Whipple says former sheriff trying to ‘catfish’ him was why he skipped campaign forum

Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple said he turned down an invitation to a Wichita Metro Crime Commission campaign event on Thursday after a Facebook page linked to the organizer — former Sedgwick County Sheriff Mike Hill — attempted to “catfish” him.

Whipple publicly accused Hill, the 81-year-old chairman of the Crime Commission, of posing as a young, attractive South Korean woman on Facebook and sending him private messages to attempt to strike up a relationship. The messages started in January, Whipple said.

“I declined to participate in a closed-door event organized by someone who would stoop to such unprofessional, and frankly, creepy campaign tactics,” Whipple wrote.

Hill says his Facebook account was hacked last year and that he had to start a new one when he couldn’t recover it. He showed an Eagle reporter his wife’s Facebook post from July 2022 asking that people not accept friend requests from the account.

His profile name switched from Mike Hill to Smirh Agatha to Lisa Lisa to Agatha Smirh in late 2022 and early 2023. That account has since been deleted or set to private, making it viewable only to Facebook friends. Whipple said the changes to the privacy settings came — and the messages ended — after he sent a message in Korean calling the woman “Mike.”

Hill said he did not ever message Whipple on that account. He said the mayor didn’t respond to his call or email debate invites and that he heard from “one of [Whipple’s] friends” that “he’s upset because I put stuff on his Facebook page.”

“I assure you, I have nothing to do with that,” said Hill, who told The Eagle he hadn’t heard the word “catfish” used like that before.

“Whoever did it — I couldn’t post anything. I was froze out,” he said.

Hill, a Republican, said he supported Republican Bryan Frye in the primary election and will be supporting Libertarian Lily Wu in the general election against Whipple, a Democrat.

Whipple appeared skeptical that Hill’s account was hacked.

“Yeah, seems like everyone connected to Lily Wu keeps getting hacked,” Whipple said in a written statement to The Eagle, referring to a Facebook post earlier this year by city-funded Botanica that promoted Wu’s campaign. Former City Council member Janet Miller initially claimed the Botanica page had been hacked before conceding that the post had been made by a former director who had access to the page.

Whipple, who is married, said he thinks the person behind the Facebook page was trying to compromise him for political reasons ahead of his bid for re-election.

“My honesty and credibility is the main things of my life, and I’m sure not going to taint it over something political,” Hill said.

Whipple made the accusation against Hill on a Facebook post Thursday afternoon after Wu, his opponent in the November general election, criticized him in a separate social media post for not showing up to the Crime Commission’s mayoral forum.

“ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS,” Wu’s post said. “Thanks to the Wichita Crime Commission for hosting a mayoral forum. Unfortunately, I was the only candidate who cared enough about the rising crime in our community to show up. But that’s okay. I’m not running against an opponent. . . I’m running for Wichita.”

Whipple said his decision not to attend had nothing to do with the city’s crime rate, which is currently unclear because of reporting errors.

In his Facebook post, Whipple said “my opponent continues to sling mud without knowing the facts.”

Whipple said in his post that he respects the Crime Commission — a private organization founded in 1952 to prevent organized crime from gaining a foothold in Wichita — but “the last time I spoke with the organizer, former Sheriff Mike Hill, he was attempting to catfish me using his Facebook account with a fake name and picture.”

Hill — a former Wichita police officer who helped arrest the Holiday Inn sniper, Michael Soles, in 1976 and was Sedgwick County sheriff from 1985 to 2001 — last worked in local politics as campaign manager for Whipple’s 2019 opponent, former Mayor Jeff Longwell.

In a written statement to The Eagle, Wu stuck by her Facebook statement.

“At the (Crime Commission) forum, I was told that the mayor never responded to multiple individuals who asked for his attendance,” Wu said. “Thus, I was the only mayoral candidate present.”

Public vs. private debates

Whipple said he had other reasons to skip the Crime Commission forum besides the catfishing attempt.

It’s part of a behind-the-scenes struggle to schedule events both candidates will agree to participate in.

“She can call me out for not debating her in a private back room but it seems hypocritical when she refused a TV debate on KPTS,” Whipple said. “I’m looking forward to the only televised debates she agreed to, hosted by the stations she used to work for.”

Wu, a former television news reporter for KAKE and KWCH, has agreed to two televised debates, one on KWCH on Oct. 19 and one on KAKE on Oct. 24. Another debate hosted by The Wichita Beacon and KSN on Oct. 18 will be live-streamed on Facebook.

Wu debated Whipple on Monday in a forum hosted by The Wichita Eagle, local NPR affiliate KMUW, The Community Voice and the Wichita Journalism Collaborative. The debate was not televised but was live-streamed on Facebook. An audio recording is available on KMUW’s website.

Thursday’s Crime Commission forum was not open to the public or news organizations. It was listed on the Crime Commission’s website as an “Insider Briefing” open to members and their guests.

Wu said in a written statement that she didn’t decline a KPTS debate.

“The claim is false,” Wu said. “I did not back out. I didn’t commit to it due to scheduling. Instead, KPTS is doing one-on-one interviews with the two candidates. I look forward to that interview.”

An email from a KPTS producer to Whipple said Wu “rejected the opportunity to debate you on PBS Kansas.”

Executive Producer Jim Grawe said the original plan was to host a live 90-minute debate and air separate one-on-one interviews with each candidate who agreed to participate in the debate.

“It was like a combined offer, yes or no,” Grawe said. “And if you decline then you wouldn’t get the interview.”

He said Whipple accepted the debate offer almost immediately but Wu was only interested in the interview. Eventually, the station gave up on the debate but decided to record hour-long interviews with each candidate “out of fairness.”

After online publication on Friday, Wu sent another statement clarifying and said Whipple refused to participate in a different debate.

“On August 17, I ‘respectfully declined’ the KPTS invitation after already having scheduled an unprecedented number of debates/forums.

“While Whipple claims he will only attend debates open to the public, he refused the September 19th Wichita Chamber debate despite it being open to the public.”

Whipple said the Chamber debate was not open to the public and was open to members only. He provided copies of a text message conversation with a lobbyist for the Wichita Chamber where he declined the invitation on Sept. 12.

The Wichita Chamber’s political action committee endorsed Wu in the primary election and in the general election.

“So for clarification, only Chamber members and those invited by the chamber may attend?” Whipple wrote.

“Yes. It’s a chamber event,” Jessica Lucas of Watkins Public Strategies, who represents the Wichita Chamber as a lobbyist in Topeka, wrote in response.

Whipple then turned down the invitation.

“I appreciate the invitation and effort, but again this being a closed door, private event with only an elite few who can pay invited, that’s not even live streamed just goes against our values of transparency and open dialogue,” Whipple said in the text message to Lucas.

“Thanks for letting me know,” Lucas wrote back.

Whipple said he took the stance after participating in a closed-door debate hosted by Fidelity Bank, one of the most active banks in local government, that was open to Fidelity employees only.

Wu and Whipple’s KPTS television spots will air at 7 p.m. on Oct. 12 and Oct. 19, respectively.