Clendenin’s own advisory board condemns his role in false smear campaign and cover-up
The district advisory board appointed by Wichita City Council member James Clendenin voted overwhelmingly Wednesday night to condemn his conduct in a 2019 smear campaign against Mayor Brandon Whipple.
But the District 3 Advisory Board stopped short of calling on their council member to resign his seat.
The vote of “no confidence” and condemnation came after a lengthy discussion and public comment period that was roughly divided between two groups: those who feel Clendenin’s role in the smear campaign render him unfit for further service; and those who complimented his performance on the council and wanted to await the results of a district attorney’s investigation into the political plot that Clendenin was part of.
The final vote was 7-1 against Clendenin.
The councilman attended the special video meeting. But he gave no substantive answers to questions he was asked, saying he would defer comment while the case remains under investigation.
The District 3 Advisory Board is made up of people selected by the council member to advise him on matters of neighborhood concern in his southeast Wichita district.
Clendenin, along with Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell and state Rep. Michael Capps, are embroiled in a scandal over a video attack ad in last year’s mayoral race. They sought to boost the re-election chances of then-Mayor Jeff Longwell by leveling false allegations of sexual harassment against Whipple.
On Friday, an audio recording was released of Clendenin, Capps and O’Donnell fabricating a cover story to shift blame for the bogus video from themselves to Sedgwick County Republican Party Chairman Dalton Glasscock.
The Wichita City Council censured Clendenin on Tuesday.
Jared Cerullo led the attack on Clendenin at the District Advisory Board.
“The recording proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that James Clendenin, Michael O’Donnell and Michael Capps conspired to produce this false attack ad and then further conspired to come up with a false narrative to pin the blame on other innocent people,” he said.
Cerullo, a former Wichita TV reporter, is one of several members of the advisory board who are planning to run for the District 3 seat when Clendenin either resigns or is term-limited out of office next year.
He said Clendenin has lied about his role in the scheme for almost a year.
“Mr. Clendenin was asked by a constituent about his involvement in this matter at a District 3 breakfast late last year,” Cerullo said. “Mr. Clendenin fully, 100% lied and said he was not at all involved in the scheme.”
David Kapaun, the newest member of the board, defended Clendenin and urged a more cautious approach.
“At a time like this when emotions run high, I think we need to be grounded in facts,” he said. “I don’t think all the truth has come out yet, so I for one would like to get more information before making any rash judgment call.”
The anti-Whipple attack ad was proven false almost as soon as it came out.
The accusations in it were lifted nearly verbatim from a Kansas City Star/Wichita Eagle story about sexual harassment complaints against Republican state senators.
Whipple, a Democrat and member of the state House of Representatives, had nothing to do with the allegations.
The video was launched from behind the shield of an anonymous New Mexico shell company to hide the identities of the donors and the politicians running the scheme. Money for the ad was funneled through a nonprofit charity sports foundation run by Capps.
Despite their bid for anonymity, numerous details have trickled out over the past year linking the false video to Clendenin, Capps and O’Donnell, through Eagle reporting and a defamation lawsuit filed by Whipple to find out who was smearing him.
The audio recording released Friday was made secretly by Matthew Colborn, a young entrepreneur who shared an office with Capps and Clendenin and produced the anti-Whipple video.
Colborn’s lawyer released the audio after Colborn was dropped as a defendant in Whipple’s lawsuit.
This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 9:24 AM.
