Despite criminal charges, Jonathan Schumm retains Topeka council seat

Ouster, recall vote require significant proof

By Luke Ranker

luke.ranker@cjonline.com

Jonathan Schumm, embattled city councilman, will remain on Topeka’s governing body during an investigation into charges of aggravated battery and other offenses in which the victims were children.

Barring a resignation, Schumm holds his seat, said city spokeswoman Aly Van Dyke. Through a jail official, Schumm declined an interview Friday with The Topeka Capital-Journal.

Generally, there are two options for removing an elected official from office, both requiring substantial proof of wrongdoing, said Eric Smith, legal counsel at the Kansas League of Municipalities.

The public could call for a recall election by petition. In that case, the person suspected of wrongdoing must be convicted of a felony, have willfully engaged in misconduct while in office or have failed to perform duties.

“Allegations are not going to be enough,” Smith said.

Schumm and his wife, Allison Nicole Schumm, were booked into the Shawnee County Jail on Thursday evening. They posted bond Friday. The councilman was arrested in connection with one count each of aggravated battery and, as an alternative, abuse of a child (torture or cruelly beating a child younger than 18), which occurred between Oct. 7 and Oct. 11, and four counts of endangering a child, which occurred Oct. 31, a jail official said.

The Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office filed the charges Thursday.

If a district attorney conducts an investigation into an elected official and finds proof of wrongdoing, mental impairment or willful neglect of duties, the office can initiate ouster proceedings, Smith said.

Representatives from the Shawnee County District Attorney’s office didn’t return calls Friday.

Topeka, or any governing body, doesn’t have authority to remove someone from office, Smith said.

Some commissions or councils can pass a public censure, an expression of strong disapproval.

City officials Friday were conducting legal research on what the law says about the conduct of a councilman who has been arrested, Van Dyke said.

“At this time our concerns are with Councilman Schumm and his family,” Mayor Larry Wolgast said. “We’re letting the system work.”

Topeka and Shawnee County elected officials have had a history of ouster threats.

Former Councilman John M. Campos II was under threat of ouster last year following his arrest on felony charges of making a false writing and interference with law enforcement (evidence). He was accused of changing the date on an insurance card in an attempt to avoid punishment for driving without insurance, then shredding the card to hinder prosecution. The Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office filed documents April 21 and 22, 2014, seeking to remove Campos from his elected seat and to suspend him. Campos resigned his post days later.

In 2011, the Shawnee County Commission, under the direction of then Commissioner Vic Miller, voted publicly to request Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor investigate and instigate an ouster on former County Treasurer Larry Wilson. The D.A.’s office later declared allegations Wilson wasn’t performing his duties didn’t rise to the level of an ouster.

Former Mayor Butch Felker resigned while facing an ouster action in 2003 alleging ethics violations. Those included falsification of campaign donation records, whiting out names and substituting other names on campaign finance documents, receiving excessive campaign contributions, failing to identify contributors, and falsifying names, according to Capital-Journal archives.

Luke Ranker can be reached at 785-295-1270 or luke.ranker@cjonline.com.
Follow Luke on Twitter @lrankerNEWS.