O’Donnell says he’ll resign his Commission seat — and we’re supposed to trust him?

So let’s get this straight:

After years of political shenanigans, after months of denying his involvement in a false-ad smear campaign, after weeks of trying to keep his court testimony secret, and after days of ignoring numerous calls for his resignation, Michael O’Donnell has made us a promise.

The embattled and desperate Sedgwick County commissioner has said he will resign his seat if he wins Tuesday’s general election.

And he expects us to believe him.

Worse than that, O’Donnell clearly thinks the voters of his district are either too kind or too clueless to see through this latest political maneuver, which would disregard our democratic process in favor of more backdoor deals and party politics.

Should O’Donnell win the election and resign as promised — a risky proposition, given his history — a panel of Republican precinct committee members would choose his replacement.

There’s no telling who that person would be. But it certainly wouldn’t be Sarah Lopez, O’Donnell’s opponent and the best and logical choice to fill that commission seat.

There’s a reason O’Donnell didn’t immediately step down from his elected position and his $95,906-a-year salary, as he should have done.

And that reason is shameless, bold-faced party loyalty.

He and his supporters want to make sure the District 2 commission seat remains in Republican hands, even if the Republican who wins it has been chased out of office by his own colleagues — most of them Republicans.

With this latest proposition, O’Donnell essentially has told voters, “Hey, I know I don’t deserve your vote, but give it to me anyway.

“And then my friends will take care of everything. Trust me.”

Nudge. Wink. Say no more.

The real Michael O’Donnell comes across clearly in a secret audio recording which revealed he’ll do anything to save his own neck, even if it means lying and framing a Republican colleague.

“Like I’ve always learned in politics, it’s always avoid the truth at all expense, right? And just go on the attack,” O’Donnell said in the recording.

So this is business as usual — a last-gasp maneuver by a disgraced elected official once again avoiding the truth and going on the attack.

But District 2 voters should know better and demand better. They should see through O’Donnell’s latest charade and send a loud-and-clear message by voting him out of office in Tuesday’s timely, legitimate, oh-so-important election.

This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 1:49 PM.