TOPEKA — House Republicans refused to consider a plea from Democratic Rep. Valdenia Winn to send a message that there is no place for racism in the state of Kansas.

Winn, a Kansas City Democrat, proposed an amendment to House Bill 2299, which declares that antisemitism is against the public policy of the state. She wanted to expand the language to condemn all forms of racism and discrimination.

“This is not rocket science,” Winn said during a March 19 debate in the House. “This is not trigonometry. This is basic.”

Republicans wouldn’t hear it.

Rep. Susan Estes, a Wichita Republican, objected to Winn’s proposal under a House rule that says amendments have to be “germane” to the existing bill. That sent members of the rules committee into a scramble to conceive a reason to reject the Democrat’s idea.

The way Rep. Susan Humphries explained it, the test for whether an amendment is germane is whether the amendment would expand the scope of the bill, a test rarely applied to amendments proposed by Republicans. The Wichita Republican, who serves as rules chair, explained the situation through a metaphor: You can’t expand a bill about apples to be about all fruit. Under that standard, she ruled, the House could not consider Winn’s proposal.

“I am not opposed to having an act that declares racism to be against public policy,” Humphries said. “Like, let’s do that if we feel like it’s needed. That wording, that expanding from antisemitism to discrimination and racism is an expanding and super close call. But this amendment is not germane.”

Republicans determine which bills get a hearing and whether they advance, making it unlikely that Winn could get anywhere with a standalone bill that dealt with racism.

Rep. Stephanie Clayton, an Overland Park Democrat, argued the amendment was germane because “anyone who had the most rudimentary knowledge of history would understand is that antisemitism is racism.”

“So when we’re talking about apples, oranges, fruit, squares, rectangles, whatever analogy you want to use for what is broad and what isn’t, racism and antisemitism are the same thing, ergo, this amendment is germane,” Clayton said.

Winn said her amendment “does not dilute the bill. It does not say an apple is not a fruit, and all these other things.”

“Let’s make Kansans clear of our intent, that there’s no place for discrimination and/or antisemitism and/or racism in the state of Kansas,” Winn said. “That’s all the amendment. There’s no ‘gotcha’ here, any place, there’s nothing else. It’s simple, people.”

Winn challenged Humphries’ ruling, but the House supported Humphries’ ruling with an 86-36 party-line vote. The House then passed the bill by a 116-8 vote.

Estes introduced the bill, and the House Education Committee that she chairs sponsored the bill. It relies on a definition of antisemitism established by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

The bill outlaws encouragement, support, praise, participation in or threat of violence or vandalism against Jewish people or property. It makes it illegal for people to wear a mask to conceal their identity while intending to harass or discriminate against Jewish students, faculty or employees on school property. And it bans antisemitic curriculum in any domestic or study abroad programs or classes.

Rep. Pat Proctor, a Leavenworth Republican, said he struggled with the bill, having spent 25 years in the Army fighting for freedoms, including free speech.

But, he said, he was bothered by the recent vandalism of a Catholic church in Wichita.

“And it occurred to me that if that had been Christians attacking a mosque, it would have been all over the country. It would have been on CNN, it would have been on Fox News, it would have been on MSNBC, and all over the country, everybody screaming in outrage, an attack on Muslims, but because it was an attack on Christians, you heard nary a word,” Proctor said.

Vandalism and threats of violence are not free speech, he said.

“Why is it OK for folks to attack Jewish students because they support some people on the other side of the world — but it’s not OK, hypothetically, for somebody to be attacking a mosque?” Proctor said.

The Kansas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement of solidarity with the Catholic community following the vandalism at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.

Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat whose district includes the church, disputed Proctor’s assessment of the news coverage.

“It was not ignored,” Carmichael said. “The FBI was on the scene that very day, investigating on the basis that this was motivated by religious animus, and I guess the representative from Leavenworth perhaps listens to Fox News. I listened to CNN, and I heard plenty about it on the national news.”

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

TOPEKA — All hail civil disobedience.

Gov. Laura Kelly intervened Wednesday in satanists’ plans to conduct a black mass on March 28 at the Statehouse by declaring they would not be allowed inside.

The satanists plan to defy her undivine wisdom.

“We will be showing up on the 28th,” said Michael Stewart, founder and president of the Satanic Grotto, which organized the event. “We will be entering the building and attempting to perform the mass, and if Capitol Police want to stop us, they will need to arrest us.”

The Satanic Grotto’s plans to conduct a black mass in the Statehouse rotunda stimulated considerable attention online — and outrage from the Catholic Church.

In cheeky social media posts, Stewart describes satanists as “the scariest thing in the dark.”

But in an interview, he said he was planning a safe event, with nothing to be afraid of. His said his group has about three dozen members, primarily from Kansas City and Wichita, and is nonviolent.

“The black mass is a satanic version of the Catholic mass, meant to reflect our own pain and anger of us being subjected to religion that we never gave consent to,” Stewart said. “It was imposed upon us. So the ritual is sort of — you can think of it as therapeutic blasphemy.”

The group describes itself on its website as an independent and nondenominational church whose members are feminist, LBGTQ+ allies, and anti-racist — “Nazi Satanists can f---- off.”

The Satanic Grotto’s event listing on Facebook shows 26 plan to attend and 116 are interested in the event.

Chuck Weber, of Kansas Catholic Conference, said in a March 6 statement that such an “explicit demonstration of anti-Catholic bigotry will be an insult to not only Catholics, but all people of good will.”

