Overland Park mayor, officials seek to oust councilman. Johnson County DA declines
The Johnson County District Attorney’s Office will not move forward with proceedings to oust Overland Park City Councilman Scott Hamblin, despite the mayor and the majority of his fellow council members calling for his removal.
Hamblin, a first-term councilman, was arrested last July on a domestic battery charge. The following month, the City Council voted 9-2 to ask the DA and Kansas attorney general to look into whether it would be warranted to proceed with ousting Hamblin.
A Johnson County judge in December dismissed the misdemeanor charge, and Hamblin has denied any claims that he committed domestic battery. But the judge told prosecutors that they could refile the case at a later date.
Even after the case was dismissed, some City Council members have continued to call for Hamblin’s removal. Those calls were reignited in April after Hamblin’s campaign was fined more than $10,000 for campaign finance violations. Hamblin told The Star on Friday that he is working to resolve the fines.
But District Attorney Steve Howe informed the mayor and council this past week that his office will not conduct ouster proceedings against Hamblin.
“I’m glad to finally put that behind us. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m glad it’s officially over,” said Hamblin, who was elected in 2019 to represent the 6th Ward in southern Overland Park.
Under Kansas law, public officials could forfeit their office if they willfully engage in misconduct, willfully neglect to perform their duties, demonstrate mental impairment showing the person lacks the capacity to hold the office, or commit any act which would be a crime of “moral turpitude.”
After a months-long investigation, Howe said in a letter that his office determined “there is insufficient evidence of an act constituting a violation of a penal statute involving moral turpitude as set forth in K.S.A. 60-1205(4). This office will not be instituting an ouster proceeding against Councilmember Hamblin.”
Councilman Paul Lyons, who voted in favor of seeking Hamblin’s ouster, said the council has “exhausted our options in terms of taking any action.” But he continues to call for Hamblin to step down.
“He was arrested and spent a night in jail for domestic battery, which even if he was not convicted of that, it is still an obligation as an elected official to stay out of those kinds of situations,” Lyons said Friday. “So that, coupled with his campaign being fined over $10,000 for violating Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission rules for filing campaign expenditures, I still advocate for him to resign.”
Last summer, Councilmen Faris Farassati and Tom Carignan voted against calling for Hamblin’s possible removal.
Around the same time, Mayor Carl Gerlach removed Hamblin from the city’s public safety committee, which oversees police department policies.
Hamblin has refused to resign from the City Council, arguing that his fellow council members were making allegations without allowing him due process.
In a letter provided to The Star last year, Hamblin’s wife, Curstin Hamblin, said the City Council and mayor were turning the criminal charge into a political issue.
“I don’t know how many times I need to focus my energy on defending a private family matter in public because of the misguided political intentions of some of the council members,” she wrote.
The judge dismissed the charge against Hamblin after an essential witness was quarantined for COVID-19 exposure and unable to testify. The alleged victim also did not show up to testify at trial.
During the proceedings, several Overland Park City Council members argued that Hamblin’s arrest damaged the city’s reputation, and his alleged behavior was a violation of an elected official’s ethical duties.
In April, the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission fined Hamblin and his treasurer, Tara Brune, after his campaign failed to file two required finance reports in the past year. They both did not attend a hearing on the matter. Hamblin at the time denied any knowledge of the hearing or violations.
Hamblin in 2019 spent $87.57 from his campaign fund at Men’s Wearhouse, in violation of state campaign finance rules. The shopping trip ended up costing the councilman and his campaign treasurer a fine of $540. The commission said that Hamblin never reimbursed his campaign for the Men’s Wearhouse purchases.
The commission opted to fine Hamblin and Brune $270 each for misuse of campaign funds and $5,000 each for failure to file reports.
Hamblin has often found himself at odds with the majority of the City Council. Less than a month after he took office, for example, he ruffled feathers when he asked officials to rescind a tax incentive package that was approved before his election.
He argued that he’s been targeted for often being a political minority on the council.
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 4:54 PM.
