Lew Perkins faces state ethics complaint, fines

Former Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins is scheduled to meet with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission in a hearing on Nov. 16 todetermine whether he broke a state law regarding the acceptance of gifts by state employees.

The commission, responding to a request by Perkins to review his use of exercise equipment provided to him by a Kansas Athletics vendor atno cost to Perkins during 2005 to 2009, issued a complaint that alleges Perkins twice violated the law and could face a fine of up to $15,000.

The complaint, made public Tuesday, alleges that Perkins accepted a free loan of exercise equipment provided by now-defunct MedicalOutfitters in his home. Medical Outfitters co-owner Mark Glass told The Star in June that the equipment was worth approximately $15,000and that Perkins was using it to recover from surgery.

The complaint adds an allegation that Perkins, in 2005, requested and received physical therapy sessions from employees of KU’s departmentof sports medicine, an act which is also a violation of the law.

Perkins, who retired in early September, was considered a state employee because $194,000 of his $900,000 salary came from statefunds.

The law in question states that state employees should not “solicit or accept any gift, economic opportunity, loan, gratuity, specialdiscount or service provided because of such person’s official position.” Exceptions can be made for gifts under $40 and other rareoccurrences.

Perkins’ acceptance of the exercise equipment was first made public in late May when former KU director of sports medicine William Dent toldthe Topeka Capital-Journal that Medical Outfitters had loaned the equipment to Perkins in exchange for improved seating at KU men’sbasketball games.

Glass told The Star that his seats did not improve as a result of the free loan, and, in June, a university investigation into Dent’s claimfound no wrongdoing.

The university’s report mentioned that Perkins had made a back rental payment to the original owners of the equipment. Glass confirmed thatPerkins sent him a personal check for $5,000. Perkins’ attorney, Stephen McAllister, told The Star that Perkins made the payment in anattempt to clear up any ethical breach that may have occurred.

The payment was not mentioned in the ethics commission’s complaint.

Perkins’ retirement was abrupt — a year before his originally scheduled date of Sept. 4, 2011, which he set in June. His last monthsas athletic director were mired by an ongoing federal investigation into the illegal sale of KU men’s basketball and football tickets byKU employees and the university’s subsequent finding that at least $1 million in tickets was scalped by six former athletic departmentemployees during 2005 to 2010.

This story was originally published October 19, 2010 at 3:13 PM with the headline "Lew Perkins faces state ethics complaint, fines."