One year after Marion raid, Kansas officials still don’t care about constitutional freedoms

Marion County Record editor and publisher Eric Meyer takes a smoke break on July 25, 2024, at the back door to his newspaper office — where police entered during the raid. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

Exactly one year ago, on Aug. 11, 2023, law enforcement officials raided the Marion County Record newspaper, shredding the First Amendment over a small-town personality conflict.

A year ago, much of what I thought I knew about the relationship between the press and power irrevocably changed.

I was never under any illusions that the news media was beloved by politicians or police. But I assumed that those politicians and police officers understood the essential importance of our shared constitutional freedoms .

We now know not only that they didn’t care about it on Aug. 11, 2023, but they also don’t care about it on Aug. 11, 2024.

• Prosecutors’ report on Marion newspaper raid excuses abuse of power, leaves questions dangling
• Foot-dragging in Marion raid investigation should fill public with dread
• This Sunshine Week, Kansas officials should finally clear the Marion County Record’s journalists
• Kobach rushes to Second Amendment’s defense. Marion raid shows the First could use some love.

Start by taking a look at special prosecutors’ report into the raid and circumstances surrounding it. Released last week, it recommends a low-level felony charge against former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody , but not because of his behavior before or during the raid. While the prosecutors clear the newspaper staff of wrongdoing, they come right out and say that “it is not a crime under Kansas law for a law enforcement officer to conduct a poor investigation and reach erroneous conclusions.”

So much for accountability.

More broadly, we can look at the utter lack of passion for the issue from Kansas officials in the 12 months since the raid.

Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association , summed it up:  “No one ever reached out and said, ‘I’m so sorry. This never should have happened.’ No one, officially. It was very much a reaction of, ‘Well, we’ll be vindicated.’ ”

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly shared a milquetoast comment shortly after the raid.

“I think there is a lot more to know,” she told State Affairs Kansas on Aug. 14, 2023. “I’m very anxious because I’m a strong advocate for freedom of press, freedom of speech. We will continue to support the questions that are being asked all over.”

Now that those questions have been answered, I reached out to the governor’s office to see if she had anything more to share on the one-year anniversary. I emailed the request late Thursday; they didn’t respond on Friday or Saturday.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach made some confused noises at the time of the raid, saying that “we must always respect the Fourth Amendment and First Amendment rights of all Kansas citizens and we also, everybody in Kansas has an interest in enforcing our laws.” He also claimed that the KBI wasn’t involved in the searches or notified before they took place. We now know that Cody had repeated contacts with the agency beforehand.

Given all the reporting since last August, I asked Kobach’s spokeswoman, Danedri Herbert, if he wanted to make any comment. She didn’t respond either. Perhaps her boss was too busy pursuing vendettas against transgender Kansans .

The Kansas Senate and House couldn’t even pass a resolution supporting a free press. Rep. Mari-Lynn Poskin, D-Leawood, proposed bipartisan House Resolution 6032 , after wondering why no one else in the Legislature was speaking up for a free press.

“I was in my office, and I noticed, you know, I have my swearing in, and my swearing is that I swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and state of Kansas,” she said. “And freedom of press is foundational to both of those documents. And so that seemed like a very pertinent, very important thing for the Legislature to do, to voice the opinion.”

It sure seems pertinent! But not as important, apparently, as passing a symbolic border bill that didn’t result in the deployment of a single Kansas Guard member. I reached out to the offices of Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins to see if they had thoughts to share on the one-year anniversary of the raid.

All I heard, friends, was the sound of crickets.

Finally, KBI director Tony Mattivi gave an ill-advised statement two days after the raid , saying that “we have investigated those who work at schools, churches and at all levels of public service. No one is above the law, whether a public official or a representative of the media.”

His office did have a follow-up comment from the director for me.

“KBI agents did not play a role in executing the search warrants in Marion, but since we want to prevent something similar from occurring in Kansas again, we reinforced to agents that in any investigation involving the press, search warrants should not be used unless they have exhausted all less intrusive remedies to obtain information,” Mattivi said.

Think about this for a moment. Out of the five officials in Kansas who might be expected to raise the alarm about constitutional violations of Kansas residents, only one could be bothered to muster any sort of a statement in the one-year anniversary of the Marion raid. Democrat or Republican, it didn’t matter. They all apparently want the date to pass in silence, and for no one to remember the shocking abuse of power that was perpetrated in Kansas against our fellow Kansas.

That won’t happen. The Marion County Record has filed a lawsuit against local officials, seeking justice for the wrongs done to the paper. I hope that editor and publisher Eric Meyer and his staff can still send a message that will resonate across the country. Lamentably, that message won’t come from Kansas officials.

Their silence back then was shameful.

Their silence now is even more shameful.

I cannot believe that I am sitting here this Saturday evening, typing words that I once believed every public official understood. Standing up for the free speech rights of your residents should be one of the easiest possible things to do. It should be a slam dunk. It should be something you’re willing to trumpet at the drop of a hat. You should want your citizens to be able to engage in lively and robust debate. You should want reporters to do their jobs and inform people without fear of government violence.

You should believe in the founding document of this country and what it ensures for every single one of us. Not just those who toe a certain political line. Not just those who want to harm LGBTQ+ youths. Not just those who carry guns and drive pickup trucks. Not just those who earn millions of dollars or serve on a board or wield power.

Politicians may forget. Police may forget. But we will remember.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here .