Adam Hamilton says reporting on Roger Marshall’s use of taxpayer dollars warrants ethics inquiry

LAWRENCE — Democrat Adam Hamilton says reporting by Kansas Reflector and MS NOW warrants an ethics investigation into whether his opponent, U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, misused government resources to support his campaign.

The reporting looked at audio recordings, photos, videos, screenshots of text messages and calendar items from 2020 — when Marshall first ran for his Senate seat — that appear to show the senator and his top aide repeatedly using congressional staff and government resources in questionable ways. Legal and ethics experts said a mandatory all-staff meeting called by Marshall and the use of taxpayer funding during campaign trips violated federal rules.

“They’ve been willing to play loose with laws and rules, at least it seems like to me,” Hamilton said during a campaign stop Monday in Lawrence. “When you start using taxpayer money for your campaign in a way that’s not in keeping with the election laws, that should be looked into. I think they’re doing some things that are inconsistent with election laws, and that points again to questions about how you see ethics and how you see what’s right and wrong.”

Hamilton, as the leader of the nation’s largest Methodist church, presents a unique challenge to Marshall in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932. Marshall has made himself vulnerable by avoiding public appearances, owning a house in Florida, being loyal to President Donald Trump and defending his history of suing patients at his medical practice over unpaid debt.

Hamilton also has faced scrutiny for his handling of alleged child sex abuse at a church camp in 2005, which the church didn’t immediately report to police. The church went to police after subsequent abuse the next year.

But in the most obvious sign that the race is close, national Democrats and Republicans have poured millions of dollars into the campaigns within the past week. And President Donald Trump is heading to Kansas for a rally Monday in Wichita.

Six years ago, Marshall also faced a competitive race that required national Republicans to invest heavily in Kansas. He ultimately won by 11 percentage points over Democrat Barbara Bollier, a state senator who was elected as a Republican but switched parties before challenging Marshall.

“It took someone saving him,” Bollier said in an interview for this story. “He didn’t raise money personally, because people didn’t like him.”

Marshall’s staff didn’t respond to renewed questions this week from Kansas Reflector about the records from 2020.

Among them is a June 1, 2020, audio recording of a conversation between Marshall’s chief of staff, Brent Robertson, and another congressional staffer at Marshall’s D.C. office. Robertson said in the recording that the National Republican Senate Committee would have to spend money in Kansas to help Marshall — known to his staff as Doc — “whether they hate me or not.”

“They don’t like me, and they don’t like Doc,” Robertson said. “Period. Period. Like, I’ve seen it. We’ve had enough in-person meetings. I mean, they hate each other. And Doc cannot stand them.

“So there comes a point where it’s just like, OK, I can grovel, and then we all just still hate each other, and they all just mistreat Doc. It doesn’t matter. They’re going to try to screw with us whether we’re nice to them or not. And they’re going to end up having to spend money whether they want to or not, if it came down to it.”

Three months before the 2020 election, Robertson made a handwritten list of companies and PACs that wouldn’t donate to the campaign. He titled it “THE S*** LIST.” A photo shows the list — which included Amazon, Dr. Pepper, Keurig, RJ Reynolds and the American Beverage Association — on congressional stationery sitting on Robertson’s desk in the D.C. office.

Other photos taken throughout 2020 show campaign mailers and donation checks on Robertson’s desk in Marshall’s Senate office.

As Marshall’s chief of staff, Robertson’s involvement in campaign issues raises questions about the line between Marshall’s campaign and his taxpayer-funded Senate office. The records obtained by Kansas Reflector and MS NOW show Robertson repeatedly telling staff to use taxpayer money for travel and meals during trips that included campaign meetings.

During one text exchange, after staff questioned Robertson on whether the primary purpose of a trip was official or campaign, the chief of staff wrote: “Primary purpose is what we say it is.”

Experts challenged Robertson’s interpretation of ethics rules. They also faulted Marshall for calling a mandatory meeting for all campaign and congressional staff in October 2020. Video of the meeting shows both staffs talking about the campaign.

The conversation included advice from Marshall that staff in the Democrat-leaning Kansas City metro where Bollier lived should look for American flags because they serve as “a proxy for a Marshall-Trump voter.”

“I bet our door-knockers will confirm what I’m saying: 95 times out of 100, if there’s an American flag, there’s no Bollier signs in front of it, and you look on their profile, they’re Republican voters,” Marshall said.

After the meeting, one staff member texted another: “Sending this message as a reference that we objected to this illegal (activity) and that I raised it with our superiors and noted that it is not permissible per the above ethics statute.”

A week earlier, on Oct. 8, 2020, Robertson texted campaign staff with orders to cancel a meeting between Marshall and the Kansas National Education Association, a union representing teachers.

“It’s a setup. They will record, topics are absurd,” Robertson wrote, and noted the organization was “openly supporting” Bollier.

Marshall intervened.

“I want to play a game with them,” he responded.

Instead of canceling, Marshall suggested they delay the meeting for a couple of weeks and “then punt again.”

Robertson’s response: “Punt two weeks. Punt again. Punt until 2026,” followed by a smiley face emoji with sunglasses.

Sherri Schwanz, KNEA president, said the organization believes in “open and honest dialogue” with the state’s congressional delegation. Congress provides funding for special education, high-poverty schools, and schools serving military families, she said.

“Kansas needs a senator who will fight for that funding and engage with the educators, students and families it serves,” Schwanz said. “We’re disappointed Sen. Marshall would rather play games than meet with an organization representing more than 20,000 of his constituents simply because he disagreed with our recommendation in the 2020 election. The education of Kansas students is not a game.”

Bollier, who now lives in Colorado, said she pities Marshall.

“He will go to his grave thinking he was just fine,” she said. “He’s one of those people that if you put him on a lie detector test, he would pass because he really believes in what he’s doing. He believes it’s fine. But I kept my integrity, and I will hold onto that until my deathbed.”

Editor’s note: Barbara Bollier donated to Kansas Reflector after the 2020 election and again in 2024. Donors have no role in editorial decisions.