<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603722521631.png" alt="From left: Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O'Donnell, Kansas House Rep. Michael Capps and Wichita City Councilman James Clendenin. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>From left: Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O'Donnell, Kansas House Rep. Michael Capps and Wichita City Councilman James Clendenin. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/10/26/secret-recording-exposes-three-wichita-politicians-to-demands-for-their-resignation/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Three members of the Sedgwick County Commission on Sunday denounced Republican colleague Michael O’Donnell after the <a href="https://www.kansas.com/article246669242.html">Wichita Eagle published a secret recording</a>
 of O’Donnell, a Wichita city councilman and a Kansas House member 
plotting to deceive the public about their role in a false campaign 
video accusing a Democratic candidate for mayor of sexual harassment.Commissioners Lacey Cruse,
 David Dennis and Jim Howell made clear O’Donnell’s statements on the 
45-minute recording, including political advice to attack first and 
“avoid the truth at all expense,” made it impossible for him to continue
 serving the county.In the at-times chaotic 
recording, made shortly before the November 2019 mayoral election and 
released to the public due to a pending lawsuit, O’Donnell said it might
 be possible to blame their sleazy campaign attack on a former Kansas 
Republican Party chairman. He also declared such coverups to be 
“standard political operations.” He expressed admiration for the good 
sense of Democrats to betray each other quietly. And, he said, there 
wasn’t a pro-life person unhappy with the assassination a decade ago of 
Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller.“Michael O’Donnell has 
proven to be a risk and major liability to Sedgwick County,” said Cruse,
 a Democrat. “I’m not shocked by what we all heard on this tape because I
 have witnessed this type of unethical behavior for almost two years. 
I’m not willing to get in line and be quiet. This behavior is not okay 
and those who choose to be silent, those who are not willing to speak 
out about this publicly, are part of the problem.”Howell, the GOP chairman 
of the county commission, went further and urged O’Donnell, Wichita City
 Councilman James Clendenin and Kansas House Rep. Michael Capps to 
immediately resign from public office.“The people of Sedgwick 
county deserve representation that is ethical, above reproach and 
honest,” Howell said. “The actions of these men in the<a href="https://www.kwch.com/2020/08/28/man-behind-protect-wichita-girls-video-breaks-silence/"> ‘Protect Wichita Girls’ scandal</a> is reprehensible and embarrassing to our community.”So far, the three Wichita 
politicians have chosen to cling to their jobs. O’Donnell is seeking 
re-election to the county commission on Nov. 3. In August, Wichita 
voters decided to end Capps’ career in the Kansas House effective in 
January. Capps was hammered in the GOP primary, receiving just 25% of 
the vote. Clendenin, a member of the city council since 2011, isn’t on 
the 2020 ballot.<h2>The blame game</h2>In the recording, the 
three politicians and the producer of the video agreed to blame Sedgwick
 County Republican Party chairman Dalton Glasscock for orchestrating the
 commercial. They considered and rejected the idea of also fingering 
Kelly Arnold, who has served as Sedgwick County’s clerk since 2008 and 
was the Kansas GOP chairman from 2013 to 2019.The malicious video, 
posted to Facebook and YouTube, featured unidentified women silhouetted 
against a menacing background who alleged without evidence sexual 
harassment by state legislators. The target was then-Democratic mayoral 
candidate Brandon Whipple, who by implication was accused of engaging in
 misconduct as a member of the Kansas House. In closing moments of the 
video, the women say, “Stop Brandon Whipple.”The video was apparently 
viewed more than 400,000 times. It was traced to a New Mexico shadow 
company, Protect Wichita’s Girls LLC, that was linked to Capps.Whipple, who said the 
video was part of a political misinformation campaign, easily won the 
November 2019 election. He defeated incumbent Republican Mayor Jeff 
Longwell by more than 10 percentage points. Longwell’s re-election was 
hampered by reports he intervened to award the new water plant contract 
for the state’s largest city to his political supporters and friends.Shortly after the video 
began appearing online in October 2019, Whipple filed a lawsuit against 
video producer Matthew Colborn and two John Does. Colborn, who recorded 
the four-person conversation in which the coverup and misdirection was 
mapped out, was dropped from the suit in exchange for turning over the 
audio recording and other evidence to Whipple’s lawyers. The lawsuit has
 been amended to target O’Donnell, Clendenin and Capps.Michael
 Shultz, the Wichita attorney for Colborn, said his client regretted 
participating in the underhanded assault and learned painful lessons 
about politics, relationships and business. Colborn is being scapegoated
 in the public eye by the scandal, Schultz said. 
