The Kansas Department of Commerce and the Governor’s Office have issued statements in response to an email that was left by a former Commerce employee who was also an interim city clerk in Peabody.

Jonathan Clayton was identified as the man found dead on August 25th after the crash of a pickup in Harvey County.  He was reported missing earlier in the month after being involved in an investigation of misuse of COVID-19 funds.

An email from Clayton had accused Commerce Department officials of conspiring with legislative leaders to re-direct the COVID funds.  The Commerce Department has issued a response:

“While his death is unfortunate, the Department of Commerce believes it is necessary to provide clarity regarding allegations made publicly by former Department of Commerce Employee Jonathan Clayton.

Clayton’s allegations of wrongdoing by the Department of Commerce related to the awarding of BASE grants, along with his allegation that he was forced to serve on a volunteer theatre board, are categorically false. 

The Department of Commerce was not aware of Jonathan Clayton’s felony convictions in Pennsylvania when Clayton was hired in 2020. Under existing Kansas law, we are unable to perform national level criminal background checks for the position that Clayton held. Our process for vetting prospective employees included online searches, social media reviews and reference checks, which unfortunately failed to uncover his felony convictions. He would not have been hired by Commerce had we been aware of these convictions. 

While there is no evidence of any impropriety at the Department of Commerce, as an extra precaution, an independent third-party contractor is doing a full review of all ARPA grants. Commerce has also requested and is assisting local, state and federal agencies investigating Clayton’s volunteer work with community-based organizations in Kiowa and Marion counties who may be victims of fraud.”

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A statement was also released by Governor Laura Kelly’s Chief of Staff, Will Lawrence:

“The governor’s comments regarding Jonathan Clayton’s employment at the Kansas Department of Commerce were specifically referencing an independent review the Department of Commerce has requested to investigate any ARPA grants that Jonathan Clayton was involved in. Lieutenant Governor David Toland initiated this additional step several weeks ago as an extra precaution.

“Lieutenant Governor Toland has conducted himself at the highest ethical standards throughout his entire career and has brought important reforms to the Kansas Department of Commerce, including the creation of the incentive transparency database, strong incentive clawback policies, and strict reporting requirements for all programs. He has worked to bring more, not less, accountability to the agency.

“Clearly, Jonathan Clayton was able to avoid the discovery of his criminal convictions. His financial crimes coming to light, and questions about his involvement with local organizations that received ARPA grants, appear to have set off the chain of events that have occurred over the last several weeks.

“The governor and lieutenant governor will be pursuing changes to the background check statutes this upcoming legislative session. In the meantime, they will be working to sort out issues with those impacted at the local level and will provide whatever support they can to those communities.”