By JIM MCLEAN

Grievances generated by policy and personality clashes in a southeast Kansas community have spilled onto the statewide stage in the battle over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s nominee to head the state Department of Commerce.

David Toland often found himself at odds with Virginia Crossland-Macha when he was the CEO of Thrive Allen County, a community health-improvement and economic development organization based in Iola.

The intensity of the battle has rattled many in the town of approximately 6,000, said John McCrae, a former mayor and current president of Iola Industries, a business development group.

“They’re kind of stunned that Virginia is leading the charge against the hometown boy who has done so much and so well,” McRae said.

They’re also stunned, McRae said, that abortion has now become an issue in the confirmation fight that was already complicated by Toland’s flippant jibes at prominent Republicans.

On Monday, Kansans for Life, the state’s most powerful anti-abortion organization, charged in a letter to senators that Toland was unfit for the commerce post because of his “ties” to the late Wichita abortion provider George Tiller.

“It is unconscionable that anyone wishing to sit in the governor’s Cabinet would be part of honoring the legacy of an individual who took so many innocent lives,” KFL said in the letter.

The connection consists of two small grants Thrive Allen County obtained from a memorial fund established after Tiller’s murder in 2009. Neither paid for abortion services.

The first, a $9,380 award received in 2015, went mainly to fund a campaign to reduce the smoking rate among pregnant women in Allen County. The grant application pegged that rate at the time at “an astounding 26.1 percent.”

The second was a $10,000 grant awarded in 2018 that Thrive immediately transferred to the SEK Multi-County Health Department based in Iola.

“It arrived one day and exited the next,” said Lisse Regehr, Thrive’s incoming CEO.

The money funded a health department program to curb the incidence of premature and low-birth-weight babies.

She said that using those grants to the organization to connect Toland to abortion politics shows that Crossland-Macha and Republican legislative leaders are “desperate” to “take him down.”

“It’s a personal vendetta,” she said. “It’s despicable.”

Crossland-Macha didn’t return multiple calls or texts seeking comment. But she said in a recent email to McRae, a longtime friend, that she opposes Toland’s politics and his attempts to punish her and other Iola business owners who spoke out against Thrive initiatives.

Thrive’s successful campaign to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco products in the city from 18 to 21 was among the examples of recrimination cited by Crossland-Macha in the letter. She said the truck stop that she and her husband, Larry, own lost $100,000 in sales during the first month of the new policy.

“This was my punishment from David,” Crossland-Macha wrote. “What a great way to silence … a critic.”

At one point, a harassment campaign directed at Toland prompted him to call the Iola police. They questioned a handful of people who Toland suspected were producing and distributing leaflets attacking him and his family. The investigation didn’t result in any charges but it did stop the harassment, according to the report.

McRae, a lifelong Republican who served 12 years as mayor, said he believes most Iola residents who know something about the battle are backing Toland because his of work to transform the community. Under his leadership, McRae said, Thrive facilitated public-private partnerships to develop a new apartment complex, recruit a new grocery store and build miles of hiking and biking trails.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation noticed and awarded Allen County its Culture of Health Prize in 2017.

“It’s been absolutely remarkable,” McRae said.

Crossland-Macha has a different view.

“Mr. Toland’s version of economic development has displaced local small businesses and jobs in Iola,” she told The Topeka Capital-Journal.

Crossland-Macha and various companies under the Crossland Construction umbrella contributed $52,000 to the political action committee of the Kansas Chamber shortly after Kelly was elected governor. The Chamber mostly backs Republican candidates.

McRae said politics are at the root of the battle over Toland’s nomination.

“David is an incredibly talented young man,” he said. “And I think he’s probably seen as a future legislator, a future governor and part of the motivation is to cut him off at the ankles.”

In addition, McRae said he believes GOP leaders are “trying to slap Governor Kelly in the face.”

“As a Kansan who supports whoever our governor is, I’m sick of it,” he said.

Some of Toland’s problems with Republicans also come down to political missteps. In a 2018 social media post intended to draw attention to a sleep study, Toland joked that former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and sitting GOP Sen. Caryn Tyson kept him up at night.

“He said I’m one of his biggest nightmares,” Tyson said in an interview, “so it was a personal attack.”

Even so, Tyson said, other factors will determine her vote on whether to confirm Toland to Kelly’s cabinet.

“It would be nice to have some representation from southeast Kansas,” she said, emphasizing that she hasn’t yet made a decision.

Sen. Dennis Pyle, a Republican from Hiawatha, said if the vote had occurred Monday, he would have voted for Toland’s confirmation. Then came objections from anti-abortion activists.

“Now,” Pyle said, “I don’t think I can.”

Meanwhile, Kelly’s office orchestrated letters of support for Toland from across the state.

In a joint letter, the directors of the chambers of commerce in Manhattan, Emporia, Topeka and Lawrence said Toland’s experience in both urban and rural settings “make him the ideal candidate to take Kansas’ business development to the next level.”

Before returning to his native Iola to take the helm at Thrive Allen County in 2008, Toland directed planning for the mayor of Washington, D.C., and later headed development and planning for a real estate firm that specialized in transforming blighted areas of the city.

By all accounts, the vote on his confirmation, expected next Monday, will be close.

“Very close,” Tyson said.

Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks. 

BARBER COUNTY —The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal accident that occurred just after 7p.m. Thursday in Barber County and have identified the victims.
The KHP reported a 2018 Ford Focus driven by James C. Ramey, 44, Mulvane, was eastbound on U.S. 160 one mile west of Medicine Lodge. The vehicle struck two bicyclists from behind.

