Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Tuesday he cannot file a lawsuit seeking the ouster of a member of the House of Representatives.

There have been calls for State Representative Michael Capps of Wichita to resign over his role in a false political attack ad that was directed at Brandon Whipple during Whipple’s run for the mayor’s office in 2019.    Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett conducted an investigation into the ad, and he turned the results over to the Attorney General’s Office.

Schmidt issued a statement saying that the Kansas Constitution provides for the House and Senate to conduct the expulsion or censure of their own members, and Kansas courts are powerless to enforce any judgment of ouster against a legislator.    He said the only ways to remove a state representative from office are through electoral defeat with the expiration of the term of office, a recall election, or expulsion by vote of the House of Representatives.

Schmidt said Capps was defeated in the August primary election and is now less than six weeks from the end of his term in office.   Under Kansas law, a recall election cannot be filed in the final 200 days of a legislator’s term of office.   Schmidt said his office will refer the case to the Kansas House leadership to consider whether expulsion proceedings are appropriate, although the House is not scheduled to be in session before Capps’ term expires on January 11th.