“Matthew
 was at the meeting where Michael O’Donnell, James Clendenin and Michael
 Capps planned to push the blame for this ad onto Dalton Glasscock and 
others,” Schultz said. “To protect himself, he recorded that 
conversation. We are releasing that recording now to demonstrate the 
accuracy of what Matthew has now said and to try and stop those who 
continue to attack him.”<h2>‘Dalton’s head’</h2>The meeting that produced 
the secret recording was called to help Capps prepare for a 2019 radio 
interview on the video controversy with Wichita talk show host John 
Whitmer, a former Republican state legislator. Capps and O’Donnell 
sounded confident Whitmer would be sympathetic to their claims, 
asserting Whitmer was opposed to election of a Democrat as mayor and had
 a strong dislike for Glasscock.“John, though, wants Dalton’s head. He doesn’t know how to hunt. He just wants to collect,” Capps said on the recording.Capps, who was angry 
Glasscock had previously called for his resignation, could be heard on 
the recording practicing his talking points in advance of the radio 
interview, including: “Let me be clear to your listeners and to you 
John. I had nothing to do with the production of this video.”O’Donnell advised Capps to
 claim firsthand knowledge that both Glasscock and Arnold spoke of plans
 designed to conceal information about who was responsible for the 
video. O’Donnell said linking the pair would deflect damage to the 
Sedgwick County Republican Party, because it would appear “more of a 
conspiracy by the party to cover itself.”Later in the conversation,
 the group decided Arnold was too influential among Sedgwick County 
Republicans to accuse of misconduct. Backlash from Arnold could get out 
of hand, so they agreed Glasscock would be framed alone. They also 
agreed it would be useful to place responsibility at Glasscock’s feet if
 the Republican mayor lost the campaign to Whipple.“Nobody questions Kelly 
(Arnold) being an ultra-party guy, a conservative,” O’Donnell said. “I 
just think naming him in this deal will bring added scrutiny that we, 
particularly James (Clendenin) and I don’t need.”<h2>Narrative not ideal</h2>Clendenin, the Wichita 
city council member, said labeling Arnold as a responsible party could 
open an unsavory two-front political conflict. He also predicted 
maneuvering their way out of the Whipple video scandal by boxing in 
Glasscock wouldn’t “go as smoothly as we’re talking about it right now.”“This is not an ideal 
narrative,” Capps said. “I’m going to accept the fact that it is not. 
But I’m also looking at this purely from a business/political 
perspective. That it’s either our necks or his.”“I’m always learned in 
politics,” O’Donnell said, “it’s always avoid the truth at all expense. 
Right? And, just go on the attack.”O’Donnell at several 
points in the recording recommended they each be vague when pointing 
fingers at other people, because specifics could come back to haunt them
 if a lawsuit went to the discovery stage or a trial.In 2018, O’Donnell was 
indicted on federal charges that included 23 counts of wire fraud and 
three counts of money laundering. The allegations of campaign finance 
misconduct related to his campaign for the Kansas Senate and O’Donnell’s
 decision to write a series of checks from a campaign account to 
friends. He was acquitted last year of 21 counts and the jury couldn’t 
reach a verdict on five counts. He described the trial as the worst 
experience of his life.“I don’t think we’re all 
culpable like for a lawsuit or something,” O’Donnell said on the audio 
recording, “but what I think — I just don’t ever want it to get into 
discovery mode.”The
 Kansas Democratic Party jumped into the fray with a photograph of 
O’Donnell standing next to U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall, a Republican in a 
tight race for U.S. Senate against Democratic Kansas Sen. Barbara 
Bollier.“What
 games are Roger Marshall and Michael O’Donnell playing?” the Democrats 
claimed Kansans deserved to know. “Does Roger Marshall stand by his 
‘friend’ Michael O’Donnell’s actions?”As if there wasn’t enough drama in Whipple’s life, a Wichita musician and retired firefighter was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/17/us/wichita-kansas-mayor-mask-arrest-trnd/index.html">arrested Oct. 16 on suspicion of threatening to kidnap and kill the mayor</a> due to frustration with the city’s COVID-19 mask ordinance.Tim Carpenter has reported on Kansas for 35 years. He covered the Capitol for 16 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal and previously worked for the Lawrence Journal-World and United Press International.&nbsp;

Resignation demands after recording exposes three Wichita politicians