Thomas M. Foust, 56, West Columbia, South Carolina, was pronounced dead at the scene. Robert W. Christensen, 64, Medicine Lodge, was transported the hospital in Medicine Lodge where he died.

Ramey was properly restrained at the time of the accident and not injured, according to the KHP.
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BARBER COUNTY — The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal accident that occurred just after 7p.m. Thursday in Barber County.

The KHP reported a vehicle was eastbound on U.S. 160 one mile west of Medicine Lodge and struck two bicyclists from behind.

Authorities have not released names or additional details.

SEWARD COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for alleged drug sales and have made an arrest.

Just after 8p.m., Thursday, police responded to a residence in the 1000 block of N. Holly in the city of Liberal for a welfare check of a child at that residence, according to police captain Robert Rogers.

While there, an officer observed signs of narcotics use.  During the search of the residence, police found about 741 grams of suspected marijuana and marijuana oil, about 20 grams of psylocibin mushrooms, a small amount of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and a handgun.

Police also arrested a 42-year-old man for possession with the intent to sell marijuana, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, aggravated endangering a child, no drug tax stamp, and criminal possession of a firearm.  An affidavit was forwarded to the Seward County Attorney’s Office seeking formal charges.  Other family members are taking care of the child, according to Rogers.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A California man was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for making bogus emergency calls to authorities across the U.S., including one that led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man following a dispute between two online players over $1.50 bet in the Call of Duty: WWII video game.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren sentenced Tyler R. Barriss, 26, under a deal in which he pleaded guilty in November to a total of 51 federal charges related to fake calls and threats. The plea agreement called for a sentence of at least 20 years — well over the 10 years recommended under sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors believe it is the longest prison sentence ever imposed for the practice of “swatting,” a form of retaliation in which someone reports a false emergency to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to descend on an address.

Melgren said the case went into “uncharted legal territory,” that the law has not caught up with technology and the charges didn’t address the severity of what happened.

The 2017 death of 28-year-old Andrew Finch drew national attention to swatting. But Barriss had made dozens of such calls before that and was “known as the guy on Twitter that is good at this,” his attorney, Richard Federico, said.

Authorities say an Ohio gamer recruited Barriss to “swat” a Wichita gamer, but that the address they used was old, leading police to Finch, who was not involved in the video game or the dispute. Barriss called Wichita police from Los Angeles on Dec. 28, 2017, to falsely report a shooting and kidnapping at that Wichita address. Finch answered the door, and an officer shot the unarmed man.

Barriss apologized to Finch’s family on Friday, saying he takes full responsibility for what happened.

“If I could take it back, I would, but there is nothing I can do,” Barriss told the court. “I am so sorry for that.”

Federico described Barriss as a loner who “found solace in the gaming community” as he became a “serial swatter.” His best friend is someone he knows only online, Frederico said, his father died when he was young and his mother abandoned him.

Outside the courthouse, his sister, Dominica Finch, said Barriss got what he deserved, but that she also wants to see police held accountable. Finch’s family has sued the city of Wichita and the officers involved. Police have said the officer who shot Finch thought he was reaching for a gun because he moved a hand toward his waistband. Prosecutors declined to charge the officer.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett defended that decision.

“I am very much sympathetic to the Finch family, but at the end of the day my determination has to be in what the law allows,” Bennett said.

Barriss’ prosecution in Wichita consolidated other federal cases that had been filed against him in California and the District of Columbia involving similar calls and threats. Bennett also said Friday that he would dismiss state charges, including involuntary manslaughter, because Barriss would be getting more prison time from the federal charges than he could get in state court.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recognized swatting as an emerging threat as early as 2008, noting it had become commonplace among gamers.

“We hope that this will send a strong message about swatting, which is a juvenile and senseless practice,” McAllister, the federal prosecutor, told reporters. “We’d like to put an end to it within the gaming community and in any other contact. Swatting, as I’ve said before, is not a prank.”

The intended target in Wichita, Shane Gaskill, 20, and the man who allegedly recruited Barriss, Casey Viner, 19, of North College Hill, Ohio, are charged as co-conspirators. Authorities say Viner provided Barriss with an address for Gaskill that Gaskill had previously given to Viner. Authorities also say that when Gaskill noticed Barriss was following him on Twitter, he gave Barriss that old address and taunted him to “try something.”

Viner and Gaskill pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice, wire fraud and other counts. Viner has notified the court he intends to change that plea at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. Gaskill’s trial has been delayed to April 23 amid plea talks with federal prosecutors.

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GEARY COUNTY –The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) arrested  Anthony J. “Tony” Wolf, 44, the Geary County Sheriff, just after 2 p.m. Friday at the Geary County Sheriff’s Office, 826 N. Franklin St. in Junction City.

According to a KBI media release, Wolf was arrested for two new counts of felony theft. The charge alleges Wolf used county funds to purchase items that were then sold for personal profit, or maintained for personal use.

On Friday he appeared at a pre-trial conference regarding the charges he was previously arrested for on Oct. 18 that accuse Wolf of giving a county-owned firearm as a gift to a third party, and for misuse of public funds. The misuse of public funds allegation asserts Wolf used public dollars in a manner not authorized by law.

 Wolf was booked into the Geary County Jail. Dickinson County Attorney Andrea Purvis has been appointed as special prosecutor for this case.