On February 4th, 2025, Americans for Public Trust Executive Director Caitlin Sutherland testified in front of the Kansas House Committee on Elections in support of HB 2106, which would prevent foreign nationals from influencing ballot issue campaigns. Her testimony focused on Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss and the influence he’s exerted on Kansas politics. Wyss funneled millions into an organization called the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which spent nearly $1.6 million in Kansas opposing a legislatively referred amendment to protect life in 2022.
Read excerpts from Caitlin’s testimony below:
On foreign funding loophole… “Kansans should have every confidence that their elections are free from foreign interference and influence. But despite a federal ban on foreign nationals influencing elections, they can still exploit loopholes on the state and federal level that allow foreign money to flow into important policy fights and electoral tools. Currently, there is no federal or Kansas prohibition on foreign nationals contributing to organizations that spend on ballot measures.”
On Hansjörg Wyss and Sixteen Thirty Fund… “A significant source of foreign cash is flowing into politics from a Swiss billionaire named Hansjörg Wyss who is not a U.S. citizen, but whose goal is to ‘(re)interpret the American Constitution in the light of progressive politics.’ According to the New York Times, Mr. Wyss’ ‘political activism is channeled through a daisy chain of opaque organizations that mask the ultimate recipients of his money.’ Through a detailed accounting of publicly available records, APT has been able to trace that at least a quarter of a billion dollars of this foreign money has been funneled into a Washington, D.C.- based group called the Sixteen Thirty Fund.
Impact of foreign funds in Kansas ballot measures… “This foreign-backed money has come into Kansas and will continue to come if HB 2106 is not passed. In 2022, Sixteen Thirty Fund was the number one donor to Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, an organization that formed to oppose a legislatively referred amendment to protect life in Kansas. That amendment was defeated, in part, by almost $1.6 million in foreign-backed funds contributed by Sixteen Thirty Fund.”
