Wichita City Council chooses new member; Claycomb joins Republicans in vote

After eight ballots, the Wichita City Council named former television news reporter Jared Cerullo as the replacement for disgraced former Council member James Clendenin in the city’s 3rd District, which includes parts of south and southeast Wichita.

Cerullo has been active in District 3 public service for several years and works as a freelancer for radio news stations. His top priorities for the district are getting more grocery stores in southeast Wichita, improving the city’s public transportation system and working to attract investment in downtown Wichita, he said.

“I’m not going to pretend that I can fix all of the problems that District 3 faces,” Cerullo said. “I simply want to be the catalyst that re-energizes and re-engages our community, and I truly believe I am the right person for that role.”

Cerullo was an outspoken critic of Clendenin and the former council member’s role in an attack ad during the 2019 mayoral race that falsely accused Mayor Brandon Whipple of sexual harassment. When he’s sworn into office next week, Cerullo will join a council facing the dual crises of a pandemic and its economic fallout.

Cerullo will be the first openly gay man to serve on the City Council. He and his husband, Brandon Swaney, have been married four years. Second-place finisher Joseph Shepard is openly bisexual.

Cerullo will serve the remainder of Clendenin’s unfinished term, which ends Jan. 10, 2022. He has also filed to run for the seat during city elections this year.

Some of the biggest issues facing his district right now are food deserts and an unfinished redevelopment plan at Clapp Golf Course. Cerullo would also be involved in decisions about ethics policies for elected officials and vote on the city budget this summer.

Claycomb ends gridlock

The District 3 seat has been vacant for three and a half months. During that time, the District Advisory Board narrowed a field of nine candidates to five and forwarded those names to the City Council for a vote.

It took the City Council two meetings and eight ballots to choose a winner, as five out of the six officials wouldn’t budge on their choices, voting on party lines.

“It pains me to see that our seat on this council continues to go unrepresented, so I would strongly urge you all to come to a consensus today, no matter who it is, and give District 3 the respect it deserves by choosing someone,” Cerullo told the council before they voted.

The decision largely fell to City Council member Cindy Claycomb, who switched her vote on Tuesday’s third ballot that ultimately decided a winner.

Republicans Council members Bryan Frye, Becky Tuttle and Jeff Blubaugh voted for Cerullo, a Republican, and Democrats Whipple and Vice Mayor Brandon Johnson voted for Joseph Shepard, the chair of the Sedgwick County Democratic Party.

Claycomb, who changed parties from Republican to unaffiliated before running for a seat in north Wichita’s politically purple District 6, had been the sole backer of Republican Cindy Miles, who received the highest score of any candidate during the advisory board interviews.

Claycomb voted for Miles five times on March 2 and twice on Tuesday. But on the eight ballot, she switched to Cerullo. If the vote had ended in a tie, it would have been decided by a coin toss.

Miles has also filed to run for the District 3 seat this year during city elections.

Historic appointment

Being the first to do something is always newsworthy, Cerullo said, “but at the same time, I don’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

“It is certainly an honor to be the first openly gay man to serve on the Wichita City Council,” Cerullo said. “But ultimately I don’t think it’s a big deal because I don’t think that the person I fall in love with is going to have any impact on the decisions I make.”

“I don’t think who I fall in love with has anything to do with the decisions that I will make for the best interests of District 3 and the city of Wichita as a whole,” he said. “I will always listen to the people, people of all faiths, all ethnicities, I will be an all inclusive type person.

Shepard, director of multicultural engagement and campus life at Newman University, said he doesn’t think sexuality factored into the council’s decision and that the decision didn’t hinge on identity politics. But the city still has much work to do with regards to being inclusive, he said. As a young, college-educated Black man in the LGBTQ community, Shepard said he hoped to bring a different perspective to the council.

“Does it mean we’re making progress,” Shepard said. “I think we have much more work to do, and I don’t want to discount any of the council members. They had a tough decision to make, but if we really want to create a city where we are attracting and retaining diverse talent, we must look at the evolving diversity in our society and be willing to have critical conversations about what qualified representation looks like.”

“For me, this was never about race, it was never about sexuality,” Shepard said. “It was about me being qualified. It was about me having the skills and experience to represent my district. I never once talked about me being Black. I never once talked about me being LGBTQ, because while those things are important for me, I don’t think those things resonated with a lot of people at the bench.”

Theoharis renounces Democratic Party

Neighborhood activist George Theoharis and former Wichita police officer Virgil Miller didn’t get any votes earlier this month, but both showed up Tuesday for a final reckoning. Each candidate had three minutes to give a speech to the council.

“I had considered not coming this morning since your vote at the last meeting had apparently removed me from consideration for the appointment to the open District 3 seat,” Miller said. “I chose to come and speak to show you and the people of Wichita, especially District 3, that I care about the position and am eager to work for them and with them, even if I am not their appointed representative.”

Miller said he was “disappointed” at how the selection process played out and complained about the lack of work by the City Council members to persuade their colleagues one way or another. During both meetings to choose a winner, City Council members cast their votes in rapid succession without taking the time to debate or explain their votes in a public forum.

“I am disappointed with the results of the voting at your last meeting, not just because my name was not mentioned, but mostly because this council would not waver from their individual votes through all five ballots,” Miller said. “There is nothing in the ordinance specifically, ... to prohibit each member from giving a short speech about the candidate they voted for in hopes of convincing another member to change their vote.”

Theoharis, who showed up to the City Council meeting in a neon-yellow construction shirt and a red hardhat, was so frustrated with the process that he denounced his own party and vowed to change his affiliation.

“I am a Kennedy Democrat from Massachusetts, have been all my life,” he said. “These partisan council votes have these great leaders — JFK from the Democratic Party and Ronald Reagan from the Republican Party — turning in their respective graves. Upon my exit today, I will be walking across the street and changing my status to Independent like Cindy Claycomb.

“My only fear is I am struck dead crossing the street and die a Democrat,” he said.

Theoharis also used the council platform to state his displeasure with City Manager Robert Layton, who is the only city employee that reports directly to City Council.

“Twelve years ago, Mr. Layton came in like an Iowa cyclone, and after receiving millions of dollars on the backs of the taxpayers in salary, he may have reached his shelf life,” Theoharis said. “Yet, don’t fret, as he can possibly still get Century II torn down for his everlasting legacy.”

Theoharis’s speech did not persuade the council, but it did get a reaction from Vice Mayor Johnson, who until March 1 was the Vice chair of the state Democratic Party. He said he is “wholly offended” that the council’s votes were called partisan.

This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 4:37 AM.