Judy Gibson, Lajuana Counts, Barbara Glesner-Fines, Jalilah Otto and Kevin Shorql held a formal investigation hearing to determine whether or not Fletcher violated Ordinance 2-53 by knowingly accepting the excess funds. Member Jean Ferrara was absent.

Menifee attended the meeting and Glesner-Fines asked what steps he took to remedy the issue.

“How do you think this campaign contribution limit comports with the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court on Citizens United? Can somebody in this committee tell me about Citizens United?” Menifee said.

When Menifee criticized the commission for not knowing about Citizens United, Glesner-Fines said it’s not within the ethics commission’s authority to provide positions on constitutional rulings.

Menifee then slighted the commission for “wasting” his time.

Asked why he resigned from the treasurer position, he said, “The reason why I resigned from the treasurer position is that I simply do not have time to deal with this. I’m a single father of two, I have my own business, and getting into what I perceive as a witch hunt is something I don’t have time to do.”

Asked if he made recommendations to Fletcher about the alleged ordinance violation, Menifee said no and that “Michael makes up his own mind. I’ve known him long enough to let him do that.”

Fletcher did not attend the hearing.

Fletcher’s most recent e-mail dated May 22 stated Yonke’s refund check was in the mail, but that Garth said he will not accept a refund.

“I advised him a compromise would be for me to write a check in his name to a charity of his choosing,” Fletcher wrote.

Garth agreed. Fletcher further wrote that he could write a check to charity or write a check to Garth, who advised he would not cash the check.

“I think we’re bound (by Ordinance 2-53) and it needs to go to the contributor,” Gibson said of the refund.

“What that contributor does with the check is their own business,” Counts said.

Glesner-Fines added, “Any way you slice it, we’re way past the 30 days of any conceivable interpretation of this ordinance.”

Ethics commission members voted to draft their findings and forward them on to the city prosecutor’s office.

The commission also voted to issue a complaint and notice of hearing for Garth and Menifee since Ordinance 2-53 states a violation has occurred if the contributor knowingly contributes more than the allowed amount to a campaign and a committee treasurer knowingly accepts the contribution and fails to return the excess within 30 days of receipt of the unauthorized contribution.