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Emporia State President Ken Hush adresses faculty and staff at a "Kick Off" event for the new term on Aug. 18 in Webb Hall in the Memorial Union.
Almost four months after the mandatory deadline, Emporia State President Ken Hush filed a financial disclosure form required by state law in order to maintain transparency in state agencies. Intentionally failing to file this form, a Statement of Substantial Interest (SSI), before the deadline or falsifying information on the form is a class B misdemeanor, according to state law on governmental ethics.”
State law also says an SSI is an open record required of all those in a “major policy making position” – including university presidents – that discloses all ownership interests, retirement and stocks exceeding $5,000 or 5% of any business within the past 12 months the individual filing holds.
Appointed ESU president on June 22, Hush was required by law to submit his complete and financially accurate SSI in early July. However, Hush filed his statement on Oct. 24, almost four months after the state deadline. Although state law on governmental ethics has a strict deadline for the SSI filing, Mark Skoglund, executive director of Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission – a government office in Topeka responsible for enforcing laws surrounding conflicts of interest – said in an email that investigations involving SSIs “would typically be rare.”
“Issues do occur but our experience is that they are usually unintentional omissions that are easily corrected,” Skoglund said in the email.
The SSI, including a declaration that reads “I understand that the intentional failure to file this statement as required by law or intentionally filing a false statement is a class B misdemeanor,” was signed by Hush on Oct. 24.
When The Bulletin reached out to Hush via email asking if he would meet and talk about his SSI, he did not answer the email.
While the state requires university CEOs to file an SSI on a strict deadline of 15 day post appointment, the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR), the board that hired Hush and which oversees public higher education in the state, has a more flexible policy.
KBOR does not require interim presidents, which Hush was from November 2021 through June 2022, to file any form of financial interest statement and only expects CEOs to file each year by April 30, resulting in Hush not being required to file a statement until April 2023, according to Matt Keith, KBOR director of communications.
Keith did not answer emails asking if the board was aware of the information in Hush’s SSI or if their policy of not requiring interim presidents to file a form is consistent with state law.
In addition to being filed past the deadline, financial interests listed in the SSI may not be a complete picture of Hush’s assets.
In court records related to the dissolution of his marriage in 2015, Hush lists $2.7 million in assets and a monthly income of $33,500, most of which was paid by Koch Industries where he was a retired CEO. None of these assets were listed in the disclosure form.
The only two lines of interest Hush listed on his SSI on Oct. 24 were International Commodity Trading LLC and KJH LLC. The form shows both as inactive and lists Hush as the sole officer. However, according to the Secretary of State’s website, both LLCs are active and in good standing.
While KJH LLC is listed as an investment company, Skoglund said in an email that LLCs are not required to disclose what investments are held under them.
Last Friday, a Bulletin reporter called Hush’s personal phone for an interview about his financial disclosure statement. Although he answered the phone and agreed to meet Monday, that day he emailed the reporter instead asking for questions to be sent via email so “we,” presumably Gwen Larson, director of media relations, and Sarah McKernan, executive assistant of the president’s office, who he copied in the email could answer the questions.
Additionally in his Monday email, Hush asked the reporter to “advise how you obtained my personal cell telephone number.”
His number is listed on multiple public records.
Hush did not answer Monday’s email from The Bulletin repeating the request for an in-person interview and explaining the paper’s policy to not send questions over email in the place of interviews involving matters squarely in the public interest.
This article is the result of an investigation done by The Bulletin over the course of several months.