“The Catholic Bishops of Kansas ask that first and foremost, we pray for the conversion of those taking part in this event, as well as each person’s own conversion of heart during this scared Season of Lent,” Weber said in the statement.

The governor entered the arena Wednesday, when she issued a statement declaring her concerns about the event. She said there are “more constructive ways to protest and express disagreements without insulting or denigrating sacred religious symbols.”

She acknowledged the right to freedom of speech and expression — “regardless of how offensive or distasteful I might find the content to be” — and that she has limited authority to respond to the planned event.

“That said, it is important to keep the Statehouse open and accessible to the public while ensuring all necessary health and safety regulations are enforced,” Kelly said in her statement. “Therefore, all events planned for March 28 will be moved outdoors to the grounds surrounding the Statehouse. Again, no protests will be allowed inside the Statehouse on March 28.”

Stewart said the governor’s office didn’t call him before issuing the public statement.

“This is a Democrat governor bowing to religious and Republican pressure,” Stewart said. “There was enough outrage that she had to do something, but she’s so chicken to actually stand up for anything, the best she could do was try to shuffle us outside and make it look like she has done something to save her own hide instead of standing up for religious and free speech.”

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

TOPEKA — Democratic Rep. Ford Carr requested the filing of a formal complaint and appointment of a special investigative committee to examine allegations Republican Rep. Nick Hoheisel engaged in “inappropriate” conduct on the House floor.

In a letter to House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard, Carr said conversations with Capitol Police and his personal attorney led to his decision to seek an inquiry by House colleagues into allegedly “uncalled for” and “inappropriate” remarks by Hoheisel that Carr believed violated House rules.

Carr, who has been vocal about policy differences with House GOP leadership, asserted Republicans would have quickly submitted a complaint against Carr if he had admonished Hoheisel for abusive language that included obscenities. The two lawmakers engaged in a verbal exchange last week at Carr’s desk in the House chamber.

“Had this behavior been engaged in or reciprocated by my person, formal charges would have likely been suggested and filed prior to any reconvening of the House immediately following the incident,” Carr said. “In as much as I am keeping my own safety in mind I additionally have safety concerns for my colleagues. Specifically those who have directly expressed these concerns to me.”

A spokeswoman for Woodard said on Monday the House Democratic leader “does not have a comment at this time.” The spokeswoman for House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The Kansas Highway Patrol, which includes the Capitol Police, said a case number was assigned to a report of the Feb. 20 incident involving Carr and Hoheisel, both of Wichita.

The rumble

Hostility between Carr and Hoheisel surfaced as the House was debating merits of House Bill 2104, which would mandate Kansas public school districts rely on the National Rifle Association’s “Eddie Eagle” program if a local school district decided to offer gun safety instruction to students.

Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, said Hoheisel walked among Democrats on the House floor before arriving at Carr’s desk and repeatedly saying, “That’s bulls---.”

The disturbance prompted House Republican leaders to recess the chamber for about two hours and postpone deliberations on the NRA bill. At that point, House Democrats convened a caucus meeting and instructed reporters, lobbyists and others to leave the room.

On Tuesday, House Republicans ordered a reporter with Kansas Reflector to leave the GOP caucus. No justification was given for the decision.

During Tuesday’s open caucus among House Democrats, Woodard said he was grateful to Democrats who took part in a “team effort to kind of deescalate” conflict. Woodard also addressed fellow Democrats about his decision to call a closed meeting in wake of the Hoheisel-Carr fracas.

Kansas Reflector published a story, based on a recording, that included closed-door remarks by Democrats. Some House Democrats expressed concern for their physical safety in the Capitol because legislator carry firearms.

“You have my commitment that going forward in those (closed) meetings, we’re not going to discuss legislation,” Woodard said. “We are allowed to, but we’re not going to. If we ever have those closed caucus meetings, those are truly to be closed. I don’t know who, and I’m not going to point fingers or ask questions about who leaked audio to the press, but that is the only time we actually get to have a conversation. And people said things and were very vulnerable in those moments, and those were not meant for the general public.”

Woodard also referred to a closed meeting among House Democrats as a “very sacred moment.”

‘Shoot-first’ state

Lenexa Rep. Jo Ella Hoye, the House Democrat’s whip and a proponent for legislation designed to improve firearm safety, introduced a bill in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee that would prohibit people from carrying concealed firearms in the Capitol.

For more than a decade, individuals have been allowed to carry guns in the building despite deployment of metal detectors at the main entrance.

“We’re a shoot-first, ask-questions-later kind of state — the stand your ground and some self-defense laws,” Hoye said. “I think that removing firearms from a place where we do have the freedom of speech and expression gives people more of an opportunity to feel safe and comfortable expressing those views.”

She said the proposed bill was intended to hold the Kansas Legislature to a higher standard in terms of decorum and security. She said the presence of firearms didn’t make legislators safer.

“I would condemn political violence in every form, and we’re seeing it heightened across the country,” Hoye said. “There has been an attempt to assassinate a former president, who’s a current president. Now we’re seeing that, I think, spread.”

The precedent

There is precedent in the Legislature for formation of special bipartisan committees to consider evidence of rules violations by senators or representatives. In the House, a panel of legislators would have the option of doing nothing in response to a complaint or recommending the full House censure, reprimand or dismiss a legislator.

