Former TV news reporter tops list of candidates for Wichita City Council seat

Correction: Cindy Miles received the highest point total, not Jared Cerullo. This story reflects the numbers provided by the District 3 Advisory Board on Tuesday night during an open meeting. Through a Kansas Open Records Act request, The Eagle found the totals were calculated incorrectly.

To read the updated story: “After math blunders, Cindy Miles emerges as favorite to fill City Council vacancy”

Former television news reporter Jared Cerullo is an early favorite to replace former Wichita City Council member James Clendenin, who resigned while facing ouster proceedings late last year.

Cerullo received the highest ranking of nine candidates interviewed by the District 3 Advisory Board on Tuesday night. Four others will advance with Cerullo to the final stage of selection process, a vote by the City Council on March 2.

Cindy Miles placed second, followed by Virgil H. Miller Jr., Joseph Shepard and George Theoharis. District 3 represents parts of southeast Wichita.

The winner could serve on the City Council until early January, when a candidate chosen by voters will be sworn into office.

Cerullo has been active in District 3 public service for several years and works as a freelancer for radio news stations. Miles is a Metropolitan Area Planning commissioner, executive director of the Kansas Nonprofit Chamber, Republican precinct committeewoman and former candidate for Sedgwick County Commission.

Cerullo, Miles and Miller, a retired Wichita police sergeant, have filed to run for the seat in the 2021 primary.

DAB members cited Cerullo’s journalism experience and said his willingness to ask the right questions sets him apart. Miles was credited for her knowledge of local government and her lengthy history in public service positions. Miller’s background working for the city in the police department helped boost his candidacy.

Cerullo said his top priorities are getting more grocery stores in southeast Wichita, improving the city’s “atrocious“ public transportation system and working with local business leaders to attract investment to downtown Wichita.

Miles said the top three most pressing priorities for District 3 are addressing high crime rates, redeveloping older neighborhoods and attracting new businesses to south Wichita.

Miller’s three biggest priorities are road improvements in south Wichita, increasing public safety, and addressing homelessness and drug problems.

Shepard, a relative newcomer to District 3 and director of multicultural engagement and campus life at Newman University, earned high marks for his education background and his desire to connect with residents in the district. Shepard is chairman of the Sedgwick County Democratic Party and former student body president at Wichita State University.

Miller and Shepard each finished their interview with two first-place rankings among the seven DAB members.

Theoharis, a longtime fixture at local government meetings and a community activist, was no one’s top choice but consistently scored high for his ability to “get things done.”

Wearing a $100-bill-patterned necktie, Theoharis stood before the DAB and turned out his front pockets, pledging not to accept any campaign money or gifts as a council member.

“These pockets right here aren’t for sale,” he said. “No one will buy me.”

The nine candidates interviewed were each asked the same 11 questions by the DAB and scored based on their answers. Scores were added together at the end of the meeting.

Ethical conduct was a major theme in the interviews, as the City Council grapples with ethics reform in the wake of Clendenin’s resignation.

Clendenin raised money through a nonprofit charity for a false attack ad against Brandon Whipple to help the candidacy of former Mayor Jeff Longwell in the 2019 election, which Whipple won.

For nearly a year, Clendenin downplayed his role in the smear campaign, which falsely accused Whipple of sexual harassment. Then a secretly recorded meeting with two other Republican officials — Michael O’Donnell and Michael Capps — was released by the video’s producer, Matthew Colborn. It showed Clendenin was also involved in a cover-up plot to frame former Sedgwick County Republican Party Chairman Dalton Glasscock for the video.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett filed ouster proceedings against Clendenin for his role in the video and attempted cover-up in late November, saying the official broke several state laws and violated the city’s code of ethics for elected officials.

All of the candidates said they plan to restore integrity and public trust to the City Council. Cerullo said his ethics have been called into question online in response to his candidacy.

“I consider myself an honest and ethical person,” Cerullo said.

Cerullo was at the center of a 2013 local controversy when KAKE-TV fired him for a falsely claiming in a tweet and during a live broadcast that a defendant in a murder trial had entered a guilty plea.

After learning of his mistake, Cerullo quickly issued a correction on Twitter and then read a correction and apology on air but was fired for “gross negligence.” Cerullo sued the news station and the lawsuit was eventually dismissed.

“I bounced back from it, I learned from it, and I moved forward,” Cerullo said. “One of the ways I have moved forward is to involve myself in civic engagements ... and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t think you would have any problem finding people who would say a good word about me, and I am proud of that.”

Miles said transparency is important for rebuilding trust.

“When someone is elected, they need to be honest, they need to be forthright, and they need to serve the people in the district,” she said.

During the next nine days, the five candidates will meet one-on-one with City Council members and try to win their votes. The City Council will vote on the replacement on March 2 and the winner will be sworn in on March 9.

This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 2:30 PM.