Topeka ? Democrats in the Kansas Legislature called Monday for establishing a special committee to investigate allegations of “pay-to-play” schemes involving contracts awarded by Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration to manage the state’s privatized Medicaid system known as KanCare.

Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita, and Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, said that while the FBI is reportedly investigating whether criminal activity took place, the Legislature should also investigate possible violations of state ethics laws.

“Those questions will likely only be answered by a formal legislative inquiry,” Ward said.

Both Ward and Kelly serve on the Legislature’s KanCare Oversight Committee, which is charged with monitoring the performance of the privatization program.

But the Republican president of the Senate, Susan Wagle, of Wichita, dismissed their call as “a pathetic attempt to distort the truth and deceive voters in an election year.”

“If Democrats are truly interested in investigating solutions for Kansans, they should convince their candidate to offer some, rather than hiding behind smoke screens,” Wagle said.

The Topeka Capital-Journal first reported in April that the FBI was investigating whether laws were broken when the KanCare contracts were awarded to companies that had hired former Brownback aides as their lobbyists.

KanCare was established early in the Brownback administration as a way to reduce costs in the state’s $3 billion Medicaid program. Under that program, instead of paying health care providers on a fee-for-service basis, the state pays three private insurance companies a flat per-patient fee in exchange for managing their health care.

That sort of “managed care” model has been used for years for children and families in Medicaid as well as the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or S-CHIP. Under KanCare, it was extended to include the elderly and disabled populations, which account for the bulk of the cost of Medicaid.

According to public records, each of the three companies that received KanCare contracts hired lobbyists affiliated with Parallel Strategies, a lobbying firm founded by David Kensinger, Brownback’s former chief of staff.

Kensinger also directs Road Map Solutions, a group that has engaged in independent political advertising in support of Brownback’s re-election campaign.

Several news organizations including the Journal-World have quoted sources who said they were interviewed by the FBI. But the FBI has never confirmed or denied the existence of an investigation, and to date no charges have been filed against anyone in connection with the KanCare contracts.

The question investigators are reported to be asking is whether the administration required potential contractors to hire Kensinger and his associates as a condition of being awarded a contract, or whether the companies voluntarily chose to hire lobbyists who already had close ties to the governor’s office.

“If there is alleged misuse of taxpayer money, the Legislature has an obligation to investigate,” Sen. Kelly said. “These tax dollars should be going to provide for the medical needs of Kansas citizens, not to pad the wallets of powerful campaign supporters and allies of the governor.”

The companies that received the contracts were AmeriGroup Kansas, United Healthcare of the Midwest and Sunflower State Health Plan, a subsidiary of Centene.

Neither Brownback’s office nor his campaign responded to the Democrats’ statement.