In 2021, six House Democrats filed a complaint that prompted an investigation of Rep. Aaron Coleman’s arrests for allegedly driving under the influence and a domestic violence incident. There had been a bipartisan call for Coleman, a Democrat from Kansas City, Kansas, to resign. Coleman was previously admonished by the House for threatening Gov. Laura Kelly and for a record of abusing girls and women.

The Kansas House appointed a special committee in 2015 to consider a complaint filed by nine Republican representatives against Rep. Valdenia Winn, a Democrat. She had criticized proponents of a bill that would deny in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities in Kansas to children of immigrants without legal documentation to reside in the United States.

Winn said the legislation was a “racist, sexist, fearmongering bill” and that it represented “institutional racism.” She didn’t declare a specific person to be a racist, but highlighted institutional racism that she believed influenced the legislative process in Topeka.

That investigative committee of three Republicans and three Democrats heard testimony from two GOP House members behind closed doors before recommending that case be dropped.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

TOPEKA — The chair of the House Elections Committee told Republicans in a private Zoom meeting last year that he would prefer to eliminate advanced voting altogether and vowed to ram through legislation in the 2025 session to eliminate the three-day grace period for mail-in ballots to arrive after Election Day.

The comments by Rep. Pat Proctor, a Leavenworth Republican, were part of a weekly Zoom call organized by House Majority Leader Chris Croft with Johnson County Republicans and invite-only guests. Loud Light Civic Action, a voting rights advocacy group, released a video of the February 2024 Zoom meeting after receiving it this week from an anonymous source. During meeting, Proctor identified Loud Light and Kansas Appleseed as “bomb throwers.”

The video surfaced after Proctor’s committee on Thursday advanced Senate Bill 4, which would require mail-in ballots be received at the election office by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Current law allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they are received by Friday.

Last year, Proctor proposed legislation that would balance the elimination of the three-day grace period by adding three days to the early voting period. But his supposed compromise also would have moved back the voter registration deadline by three days. Loud Light, Kansas Appleseed and other organizations opposed the changes, and the package didn’t have enough support for the Legislature to become law.

As the proposal was being debated last year, Proctor joined Croft’s weekly call to talk about election laws. Proctor told the group of about 30 participants that he had tried to compromise in an attempt to get enough support to override a potential veto from the governor.

“The only way we’re going to get it passed is if we get bipartisan support on it,” Proctor said. “And so I had a deal, and then Loud Light and Appleseed, which are the kind of bomb throwers in the election debate, they blew it up. And I told all of them — and you know, please don’t put this on Facebook or in the news — I told them all, this is your year for a deal. You can either negotiate and we can get a deal, or next year I’m ramming the thing through the way I want it to look.”

“If it was up to me, Election Day would be Election Day,” Proctor added. “There wouldn’t be early voting. Mail-in ballots would only be for military or severely disabled. But I got to bring 84 people with me, so I’m trying to chip away at it.”

This year’s proposal, which was introduced by Sen. Mike Thompson, a Shawnee Republican, would end the three-day grace period for mail-in ballots without making any other changes. The Senate passed the bill on a 29-10 vote, with Topeka Republican Sen. Brenda Dietrich joining Democrats in opposition.

A statement from Loud Light said Proctor’s comments from a year ago show he is being disingenuous now with his public explanation for eliminating the three-day grace period. Proctor, who didn’t respond to an email seeking comment for this story, said he wants to avoid ballots being dismissed because of problems with the postmark.

According to testimony the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office provided to Proctor’s committee, 2,110 ballots were received after Election Day last November and counted. There were 603 ballots received after the grace period, and 104 ballots arrived after Election Day with no postmark.

“Proctor’s secret meeting shows how some politicians would rather disenfranchise voters than try to win their vote,” said Davis Hammet, president of Loud Light. “Politicians love to play games, but our ability to vote and have our vote counted, our democracy, cannot be treated like a game. Rep. Proctor’s comments are disturbing.”

Mike Fonkert, deputy director of Kansas Appleseed, said the organization supports policies that both make voting easy and secure elections.

The state and nation have a long history of allowing individuals to vote by mail, Fonkert said.

“It is reasonable to allow extra time for ballots to arrive, especially as Kansans continue to encounter more frequent issues with mail delivery interruption across this state,” Fonkert said. “Casting us as ‘bomb throwers’ is dismissive of the important work that we do to protect the rights of Kansas to participate in elections.”

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

TOPEKA — A Kansas House member was shoved to the floor at a Topeka bar during an argument between a Wichita City Council member and a Democratic state representative from Wichita who disagreed about plans to test Wichita residents potentially harmed by a toxic chemical spill in a historically Black neighborhood.

Rep. Henry Helgerson, an Eastborough Democrat attending an informal gathering adjacent to the Capitol, was knocked backward while attempting to intervene in the Wednesday night dispute between Democratic Rep. Ford Carr of Wichita and Wichita City Council member Brandon Johnson.

Video of the disturbance showed Helgerson smashing into a table and breaking glassware after shoved by Carr. Helgerson was helped to his feet by two people. Helgerson again tried to restrain Carr, who continued the back-and-forth argument with Johnson at the reception for Wichita-area politicians.

“Ain’t nobody scared of your punk a--,” Johnson shouted in a two-minute video clip widely shared at the Statehouse.

“Bring it on,” replied Carr, still wearing his identification badge as a state legislator.

“No. No. No,” Helgerson said, while temporarily moving Carr away from Johnson. “You don’t want to hurt me, do you?”

