Johnson County sheriff accuses prime county lawyer of breaking the law
KANSAS Metropolis, Mo. — Without giving specific aspects, Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden Tuesday accused the county’s leading attorney, Peg Trent, of breaking the law.
It comes following the KSHB 41 I-Team acquired a memo Trent sent to Sheriff Hayden expressing problems. They centered all around the sheriff’s requests related to election safety in the county.
“These requests give the look that the Sheriff’s Business is making an attempt to interfere with an election and to immediate a duly authorized election official as to how an election will be carried out,” Trent wrote in the July 7 memo.
Read: July 7 memo | Webpage 1 | Site 2
In the memo, Trent wrote that a assembly on July 5 was established up to talk about stability cameras on election ballot containers.
Throughout the meeting, the memo claimed the sheriff questioned about “prior election processes, challenged the integrity of elections in Johnson County, and requested that local law enforcement take part in the present-day election treatments.”
Hayden is now disputing Trent’s recollection of an election security meeting outlined in the memo.
“I entire-heartedly disagree with Ms. Trent’s recollection of situations, as does just about every deputy who was existing for that conference,” Hayden reported in a assertion. “Also, Ms. Trent and her place of work are knowingly violating their have legal guidelines: K.S.A. 25-2437. We will go on to offer with Ms. Trent until we reach a successful conclusion and assure all election rules are adopted.”
The I-Crew has reached out to the sheriff’s office to get clarification about what part of that statute they believe that Trent and her business violated.
The statute focuses on the “transmission or shipping of advance voting ballots on behalf of a different voter.”
“We have no intention of asserting ourselves into any election. That is illegal,” Hayden ongoing in the assertion. “We have been requested by the Board of County Commissioners to provide safety. We designed strategies to aid with protection. Which is as far as that has gone.”
Considering that very last slide, the sheriff’s place of work mentioned it obtained much more than 200 strategies alleging fraud in area elections. The sheriff’s workplace previously advised the I-Workforce they experienced obtained extra than 100 recommendations.
When the I-Team requested to see the guidelines that have come into the sheriff’s workplace, they cited an lively investigation and refused to release them.
The I-Group contacted the Kansas Secretary of State’s office and the Johnson County District Attorney’s Workplace about the investigation.
District Lawyer Steve Howe mentioned his office has not been concerned in the investigation and that absolutely nothing has been submitted to his business office to review.
A spokeswoman for the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office environment stated they’re mindful of the sheriff’s “intent to look into voter fraud relevant to the 2020 elections, while no warrants, subpoenas, or an formal investigation has been opened by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office environment.”
The I-Staff continues to request an on-digital camera interview with Hayden, but has been explained to he is not obtainable mainly because it is an active investigation.
On Tuesday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the county issued a assertion on behalf of the chief counsel:
The chief counsel is underneath the authority, route and supervision of the county commissioners. The chief counsel serves as the director of the Johnson County Authorized Department and signifies Johnson County departments, together with the Johnson County Election Office environment. The Sheriff is a separate elected formal and has his very own legal counsel.
The Johnson County Sheriff has recommended the legal section on July 15, that there is an ongoing criminal investigation about election integrity challenges in addition to the sheriff’s verbal sign of a pending legal investigation of 2020 election.
Even more, the Sheriff’s Office implies that the disclosure of communications involving the Sheriff’s Office and the County Election Commissioner, Board of County Commissioners, or District Attorney’s Office environment would interfere with the investigation. As these types of, the county is unable to make additional reviews.
We conduct elections in accordance to state law. We stand by the integrity of Johnson County elections.”
—
Johnson County spokesperson
—
We want to hear from you on what sources Kansas Town households could profit from to assistance us all via the pandemic. If you have five minutes, come to feel cost-free to fill out this study to help manual our protection: KSHB COVID Survey.