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What looked like an ordinance violation turned out to be an inadvertent error.
During their previous meeting, the Municipal Officials and Officers Ethics Commission questioned a $5,000 campaign contribution to former Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser.
Ordinance 2-53 stipulates a mayoral candidate is limited to $3,000 per contributor for primary and general elections.
According to campaign disclosure reports, Funkhouser’s campaign accepted a $5,000 contribution from James B. Nutter on March 31, 2011. City of Kansas City Internal Auditor Roy Greenway emailed Funkhouser’s campaign, who cleared up the confusion.
Funkhouser’s Campaign Treasurer Takamasa Morita said he “made a mistake” when reporting the contribution to the Missouri Ethics Commission. Written on one check, the $5,000 contribution was connected to a joint checking account for the Nutters. Both Morita and James Nutter confirmed via email that the check was for two contributions – $2,500 from Mr. Nutter and $2,500 from Mrs. Nutter.
“I should have reported it as $2,500 from Mr. Nutter and $2,500 from Mrs. Nutter,” Morita wrote in his email.
Commissioners Lajuana Counts, Judy Gibson, Barbara Glesner-Fines, Jalilah Otto and Kevin Schorgl accepted the explanation and requested Funkhouser’s campaign provide an amended copy of the financial report by the next meeting on July 27. Member Jean Ferrara was absent.
Commissioners also received an update from Greenway on two contributions to the Aaron Benefield campaign. Benefield, who ran for an in-district city council seat, received a $1,000 contribution from Sequoia Logistics on Feb.10, 2011, and another contribution of $2,000 from the same company on Feb. 23, 2011. In-district city council candidates are limited to $1,500 per contributor for primary and general elections.
Benefield replied via email to Greenway stating he was unaware of the ordinance. Benefield agreed to return the excess funds, but pointed out his campaign committee terminated itself on April 12, 2011. Benefield emailed Greenway and asked if he could pay Sequoia Logistics from his personal checking account and Greenway directed the question to Senior Associate City Attorney Cecilia Abbott. Abbott said it was for the commission to decide. After further discussion, commissioners voted to allow Benefield to pay Sequoia Logistics from his personal checking account and requested proof of the cancelled check by the next meeting.
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