RENO COUNTY, Kan. — It’s a long standing tradition in the Kansas House of Representatives when a member carries a bill on floor debate for the first time to go through an “initiation,” where, usually, some warmhearted bantering takes place. Last Thursday, three such members were subjected to it, and one of them found himself facing criticism which was discussed at Saturday’s Hutchinson-Reno County Chamber of Commerce Legislative Forum.
Last Thursday, there were three house members that went through this. Remarks made during one of these led to claims by some Democrats and stories by two Topeka-based media outlets remarks during that debate which involved Representative Kyler Sweely (R-Hutchinson) suggesting political violence against a former House member.
This took place during the Committee of the Whole debate on a House Bill 2061, dealing with addition of above and below ground lines, cables and wires in the definition of critical infrastructure facilities, which was carried by Rep. Sweely, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
After explaining the purpose of the bill, one other legislator asked a question about the bill before Representative Patrick Penn (R-Wichita) spoke. Penn and Sweely are both retired members of the U.S. Army, and as Penn was asking about Sweely’s service which included serving in an armored unit, Penn asked how to command a round be filed from a tank.
After Sweely explained the command is to identify the target, its direction, and the range and type of ammo, Penn said, “So, If I were to come to you and say I have a firing command, and that command is; Gunner, sabot, That Guy in Hutch in the open, fire for effect, what would you say?”
Sabot refers to a type of round fired from a tank, and “That Guy in Hutch” references former Representative Jason Probst (D-Hutchinson), who Sweeley narrowly defeated last November and what he uses as a title for himself on a podcast, social media and other platforms.
The incident was the subject of several questions submitted for the forum on which Representative Sweely acknowledged he said what he said, that he would not apologize for it, and said he took this as just a joke.
A number of people in the audience at the forum shouted at Sweely about the remarks, to which he said, “I think this is more of a political outrage to get people not focused on what actually helps Kansas.”
Sweely then leveled criticism at the Kansas Reflector, an online news site based in Topeka focusing on state issues generally which did a story on the remarks. In reference to the Reflector, Sweely said, “They’re actually the least credible newspaper in Kansas politics or in Topeka,” saying nobody else wrote about this or said anything.
An online search by Ad Astra News came up with only one other article on this, from the Topeka Capital-Journal, a sister paper to the Hutchinson News and Salina Journal and picked up by both of them. No stories appeared on the websites of either of the two TV news stations in Topeka, both of which have sister stations in Wichita and Kansas City. While the Kansas Reflector story appeared on the website of KAKE in Wichita, it did not appear on the other two Kansas City TV station sites or that of KOAM-TV in Pittsburg.
It was a much different situation when Representative Rick Wilborn (R-McPherson) carried his first bill on the House floor Thursday, dealing with placement of law enforcement equipment such as license tag readers and security cameras on utility poles. In this initiation, comments and questions focused on his prior service in the Senate, and prior to that as a lobbyist for many years. This included remarks from Speaker Dan Hawkins who asked Wilborn to file at the very last minute to assure a candidate would be on the ballot after the illness and later death of Representative Les Mason in June, 2024.
