Kansas Democrats bring Jan. 6 police officer to town, GOP brings provocative figures | Opinion
Kansas Democrats are bringing a hero to town.
Kansas Republicans … aren’t.
It’s that time of year when both state parties have their big annual shindigs — a way to get all the party faithful together for some socializing and, not incidentally, a little bit of fundraising. The Democrats will celebrate their annual Washington Days at the end of the month, while Republicans are planning a three-city Victory Tour across the state to celebrate Donald Trump’s presidential win.
This year’s guest speakers tell you a lot about the state of our politics, both in Kansas and across the country.
Democrats, for example, are bringing in Harry Dunn to speak at their annual gala on March 1. The name might escape you, so here’s a reminder: He was a police officer who defended the U.S. Capitol from the insurrectionists who attacked it on Jan. 6, 2021. He’s since moved out of law enforcement and into politics.
Trump pardoned all those rioters last month. It was an insult to Dunn and all the U.S. Capitol Police who put their lives on the line to defend against them.
“I wish that everybody could see what happened on Jan. 6 and call it for what it was, even now, four years after,” Dunn said after the pardons were announced.
But Trump didn’t erase the rioters’ offenses against American democracy, or his own. A pardon isn’t redemption.
And Harry Dunn is still a hero for his actions that day. He’s a good and inspirational choice for Kansas Democrats.
Conspiracy theorist, ex-Hercules on TV
Kansas Republicans, on the other hand, are bringing in three conservative heavyweights whose reputations aren’t quite so sterling.
For a Wichita gala Tuesday, the GOP is bringing in Dinesh D’Souza. He’s the former Christian college president who pleaded guilty in 2014 to campaign finance violations — and who received a pardon of his own from Trump four years later.
D’Souza, of course, went on to make the widely debunked election conspiracy film “2000 Mules,” which made the case that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. (It wasn’t.) In December, he apologized for “inaccurate information” that caused him to falsely accuse a Georgia man of ballot fraud in the film.
So: Not a hero.
For next Thursday’s gathering in Overland Park, Kevin Sorbo will be the featured speaker. If you’re old like me, you’ll remember when he played Hercules on TV in the 1990s. If you’re younger, you’ll know him mainly as a washed-up Hollywood type who has made a second career out of posting pro-Trump statements on social media.
A hero, maybe? But only in make-believe.
The third dinner takes place next Friday in Goodland. And good on the Kansas GOP for taking its show beyond the usual locations in Johnson County and Wichita to meet its voters in the hinterlands.
The speaker at that dinner? Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado. She’s the right-wing firebrand probably best known these days for getting handsy with her date at a live stage performance of the musical “Beetlejuice” in 2023, which resulted in the pair being tossed from the show.
That’s possibly heroic, but only for the sheer amount of chutzpah and bad manners involved.
Anyway, the distinction here should be rather clear. Democrats are featuring a man who put his body on the line to defend American elections and election officials.
Republicans, on the other hand, are parading a series of provocateurs and unsavory folks you’d ordinarily be embarrassed to introduce to your own family.
Ted Nugent in Johnson County redux
This isn’t exactly a surprise. It’s only been a year since Johnson County Republicans brought in shock rocker Ted Nugent — the man who recorded a little ditty called “Jailbait” in 1981 — to inspire and entertain at their annual gathering. So this is getting to be a habit.
You wonder: Is this really what conservatives want?
If so, it just proves one thing: Kansas Republicans can accumulate all the power in the world — they still can’t buy good taste.
This story was originally published February 21, 2025 at 5:06 AM.