Rep. Capps can’t explain why his firm’s listed as creator of anti-Whipple fake-ad site
A Kansas state lawmaker’s business was the original owner of a website domain — www.protectwichitagirls.com — apparently created as part of an effort to smear Wichita mayoral candidate Brandon Whipple with false allegations online, records show.
Also, a Wyoming mail forwarding service — used by Rep. Michael Capps for business purposes — is the same mail drop whose address was used to register an anonymous New Mexico company that launched the campaign of false advertising against Whipple on YouTube and Facebook two weeks ago.
Whipple squares off against incumbent Mayor Jeff Longwell in Tuesday’s general election.
An Eagle report and a lawsuit filed in Sedgwick County District Court on Tuesday identified the producer of the ad as Matthew Colborn, a young video entrepreneur who shares a downtown office with Capps and Wichita City Council member James Clendenin.
Clendenin and Capps both denied knowledge of the origin of the video ad.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Capps said.
Clendenin co-owns a business with Capps, but said “I can’t answer for Mr. Colborn and I can’t answer for Mr. Capps.”
The ad at issue used young actresses shot in silhouette to portray interns at the Kansas Legislature apparently complaining about sexual harassment by Whipple. The script cribbed quotations and allegations from a 2017 story in the Kansas City Star and the Wichita Eagle.
Whipple was not the subject of the allegations in the news report, which were actually complaints against Republican members of the Kansas Senate. Whipple is a member of the state House of Representatives and a Democrat.
The ad was bankrolled through a shell company in New Mexico, Protect Wichita’s Girls LLC.
The company was created Oct. 10 and six days later launched the political attack from behind the shield of New Mexico law, which doesn’t require closely held businesses to reveal the names of their owners.
The mailing address of Protect Wichita’s Girls — 30 N. Gould Ste. R, Sheridan, Wyo. — is the same address used by a Capps-owned Wyoming company called Krivacy LLC, according to Wyoming business records.
The address traces to a company called Wyoming Mail Forwarding, housed in a small brick building in Sheridan.
In addition to receiving mail and re-sending it to clients, the company also offers registered agent service, allowing it to receive legal documents on behalf of the clients without disclosing the identities of the owners.
Krivacy and Protect Wichita’s Girls both use the mail forwarding and registered agent services, according to Wyoming and New Mexico records.
Capps said, “I couldn’t begin to tell you,” why the addresses match. “You do understand that the registered agent in Wyoming registers about a million companies, right?”
The Kansas and Wyoming secretary of state offices were unable to verify how many entities doing business in their states are using Wyoming Mail Forwarding.
In addition to the shared mailing address, records show Capps’ company, Krivacy, was the original owner of a domain name for a website, www.protectwichitagirls.com.
The site apparently has not been activated online in the anti-Whipple effort.
It was created on Oct. 16, the same day the attack ad first appeared on YouTube and Facebook, according to a search of Internet domain records.
The records also show the domain was later transferred to a web hosting company that guarantees its customers anonymity.
That change occurred on Tuesday, the day the lawsuit was filed and the same day The Eagle ran its story linking Colborn with Capps and Clendenin.
Capps could not explain why his company’s name was attached to the history report for the web domain protectwichitagirls.com.
“I have nothing to do with this Protect Girls Wichita — whatever it is you mentioned,” Capps said.
Capps said he would like to look over The Eagle’s findings in person, but backed out of a meeting and did not return subsequent phone calls.
Instead, he sent an email, that said he was “taken aback” by questions about his or his company’s potential connection to the video.
“I find it improbable any member of my staff would have been involved in this domain registration. I have no knowledge of this,” he wrote.
Clendenin said he’s never heard of Krivacy LLC, which was created in March 2017, although he offices with Capps and they co-own a business, VR Business Brokers of the Heartland.
Capps was video producer Colborn’s mentor in a Wichita State University program that pairs experienced business owners with novice entrepreneurs who want to start their own companies. Colborn is now Capps’ campaign manager, according to Clendenin.
A slander lawsuit filed Tuesday by Whipple’s lawyer alleges Mayor Jeff Longwell’s supporters launched the ad campaign in response to an Eagle story that showed how Longwell steered a multi-million-dollar contract for the city’s new water treatment plant to his friends.
A local actress told The Eagle she was misled into participating in the video by Colborn.
She was paid $50 to read a script that she was told would be for a public service announcement against domestic violence, she said.
Clips of her and other college-age actresses reading from the same script were spliced together to make the attack ad, she said.
This story was originally published November 1, 2019 at 5:03 AM.
