TOPEKA — A special Kansas House committee began work Thursday on a formal complaint filed by a Republican state representative against a Democratic lawmaker that was laced with evidence of belligerent personal, text and email interaction with colleagues allegedly worthy of punishment.

The brief organizational meeting on the top floor of the Capitol brought together complainant Rep. Leah Howell of Derby and respondent Rep. Ford Carr of Wichita, but stopped short of the investigative committee starting examination of evidence submitted by Howell and endorsed by House Majority Leader Chris Croft of Overland Park. The file included documents tied to bitter exchanges between Carr and Republicans and Democrats.

Carr initiated a House disciplinary process in February by filing a complaint against Wichita Rep. Nick Hoheisel, alleging the Republican directed threatening language and a curse word at Carr during House debate on a firearm education bill. Hoheisel approached Carr’s desk on the House floor after Carr made a statement to representatives indicating that some members could harbor racist sentiment.

The special committee deadlocked on Carr’s complaint with three Republicans urging dismissal and three Democrats seeking further consideration of the issues.

In the counter-complaint taken up by the special committee on Thursday, Howell alleged Carr should be reprimanded, censured or expelled by the full House for engaging in “patterns of violent rhetoric, physical violence, intimidating behavior and derogatory language which is unbecoming of any Kansan, much less a member of the Kansas House.”

Rep. Bob Lewis, the Garden City Republican serving as chair of the House committee, said details of the second complaint would be taken up at a subsequent public meeting. He indicated it was possible not all material submitted with Howell’s complaint would be considered by the committee.

Howell left before the brief organizational meeting adjourned, but Carr asked the committee chairman to guarantee he would be given sufficient time to prepare a defense.

Carr also requested a precise declaration of which House rules or Mason’s Manual procedures he was accused of violating. He said the four-dozen pages of emails, news articles and correspondence accompanying Howell’s complaint didn’t point to a specific infraction.

“If I’m not sure what the crime is I’m being accused of, I don’t know the rule, how would I defend myself?” Carr asked the House committee. “If I don’t have it now, how can I prepare? How can I offer up a reasonable defense?”

Howell’s evidence

Croft, the House majority leader, said the stack of documents attached to Howell’s complaint were “serious, substantive and require a thorough investigation and ultimate adjudication” under rules of the House.

In terms of the Kansas Constitution, the full 125-member House has final say on disciplining its members. The Kansas Senate possesses the parallel responsibility for all in the 40-member Senate.

The file containing Howell’s evidence obtained by Kansas Reflector begins with information about Carr’s verbal “attack” in 2023 on a House peer that included “a racially derogatory slur.” Carr, who is Black, was talking about potential state funding for the Quindaro ruins in Kansas City, Kansas, and political positions taken by Rep. Marvin Robinson, a Democrat from Kansas City, Kansas. Robinson, also a Black member of the House, died in August 2024.

Howell’s packet for the special committee included information about a letter from House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, and House Speaker Pro Tem Blake Carpenter, R-Derby, that advised Carr not to engage in disparaging and disorderly remarks during House debate. The letter tied to the Robinson incident said a formal House complaint would be filed against Carr if he repeated the offense.

“While we recognize that disagreements over policy is part of the process,” the Hawkins and Carpenter letter said, “proper decorum in addressing the House is essential for proper functioning of the legislative process and respect of the House. Your conduct failed to maintain proper decorum.”

Carr fires back

Carr’s lengthy response was included in the packet. Carr repeatedly claimed GOP House leadership was attempting to “silence my voice as a Black lawmaker.”

“Your party has the right by rule to handcuff legislation that benefits Black residents of this state and push forward your agenda of horrible, discriminative and hateful legislation for Black people as well as all minority groups that don’t fit your definition of acceptable,” Carr’s letter said. “What it does not do now, nor will it ever have the right to do, is to silence the voices of us duly elected officials who use our platform to fight against the racist and discriminative behavior that takes place amongst some of our elected officials in the Kansas statehouse.”

The packet also presented a set of emails from January between Carr and House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard, D-Lenexa, as well as a Kansas House Democrat staff member. The exchange centered on Carr’s objection to being assigned the Capitol office formerly occupied by Robinson.

“This must be some sort of retaliation for votes I took in previous years,” Carr told House staffer Logan Demond. “You can have my things boxed and left in the office lobby and I will take them home, but I’ll be damned if someone will sit me in the seat of a dead man that I had issues with.”

Woodard, in response to Carr, wrote that “retaliation isn’t in my nature” and that House furniture belonged “to the people, not us. If you’d like to discuss alternatives, we are ready to find a solution. But I will ask you to at least be respectful of our staff.”

Bar fight

The packet from Howell also included a letter sent by Woodard to Carr informing Carr that he wouldn’t face a complaint for Carr’s involvement in a fight with Wichita City Councilman Brandon Johnson in January at a Topeka tavern across the street from the Capitol. In that encounter, which was captured on video, Carr shoved to the floor Democratic Rep. Henry Helgerson, who had attempted to diffuse the situation by stepping between Carr and Johnson.

“Should a future public incident occur,” Woodard said in that letter to Carr, “there will be a complaint filed using Rule 4901.” This letter said Carr would be compelled to vacate Democratic leadership spots on House committees and that Rep. Mike Amyx, D-Lawrence, had been assigned to serve as Carr’s “official mentor.” Amyx is among the six House members appointed to the special investigative committee.

Carr issued a statement in February on House letterhead that indicated he had previously requested to be released from leadership assignments on committees.

“I sought this separation weeks ago for myriad reasons, including my party’s brand of vapid party leadership that I could no longer stomach,” Carr said in the two-page statement submitted by Howell to the committee. “For Woodard to leave reporters with the impression that he’d removed me should cause deep concerns with news media, constituents and party officials about Woodard’s deliberate dishonesty.”

Carr said in the statement that Democrats must summon the “courage to do more, risk more and fight harder than we have” because Republicans dominated the House and Senate.

“My passion for my constituents and my love for the communities that I represent won’t allow me to cower,” Carr wrote. “The time to ‘go high when they go low,’ has passed. When they go low, introduce their a** to the basement. Our constituents deserve nothing less.”