An attorney for Tom Keating, who volunteered for the nonprofit that has paid for Mayor Quinton Lucas’ Super Bowl trips, is demanding an apology and threatening further legal action
By: Allison Kite - February 13, 2025 7:00 am
The whistleblower who revealed financial transactions he felt were potentially unlawful by a nonprofit that bankrolled travel and entertainment for Kansas City’s mayor says he is now being targeted with defamation and retaliation.
Tom Keating has worked on ethics compliance for political campaigns for two decades, including for Lucas’ campaign and for a nonprofit called the Mayors Corps of Progress for a Greater Kansas City.
Late last year, Keating provided documents to The Independent detailing how the Mayors Corps was used to finance travel, meals and Kansas City Chiefs tickets for Mayor Quinton Lucas. The records revealed that the Mayors Corps spent more than $23,000 for Lucas, a staffer and security personnel to attend the Super Bowl in 2023.
A day after the game, the Mayors Corps took in $24,000 from a politically connected trade group — a move critics said could violate the city’s gift rules, which require elected officials to disclose any gifts they receive worth more than $200 and bans gifts worth more than $1,000.
Lucas has denied any wrongdoing, saying the spending was reviewed by legal counsel and fits within the Mayors Corps’ mission to help him promote the city. He has also suggested in interviews and in a letter...
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