Hamilton says Marshall’s use of taxpayer funds warrants ethics inquiry
Ethics Inquiry Demanded Over 2020 Campaign Records
The controversy centers on a cache of internal 2020 records obtained and published by Kansas Reflector and MS NOW. The materials include audio recordings, photographs, videos, text message screenshots, and calendar items from the year Marshall first ran for his Senate seat.
Legal and ethics experts told the outlets that Marshall’s actions—including a mandatory all-staff meeting and the expenditure of taxpayer funds 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 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 leads the nation’s largest Methodist church, presenting a rare electoral challenge in Kansas, a state that has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932. Marshall faces additional political vulnerability due to a history of avoiding public appearances, owning a home in Florida, showing loyalty to President Donald Trump, and defending his past practice of suing patients at his medical practice over unpaid debt.
Inside the 2020 Congressional Office Operations
Marshall’s staff did not respond to renewed inquiries from Kansas Reflector regarding the 2020 records. Among the documents is a June 1, 2020, audio recording capturing a conversation between Marshall’s chief of staff, Brent Robertson, and another congressional staffer in the senator’s Washington, D.C., office.
In the recording, Robertson discussed financial support from the National Republican Senate Committee. “They don’t like me, and they don’t like Doc,” Robertson said on the recording. “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.”
Three months prior to the 2020 election, Robertson compiled a handwritten list of companies and political action committees that declined to donate to the campaign, titling the document “THE S*** LIST.” A photograph shows the list resting on congressional stationery on Robertson’s D.C. desk on August 7, 2020. Additional photographs from 2020 display campaign mailers and donation checks on Robertson’s desk inside Marshall’s official Senate office.
Records show Robertson repeatedly instructed staff to use taxpayer money for meals and travel during trips that featured campaign meetings. When staff questioned whether a trip served an official or campaign purpose, Robertson wrote in a text message, “Primary purpose is what we say it is.”
Mandatory Staff Meetings and Campaign Strategy
Ethics experts disputed Robertson’s interpretation of federal guidelines. Critics also highlighted an October 2020 mandatory meeting called by Marshall for all congressional and campaign staff.
Video footage from the gathering shows both teams discussing campaign strategy. During the meeting, Marshall advised staff operating in the Kansas City metropolitan area—where his 2020 Democratic opponent, Barbara Bollier, resided—to look for American flags as indicators of potential voter alignment.
“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.
Following the session, a staff member texted a colleague to register an objection: “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.”
On October 8, 2020, Robertson texted campaign staff to cancel a scheduled meeting between Marshall and the Kansas National Education Association, a union representing teachers. Robertson wrote that the meeting was a setup, noting the organization supported Bollier. Marshall intervened, stating he wanted to “play a game with them” by delaying the meeting before punting it further.
Sherri Schwanz, president of the Kansas National Education Association, criticized the decision. “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.”
National Committees Fund Tight Kansas Race
The race has drawn millions of dollars from national Democratic and Republican committees within the past week, undersold evidence of a tight contest in Kansas. President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to Kansas for a rally in Wichita.
Six years prior, Marshall ran in a similarly competitive contest that required heavy financial backing from national Republicans. He ultimately defeated Bollier by 11 percentage points.
“It took someone saving him,” Bollier said in an interview with Kansas Reflector. “He didn’t raise money personally, because people didn’t like him.” Bollier added, “He will go to his grave thinking he was just fine. 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.”
It remains unaddressed by Marshall’s office whether any internal compliance reviews or federal inquiries have been formally initiated regarding the 2020 documentation.