At one point, Carr threw his suit jacket to the floor in anger. Several people went in and out of view on the video as they attempted to end the spat or stay clear of the primary combatants. Johnson eventually left the bar amid more shouting.

In an interview, Johnson said he was at the Celtic Fox, a bar across the street from the Statehouse in Topeka, when Carr confronted him about handling $2.5 million set aside by the 2024 Kansas Legislature and $125,000 allocated by City Hall to begin a testing program to learn more about extent of chemical contamination in a northeast Wichita neighborhood.

A chemical spill in the Union Pacific railyard decades ago apparently allowed cancer-causing trichloroethylene, or TCE, to infiltrate groundwater and spread for several miles. Wichita residents in path of the spill weren’t informed of possible health complications until 2022.

Johnson said he was eager to focus on important work of addressing health ramifications of the spill in Wichita. He said he was less interested in debating the bar feud.

“That event will be properly investigated. And the video and those present can speak to the specifics of what happened and by whom,” Johnson said. “I don’t want that incident to in any way distract from the genuine, positive efforts and progress we’re making for residents to address the vitally needed testing and remediation at the 29th and Grove neighborhoods.”

Carr, who advocated for state funding for testing during last year’s legislative session, said municipal government officials in Wichita hadn’t moved quickly enough to advance the initiative.

He said the Wichita City Council and Sedgwick County Commission should have launched testing months ago. The required $1 million local match has yet to be secured, but the city and county appear to have found consensus on how to proceed.

Carr said the animated conversation at the bar was inspired by concern the state appropriation could be rescinded if the cash wasn’t spent before the fiscal year ended in June.

“They wanted me to give them an attaboy or a pat on the back for having this plan,” Carr said in an interview. “I told them I’m appreciative that they came up with a plan, but I’m not going to stand up and rejoice a plan that took eight months to develop. At that point, Brandon Johnson took it personally.”

Carr said he hadn’t consumed an intoxicating beverage, but indicated Johnson appeared to be drinking a dark ale.

“I’m not going to say he was inebriated. I’m just going to say that’s what he was drinking,” Carr said. “His voice began to get elevated. And, after his voice elevated, he made a physical gesture, put his finger in my face, and at that point I stood upright, so then he equally stands.”

Carr said he interpreted Johnson’s gesture at the bar as a threat.

“And I’ve always been the kind of person that you can start that trouble — I know how to finish it,” Carr said.

He said he didn’t realize in the moment that it was Helgerson who attempted to intervene. He said he regretted shoving Helgerson hard enough that he fell to the floor. He referred to Helgerson as a friend.

“I pushed Henry out of the way. Apparently, in the heat of passion, I’m a little stronger than I thought,” Carr said. “I can’t say that I regret moving him out of the way, but I just regret that he lost his balance and fell. It was never intended to be any harm to Rep. Helgerson.”

Helgerson, who was at the Capitol on Thursday, wasn’t available to comment on the incident.

House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard, a Lenexa Democrat, declined to discuss the bar incident but issued a statement.

“We are taking this matter seriously and are committed to resolving it,” he said. “Our focus remains serving the people of Kansas and advancing policies that meet their needs.”

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Former Marion Councilwoman Ruth Herbel alleges in federal court that city officials orchestrated an illegal raid of her home — alongside the raid of the Marion County Record — as part of a conspiracy to silence criticism.

The Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based law firm that says it represents “everyday people” in opposition to abuses of government power, filed the lawsuit on Herbel’s behalf against former Mayor David Mayfield, former Police Chief Gideon Cody, Sheriff Jeff Soyez and other local authorities.

“Ruth ran for city council in Marion at age 76 because she was tired of her local government’s dishonesty and lack of transparency,” the Institute for Justice says in the lawsuit. “She quickly learned, though, that the men with the power in Marion were resistant to change, and public scrutiny.”

Herbel’s lawsuit is the fifth to be filed in response to the Aug. 11, 2023, raids by city and county law enforcement of the newspaper office, the publisher’s home and Herbel’s home. Recent court filings show the cases could be eventually consolidated.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the actions by law enforcement, local officials and journalists before turning findings over to special prosecutors who will decide whether to file criminal charges.

Herbel’s lawsuit alleges violations of constitutional rights to free speech and protections from unreasonable searches and seizures. The narrative is consistent with a lawsuit filed April 1 by Marion County Record editor and publisher Eric Meyer, whose mother, Joan, the paper’s co-publisher, died of stress-induced heart failure a day after police raided her home.

The lawsuits accuse Mayfield of seeking vengeance for criticism of his actions.

As mayor, he once called Herbel a “bitch” during an executive session of the city council, her lawsuit contends. Mayfield asked the city attorney send a letter warning her that it would be illegal to speak about city business without the council’s full approval. He threatened to admonish her in a public meeting.

The lawsuit recalls Mayfield’s failed attempt to gather signatures for a recall election against Herbel, as well as a “harebrained scheme” to convince her she could be fired as an “at will” employee, even though she was a duly elected councilwoman.

In a July 25, 2023, social media post, Mayfield said it was not Black people, Asians, Latinos, women or “gays” but rather journalists who were “the real villains in America.”

A local restaurateur who asked the council for a liquor license became the unwitting catalyst for the raids when a resident pointed out that she had been driving on a suspended license, apparently with local law enforcement knowledge, after a drunken driving conviction. The resident distributed a copy of a government agency letter that outlined the situation.

