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AP: Dems to testify against House speaker
Published 3/18/2010 in Local News
TOPEKA (AP) — The Democratic leader in the Kansas House was expected to face questions today about his party's misconduct complaint against the chamber's Republican speaker.
Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat, was scheduled to be the first witness before a special bipartisan committee investigating Speaker Mike O'Neal, a Hutchinson Republican.
Davis and five other House Democrats filed a complaint against O'Neal because O'Neal, an attorney, is representing businesses, trade groups and insurance funds in a lawsuit against the state.
O'Neal declined to comment before the committee's meeting today, but he has said he's broken no laws or ethics rules. He also has said Democrats can't show any instance of him influencing legislation on behalf of one of the 17 clients in the lawsuit.
But Democrats contend O'Neal has conflicts of interest because of the clients.
Davis acknowledged late Wednesday that he doesn't know whether O'Neal has done anything specific as speaker to help his clients in the lawsuit. But as a legislative leader, O'Neal is held to "the highest standard," Davis said.
"The highest standard ought to include avoiding any appearance of impropriety," he said.
O'Neal filed the lawsuit in January in Shawnee County, and a hearing is scheduled for May 7 to determine whether the case goes forward. O'Neal's clients include industry workers' compensation funds, the Kansas Bankers Association, the Kansas Realtors Association and a Wichita company doing business as Speedy Cash.
The lawsuit challenges legislators' decision last year to confiscate fees paid by O'Neal's clients for specific regulatory purposes to help balance the state budget. The lawsuit contends the state exceeded its regulatory authority and imposed an unauthorized tax on the plaintiffs.
During a meeting Wednesday, the investigating committee's three Republicans and three Democrats declined to dismiss the complaint. Chairman Clark Shultz, a Lindsborg Republican, said O'Neal will be asked to testify next week.
Shultz said the committee could decide the week of March 29 whether to recommend sanctions against O'Neal. The House has the power to censure, reprimand or expel a member, though such actions require a two-thirds majority.
One committee member, Carl Dean Holmes, a Republican from Liberal, said he wants to look into how O'Neal's clients are compensating him. Democrats have asked whether O'Neal would get a percentage of any funds his clients collect if they win.
"That's specifically what I'm looking at," Holmes said.
O'Neal has said he's being paid by the hour, at less than his usual rate. But he said disclosing more detailed information would require him to violate ethics rules for attorneys against betraying clients' confidences.
Holmes said he would like the committee to work out an arrangement under which it can get information without breaching the privacy of O'Neal's clients.
"I think some of the information I want does come under the attorney-client privilege," Holmes said.
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