Legalize or criminalize? Wichita mayoral candidates split on marijuana reform

Only one top candidate for mayor would re-criminalize marijuana in Wichita. The others are fine with keeping marijuana laws out of the city code, and some favor statewide legalization.

After Mayor Brandon Whipple’s charge to decriminalize marijuana last year, City Council member Bryan Frye said this week that the issue will likely get another look if he is elected mayor.

Candidates Jared Cerullo, Celeste Racette and Lily Wu said they would not move to put marijuana cases back into the city court system.

Kansas is one of three states where possession of marijuana for any purpose remains illegal. Any proposed changes have been met with strong opposition at the Statehouse by law enforcement lobbyists and religious groups.

Marijuana policy was one of several key issues brought up by Whipple’s challengers at the Sedgwick County Republican Party’s candidate forum Thursday. Whipple, a Democrat, was not invited and would not have been able to attend because he was in France for the Paris Air Show.

Frye honed in on marijuana when candidates were asked to name a city ordinance or regulation they would change.

“I suppose one thing that I would want to consider is the lowering of the fines for marijuana,” Frye said.

. “I don’t think that solved anything,” he added, about the move to decriminalize.

Frye, in an effort to keep marijuana laws on the city books in September, proposed lowering fines for minor marijuana possession to $1. That motion failed with no support from the other six council members. They then repealed the city’s anti-marijuana ordinances, meaning marijuana laws are no longer enforced in municipal court.

“That just put our police and law enforcement in a tougher situation,” Frye said. “It is still illegal in the state of Kansas and still illegal in this country. And to put our officers at that risk of whether or not they should do that or not, they don’t need — there’s already too many gray areas for them. And that isn’t fair, so I would probably reinstate that.”

Cerullo, a radio news reporter and former council member, said he would push to add marijuana reform to the city’s legislative agenda.

“We’re pulling people over and spending taxpayer money to enforce marijuana laws while our neighbors – Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma – are making millions of dollars in tax dollars off marijuana,” Cerullo said after the forum. “We’re missing out on those tax dollars, and our state should absolutely make a change.”

Racette, a retired FDIC investigator and Save Century II founder, said she supports legalizing medical marijuana in Kansas but disagrees with the way decriminalization was handled by Whipple. She said she would not support legalization for recreational use.

“We cannot legalize it because there’s no way when someone’s driving, and they’re high, to measure their blood or their THC content and tell if they are impaired or not,” Racette said. “So we cannot legalize regular use of marijuana. It won’t work.”

Wu, a registered Libertarian, said after the forum that marijuana laws would not be a high priority for her because she would be focused on tackling other issues she has seen while working as a TV news reporter and anchor, such as hiring more police officers.

“I really want to focus on things I feel like right now are pressing issues, and I don’t want to divide this community,” Wu said. “I want to bridge people together, I really do. And I don’t want to divide, and that issue (marijuana) can remain how it is right now and (the city should) just focus on the things that we really need to focus on. I don’t want to make it an issue when right now it’s not an issue, and I don’t want to make things that are not issues an issue.”

Whipple has said he favors legalizing marijuana at the state and federal levels.

The push for reform at the city came after the council received a report that municipal court prosecuted 750 to 850 people a year for marijuana possession, disproportionately affecting Black Wichitans. The data showed Black residents make up about 10% of the Wichita population and 45% of the city’s marijuana prosecutions.

“Instead of prosecuting people for possession of marijuana, Wichita now invests in harm reduction strategies to help those struggling with addiction and focuses more resources on stopping violent crime and theft,” Whipple’s campaign page says.

Who’s running for mayor in Wichita? Here’s an up-to-date list of candidates

Mayoral candidates make promises

The GOP forum was the first to host multiple candidates for the Aug. 1 mayoral primary election.

It gave the public, specifically local Republicans, an early glimpse at the contrasts between the candidates. City elections are nonpartisan, meaning party affiliation does not appear on the ballot, but local parties often participate in elections and throw support behind candidates. The local GOP has not yet endorsed a candidate.

Frye and Cerullo are Republicans. Racette and Wu, both first-time candidates for city office, recently changed parties. Wu switched from Republican to Libertarian in 2022, and Racette changed from Democratic to unaffiliated in 2021.

The moderator, Republican Chairwoman Deb Lucia, sought to press the candidates for a concrete answer about their top priorities. She asked them to name at least one initiative they could guarantee they would accomplish as mayor and explain how they would fund it.

Racette pledged to pass a revenue-neutral budget and guaranteed she would cut wasteful spending by City Hall — primarily through clawbacks from under-performing development deals — to offset future property tax increases.

“The one initiative that I’m going to guarantee is I will be the watchdog over your taxpayer money,” Racette said. “And by doing that, I’m going to hold our property taxes to a revenue-neutral rate. I promise I will study the budget. I already know places where we have misspent or given away millions.”

She said she plans to immediately start saving the city money by moving Visit Wichita and an Old Town police substation to the former Central Public Library downtown.

“I will be the person you can trust in City Hall to watch your taxpayer dollars and spend them wisely,” she said.

Cerullo guaranteed he would lead a charge to fire City Manager Robert Layton and hire a new manager. He also promised to improve the relationship between the Wichita Police Department and the mayor’s office.

“The average tenure for a manager for a city our size is six to seven years,” Cerullo said. “Bob Layton has been here 14. It is time for a fresh face with fresh ideas.”

Frye, who has been on the council since 2015, guaranteed a project that is already in the works: a new police substation to serve growing areas in west Wichita. The project is included in the city’s capital improvement plan and would be funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act. He said the new substation will improve police response times.

“We’ve got a potential site identified that will not cost taxpayers any dollars,” Frye said. “So we’ll be able to put the entire ARPA money towards the construction of this police substation.”

Wu said she believes the job of mayor is to be “the lead marketer” for the city and suggested everyone get a bit more enthusiastic in their support of their hometown, a move that would be free of charge, she said.

“One initiative that I can think of right off the top of my head — and doesn’t cost any money — is that if each and every one of us becomes also a great ambassador for this community. You see, when someone asks me the question, ‘Where are you from?’ I proudly say, I’m from Wichita, Kansas. If we each were able to do that part, and share that same type of enthusiasm for all the good that this community provides, we can change the temperature of this community, and we can unite together. That is one of the key pillars that I have is building a united community.”

Wu said the city should drop a requirement that Wichita police officers be U.S. citizens. That would allow legal permanent residents to apply for the police department, similar to the military, she said.



“As a legal immigrant to the United States, I strongly believe that legal permanent residents should have that opportunity,” she said.

Lower-profile candidates Shelia Davis, Thomas Kane and Julie Rose Stroud were not invited to the forum. The deadline to register to vote in the 2023 primary election is July 11.

Upcoming mayoral forums

If you know of candidate forums that should be added to our list, please send the information to tips@wichitaeagle.com.

6:30 p.m. June 26, SEIU headquarters, 3340 West Douglas, nonpartisan forum hosted by Sedgwick County Grassroots Democrats and Sedgwick County Democratic Women

6:30 p.m. July 17, Woodland United Methodist Church 1100 W, 15th St. North, hosted by Wichita Independent Neighborhoods

7 p.m. July 20, livestreamed and televised, hosted by PBS Kansas in partnership with KAKE News and The Wichita Eagle

What do you want to know?

We’re gathering questions from Wichita voters before the Aug. 1 primary election for city and school board races. Tell us what you want to know by sending questions to tips@wichitaeagle.com.