“Mayor Mayfield and his allies hatched a plan to use the letter as pretext to punish Ruth and the Record,” according to Herbel’s lawsuit. “The theory they came up with was that, because the letter listed the restaurateur’s driver’s license number, simply possessing the letter was illegal and that someone ‘obviously’ stole the restaurateur’s identity to get the letter.”

But instead of a “real investigation,” the lawsuit alleges, the mayor worked with the police chief and sheriff “to maliciously procure baseless warrants” that were “based on lies and omissions.”

“No one even swore the allegations were true,” according to the lawsuit.

Cody, the police chief, didn’t sign the affidavits under oath, as required by federal and state law, and his unsworn signatures on the four affidavits appear to vary.

The lawsuit accuses local officials of “judge-shopping” for somebody who would sign the warrants. Instead of taking them to the district judge for the county, they sent them to Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, who also had a history of drunken driving. Viar falsely asserted the applications were “sworn to before me” when she signed them — an action that is now subject to a complaint before the state’s judicial ethics panel.

The warrant failed to note that Herbel had received the letter from a tipster, that it was publicly available on Facebook, that the information included in the letter is a matter of public record, that she shared the letter as a public official in advance of a city council vote, or that police were knowingly allowing someone to drive on a suspended license.

“To make things worse, the warrants were also absurdly overbroad,” the lawsuit alleges. “But that hardly mattered because the police just took every phone and computer, without bothering to limit their searches to the terms of the overbroad warrants they drafted. The warrants, after all, were just a means to punish their critics.”

The search of Herbel’s home traumatized her husband, Ronald, who suffers from dementia. Police knowingly left the couple without a phone to contact their children or doctors. He remained on the couch for hours after police left and wouldn’t eat. The experience intensified his depression and anxiety. He couldn’t eat or sleep in the days after the raid. He would pace the house and cry.

The lawsuit contends it “should have been obvious” that there was no reason to search Herbel’s house. Her supposed crimes were identity theft and official misconduct, which involves the use of confidential information to intentionally harm someone.

“Simply obtaining a copy of a KDOR record on social media is not a crime,” her attorneys say the in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says the news media’s spotlight on the raids spared Herbel from arrest. Cody sent an email to county prosecutor Joel Ensey with the subject line: “Crimes?” The email outlined five possible ways they could charge Herbel with a crime. As the lawsuit puts it, the descriptions of supposed crimes “betray Chief Cody’s willful and malicious misunderstanding or disregard of the law.”

“The conspiracy started with the defined goal of silencing Ruth Herbel and Eric Meyer, and the conspirators worked backward from there to find the closest thing to a crime that would let them achieve that goal,” the lawsuit contends.

This article originally appeared in the Kansas Reflector, a States Newsroom affiliate.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and Twitter.

TOPEKA — Kansas Republicans have condemned a fundraiser Friday night where attendees paid to kick and beat an effigy of President Joe Biden, distancing themselves from extremists who have seized control of the party.

The Biden-bashing antics were part of a Kansas GOP event in Johnson County, where rocker Ted Nugent and disgraced former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline were the main attractions.

A video posted by “MolonLabeTruth” to the far-right social media platform Rumble shows “highlights” from the event, which also included karate chops to blocks that read “Let’s Go, Brandon,” code for a profane insult of Biden. The video shows several people at the event attempting a roundhouse kick to a mannequin bust with a Biden mask and “Let’s Go, Brandon” T-shirt. Another woman is seen beating the president’s face with a foam bat.

A video originally posted on Rumble by MolonLabeTruth and shared by Mike Kuckelman on Facebook shows “highlights” from the event.

Kansas GOP chairman Mike Brown, an election denier who narrowly won the leadership position a year ago, touted the fundraiser event for weeks in official GOP emails — with no mention of the Biden effigy. General admission tickets were listed at $100, with premier seats for $300.

Brown didn’t respond to an email seeking comment for this story.

On Saturday, former GOP chairman Mike Kuckelman condemned the Biden bashing in a post on Kuckelman’s personal Facebook page. Other Republicans joined him in comments on the post.

Kuckelman said guests at the event were invited to beat the Biden effigy in exchange for a donation. He called for the resignations of Brown and Johnson County Republican Party chairwoman Maria Holiday.

“This conduct is shameful, and it is WRONG. Brown and Holiday must resign,” Kuckelman wrote. “Republicans, especially elected Republicans, must demand the resignations of Brown and Holiday. Silence is complicity in this case.”

Kuckelman said Republicans “rightfully demanded” that Kathy Griffin be canceled after a photo emerged with her holding a bloody, severed replica of then-President Donald Trump’s head. Republicans “must speak equally as loudly” about the bashing of Biden’s effigy, Kuckelman wrote.

“I don’t agree with President Biden’s policies, but he is a fellow human being,” Kuckelman wrote. “No one should condone or defend this horrific and shameful conduct.”

John Altevogt, a conservative social media commentator, said the event shows how far the party’s leadership has drifted from mainstream politics. He described Brown’s supporters as QAnon and white supremacists who have “no place in legitimate Republican political discourse.”

“What should become brazenly obvious from this post is the wide range of Republicans who are disgusted by this behavior,” Altevogt wrote in a comment on Kuckelman’s post. “There are Trump people here and Principles First people here. And yet, here we are, joined together to rid the party of this embarrassing scourge.”

Former state Sen. Michael O’Donnell called the event “sad.”

