Kansas official running for governor received $300K in donations before key decision

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A top Kansas regulator who’s running for governor is facing scrutiny over a deluge of campaign contributions that she received from interested parties in the weeks before a key regulatory decision — raising ethical questions about a potential influence campaign.

Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt denies any connection between the more than $300,000 that she accepted from billionaire Todd Boehly and his allies and her office’s support for slower implementation of new capital rules that Boehly’s Topeka-based financial services company, Security Benefit, advocated forcefully for delaying.

The dozens of $4,000 maximum contributions to the Republican official’s campaign for governor were first reported by Bloomberg earlier this month. The Star independently reviewed campaign finance records to confirm the pattern.

“Many Kansas businesses, like Security Benefit, have long supported Vicki Schmidt. Donations to the campaign have no bearing on policy decisions made at the Insurance Department,” campaign spokesperson Mandy Roe said in a statement.

One leading government ethics expert told The Star that even if the donations didn’t influence Schmidt’s stance on the regulatory timeline, public doubt could linger.

“When it comes to ethics, it’s always about public trust and the appearance of independence — making sure there is not an appearance of impropriety,” said Davina Hurt, director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

Some of the donations in late December came from corporate entities that share an address with Security Benefit, or with the offices of its parent company, Eldridge Industries, in Miami and New York.

Others came from corporate executives and their spouses, including directly from Boehly, who is best known for his ownership stake in premier sports franchises — Chelsea F.C. and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lakers and Sparks — and the independent film studio A24.

Bloomberg reported that Security Benefit’s $14 billion collateral-loan stockpile is by far the life insurance industry’s largest. The company sells annuities to retirees and invests heavily in assets managed by other parts of Eldridge Industries.

Security Benefit lobbied a National Association of Insurance Commissioners working group to delay implementation of a new regulatory framework for collateral loans, arguing in a January letter that enforcing stricter risk-based capital standards too quickly could put insurers in a position where they have to unload assets into illiquid markets.

Security Benefit spokesperson Michael Castino dismissed the notion that the coordinated donations to Schmidt’s campaign were part of that lobbying effort.

“We have and will continue to encourage our extensive network to support candidates and elected officials who lead pragmatically — those dedicated to improving the economic landscape, cultivating positive social outcomes, and building the country and its prosperity,” Castino said in a statement.

The Kansas Department of Insurance is not directly involved in the NAIC working group tasked with shaping the reforms. But one of Schmidt’s deputies, Tish Becker, attended the group’s February meeting and voiced support for pushing back the originally contemplated implementation date from Dec. 31, 2026, to Dec. 31, 2027, meeting minutes show.

Working group members representing the Iowa and District of Columbia insurance departments made the case for 2026 implementation at the same meeting.

At a subsequent meeting, the working group took a straw poll and opted for the slower implementation timeline, which was also backed by the American Council of Life Insurers, the industry’s primary trade association.

“The NAIC has traditionally allowed companies reasonable time to adjust to rule changes to prevent sudden market reaction, which ultimately affects policyholders,” said Kyle Strathman, Schmidt’s deputy chief of staff in the Department of Insurance.

“The department has never advocated for any position on any subject that is not in keeping with its mission as a responsible regulator focused on creating the best market for Kansas policyholders,” Strathman added. “To suggest otherwise is simply false.”

He pointed out that in its January letter to the NAIC working group, Security Benefit asked for implementation to be delayed until the end of 2028 — not the 2027 deadline that the Kansas Department of Insurance’s representative supported.

Hurt, the government ethics expert, said the sequence of events raises serious ethical questions.

“I often tell my students that the law is the floor but ethics is the ceiling,” Hurt said. “That’s where this becomes a little problematic. The timing, the people involved — when you see large campaign donations from interested parties, parties you regulate, and then there is a regulatory delay that financially benefits those interested — there appears to be a problem.”

She said public officials have a high ethical burden for demonstrating their independence. The appearance of influence can be just as damaging as actual misconduct, she said.

“Ethics exists because trust is fragile and in instances just like this, they have to maintain public confidence that these decisions are being made on policies of public interest and not on donor relationships,” Hurt said.

Campaign finance records show that Todd and Katherine Boehly donated $4,000 to Schmidt’s first campaign for insurance commissioner in 2018. In 2025, Schmidt reported raising more than $900,000.

Schmidt’s campaign did not respond directly to email questions asking about the nature of her relationship with Boehly and whether the two had ever discussed regulatory matters.

Doug Ommen, Iowa’s insurance director, said NAIC’s plan to raise the standard for collateral loans is part of a broader effort to modernize the risk-based capital system. Ultimately, he said, it’s about accurately assessing risk and ensuring that insurance companies can cover their obligations to policyholders.

“We all have an interest in making sure that the insurance companies are well-capitalized and are going to deliver on the promises that they make,” said Ommen, who served as Missouri’s insurance director from 2005 to 2008.

Ommen declined to weigh in on the contributions to Schmidt’s campaign from Boehly’s allies, saying he wanted to “stay out of Kansas politics.”

He said even though representatives from his office advocated for a year-end 2026 implementation date, when the NAIC working group held its straw poll, Iowa abstained over concerns that disagreement could derail the underlying regulatory framework.

“We’re less concerned about the implementation, because sometimes it takes time for companies to adjust,” Ommen said. “We didn’t want an argument over the implementation to delay the actual adoption of the change.”

The two leading candidates to replace Schmidt as insurance commissioner — House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, and Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat — did not respond to requests for comment.

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