FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2026
Contact:
Hans Torgerson
hans@kansasdems.org
MASTERSON'S "NO-SHOW JOB" RAISES SERIOUS ETHICS QUESTIONS
Even his own primary rival says it “"smells like career politician corruption"
TOPEKA — A new Kansas City Star investigation exposes further corruption and ethical questions surrounding Republican gubernatorial candidate Ty Masterson, revealing a decade-long, million-dollar arrangement with a Koch-funded university program while he runs the Kansas Senate.
Masterson made $163,000 last year as director of GoCreate, a Koch-backed WSU program, nearly double his Senate salary. Over ten years he's collected more than $1.1 million from the WSU Foundation. But when a journalist with the Kansas City Star went to visit the GoCreate office, Masterson was nowhere to be found. The front desk worker "couldn’t say whether the GoCreate director works on site often" and "could not put a name to [Masterson's] face.”
On top of that, WSU “did not respond to repeated requests for comment” and refused to produce Masteron’s employment contract, telling the Star it needs until July 17, deep into early voting, just to estimate the cost of the records.
His own primary opponent, Philip Sarnecki, called it a "no-show job" that "smells like career politician corruption" and ethics expert Davina Hurt of Santa Clara University called it a “public trust question.”
Read the full story:
KC Star: What exactly does Ty Masterson do at Koch-funded office? Rival calls it a ‘no-show job’
By Matthew Kelly
July 8, 2026
Last year, Masterson made $163,000 as GoCreate director — nearly twice the $85,000 salary he earned as a top lawmaker in Topeka, state records show.
Over the last decade, Masterson, who lives just outside of Wichita in Andover, has been paid more than $1.1 million by the WSU Foundation.
The details of his employment arrangement with the university, including the source of his privately-funded salary, are opaque.
One leading government ethics expert told The Star that GoCreate’s financial backing from the Koch family, highly influential megadonors with a $157 billion net worth and libertarian political agenda, means the burden is on Masterson to demonstrate to voters that his leadership in Topeka hasn’t been unduly influenced.
WSU did not respond to repeated requests for comment and had not provided a copy of Masterson’s employment contract in response to a public records request as of Wednesday.
In a statement, Sarnecki called the GoCreate director position a “no-show job” that “smells like career politician corruption.”
On a recent Friday afternoon in June, the GoCreate workroom was buzzing with activity as a team from Envision Inc. tested sensor vests designed to help people with visual impairments navigate their surroundings. Masterson wasn’t in the office.
The engineering student at the front desk couldn’t say whether the GoCreate director works on site often. When asked about Masterson’s visits, he said he could not put a name to a face.
GoCreate Assistant Director Kimberly McCollum then emerged from her own office and put an end to the impromptu tour, introducing herself as “the director here.”
Davina Hurt, director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in California, said Kansas voters deserve answers about Masterson’s two state paychecks and his relationship with the Kochs.
“A decade of drawing a six-figure salary with a Koch-branded university program while also chairing a Koch-funded advocacy group nationally creates a pattern voters deserve to weigh as he asks them for the state’s highest office,” Hurt said. “It’s purely a public trust question.”
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