GOP lawmaker accuses county Republican chair of approving ad against mayoral candidate
A Wichita-area Republican state lawmaker asked to resign by the Sedgwick County Republican Party on Friday hit back Sunday night, accusing the county party chairman, Dalton Glasscock, of approving a false attack ad against mayoral candidate Brandon Whipple.
Rep. Michael Capps, R-Wichita, was asked to resign Friday following Eagle stories showing his connection to the ad.
Capps backed out of an interview with The Eagle and has not returned phone calls or emails.
In his first public statement since the findings were published, Capps unloaded on Glasscock, accusing him of being a Whipple supporter, even though he was paid $6,000 to provide media consulting services to Whipple’s opponent, Mayor Jeff Longwell, according to campaign finance reports.
In an interview with a former Republican State House colleague John Whitmer, Capps said he witnessed Glasscock approve the video.
“I heard his approval firsthand,” Capps said. “I was present when he approved it.”
Glasscock, along with other party leaders in a written call for Capps’ resignation, condemned the video and Capps for his involvement.
“Chairman Glasscock is trying to cover up his own misdeeds. He doesn’t want to own up to his involvement in this,” Capps said.
The ad at issue used college-age actresses, in silhouette, reading from a script of allegations about sexual harassment at the state Capitol. Those allegations, drawn from a 2017 news story in The Eagle and Kansas City Star, were not actually leveled against Whipple, who’s a Democrat, but against Republican state senators.
The ad is called “Protect Wichita Girls and Stop Brandon Whipple.” As of Sunday night, it was no longer available on Facebook or YouTube.
One of the actresses in the video told The Eagle that she was paid $50 to read the script for the ad. She said Matthew Colborn, 21-year-old CEO of Colborn Media, told her the video was a public service announcement against domestic violence. Colborn is Capps’ campaign manager.
The attack ad was bankrolled and coordinated by an anonymous and newly created New Mexico company called Protect Wichita’s Girls LLC. New Mexico law allows closely-held companies to shield their real owners’ identities.
But The Eagle found links between the New Mexico company and a Capps-owned firm based in Wyoming called Krivacy LLC, which shares a mail drop with Protect Wichita’s Girls and was the original creator and owned the rights of the web domain protectwichitagirls.com. The domain has not been activated, but it was created the day the Protect Wichita Girls ad first appeared on YouTube and Facebook.
Capps could not explain how his company was linked. On Whitmer’s show, he said that his company is not listed as the owner of that domain.
That’s because the day The Eagle published a story linking Colborn to Capps, Oct. 29, the domain was transferred to a web hosting service promising its clients anonymity, according to a search of internet ownership history records.
The place where the actress said the video was recorded is a building where Capps, Colborn and City Council member James Clendenin share an office suite.
Capps said there is “absolutely no chance” that he will resign from his position in the Kansas House.
“But I do find it’s very ironic that the very person calling for my resignation is the one that approved this ad going out in the first place,” Capps said.
“Chairman Glasscock not only knew about this ad — Chairman Glasscock approved the ad and he went on to support the ad until it began generating heat and controversy,” Capps said.
“Right now, all I can really suspect is that he’s trying to cut and run. He’s turning to attack me since I’m an easier target in his view . . . just to save his own hide,” Capps said.
Capps later called for Glasscock to resign from his position as chair of the county party.
“I’m not going to dignify that with a response,” Glasscock said.
“In that interview, he contradicted, really, every single thing he said in his own words. . . . The man has a guilty conscience, obviously,” Glasscock said.
“First off, he said that he had no knowledge of the project, and then about a minute later, he said that I had direct knowledge and direct involvement in that, that I was the one that OK’d the project. And so I don’t know how those two things correlate,” Glasscock said.
Glasscock denied Capps’ accusation that he approved the video ad against Whipple.
Colborn tied to pro-Longwell ad
Capps said he had “no reason to believe that Matthew Colborn is involved” in the anti-Whipple video.
But he said he does know about at least one recent video produced by Colborn.
“Matthew Colborn is responsible for producing the most recent video for Jeff Longwell’s campaign, a fantastic video. Hopefully everybody listening has had a chance to see that, talking about the great prosperity here in Wichita,” Capps said.
Longwell was not immediately available for comment late Sunday night.
Glasscock said the Sedgwick County Republican Party had a recent ad with ties to Colborn that matches Capps’ description. Although neither Colborn nor his media company was paid for the ad, Glasscock said, he could not exclude the possibility that Colborn had a role in its production.
“If we had been aware of Matthew Colborn’s involvement in the reprehensible video about Whipple, we would have not done business with him. And we’ve severed ties for future engagements and don’t plan on ever doing business with Colborn Media in the future,” Glasscock said.
Capps said the Protect Wichita Girls video attacking Whipple is not in Colborn’s wheelhouse and that he doesn’t believe the video was produced in the building where he, Clendenin and Colborn share an office suite, 300 S. Broadway.
“I have the utmost respect for Mr. Colborn,” Capps said. “He is my campaign manager and he’ll continue to serve in that capacity until somebody gives me a reason to doubt him.”
Capps is up for election in 2020. Wichita mayor, city council and school board elections are Tuesday.
This story was originally published November 3, 2019 at 10:55 PM.