Others described it as “disturbing,” “disgusting,” “shocking,” “enraging,” and “despicable.” Several people said they were lifelong Republicans who were considering leaving the party.

Julie Roller Weeks, vice chairwoman of the Dickinson County Republicans, wrote: “We fight with our votes, NOT fists and bats. This is disgraceful!”

Brandon Kenig, who described himself as a former chairman of the Kansas Young Republicans and campaign volunteer, said the Republican Party “that supported democracy and fought autocracy has faded into history, and the only core tenant of the party that remains is full, undying loyalty to one man,” referencing the party’s presumed nominee for president.

“Sadly, this isn’t surprising at all,” Kenig wrote. “It’s the logical extension of a a cult-like mentality. When a majority of the party base sees the opposition as inherently evil and dehumanizes them repeatedly over policy disagreements, it’s only a small step to simulated political violence and then actual political violence. Due to the lack of courage from party leaders, most base voters embrace deep-seated lies such as 2020 election denialism, vaccine conspiracy theories, QAnon nonsense about politicians being pedos, the deep state, and worse, why wouldn’t those insane beliefs justify a response like this?”

Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Democrat from Lenexa, in Johnson County, encouraged GOP elected officials to condemn the beating of Biden’s effigy.

“Political violence of any kind is vile and wrong, and we cannot afford to brush it under the rug when others encourage it,” Sykes said. “The focus now has to be on Republican leadership of the Kansas Senate and House. If my colleagues in the Legislature agree that this conduct is shameful and dangerous, they cannot turn a blind eye to this behavior. Their silence is consent.”

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.

TOPEKA — Mark and Mandy Helstrom feared their lives were in danger when they discovered an audio recording of Wallace County law enforcement and court officials talking about ways to kill the couple.

The couple say they inadvertently recorded the private conversation with Mark Helstrom’s phone after he left it in a clerk’s office in the Wallace County Courthouse. They shared the recording with Kansas Reflector.

In one part of the conversation, District Judge Scott Showalter, court clerk Rosella Ryser and County Attorney Charles Moser say they should take the couple into Colorado for a visit to the “Yellowstone train station.” The innuendo — from the TV show “Yellowstone” — refers to killing an enemy.

Later in the same recording, Sheriff Marshall Unruh and Undersheriff Lance Finley talk about putting a bag over Mandy Helstrom’s head.

“I just live in fear all day, every day,” she said in an interview for this story.

The Helstroms live in Sharon Springs, in the far northwest corner of the state, and are defending themselves from criminal drug charges. Mark Helstrom describes himself in court filings as sovereign — but he says he is not associated with the “sovereign citizen” movement of extremist anti-government activism.

Showalter recused himself from handling the couple’s cases after they discovered the audio recording and brought it to the court’s attention.

Ryser, Moser, Unruh and Finley didn’t respond to inquiries for this story. Showalter responded with a written statement.

“I acknowledge I made inappropriate remarks that were in poor taste, and I regret it,” Showalter said. “The remarks, made in a private conversation, were not intended as a threat to anyone. I recognize my error, recused myself from the cases at hand, and self-reported my actions to the Commission on Judicial Conduct. I apologize to the parties, my court colleagues, and anyone else affected by my remarks.”

Drugs and consent

Sheriff’s officers arrested the Helstroms in June after they found marijuana and oxycodone in their house. Moser charged them with possession of the drugs, as well as not having a drug tax stamp and possession of drug paraphernalia. Moser also charged Mark Helstrom with interference with law enforcement.

Mandy Helstrom said she suffers from a medical condition that frequently causes her to vomit or feel nauseated. The couple said she intended to order a legal form of CBD to see if it would help, but the package arrived with marijuana. The U.S. Postal Service notified law enforcement, which raided their house.

Officers found the marijuana, as well as oxycodone. Mark Helstrom said a neighbor inadvertently left the prescribed painkillers in the house years ago and that the Helstroms had forgotten about them.

The Helstroms chose to represent themselves in court rather than rely on a court-appointed stand-by counsel, who happens to be a prosecutor from a neighboring county.

In court filings, Mark Helstrom declared himself to be a sovereign citizen who has revoked his consent to be governed.

“I do not consent to your laws nor have I consented to this court’s jurisdiction, the only reason, I have appeared at-all, is because of the government’s violent tendencies which is placing my life in danger of being terminated,” Mark Helstrom wrote in an Oct. 16 motion to dismiss his case. “I am a peaceful man just trying to live my life without interference from the government, God gave this right to man and this country was founded upon this principle.”

In a Sept. 25 filing, Mark Helstrom demanded Moser drop the charges against him. Otherwise, he wrote, “I will have no other choice in this matter but to file criminal charges for slavery.”

Death threats

Mark Helstrom said he began recording audio with his phone before the couple entered the courthouse for a Dec. 14 hearing.

Inside, he was instructed to leave his phone on the counter in the clerk’s office while he was in the courtroom. He said he forgot to turn the recording off.

A couple of days later, he said, his wife was looking through the phone and found the recording — and the private conversation among the judge, court clerk and prosecutor.

A section goes as follows:

Showalter: “Charles, we’ve decided we need a train station somewhere about two miles into Colorado.”

Moser: “And it needs to be the Yellowstone train station.”

Ryser: Yes, exactly … and we all know what that means.”

At first, the Helstroms didn’t understand the reference to the TV show and the rural canyon where enemies are executed.

