‘We get paid to talk’: Sedgwick County leaders draw fire for off-camera comments
Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell says he won’t apologize for joking around with colleagues, even though an off-camera exchange broadcast online has landed him and others at the center of a social media firestorm.
“We weren’t laughing at the coronavirus. We were laughing at each other,” O’Donnell said Thursday.
“We should have some levity in this situation. Everything is so serious right now, so having camaraderie, joking with your colleagues, is healthy. They say laughter is the best medicine.”
Several commissioners, including O’Donnell, could be heard talking off-camera prior to a budget hearing Wednesday that was streamed live on YouTube.
“The mics are on, so stop talking about the 99 large,” O’Donnell says at the start of the recording, referring to nearly $100 million Sedgwick County recently received to aid in the local battle against COVID-19.
When County Manager Tom Stolz mentions needing to reschedule an audit presentation and other topics, O’Donnell says, “Well then, we have to keep our coronavirus discussion short.”
That led to a brief exchange among commissioners — minus Lacey Cruse, who was not in the room and arrived late to the budget meeting.
Stolz: “We could go a week without that (coronavirus discussion).”
Commissioner Jim Howell: “Without the COVID? No way. It’s the hottest topic around, man, we gotta talk about it.”
O’Donnell, laughing: “We do. We talked about it for three hours.”
Howell: “It’s OK. And we get paid to talk, and we get paid to give as much time as needed.”
Commissioner Pete Meitzner: “Jim gets paid by the word.”
O’Donnell, laughing: “Yeah, more than 99 large if he gets paid by the word.”
More chuckles, then Howell, serious: “I’m saying I don’t care if it takes all day.”
Stolz, on camera: “We digress. Commissioners, good afternoon. . . . We are streaming this, and we are live, so just FYI that your microphones are on.”
Several people watching the hearing online posted comments saying the off-camera exchange was flippant, rude and unprofessional.
“As a resident of Sedgwick County I cannot believe you take your government paid jobs so casually. You men should have just stayed home,” Marie Burke posted on the county’s Facebook page.
“Wow. Completely distasteful and unprofessional,” wrote Charlotte Blair Hunt. “Joking about your annoyance of COVID discussion, but ‘still get paid to talk’ and your ‘99 large’ as our community is suffering from this pandemic.”
And Melissa Dinsmore: “They could go work in a COVID hot zone and see how many healthcare workers would love to ‘talk about it for 3 hours’ instead of working 10-16 hours a day in the middle of it.”
More than two hours into the hearing, after reconvening after a break, Meitzner offered an apology to the public:
“We understand that the microphones were hot at the beginning of this video and some of us commissioners’ comments were picked up. Please know that we take our jobs as the Board of Health seriously, and we’re working to balance this pandemic with the rest of the county business,” Meitzner said.
“This is a stressful, stressful time for everyone, and the commissioners are not immune to it. I’ll add that helping our community battle this COVID-19 pandemic is truly a high if not the highest immediate priority, often requiring evening and weekend many hours by this commission.
“We apologize for the mics being hot earlier, and we will do better in the future.”
Cruse later alluded to the exchange in a post on her Facebook page: “PSA: When you are warned (twice) the mics are live... perhaps you should stop talking.”
Her post quickly garnered dozens of shares and more than 200 comments, including ones from Meitzner and Howell.
“I did not say anything until the end when I said we should absolutely give time as needed for Covid talk as it’s the hottest topic going and we are paid to discuss important topics and we should give it as much time as it takes,” Howell wrote. “I was not joking around at all.”
By late Wednesday, “99 Large” spoof media accounts appeared on Facebook and Twitter, featuring a photo of O’Donnell and the description, “Public servant makin’ 99 large, yo.”
O’Donnell said critics mistakenly assumed he was joking about his salary — commissioners make $98,310 a year — and took his and his colleagues’ comments out of context.
“It’s just so silly and blown out of proportion,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday.
“We knew the mics were on. . . . I don’t believe anything that was said was inappropriate, nefarious, or in any way made to diminish the coronavirus or its effects.”
Cruse said the off-camera exchange illustrates “the good ol’ boys” atmosphere of the commission, which she has criticized in the past.
O’Donnell said Cruse’s constituents should be more bothered that she missed the first part of the meeting than about the other commissioners’ informal conversation.
“I’m not going to stop trying to build good relationships with my colleagues — harassing them, having them harass me in a loving way,” he said.
“It can be unhealthy if you refuse to ever smile or laugh or try to find some levity in a situation.”
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 12:00 PM.
