The Kansas Department of Commerce is refusing to answer questions about the number of grants it has awarded over the last 10 years, as well as the dollar amount of those grants.
On September 9, 2024, the Sentinel sent Commerce a request under the Kansas Open Records Act for “All Kansas Department of Commerce administered or awarded grants to cities or counties and dollar amount for the last 10 years.”
Nearly a month-and-a-half later, on Oct. 22, 2024, Commerce Department Attorney Samuel Blasi, responded, denying the request entirely — and pointing the Sentinel at their “transparency database.”
“After reviewing your request and doing an initial search for responsive records, Commerce will decline to fulfill your KORA request pursuant to K.S.A. 45-218(e),” Blasi wrote. “This particular subsection allows Commerce to decline to fulfill a request that imposes an unreasonable burden upon Commerce to produce the requested records. This was not a decision Commerce came to lightly. This unreasonable burden comes as a result of the nature and scope of your request. Commerce does not maintain a record that is essentially a list of the grant and the grant amount. This means that to fulfill your request, Commerce would have to review every grant to see if it is responsive (with a city or county as the recipient) and review all those records for redaction or exemption under K.S.A. 45-221(a). This would be a relatively large task if the scope of the request had been for one (1) year, as Commerce process(sic) approximately 1200 contracts a year. The task becomes unreasonable when we enlarge that scope to be 10 years. Assuming the same average of contracts processed a year, we are looking at approximately 12,000 contract(sic) to review to see if they are responsive and then review them for redaction. The amount of time and resources Commerce would need to fulfill this request far eclipses the resources Commerce is able to provide and still perform its functions as an executive agency. Even if Commerce were able to dedicate those resources to fulfill this request, the approximate timeline for completion of review and get you responsive records would be multiple years and require payment of fees amounting to multiple thousands of dollars. Therefore, Commerce has determined your request imposes an unreasonable burden and declines to fulfill the request pursuant to K.S.A. 45-218(e).”
In other words, Commerce is claiming they do not have a list of to whom they’ve given money — or how much.
This suggests two possibilities — either Commerce is lying about not maintaining a list or is grossly incompetent.
Dave Trabert, CEO of the Kansas Policy Institute, which owns the Sentinel said there is a third possibility.
“The Kansas Department of Commerce has a pattern of not having routine information available, like a report listing grant history. That pattern suggests Commerce officials may be deliberately not creating reports to avoid Open Records requests. Commerce officials surely have ready access to the information; they just don’t want the public to see it.”
Transparency is an ongoing problem with the Kansas Department of Commerce
Both the Sentinel and the Americans for Prosperity Foundation-Kansas have had repeated issues with getting basic information out of Commerce.
Most recently, the department claimed thousands of jobs created by a pair of large projects and billions in economic impact, but the data used to determine the projections of the Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion (APEX) program are suspect.
Governor Laura Kelly signed APEX into law in February of 2022 to attract Panasonic to build a battery plant in De Soto and Integra Technologies to build a semiconductor manufacturing facility in the Wichita area.
In the 2023 annual report to the Kansas Legislature, obtained by the Americans For Prosperity Foundation – Kansas, and provided to the Sentinel, Commerce claims that Panasonic will create 8,000 total jobs — 4,000 with Panasonic and 4,000 indirect jobs. The report also claims that: “Each $1 of Kansas APEX incentives will generate $26.06 in estimated economic impact.”
Commerce used data from a pair of studies by Wichita State University that were “designed” by Commerce, but Commerce spokesman Patrick Lowry insists they were “independent.”
Cherry-picked data used for Integra, Panasonic estimates
In the studies, it’s clear that — rather than being “independent” — Commerce’s Chief Counsel Robert North was guiding the project.
- Integra: “The Kansas Department of Commerce, Robert North, Chief Counsel, led the project scope, developed the simulation estimates, and provided overall guidance. Nadira Hazim-Patrick (another Commerce employee) provided project details for the economic and fiscal impacts.”
- Panasonic: “The following people were responsible for the successful completion of the impact study, which includes the data collection and economic modeling. At the Kansas Department of Commerce, Robert North, Chief Counsel, led the project scope, developed the simulation estimates, and provided overall guidance.”
Additionally, the studies use a different number from each respective study to calculate the economic impact, and neither of the economic impact estimates seems credible. The 26 t0 1 return on investment with Panasonic is hard to imagine being credible, let alone the 218:1 projection for Integra.
AFPF-Kansas was — unsurprised — by Commerce’s refusal to provide the requested data.
“For months, Americans for Prosperity Foundation went without hearing back on inquiries made to a well-funded state agency to assess the implications of state policies,” AFPF Director of Investigations Kevin Schmidt said. “When we brought our complaints to the public, the response we heard from others facing similar issues was appalling. That Commerce claims a request seeking information on how much it gives out in taxpayer-funded grants is an ‘unreasonable burden’ on the agency is ridiculous but unsurprising considering its track record on transparency and accountability. We must do better for Kansas and ensure all public materials are transparent and accessible.”