Paul Davis: ‘In the wrong place at the wrong time’ during 1998 strip club raid
Democrat Paul Davis said he “was in the wrong place at the wrong time” when he was at a strip club raided by sheriff’s officers in Coffeyville in 1998.
Davis, who was 26 and unmarried at the time, was in a back room with a woman who was wearing only a G-string when sheriff’s officers raided a club called Secrets looking for methamphetamine, according to an account first published Saturday in the Coffeyville Journal.
The Journal article said the information was obtained from an open records request to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
Davis was told by an officer to lie down on the floor. He told the officer that he was the attorney for the club’s owner, according to the Journal.
Davis was not arrested in the incident and had no drugs on him, the Journal reported.
The sheriff’s office did not respond to a request for comment. A dispatcher said the person who could release the incident report would not be in until Monday.
Davis issued a short statement:
“When I was 26 years old, I was taken to a club by my boss – the club owner was one of our legal clients. While we were in the building, the police showed up,” Davis said. “I was never accused of having done anything wrong, but rather I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Later, the Davis campaign released a statement it said came from Harry Smith, police chief in Independence. Smith said he was the team leader who conducted the 1998 raid.
Davis was cooperative and not involved in any wrongdoing, Smith said in the statement. “Paul was only one of 20 or more people present in the Club when the raid was conducted. Paul was not involved in our investigation that night, therefore he was simply questioned briefly and released.”
Clay Barker, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, said in a statement that “news of this behavior casts serious questions on Davis’ judgment and fitness for public office.”
Barker accused Davis of not taking responsibility for the incident.
“A key question in response to Davis’ statement is whether Paul Davis was forced by his boss to go to the VIP room to have a woman take off her clothes and dance on top of him,” Barker said.
The Republican Governors Association, which has run ads against Davis, said the incident shows Davis “lacks the proper judgment and character to lead Kansas in the governor’s office.”
The Davis campaign suggested that the Brownback campaign was involved in pushing the matter into the public eye.
“I’m not at all surprised Sam Brownback and his allies are digging up all they can to distract Kansans from the fact they remain down in the polls,” Davis said. “Kansans deserve better than a desperate smear campaign.”
The Brownback campaign would not comment on the Coffeyville Journal article or Davis’ claims of the campaign’s involvement.
This story was originally published September 20, 2014 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Paul Davis: ‘In the wrong place at the wrong time’ during 1998 strip club raid."