TOPEKA — Secretary of State Scott Schwab has forwarded evidence to the state attorney general asserting that a campaign consultant may have falsely impersonated a political party officer while attempting to take control of the No Labels Kansas party.

The sequence of events shared by Schwab on Monday with Attorney General Kris Kobach involved attempts by Kris Van Meteren, owner of the Singularis Group marketing firm and spouse to a Republican Senate candidate, to single-handedly seize operational authority of the state-recognized No Labels Kansas party. It was formed as an unincorporated association and wasn’t required to file business reports typical of a company.

Van Meteren, who frequently works with GOP candidates, sought last week to place himself in charge of the third party. He claimed No Labels Kansas, at his direction, nominated two candidates. One of those was his wife, Republican Echo Van Meteren, who could end up being a general election opponent of Democratic Sen. Jeff Pittman of Leavenworth. The other person nominated by Kris Van Meteren was Democratic Sen. Marci Francisco of Lawrence.

Neither Pittman nor Francisco, who are seeking Democratic Party nominations in the August primary, welcomed being linked to No Labels. They raised the possibility that Van Meteren engaged in unethical or illegal conduct with the filings.

Pittman sent a letter to the attorney general asking whether Van Meteren complied with the Kansas Constitution, election laws and party bylaws.

“While there have been some opinions offered, someone in your official role could help with providing transparency and clarification for the voters in my district,” Pittman said. “This in turn helps ensure public trust in the accountability of the electoral process.”

In Schwab’s view, Kris Van Meteren may have violated state law. He pointed to KSA 25-2424, a misdemeanor criminal statute on false impersonation of a party officer.

The No Labels Kansas party was affirmed by the secretary of state’s office in January based on petition signatures, but the party chose not to nominate candidates in Kansas during this election cycle.

Van Meteren attempted to take over that nomination role by forming a not-for-profit corporation called No Labels Kansas Inc. at 4:51 a.m. on June 3. Hours later, Van Meteren, conducting himself as chairman of the party, submitted documents nominating his wife and Francisco.

Van Meteren asserted that leaders of No Labels Kansas didn’t complete paperwork required by the state after submitting sufficient petition signatures to gain political party status in Kansas. So, he said, he filed incorporation documents with the secretary of state’s office that he believed put him in charge of the party.

“I issued a call to convention, called that convention Monday morning, elected myself as chairman, and nominated two candidates for the Kansas Senate: Marci Francisco and Echo,” Van Meteren said. “Following Kansas law, I then drove to Topeka, certificates of nomination in hand, and filed those nominations with the Kansas secretary of state.”

On June 5, the No Labels national political organization contacted Schwab’s office and alleged the pair of Senate nominations were fraudulent.

Schwab responded by declaring Van Meteren wasn’t the authentic party chairman and had no formal connection to No Labels Kansas. The secretary of state invalidated the third-party nominations of Echo Van Meteren and Francisco that were offered by Kris Van Meteren.

Van Meteren decided June 6 to form a second corporation, which was called No Labels Kansas Party Inc. This, too, was ruled out of order by Schwab.

“The proper method of challenging the secretary’s nomination rejection is to file a written objection requesting review by the State Objections Board,” Schwab wrote in a memo summarizing the issues.

That state board responsible for sorting out complaints about ballot candidates consists of Schwab, Kobach and Gov. Laura Kelly, or their designated representatives.

In a statement, Van Meteren accused Schwab of engaging in “real election interference” by derailing his bid for control of No Labels and his attempt to influence outcome of the Senate campaigns.

“It’s coming from the creatures of the fever swamp and the secretary of state himself, who has simply set aside Kansas law because he and those who apparently steer him by certain sensitive body parts don’t like the political implications of my filings,” Van Meteren said.

— Tim Carpenter reports for Kansas Reflector.