WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Wichita City Council will consider an amendment to the campaign finance ordinance.
The proposed amendment would prohibit candidates from accepting political contributions to their campaigns from corporations or LLCs, which is consistent with existing state law campaign finance statutes. Violating the ordinance is a misdemeanor with a fine not to exceed $2,500 and one year in jail. The City cannot enact an ordinance with penalties less than those set forth by state statutes.
The council discussed the ordinance during their agenda review on Friday. Council member Bryan Frye questioned the ordinance’s timing and why it was being placed on the agenda now.
Frye, who represents District 5, and Jeff Blubaugh, who represents District 4, both leave office on Jan. 8 due to term limits along with Mayor Whipple, who lost reelection. After winning in the November general election, Dalton Glasscock and J.V. Johnston and mayor-elect Lily Wu will be sworn in as their replacements on Jan. 8.
“I wanna understand why the recommended action is that this is being declared an emergency. What constitutes an emergency in this particular case,” asked Frye.
Council member Mike Hoheisel replied that he believed it had more to do with finishing up unfinished council business now rather than handing it over to the next council.
“So there’s a lot of social media chatter that this is, would this, because this would affect the next council, that they should be allowed to weigh in on it. By rushing it forward, they don’t have that opportunity. And again, trying to understand why it’s a public emergency,” said Frye.
“When I hear public emergency, I think public health, public safety,” Frye was interrupted by Mayor Whipple, who wanted to explain why it was considered urgent to other members of the council, but Frye interjected, saying, “I wasn’t finished, okay?”
“Well, we have a meeting in 10 minutes, so I can actually alleviate your concerns,” said Whipple.
Whipple explained that there are candidates who have already declared for the next election cycle, and pushing it off would allow people to accept campaign funds into their accounts before the ordinance is approved, providing an unfair advantage in the election.
It’s part of a practice called bundling. Bundling can allow a candidate to skirt traditional laws when it comes to financial donations.
An individual can have multiple registered Limited Liability Companies and donate the maximum allowed donation from each LLC, then bundle them, donating them immediately to a campaign. That means a person or entity behind the LLCs can write a check from each, totaling the maximum donation amount of $500, donating thousands of dollars at once.
Whipple also stated that the argument it could wait for the next council is the same argument that could have been made for the bonuses that were provided to Wichita Police, to which Frye replied, “True,” but argued that it still went before District Advisory Boards before going to the council.
However, Whipple replied it did not need to go before boards because it does not affect a department or citizens directly, only candidates who want to run for office in Wichita.
“If the idea is to be more transparent, this reeks of no transparency,” said Frye. Whipple then asked Frye to explain his reasoning.
“Because we’re rushing it! There, there’s been no, uh, public workshop on this, we’ve had no DAB engagement, we’ve just finished the previous agenda item on Landlord/Tennant rights and the retaliatory…we went back to DABs for that!” said Frye.
“Because you have landlords on your DABs. You don’t have candidates on your DABs who are running for office. It makes sense if you actually want to make sure the next cycle is fair, and that’s what we’re going to do,” said Whipple. “And like, I said, I’m not going to be lectured by someone who frankly, the week before I got in, did, uh, an emergency up for the very same reason because of timing when it came to a 10-year tax or, uh, incentive agreement with uh, people who own a church next to a ballpark. There was chatter about that too, like ‘Why don’t you let the next council, the next mayor time around that.’ You guys have done the exact same when it comes to tying up loose ends.”
Whipple reiterated that the reason for the urgency of the ordinance was because of election laws regarding donations and reporting deadlines.
“Well then, why didn’t we do this sooner? Why are we waiting until now?” asked Frye
“Because the campaign has just ended now,” replied Whipple.
Frye insisted the council had plenty of time to address it.
“We’ve had two months to do this. We’ve had two years to do this if this is such an issue! To, to bring this at the 11th hour, right before a new council comes in…” said Frye.
Council member Becky Tuttle interjected, stating, “Mike (Hoheisel) did try to bring this in.”
Whipple reminded Frye he had opposed it when it was previously brought up, saying that people were already fundraising for their campaigns. Frye ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor, losing to Lily Wu and Mayor Whipple in the primary.
“I’m not defending the action of bundling checks,” said Frye.
“Well, you’re not supporting the action to stop the bundling of checks. So, I’m not exactly sure what you’re doing,” replied Whipple.
Council member Frye expressed concerns that the ordinance could be struck down if challenged in court. Council member Hoheisel explained that the city legal department had helped to draft the ordinance to make sure that would stand up to any legal challenge.
The council will decide on the ordinance during their Jan. 2 regular meeting. You can watch the full agenda review by clicking here.
