New officials elected in Kansas town where newspaper raided. What’s it mean for future?

The editor of a small Kansas newspaper that was raided by local police in August fears the town will continue to lack transparency after an outspoken councilwoman, whose home was also searched by officers, was replaced last week by voters.

But the incoming mayor of Marion, made up of about 2,000 people in south-central Kansas, has vowed to improve transparency and said the councilwoman’s ousting meant residents simply wanted change.

Marion Councilwoman Ruth Herbel, who took office in 2020 and serves as vice mayor, came in last in the local election with 236 votes. She was defeated by two other candidates who got more than 400 votes each, solidifying their spots on the five-member council.

Herbel, 80, believes the raids that thrusted Marion into the national spotlight hurt her reelection bid locally. Having been critical of the highly aggressive police actions, Herbel noted voters knew of her plans to file a lawsuit against the city.

“What I ran on was truth, honesty and transparency,” Herbel said Monday, describing herself as the only member who “questioned anything” on the council. “Transparency is something that’s lacking very, very much on the city council.”

Eric Meyer, editor of the Marion County Record, said the paper has received letters with concerns about transparency after newly-elected officials “partied” on Election Day at a country club and allegedly did not let a reporter take pictures. The paper reported that Mayor-Elect Michael Powers “yelled” at the reporter — a characterization Powers strongly disputes.

“’We’re just going to continue with more of the same,’” Meyer said readers have told him. “And I fear that will happen. I still hold out some hope that some of the individuals elected are reasonable.”

A former 8th Judicial District judge, Powers told The Star he held the private event to watch the results come in and asked a reporter who showed up unannounced and started taking pictures to leave. He also said the Marion Country Club, the clubhouse at a golf course, is not ritzy, as has been insinuated, but resembles a “one-room school as much as anything else.”

“It bothers me that there is this perception that Marion is this haven of fascism,” said Powers, who has lived in town for three decades and takes office in January. “I have found this to be a wonderful community. That’s why I’m still here.”

The recent election came about three months after police on Aug. 11 executed search warrants at the Marion County Record, the home of its publisher and Herbel’s house under the pretense that a reporter had illegally obtained information about the DUI conviction of a local restaurateur.

In the fallout of the globally criticized newsroom raid, the county prosecutor revoked the search warrants for lack of evidence; the police chief, Gideon Cody, who previously worked in Kansas City, resigned and was replaced on an interim basis by an officer who participated in the raids; and a now-former reporter filed the first of what is likely to be several lawsuits against the town.

Ahead of last week’s election, Meyer, the paper’s editor, thought voters would either embrace or oust Herbel, but that it wouldn’t be close.

During city council meetings, Herbel questioned other members’ decisions on behalf of taxpayers, Meyer said. She said she also sought to have conversations about the raid, but was shut down.

Meyer said there is a distrust in town of people who say “anything negative,” as Herbel and the paper have. He believed some voters also wanted to rid elected officials from office.

“And Ruth gets thrown out, even though she was on the other side of the issue,” Meyer said.

The Record’s headline after the election: “Marion voters reject Herbel.”

While Meyer wrote a critical editorial about the Election Day incident, saying Marion will continue to be governed “by alpha-dog rules,” he also told The Star he thinks Powers, the incoming mayor, “could be good for the city” and described him as bright.

Powers, who has said he wants to fix the town’s reputation, hopes the small-town gets back to a place without “constant drama.” Some of his priorities include changing the way council meetings are held and rebuilding morale among city employees.

When residents read The Record each week, Powers added, they see multiple letters to the editor from people across the U.S. praising the paper for standing up to the “thugs and horrible people” there.

“This is not a town full of thugs and horrible people,” he said.

The town is likely to become entangled in litigation over the raids for years. When Herbel will file suit is up to her attorneys, who are waiting to get additional records. For now, she is focused on her husband, who has dementia.

“He needs my attention more than the city does,” Herbel said.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has said its investigation in Marion is ongoing.