Who steps in if Johnson County mayor, facing felony charge, leaves? Coin toss decides
A coin toss has determined who would take over as the mayor of Shawnee if Michelle Distler — who is facing a felony perjury charge — were to leave her post.
Each year, the City Council is tasked with appointing a council president, who becomes acting mayor in case of the mayor’s absence or removal from office. That task is especially important this time with Distler’s future in question due to her recent arrest, although the mayor has not said that she plans to resign.
At Monday night’s meeting, the mayor and council members stayed silent on Distler’s perjury case. Distler ran the meeting as usual without mentioning it.
The routine process of appointing a council president has become a sticking point in the past year as the city’s governing body is frequently split down the middle. Council members Monday night were deadlocked, with a 4-4 tie on who should serve as council president next year — either Councilman Mike Kemmling, who held the position this year, or Councilwoman Lindsey Constance.
And it was with the toss of a coin, which landed on “heads,” that the board overcame that impasse and appointed Constance.
Distler, who won reelection in November 2019, could have broken the tie herself. But she decided to leave it up to the coin toss, which took place over Zoom, rather than casting the deciding vote.
In January, Distler took the same stance and refused to break a 4-4 tie that would have decided the council president for 2020. That led to hours-long meetings about who should become council president and whether the appointment process should change.
At the time, Distler told The Star that her stepping in and casting a vote would have only made the council more divided. “We were all sworn in to work together as a group,” she said. “And I think the Council needs to be able to come together to make this decision — as our first step to be able to work together.”
In March, a committee finally agreed upon new rules for electing the council president, including the last resort tie-breaking coin toss.
On Monday, council members were divided along the same division as they were earlier this year. Four council members — Matt Zimmerman, Lisa Larson-Bunnell, Jill Chalfie and Constance — voted to appoint Constance. The other four — Tammy Thomas, Eric Jenkins, Kurt Knappen and Kemmling — voted for Kemmling to continue serving as council president.
The latter four council members were all listed as apparent witnesses in Distler’s perjury case, according to the criminal complaint. The others were not included on the list of more than 30 Johnson County officials and residents, which also named former Republican Kansas state Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, Shawnee City Attorney Ellis Rainey and City Manager Nolan Sunderman.
Distler was charged with felony perjury after she allegedly filed a Kansas Open Meetings Act complaint using the name of a “watchdog” without his permission, according to court records.
On March 10, the so-called watchdog, whose name was redacted in the charging documents, told Shawnee police he received an email confirming he filed an online complaint with the state Attorney General’s Office. But he had not done so, he said.
An investigator with the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office then obtained an IP address associated with the complaint, which led them to Distler. Police also searched Distler’s home and seized an iPad she said was involved in the incident.
In a July interview, Distler said that an email chain including four unnamed City Council members had formed, and she believed the open meetings act had been violated. That is why she wanted to file a complaint, but she said she was afraid to use her own name, according to the report.
Instead of filing the complaint herself, she used the name of the watchdog, according to the affidavit released last week. When filling out such a complaint with the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, the filer agrees, “By signing my name below, I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.”
Distler, 47, was released on a $2,500 bond from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office earlier this month. Her first court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 5.
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 8:50 PM.
