Internal Records Point to Blurred Lines
As U.S. Senator Roger Marshall faces a competitive re-election fight in Kansas, a joint investigation by Kansas Reflector and MS NOW has revealed audio recordings, photos, text messages, and calendar items from his 2020 campaign that appear to show the senator and his top aides repeatedly utilizing congressional staff and government resources for campaign operations.
According to Federal Election Commission records filed in July, no individuals working for Marshall’s campaign had received a paycheck in the preceding five years—a circumstance campaign finance experts described as unprecedented in modern U.S. politics. While Marshall’s chief of staff, Brent Robertson, told reporters that the campaign currently employs paid staff, he declined to provide documentation or specify when hiring occurred.
Travel Expenses and Official Allowances
Under the Members’ Congressional Handbook, if the primary purpose of a trip is non-official, congressional offices cannot schedule official activities around it to qualify for taxpayer-funded reimbursements via the Members’ Representational Allowance. However, reviewed text messages indicate that Robertson arranged single official meetings on multi-stop trips and subsequently designated the entire itinerary as official business.
In one instance from March 2020 regarding a trip to Philadelphia, Robertson texted staff that they only needed a single official meeting per trip to utilize taxpayer funds, writing that there was “no ratio system at all.” Campaign finance and government ethics experts, including Craig Holman of Public Citizen, noted that such practices violate federal guidelines separating official duties from political activities.
Mandatory Staff Calls and Ethics Questions
The reviewed materials also include an October 2020 all-staff Zoom call initiated by Marshall, during which congressional and campaign aides discussed campaign strategy, sign shortages, and voter concerns regarding healthcare. Internal text exchanges show that at least one senior staff member, legislative director Michael Brooks, documented objections to the meeting, noting it violated ethics statutes prohibiting the use of official resources for campaign purposes.
Ryan Dollar, an attorney representing the Marshall campaign, did not address specific questions regarding the records in a statement, instead asserting that the campaign fully complies with FEC rules and Senate ethics while attributing the report to a disgruntled former employee.