DALLAS - Former aides and advisors to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback are under investigation by the FBI for influence peddling related to the state's $3 billion Medicaid program, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
The April 26 report said agents are especially interested in private financial arrangements related to Brownback's privatization of the state's $3 billion Medicaid program.
The inquiry focuses on a group called Parallel Strategies, a consulting and lobbying organization founded by David Kensinger, a former chief of staff to Brownback who has been a key player in the Republican Party's recent dominance of state politics.
Kensinger was the Brownback's chief of staff as the administration worked to privatize KanCare, which provides Medicaid services to poor and disabled Kansans.
Kensinger resigned two months before contracts were signed with AmeriGroup Kansas, United Healthcare of the Midwest and Sunflower State Health Plan, a subsidiary of Centene, according to the Capital-Journal. The companies then hired a lobbyist who works with Kensinger, the paper said.
Brownback, in comments to the Wichita Eagle, called the allegations a smear campaign.
"I'm not seeing the allegations of criminal activity. I'm seeing a lot of efforts to try to smear people," Brownback told the Eagle in his first public comments on the topic May 5.
The Eagle and the Kansas City Star have since spoken to three lobbyists and a former state official who said they were interviewed by federal investigators as early as 2012 and as recently as a month ago. They asked not to be identified.
Sources told the Eagle that they were interviewed about whether Kensinger and others have been involved in pay-to-play influence, in which political promises are made in exchange for money.
Brownback said the contracts were bid properly.
"We bid everything out on KanCare. And you've got to be qualified, and you've got to get the lowest bid on it," he said.
He told the Eagle that the administration has been careful to protect against impropriety when awarding state contracts.
"We try to run things at a very high standard. We try to bid out most state contracts. And do it purposely so that you get the lowest bid but also so that you don't have the ethical questions raised about it," Brownback said.
"And anything else I'm hearing people talk about are allegations - I'm not hearing what anybody's saying that's criminal activity," he said.
