(Updated to correct typo and clarify Class A misdemeanor)
The state ethics commission has ordered a political group that supported Kris Kobach during the governor’s race to file a disclosure report required by law.
In a letter dated Monday, the ethics commission instructed organizers of Per Aspera Policy to either file an independent expenditure report or a statement of organization as a political action committee.
The group spent $30,000 on an ad for Kobach on Kansas City’s ABC affiliate, KMBC. The Kansas City Star reported last fall that Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel contributed to the 501(c)4 group.
The group has 15 days to file the required reports or face civil penalties. For each unfiled document, there is a $10 a day penalty up to $300 per document.
There also is a penalty for intentionally failing to file, which is a Class A misdemeanor.
The letter was sent to Jack Gerard, the group’s executive director in Iona, Idaho, and Chris Marston, the group’s treasurer in Alexandria, Va. Efforts to reach the group were immediately unsuccessful.
Here are the ads the group ran on behalf of Kobach courtesy of Washburn University political scientist Bob Beatty’s ad library:
