(Updated to include No Labels comment)
Secretary of State Scott Schwab on Monday asked the attorney general to review efforts by a Kansas political consultant to nominate candidates under a party banner that was started by a separate group last year.
A spokesperson for Schwab said the referral was sent on Monday morning to Attorney General Kris Kobach, who has made prosecuting election fraud a calling card.
In a timeline of the case, the secretary of state’s office suggests that consultant Kris Van Meteren may have violated a state law barring false impersonation of a party officer when he nominated his wife, Echo, and state Sen. Marci Francisco as No Labels candidates.
The move would have allowed them to remain on the ballot as No Labels candidates regardless of the outcome of their primary races.
Francisco said she had no intent of running as a No Labels candidate and was nominated without her knowledge.
Van Meteren said he would welcome a review, saying the statute he’s accused of violating is a misdemeanor.
“Apart from its doubtful constitutionality, (I) am confident I will not be found to be in violation of that statute,” he said in an email.
On Monday, June 3, at 4:51 a.m., before sunrise, Van Meteren formed a domestic not-for profit corporation with the name No Labels Kansas, Inc., according to the secretary of state’s office. The deadline for candidates to file for office was noon that day.
The corporation was completely different and distinct from No Labels Kansas, the recognized political party that was started last year and ultimately approved by the secretary of state’s office.
When the party started last year, the No Labels movement was chaired by Glenda Reynolds of Whitewater, according to records kept by the secretary of state.
Ernest Reynolds was listed as a committee member. Another committee member was Victoria Schultz of Leawood.
Shane Mathis of Lecompton was listed as the secretary/treasurer of the group.
No Labels Kansas, Inc., – started by Van Meteren – is not a recognized political party in Kansas and it cannot nominate candidates for office, according to the secretary of state.
On Monday, June 3, Van Meteren filed two certificates of party nomination.
He signed the certificates purportedly as the party chair for No Labels Kansas, the recognized political party, according to the secretary of state.
Two days later, the national No Labels organization, upon learning of the candidate
filings, contacted the secretary of state and alleged the state senate filings were “fraudulent.”
On the same day, Schwab removed Francisco and Van Meteren’s wife from the ballot as candidates for the No Labels Party.
Schwab notified each candidate that the filing was not valid under state law because a convention to nominate the candidates was not called by the state chair of No Labels.
On Thursday, June 6, at 10:39 a.m., Van Meteren formed a second not-for-profit corporation, No Labels Kansas Party, Inc., according to the secretary of state.
This new corporation also was different and distinct from No Labels Kansas, the recognized political party, according to the secretary of state.
“No Labels Kansas Party, Inc., is not a recognized political party in Kansas and it cannot nominate candidates for office,” the secretary of state’s office.
Van Meteren said in an email Friday that he followed Kansas law when he created his version of No Labels, which the national No Labels party said was “fraudulent.”
Van Meteren said he completed paperwork that the original No Labels party organizers didn’t file: articles of incorporation, registration with the Internal Revenue Service and other documents.
As the new incorporator and director of No Labels, Van Meteren said he called a convention last Monday morning, the deadline for candidates to file.
He said he elected himself chair and nominated two candidates for the Kansas Senate: Marci Francisco and Echo Van Meteren. Francisco said she didn’t attend a No Labels convention.
“I was careful to document all of this and made sure I did everything in the right order,” Van Meteren said in the email.
He said he then drove to Topeka to deliver the certificates of nomination to the secretary of state’s office.
The secretary of state’s office said No Labels Kansas, the recognized political party, is an unincorporated association and was not required to file any formation documentation or
biennial reports with the secretary of state’s business services division.
No Labels Kansas, the recognized political party, is the state affiliate of the national organization, No Labels, Inc.
Ryan Clancy, chief strategist for No Labels nationally, praised Schwab for sending the case to the attorney general.
“We have no affiliation with Mr. Van Meteren and did not authorize him to utilize its ballot line in any way,” Clancy said.
“We applaud the secretary of state’s office for referring to the Attorney General to investigate violations of state law.”
No Labels had been working on a national level to form a third-party presidential ticket – called a “unity ticket” – that could bring together a moderate Republican and Democrat on a presidential ticket.
No Labels had intended to put forward a third-party ticket for president, but the effort fizzled after the national party dropped plans to put forward a candidate.
There are now 80 Kansans registered as members of the No Labels Party, according to data from the secretary of state’s office.
There are four No Labels members in Douglas and Leavenworth counties each.
