Who the AG’s office did – and didn’t – talk to in its county inquiry

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office interviewed 10 people in its investigation of alleged misconduct on the Sedgwick County Commission.

But then-Commissioner Karl Peterjohn was not interviewed, because he had lost his bid for re-election.

Peterjohn was one of the officials accused of pressuring organizations to not work with public relations firm Bothner and Bradley. Wichita lawyer Jack Focht asked the state last June to investigate and to issue ouster proceedings, which can remove elected officials from office.

“The request to consider a possible ouster became moot after Commissioner Peterjohn lost in the August primary,” Jennifer Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, said in an e-mail. “Therefore, he was not interviewed.”

Peterjohn lost to David Dennis, who took his seat on the commission this January.

The investigation concluded in January. One of its findings was that two people interviewed said Peterjohn “made statements to the effect it would be hard for the county to support anything with which Bothner and Bradley was involved.”

There was no written evidence of those statements. Peterjohn did not return a phone call seeking comment.

The following people were interviewed during the investigation, according to a response to an open records request.

▪ Jeff Turner: The former Spirit AeroSystems executive volunteers with the Greater Wichita Partnership economic development effort. He said Peterjohn told him the county didn’t want to fund groups that worked with Bothner and Bradley.

▪ Kristi Zukovich: The former Sedgwick County spokeswoman now works at the Kansas Health Foundation. She said she was interviewed about Bothner and Bradley, the 2016 budget cycle and “other issues.”

▪ Anne Nelson: She recently retired as the executive director of the Central Plains Health Care Partnership, which manages the health care program Project Access. She said her organization was blamed in a meeting with commissioners for helping a campaign opposing county budget cuts.

▪ Mark Reed: He retired as Sedgwick County’s zoo director last December. He said he was interviewed about working conditions during negotiations over a proposed operating agreement, which would have given the county and the zoo board the authority to fire the director and set guidelines for their public statements. That proposal was dropped shortly after Peterjohn’s defeat.

▪ Tami Bradley: She is a managing partner at Bothner and Bradley. Bradley managed their subcontracted work on a county project they were briefly removed from last year.

▪ Vera Bothner: She is the firm’s other managing partner. Bothner spoke with Commissioner Jim Howell about whether the firm played a role in opposition to proposed county budget cuts in 2015.

▪ Jim Howell: The District 5 commissioner brought up concerns to public works staff members about Bothner and Bradley on a county project called the ARC 95 Study. He said an investigator “came and asked me some questions” about the firm’s subsequent removal.

▪ David Spears: The longtime county engineer and public works director was in that meeting. He called the contractor about Howell’s concerns regarding Bothner and Bradley.

▪ Jim Weber: The deputy public works director was also in the meeting with Howell and Spears.

▪ Brett Letkowski: He’s a senior vice president for TranSystems, the county’s contractor on the ARC 95 Study. He was the county’s main point of contact with TranSystems on the project.

Focht provided the AG’s office with a list of 26 people they could talk to as part of their investigation. All 10 interviewees were from that list.

Focht said he was disappointed more people weren’t interviewed as part of the investigation.

“(But) I’m satisfied if they don’t do this again – if they don’t try to pull this crap again.”

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Who the AG’s office did – and didn’t – talk to in its county inquiry."