“Then we found out what it was all about, and then it was like, ‘Wow. They’re talking about murdering me, is what they’re saying.’ That’s exactly what it means. You can’t take that any other way,” Mark Helstrom said.

At another point in the recording, Sheriff Unruh and Undersheriff Finley are heard talking about Mark Helstrom. Finley referenced a ball and chain at his desk, and Unruh said: “We’re gonna have to get him, ’cause he’s gonna file a report.”

Then Unruh and Finley turn their attention to Mandy Helstrom.

“God, I wish they would just put a bag over her head,” Finley said. “Like tie it off so she throws up.”

Finley adds: “That’s a medical. She needs to go to Greeley County so they can kill her.”

Professional standard

The Helstroms filed a complaint against Unruh and Finley with the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training.

CPOST identifies its mission as “providing the citizens of Kansas with qualified, trained, ethical, competent, and professional peace officers.” But in a Jan. 5 letter to the Helstroms, CPOST investigator Kevin Sexton said the agency doesn’t investigate alleged crimes. Their complaint was dismissed.

“The appropriate forum for any issues you may have with your complaints and concerns lie with the Wallace County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Office,” Sexton wrote. “Please contact them for information on how to proceed with your concerns.”

The Helstroms say they don’t feel safe, even if the recorded comments were intended to be a joke.

“I was telling my wife, I said, ‘Well, if the cops came over here right now, and they said they had a warrant for your arrest, even though it may be real or not real, and they put the handcuffs on you and then drove you two miles out, took the cuffs off and blew your brains out, who’s gonna know?” Mark Helstrom said. “Nobody’s gonna know.”

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.

LAWRENCE — Joan Farr knew she had been conned before Keanu Reeves brushed her off after his concert last week in Lawrence.

After months of online correspondence, $9,000 in Bitcoin transfers and a confrontation with her family, she understood the individual who promised to endorse her presidential campaign and even be her date for her high school reunion wasn’t really the famous actor. She had been betrayed by a CIA poser once again.

This is common territory for Farr, who received 57,000 votes when she ran against Sam Brownback in the 2010 GOP primary for governor, and 93,000 votes when she challenged U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran in last year’s GOP primary. A federal judge has dismissed a series of lawsuits in which she blames a vast conspiracy for her suffering and setbacks.

Farr recounted her experience with the fake Reeves and her short, sad presidential campaign in an interview she requested with Kansas Reflector — and a five-page written statement she provided after the interview.

“I am finally done with my ongoing battle of trying to get into government, thanks to Keanu,” Farr said. “I feel like our country is so messed up, I’m just going to go live a peaceful life and wait for Jesus.”

“At least Keanu was able to make his suffering end by telling them to kill him off in the last movie,” she added. “My saga is never-ending, since I am not a rich and famous person who can wave a magic wand and make it happen. I am more like a speck of dust on the hind leg of a flea on the hind leg of a dog, and not even Keanu’s dog at that.”

Joan Farr’s platform for president includes making Taylor Swift the secretary of youth and inspiration. (Jason Hanna/Getty Images)

A Camelot 2.0

Farr dreamed of joining Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a third-party alternative to the inevitable rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in next year’s presidential election.

Like RFK Jr., Farr refuses to believe the avalanche of credible evidence that shows the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.

There’s another reason she believes they would be natural running mates. The way Farr sees it, President Lyndon Johnson was responsible for killing both her father and RFK Jr.’s uncle.

The 68-year-old Derby resident says her father died on a suicide mission in Vietnam when she was 11 years old. Her political ambitions are rooted in her efforts to obtain a medal of honor for her father.

Farr envisioned a “Camelot 2.0,” in which she would provide reparations for families who lost a loved one from COVID-19 or the vaccines, remove innocent people like herself from the terrorist watch list, and introduce a “justice amendment” to the U.S. Constitution that would level the playing field between the rich and poor.

She had plans to solve debt and homelessness, in part by raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. She would finish building the wall along the southern border. Anyone convicted of robbing merchants or destroying public property, such as statues and monuments, would be incarcerated for two years in a foreign country. Capital murder cases would be resolved within 30 days.

The CIA would be reassigned to help people.

“How is starting wars Christian?” she said.

She would make Taylor Swift the secretary of youth and inspiration.

And she would seek a U.N. directive, agreed to by all countries, to stop engaging in AI technology — “for the sake of mankind.”

But first, she needed a hot date.

The 4-H club

The widowed Farr abandoned hopes of finding love after her boyfriend left her for a much younger woman — a CIA plant, she believes — during the pandemic.

By January, she wasn’t looking for a relationship, but she wanted a companion for her 50th high school class reunion. She asked herself about the qualities she likes in a man. He would need to be kind, gentle, faithful and in the 4-H club — handsome, humble, honest and honorable. Other than her father, the only man she could think of with those qualities was Reeves, the famous actor.

Farr said she tried to contact Reeves through his website in January but got no response. So she tracked him down via Google in February and was thrilled when he agreed to be her date. Their relationship blossomed as they corresponded by email every few days.

“God seemed to be giving me a lot of signs that he was truly ‘the one,’ and I thought he must be my heart-and-soul mate,” Farr said.

To prepare for his visit, she tried to learn how to cook vegan food, stocked expensive coffee beans in her freezer, and “there was also the unending effort to try and look as good as I could.”

