Charging document alleges Kansas Rep. Watkins lied to detective in vote fraud case
Prosecutors allege Kansas Congressman Steve Watkins lied to a Shawnee County Sheriff’s detective on February 10, according to court documents that reveal fresh details about the illegal voting case against him.
A criminal complaint accuses Watkins , a first-term Republican from Topeka, of providing the detective, Stephanie Dicken, information “knowing that such information is false and intending to influence, impede or obstruct” the detective’s duty.
Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay’s office charged Watkins Tuesday with three felonies and one misdemeanor related to allegations that he illegally voted in a 2019 Topeka municipal election.
Kagay released news of the charges half-an-hour before Watkins participated in a televised primary debate, where the first-term Republican called the timing of the announcement “hyper-political.”
Watkins used a Topeka UPS store as his registration address for the election and allegedly voted in the wrong city council district. Sources say Watkins was living with his parents at the time, but used the UPS address to obscure that fact.
The criminal complaint against Watkins lists 21 individuals and organizations that prosecutors may call in the case. They include Topeka city council member Spencer Duncan, who won the election Watkins is alleged to have improperly voted in last year. In December, Duncan said he has known Watkins since childhood but that the two are not close and that they hadn’t spoken since 2018.
Duncan said Wednesday that he was interviewed by detectives early this year, likely in February. He said the detectives asked whether there was any coordination and that he replied there had not been and that he hadn’t spoken to Watkins since before his election to Congress.
“I told them, when that news first came out I was as shocked as everybody and my first reaction has always been, ‘please, I have nothing to do with this, please leave me out of it,’” Duncan said.
Shawnee County Election Commissioner Andrew Howell and Adam Linhos, co-owner of the UPS Store, are listed as possible witnesses. Personnel from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation lab, records custodians at two apartment complexes and a second Shawnee County Sheriff’s detective, in addition to Dicken, are also named.
Watkins said during Tuesday’s debate that he has been cooperating with the investigation and looks forward to clearing his name. His office did not immediately comment Wednesday on allegations regarding the February 10 incident.
Todd Graves, former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is representing Watkins’ in the case. Graves, a former chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, is the brother of Rep. Sam Graves, R-Missouri, who serves alongside Watkins in Washington.
Graves did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the charging document.
‘This is not normal in Kansas politics.’
The allegation that the Republican congressman voted illegally comes as President Donald Trump has been warning, without evidence, that there will be massive voter fraud in the 2020 election.
In the Republican primary for Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District, Watkins faces Kansas Treasurer Jake LaTurner and Dennis Taylor, a former cabinet official under Gov. Sam Brownback. The winner will take on the likely Democratic nominee, Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla, in the district, which stretches from Northeast Kansas to the Oklahoma border.
Watkins has insinuated that Kagay filed the charges to boost LaTurner based on the two Republicans sharing a direct mail vendor, Overland Park-based Singularis. Kagay has not responded to multiple emails about Watkins’ claims, but LaTurner dismissed the idea in an interview with The Star Wednesday afternoon.
“Everyone uses Singularis to send out mail. This is more of the same. Nothing is ever Steve Watkins’ fault,” LaTurner said, noting that many Republicans in the state use the firm.
“Let me say explicitly: I don’t know Mike Kagay. I have not, nor has anyone in my orbit talked to Mike Kagay about this. It’s an absurd attempt by them to muddy the waters.”
LaTurner said he learned of the charges against Watkins after he arrived the studio in Topeka for Tuesday’s debate hosted by KSNT.
“This is not normal in Kansas politics. This is like Chicago-style politics with corruption and felonies,” LaTurner said.
“What I know is that Congressman Watkins owns two homes in Alaska, and a hotel in New Orleans and doesn’t own a home in Kansas. So he signed under penalty of perjury that he lived in a UPS store.”
GOP leaders react
Kansas Republican Party leaders held a conference call Wednesday morning following the filing of the charges the previous night, but Shannon Golden, the party’s executive director, downplayed its significance.
“We frequently have calls with our party leaders especially with the election quickly approaching,” she said in a text message.
Watkins, an Army veteran who grew up in Kansas but spent most of his adult life in Alaska and Massachusetts, won a crowded primary against six more established in candidates in 2018. He went on to win the general election by less than 1 percentage point.
He’s had an uneasy relationship with the state’s Republican establishment since The Star and other media outlets uncovered that he had embellished his resume, considered running as a Democrat and never voted before running for Congress.
Virgil Peck, chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party, said in 2018 he and other GOP officials warned Watkins they would keep a close eye on him after he emerged as the party’s nominee.
“This is a big letdown,” said Peck, a former state lawmaker. “Voting is the simple basic thing. You’ve got to know where you live, register where you live. That’s pretty straightforward. I’m amazed that a congressman would conduct himself in this way in regards to voting. He would have been better off not voting.”
Derek Franklin, the chairman of the Atchison County Republican Party, was more supportive of Watkins and noted the unusual timing of the charges —less than a month before the primary and minutes before a televised debate.
“I thought that was strange,” Franklin said.
“I’d say there’s probably more to it than what I know and I certainly wouldn’t pass judgment on a man who’s done a pretty good job for us in Washington,” he said.
Cheryl Reynolds, the Republican chair for the 2nd district, said that “Kansas Republicans trust the judicial system and we trust the electoral system. And we’re going to trust those systems to do their jobs and let this play out.”
Watkins’ fellow Kansas Republicans in the U.S. House, Reps. Roger Marshall and Ron Estes, declined to comment on the matter Wednesday. GOP Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran were also silent.
Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat from Roeland Park, was the only member of the Kansas delegation to comment on the charges.
“I am disturbed by these allegations and believe we must allow the legal process to play out as it should. No one is above the law, especially not our elected officials,” she said in a statement.
Marshall is locked in a competitive U.S. Senate race with Kris Kobach, who made prevention and prosecution of voter fraud his signature issue during his eight years Kansas secretary of state.
Kobach’s campaign did not respond to multiple emails about the charges against Watkins, a fellow Republican who Kobach campaigned with in 2018.
Reynolds and Peck said the charges against Watkins would not undermine Kansas Republicans’ efforts to champion election integrity, a longstanding plank in the state party’s platform.
“If it’s proven to be true and correct, it proves that Republicans did the right thing by being pretty aggressive… and implementing laws against voter fraud,” Peck said.
Watkins’ campaign finance report, filed Wednesday, shows that his campaign spent more than $22,000 on legal fees from April through June between law firms, but that spending is likely unrelated to the Shawnee County case.
Steve Watkins, Sr., the congressman’s father, revealed in March that the Federal Election Commission was reviewing donations he made to his son’s campaign through other individuals, an action prohibited under federal law.
Potential consequences in Congress
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s office did not immediately respond to a question about whether Watkins would retain his committee assignments.
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan in 2018 stripped two Republican lawmakers, Duncan Hunter of California and Chris Collins of New York, of their committee assignments after they faced federal felony charges in separate cases.
The House GOP conference amended its rules that year to require any lawmaker facing a felony charge that could carry a prison sentence of two or more years to give up their committee assignments. Watkins’ felony charges could surpass that threshold if the potential sentences for each count are added together.
Watkins’ office said GOP leadership has not brought up the issue of committee assignments with it since the charges were filed.
The House Committee on Ethics, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by lawmakers, declined to comment Wednesday.
This story has been updated to correct the first name of 2nd District Republican chair Cheryl Reynolds.
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 10:02 AM.
