Kansas City police chief will skip GOP event after criticism from mayor

Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith pulled out of a scheduled appearance at a Republican Party event after facing criticism from Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.

Smith was scheduled to be a guest of honor at the Jackson County Republican Committee’s April 17 Reagan-Lincoln Day dinner, which will feature speeches from two U.S. Senate candidates, former Gov. Eric Greitens and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

But Smith announced Thursday that he would no longer be attending the event after Lucas and others raised concerns about the head of the city’s police department participating in an overtly partisan event.

“I was invited, on behalf of the police department, to be recognized for its hard work during the summer of 2020,” Smith said in a statement.

Kansas City was the site of ongoing protests against police brutality that summer, as well as a rising homicide rate that would go on to break the city’s record.

“It is becoming apparent that my attendance at the event would be a distraction. After careful consideration, I will respectfully decline the invitation to this event.”

The Jackson County Republican Committee sent out an invitation Wednesday, highlighting Smith as a guest of honor alongside Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who were filmed brandishing firearms at protesters last year.

The McCloskeys were charged in St. Louis with unlawful use of a weapon, but Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has already indicated plans to pardon the couple if they are convicted after they emerged as political celebrities on the right with appearances at last year’s Republican National Convention and other events.

Smith’s department also faced controversy for its response to protests last year, which followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has charged a Kansas City police officer with fourth degree assault after a viral video showed the officer spraying a man and his teenage daughter with pepper spray.

The announcement of Smith’s scheduled participation at the April 17 event at the Adams Pointe Conference Center in Blue Springs swiftly prompted backlash online Wednesday evening. The following morning, the mayor joined the fray.

“Never in Kansas City have I seen our apolitical appointees—be it a police chief, city manager, or fire chief—engage as featured guests/speakers in partisan political events or causes. The reasons not to do so are numerous and apparent. I would hope this does not change,” Lucas said on Twitter Thursday morning without directly naming Smith.

Hours later, Lucas applauded Smith’s decision to pull out of the event.

“I believe the Chief of Police made the correct choice in declining to attend as a guest of honor at a partisan political fundraising and organizing event,” Lucas said in a statement.

Police officials said officers are required to follow a department code of ethics that prohibits them from participating in political events while in uniform. They also added that Smith’s invitation to appear at the event was in his capacity as a member of the law enforcement community and not political in any way.

Jackson County GOP chairman David Lightner said he was disappointed by the mayor’s reaction.

“The police department doesn’t get recognition enough. The fire department doesn’t get recognition enough. The city workers don’t get recognition enough,” Ligthner said, contending that the award was intended in a nonpartisan manner despite the fact that it would be coming from a party committee.

“We wanted to recognize the police department and of course what you do is you invite (the chief) to the dinner that we’re going to have… and he accepted and now he has to decline because of pressure from an opposing party or whatever. It’s just sad.”

Smith received and accepted the invitation last month before Thursday’s reversal.

The controversy highlights Lucas’ lack of direct control over the police department, a longstanding point of tension for police reform advocates in Missouri’s largest city. Lucas has pushed for local control over the police department, something the city lost in 1939 after the state took the reins.

Smith answers to a Board of Police Commissioners made up of a majority of gubernatorial appointees, including two who were appointed by Greitens. Lucas holds a seat on the five-member board, but he and other city officials have limited influence over the department’s policies.

However, the city still controls the department’s finances. The dust-up between Lucas and Smith comes just weeks after the city council moved forward with a $12 million cut to the police budget.

Smith has attended politically-tinged events in the past, including a White House event last year where then-President Donald Trump announced an expansion of Operation LeGend, a federal law enforcement initiative that targeted violent crime in Kansas City and other cities.

The crime-fighting initiative was named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed while sleeping in his bedroom last summer. The operation was started in Kansas City by order of the U.S. Department of Justice and was expanded to eight other cities, including St. Louis, Memphis and Detroit.

The Operation LeGend event came during the 2020 presidential race and Smith’s appearance drew scrutiny, but it was an official White House event rather than a campaign event.

Next week’s event is explicitly geared toward electing Republicans in 2022 and will feature two candidates for U.S. Senate, who are making their first stops in the Kansas City region ahead of next year’s GOP primary.

Schmitt, the Missouri attorney general, will serve as the event’s keynote speaker.

Greitens, the former governor, will also be a featured speaker. Greitens resigned from office in 2018 in the face of multiple scandals, including allegations of sexual blackmail and violence.

Schmitt and Greitens are both vying for similar segments of the Missouri electorate, making overt appeals to Trump and his supporters when they both launched their candidacies on Fox News last month.

“I was thrilled to death that both of them are wanting to come,” Lightner said. “It’s going to be a great night, a great event and it will just be a launching pad for this whole campaign.”

Lucas is a potential Democratic candidate for the same Senate seat Greitens and Schmitt are seeking. Lightner said it was possible that Lucas’ opposition to Smith’s attendance was connected to his own political aspiration.

The mayor appeared on nationally syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show Thursday morning. Hewitt, a conservative who grilled Greitens last month, told Lucas that he was the Democrat that Republicans should be most concerned about entering the race.

Lucas was non-committal about his future plans, saying he would weigh the race over the summer. He called Greitens disqualified for office after resigning in disgrace and criticized Schmitt’s role in the litigation that sought to overturn the 2020 election.

He also heaped praise on retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.

“There is a question: Are we going to do serious governance or not?” Lucas said. “To show that I’m not just a partisan, Roy Blunt, our outgoing senior senator, has always been largely about responsible governance... instead of this sort of thing that is, ‘Let’s just try to get headlines everywhere.’”

The Star’s Glenn E. Rice contributed to this report.