Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly says questions should be asked about raid on Marion newspaper

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said Monday that questions need to be asked about a raid by local police of the Marion County Record newspaper, but stopped short of directly criticizing the search.

The Democratic governor said she was “anxious” for answers because she is a “strong advocate for freedom of press, freedom of speech.” Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody led a search of the newspaper’s offices and the publisher’s home on Friday that the paper and press advocates swiftly condemned as egregious violations of the United States Constitution.

“And so I want to make sure that in the state of Kansas, that we are not violating either individuals’ or press’s constitutional right to free speech,” Kelly said Monday before an event with country music legend Dolly Parton.

“So we will continue to support the questions that are being asked all over and we look forward to getting all of the facts out so we know what kind of issue we have.”

A search warrant shows police were looking for evidence that a reporter had run an improper computer search to confirm an accurate report that a local business owner applying for a liquor license had lost her driver’s license over a DUI.

Cody is a former Kansas City Police Department captain, who left the agency after 24 years to become chief in Marion earlier this year. Record owner and publisher Eric Meyer said the paper had investigated Cody’s background and his time in Kansas City but ultimately didn’t publish a story.

The Record’s attorney, Bernie Rhodes, on Sunday sent a scathing letter to Cody and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which assigned an agent to the case earlier this month, demanding that the police not review information obtained from the computers and other devices seized during the search. Kansas has a journalist shield law that entitles the paper to a hearing before the authorities review any of the information seized, he wrote.

Asked whether she believes the search violated rights, Kelly said it may have or may not have.

“We need to continue to ask the questions, and officials asking those questions, so that we can get to the bottom of it and determine if rights were violated,” Kelly said.