Lawmakers fritter away $20,000 battling Kansas Reflector. They could just admit they screwed up!
Sen. Renee Erickson, R-Wichita, appears at an April 9, 2025, legislative hearing. As the chairwoman of COGE, Erickson delayed the release of public records until after the legislative session ended. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
The Kansas Legislature treated its own law as a suggestion.
Now it wants to steal money from you to cover its tracks.
Top state officials decided to snatch $20,000 from the wallets of taxpayers in a flagrantly ridiculous quest, hiring a lawyer to defend a lawmaker over a complaint filed by Kansas Reflector. No one on our end requested such a move, but the Legislative Coordinating Council moved forward on Thursday nonetheless.
It’s absurd. It’s pointless. And it could all be solved if lawmakers took responsibility for their actions.
The facts of the situation are simple, although slightly winding.
The Kansas Legislature hopped on the bandwagon of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, deciding there must be untold waste and fraud in state government. It created the Committee on Government Efficiency, which solicited suggestions from the public.
Kansas Reflector requested copies of those suggestions on Feb. 25, 2025. After protracted wrangling, we didn’t receive them until April 9 of that year. Meanwhile, an identical request from a member of the committee was answered in March. That sure appears to violate state law, which requires the government to either produce the requested records within three days or a give a detailed explanation of any delay.
The records suggested why lawmakers might have wanted to kept them hidden. Rather than reinforce conservative talking points, the majority of Kansans wanted to expand Medicaid, legalize cannabis, fully fund public schools and protect abortion rights. Uh-oh.
Why Kansas Reflector filed a complaint about stonewalling by the Senate efficiency panel
We take open records seriously here at Kansas Reflector. This law is a critical bulwark against government secrecy and malfeasance. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith therefore filed a complaint with the Kansas Attorney General’s Office in May of 2025. Time passed. The office last updated Kansas Reflector in November, with a letter that said the matter was still under review.
Finally, last week, we learned a bunch of news all at once.
Our complaint, which had been against the entire Legislature, had been narrowed by the Attorney General’s Office to focus on the COGE chairwoman, Sen. Renee Erickson, R-Wichita. And because the Attorney General’s Office has dual responsibility to both enforce open records requirements and represent the state, legislative leaders decided to hire outside legal counsel to defend Erickson.
Members of the panel voiced displeasure with Attorney General Kris Kobach and approved spending up to $20,000 for the services of Kansas City, Missouri, attorney Edward Greim.
Let’s clarify a handful of points now that we have the narrative down.
First, the portal through which Kansans made their suggestions stated explicitly that their words were public records. They were required to check a box acknowledging: “Portal submissions are public records that are subject to the Kansas Open Records Act.”
The COGE website has since been taken offline, so you’re no longer able to follow the links we put in earlier stories. Thankfully, the original page is archived here, so you can see how those submitting comments were informed.
The basis for Kansas Reflector’s request for public submissions, therefore, goes without saying.
Sometimes, requests for public records amount to educated guesses. The person behind the request suspects a paper (or email) trail behind one issue or another. Sometimes the records exist; sometimes they don’t. In this case, however, there was a flashing red light alerting us to the existence of a trove of documents very much in the public interest.
Kansas Legislature’s supermajority makes mockery of open records law over efficiency portal messages
Second, we did not file a lawsuit against the state of Kansas, the Legislature or any specific members. Smith sent a complaint to Kobach’s office. We asked for an acknowledgment of the simple truth that state law had been violated. You can read the complaint at the end of this column.
Finally, our complaint was against the entire Legislature, along with Erickson. Kobach’s office made the decision, without consulting us, to single out the senator as it investigated the complaint. We care most about the entire Legislature’s behavior moving forward.
The state of Kansas could have put this entire sorry affair to bed months ago, if not more than year ago.
We sought the minimum of someone who has clearly been wronged under state law: an admission of guilt. It would be nice if officials also promised to follow the law in the future.
As Smith put it: “I am thankful the Kansas Attorney General’s Office is taking its responsibility seriously when it comes to investigating open records complaints. Rather than hire an attorney, the Legislature could simply admit that it violated the law when it needlessly withheld public records and obscured them with capricious redactions. Kansas Reflector will continue our relentless fight for transparency at all levels of government.”
We have no interest in costing the people of Kansas any money. We instead seek to serve them by insisting that lawmakers follow the legislation they passed.
That’s the least that everyone should ask.
Smith’s full complaint appears below:
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.