TOPEKA — Former Kansas Highway Patrol Col. Mark Bruce’s attorney went before the Kansas Supreme Court to argue state law required his client’s return to the rank of major instead of being ousted three years ago amid a domestic-violence scandal involving the agency’s lieutenant colonel.
A lawyer representing Gov. Laura Kelly; Will Lawrence, the governor’s chief of staff; and KHP Col. Herman Jones argued the claims by Bruce in a lawsuit lacked merit because he voluntarily signed resignation and retirement papers after being informed his services were no longer needed in the Kelly administration. In addition, the governor’s attorney said Bruce was misinterpreting state employment law.
A U.S. District Court judge handling the Bruce lawsuit against Kelly, Lawrence and Jones said he was so perplexed by the applicable Kansas law — “not a model of clarity” — that he took the unusual step of requesting the state Supreme Court resolve disputes about interpretation of the state statute. The analysis could include work to understand intent of the Legislature when it tinkered with the Kansas Civil Service Act in 2018.
State Supreme Court Justice Dan Biles said during oral argument Wednesday night in Great Bend that Kansas law on this point was so garbled the state’s highest court would have to enter the “minefield” of legislative intent to figure out what lawmakers attempted to achieve.
He said Topeka...
INDIANAPOLIS — Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell announced that county election officials are pushing back against viral social media posts falsely claiming that ballots marked by poll workers...