“That meant exercising daily to stay toned, getting some age spots removed, using Crest whitening strips, growing my lashes longer, finding the best tanning cream and scouring the internet for just the right little black dress,” Farr said. “And of course, I had to find some pajamas that were in good taste, since I felt he liked modest women.”

Those efforts were offset in May when she needed surgery to remove a cancerous patch of skin from her face, and the scar didn’t heal well.

She also felt uncomfortable when the individual she believed was Reeves asked her to make monthly contributions to his children’s charity via Bitcoin, which she knew would be untraceable. But he assured her she would receive a statement with all of her donations at the end of the year. She usually donates to nine charities, she said, but she cut them off in favor of Reeves.

Farr went to see Reeves in August when his rock band, Dogstar, performed in Denver. She spotted him in an alleyway.

“Keanu! Keanu!” she shouted.

He looked puzzled.

“It’s me, Joan. Kansas? Cowboy hat? Running for president?”

He pondered this for a moment.

“Well, enjoy the show,” he said.

After she drove back home, she emailed him to let express her disappointment that he had been unkind.

“At this point, I was thinking I was surely being scammed, but he came back with a convincing excuse,” Farr said. “He said that he gets nervous before he goes on stage and was taking some time to collect himself, and didn’t realize it was me. It was plausible enough, but my radar was up and I was becoming more skeptical.”

A vast conspiracy

Farr traces her suffering to clandestine CIA operations and an array of government officials who work to undermine her campaigns for public office.

Last year, when she took advantage of a loophole that allowed her to file for U.S. Senate races in two states, U.S. Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma tried to have her committed to a mental health institution, she claimed. And she believes Moran schemed with Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab to flip votes.

Throughout the Aug. 2, 2022, primary election night in Kansas, the margin in preliminary tallies between Farr and Moran barely changed — an indicator to Farr that someone was controlling the outcome. In the end, 19.5% of Republican voters in Kansas had cast a ballot for Farr.

Farr sued Inhofe, Moran, Schwab, the CIA, the FBI and the IRS, along with various other state and federal entities, after her stinging defeats in both Oklahoma and Kansas. She represented herself in the case, as she had done with two previous lawsuits that had been dismissed earlier in 2022.

The CIA, according to her unsubstantiated allegations, had placed her under constant surveillance and infected a close family member with COVID-19, in addition to stealing her boyfriend.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree in a 24-page ruling in June dismissed Farr’s case and barred her from filing another one, unless represented by counsel. He said Farr describes her claims the best — as a “vast conspiracy.”

“Of course, she characterizes this ‘vast conspiracy’ as one she ‘has proven.’ And that is precisely the point where she and the court part ways,” Crabtree wrote.

Clay Barker, general counsel to Schwab, referenced Farr’s lawsuit when he appeared last week before a special elections committee. As lawmakers courted conspiracy theories, Barker tried to convince them of the integrity of Kansas elections.

Barker talked about the absurdity of claims brought by people like Farr, who also had tried to convince Crabtree that the CIA used cloaks of invisibility to infiltrate her home and steal the secret algorithm that allows officials to control the outcome of elections.

“I’m picturing this woman telling this to a federal judge, with all the majesty of the district courts, the seal, the high ceilings and the robes,” Barker said.

He imagined Crabtree listening to Farr, considering her arguments and then informing her she couldn’t file more election lawsuits in Kansas.

“She says, ‘That’s OK, because I’m going to run for president and get rid of you,’ ” Barker said.

A message for Reeves

Farr’s “dreamy new friend” promised to donate $500,000 to her presidential campaign.

But first, the fake Reeves needed her to transfer $6,700 to pay for a security detail before he would join her at her high school class reunion. She persuaded her hesitant son to let her borrow $3,600 from his home equity line of credit, and charged another $2,900 to her credit card.

Reeves didn’t come to Kansas, she believed, because the Bitcoin transfer initially was blocked. The account had been flagged by authorities as being connected to a scammer. Undeterred, she transferred the money to a new account provided by the fake Reeves.

When her family learned that Farr believed the actor would meet up with her, their response shocked her.

“You would think I had turned senile and needed to be committed, the way they were acting,” Farr said.

She had 80 cents in her checking account and her credit card was maxed out. She had no idea how to pay her taxes in December.

But Reeves was scheduled for a Sept. 29 performance in Lawrence. Farr booked at room at the DoubleTree, because “it’s where the VIPs stay,” but Reeves must have checked out before she checked in.

After the show, she waited with fans for two hours by his bus door. When Reeves emerged from Liberty Hall, she tried to give him a card with a poem, but he wouldn’t take it.

To make matters worse, it appeared to Farr that the CIA had moved her car during the show. She said she needed Lawrence police to help her find it. Then she discovered the CIA had dismantled her GPS system, and she had to stop twice to ask for directions back to her hotel, less than two miles away.

By the time of the Lawrence concert, Farr already knew the truth. She looks to Instagram for Bible verses and encouragement, and two days earlier she instead saw this random post: “Romeo got Juliet, Jack got Rose, and you, you got played.”

That’s when she realized a member of Reeves’ security team must be former CIA, and they were obviously trying to make her look bad so she would lose votes.

So she is abandoning the idea of running for public office.

She finds comfort in the idea that people who are more powerful than her, or even RFK Jr., eventually will take down the CIA.

“Better not go there or I might get locked up,” Farr said, “so I can only say this: Keanu, your coffee beans are waiting. I hope you come visit me soon.”

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.