The typical activities of a traditional grassroots group of concerned citizens shouldn’t be against the law.
Yet, Kansas’s complex campaign finance regime resulted in an intrusive and expensive investigation of Overland Park nonprofit Fresh Vision OP for typical grassroots activities. The probe and threat of criminal penalties after the group endorsed a mayoral candidate caused it to suspend its work, showing how the law chills grassroots activity.
Attorneys from the Institute for Free Speech filed a federal lawsuit to protect Fresh Vision OP’s right to speak without fear of prosecution. The lawsuit challenges two provisions of Kansas law. The first is the definition of “political committee.” State law improperly extends this definition to groups for whom urging voters to elect a candidate is only an incidental purpose of its activities rather than the major purpose of the group.
The second is the state’s extremely low $100 threshold for triggering burdensome reporting requirements, which includes the threat of jail time for failure to comply. Even a small mailing or a few yard signs could easily surpass the $100 threshold. That would effectively transform a small group of citizens into a political action committee as far as the state is concerned.
After Fresh Vision endorsed a mayoral candidate, officials threatened the group with hefty fines and imprisonment, claiming it was required to register as a political committee and comply with onerous regulations that would have threatened its existence.
Fearing further enforcement actions, Fresh Vision suspended its activities. Now, the group wants to resume its community advocacy but fears that doing so will trigger a new threat of hefty fines and jail time and force the disclosure of its donors’ identities.
Fresh Vision merely wishes to exercise its right to speak out about local issues that affect the Overland Park community and occasionally support the election or defeat of a candidate. Kansas’ current campaign finance laws have made that too risky for the group.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the challenged laws unconstitutional and block their enforcement. Fresh Vision also seeks a temporary restraining order to allow the group to resume its advocacy activities while the case proceeds.
To read the complaint in the lawsuit, Fresh Vision OP, Inc., et al. v. Skoglund, et al., click here. To learn more about our client Fresh Visions OP’s story, click here. To read the press release, click here.
