Kansas Sen. Gene Suellentrop is charged with crimes, still secretly leading Senate
On Friday night, Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay announced he has filed criminal charges against Kansas Sen. Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop, on counts of speeding, eluding or attempting to elude police, driving under the influence, reckless driving and driving the wrong way down a divided highway.
With charges filed, Suellentrop has to resign, as he should have after his arrest.
But so far, he hasn’t even kept his word to step down from his leadership duties. The Star Editorial Board has learned that Suellentrop has not stepped away from those duties, as he promised to do after his March 16 DUI arrest. That should never have been the case.
One fellow Republican said on Friday that Suellentrop still appears to be scheduling, steering and negotiating bills as usual, including in high-level meetings.
“Not just anybody was allowed in that meeting,” the senator said of one conference involving Senate leadership and gubernatorial staff this past week. “He’s running that office. And it’s just real obvious. The only role he’s not doing is on the floor.”
A second Republican senator also said Suellentrop is still pulling the majority leader strings behind the scenes. “I sure don’t see what duties he’s given up.”
A third, a Democrat, said it’s an open secret in Topeka that nothing has really changed.
If the only real difference is that Suellentrop is now having Sen. Larry Alley make the announcements and motions on the Senate floor, while most other functions of his position are still being carried out by his office, what’s the point of this farce?
On Friday night, four hours after news of the charges broke, apparently panicked Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson and Vice President Rick Wilborn issued this sad and silly statement: “This evening, we learned that the Shawnee County District Attorney announced he has filed several charges against Senator Suellentrop. The complaint’s allegations are very serious, and we trust the legal process will ensure due process and a just resolution. We are thankful that no one was injured, and we continue to pray for Gene and his family.
“Last week, Senator Suellentrop took the prudent step of transferring the bulk of his duties to our Assistant Majority Leader. Over the past 10 days, the Senate has proceeded successfully with the people’s business and that will continue for the few remaining days of this year’s session. Upon learning of these formal charges, we have begun reaching out to other members of the Republican caucus about how to proceed most effectively moving forward. Our highest priority is to keep working without distraction for Kansas families and businesses as the state reopens.”
To which we say: Good. Grief. It took you four hours to extend thoughts and prayers? Using the words ‘prudent’ and ‘Suellentrop’ in the same sentence was bold, though.
Then there’s the lack of a public report from the Kansas Highway Patrol. The KHP announced on Thursday it has no public documents in Suellentrop’s arrest.
Because the KHP didn’t produce written proof of the incident, a judge felt forced to release Suellentrop the day of his arrest. How does that happen? If there never was a report, that smacks of favoritism, and if the report was somehow made to disappear, that does, too.
Audio from a 911 call indicates the Senate majority leader had driven on the wrong side of Interstate 70 in Topeka for some 10 minutes. That would make him a threat to public safety at the time. The incident was certainly notable enough to merit a Kansas Standard Offense Report.
KHP general counsel Luther Ganieney explained in an email that they don’t have to fill out such a report on “Group B” offenses and, well, don’t you know, DUI, fleeing police, and driving the wrong way on an interstate are Group B offenses, so that’s that.
No, that is not that. Sorry.
First of all, if that’s really the policy then it needs changing. Gov. Laura Kelly, whom the Kansas Highway Patrol reports to, should see to it immediately.
Secondly, KHP is patrolling in wonderland if it doesn’t realize how bad this looks for the agency.
The powerful Senate majority leader, who holds sway over the agency’s budget, is accused of driving impaired for 10 minutes on the wrong side of an interstate, nearly striking a car traveling the legal direction, and there’s no public report even made?
It was up to the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office to salvage the reputation of government in Topeka, and it did.
Suellentrop’s perfidy in only pretending to step away from leadership duties was just one more reason he should resign. Now that he’s been charged, he should have no choice.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 5:52 PM.