Contact: Scott Morgan
785-760-0323 • staterankings@yahoo.com
ScottMorganForSOS.org • StopKobach.org
Morgan Calls on Kobach to Release his Tax Returns for Full Disclosure
“Guardian of State Sovereignty” or “Guardian of Kobach’s Bank Account”?
Scott Morgan, Republican candidate for Kansas Secretary of State, today called on incumbent Kris Kobach to release his tax returns for 2011, 2012 and 2013 so that Kansans would have full knowledge of how much he makes performing duties unrelated to Secretary of State.
“Kobach likes to portray himself as the ‘Guardian of State Sovereignty’, righting wrongs on his own time while still giving Kansans their money’s worth for his day job as Secretary of State,” Morgan said. “However the truth is that he has made thousands of dollars cashing in with out-of-state clients and the reality is that he has more than likely made hundreds of thousands of dollars. Only disclosing his tax returns will provide Kansans with the transparency needed to know what their Secretary of State is really doing during working hours.”
Morgan said that the annual Statement of Substantial Interests form only requires Kobach to disclose employers or clients that paid him $2,000 or more in the previous year. Kobach’s filings for the past three years show a minimum of $24,000 that he made from work other than Secretary of State.
“It’s a pretty safe assumption that Kobach was not charging these clients only $2,000.” Morgan said. “It doesn’t take much to realize that he has made literally hundreds of thousands of dollars off of out-of-state clients while continuing to cash the checks from Kansas taxpayers paying him $86,000 to be our Secretary of State. At some point this ‘Guardian of State Sovereignty’ needs to be exposed for the money-grabbing ‘Guardian of Kobach’s Bank Account’ that he really is.”
Morgan said that of all offices, the Secretary of State, as keeper of the state’s records and chief elections officer must meet a very high standard of transparency. Without Kobach’s tax returns Kansans will not know the true extent of his financial dealings with other parties. Morgan pledged to be a full-time Secretary of State and prove it by releasing his personal tax returns once elected.
“I stand by a comment I made when I announced that as Republicans we would be livid if a Democrat were doing this and we should be even more upset to have a fellow Republican doing it.” Morgan said. “If I’m wrong, release the tax returns and be done with it.”
Morgan said the assumption that Kobach has made hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past three years was supported by stories such as one in The Kansas City Star in 2012 reporting that Kobach had made $424,000 in fees from clients in the five or six years before 2012. Kobach was elected in 2010.
######
