TOPEKA
Kansas Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop said Wednesday he is temporarily relinquishing “the bulk” of his formal duties, a day after he was arrested and accused of driving under the influence and leading police on a chase down the wrong lane of Interstate 70, provoking calls from alarmed motorists to 911.
The Wichita Republican leader’s decision, which fell short of resigning his leadership position, came as more details emerged about the bizarre and troubling episode. One caller told 911 the vehicle, a white SUV, “about hit me” and “scared the crap out of me.”
Suellentrop, 69, announced the decision in a written statement Wednesday afternoon after he addressed a rare closed-door gathering of Senate Republicans amid eroding support.
“I regret that this incident has caused a distraction for my colleagues and the Senate staff, and most importantly, from the important issues we are debating on behalf of the people of Kansas,” Suellentrop said.
Suellentrop said most of his formal duties would fall to Assistant Majority Leader Larry Alley, a Winfield Republican, “until matters that I am currently dealing with are resolved.” The statement didn’t directly address the allegations against him.
For the 90-minute caucus Suellentrop sat quietly in the back of the room. Rather than take his normal seat beside the Senate president, or sit among other senators, Suellentrop took a chair next to staff.
At the end of the meeting, senators filed out while staff distributed Suellentrop’s statement to media. Suellentrop was among the last to leave the caucus room. When asked to comment on the events of the past two days he simply said “refer to my statement.”
The announcement ended more than 36 hours of near-complete public silence from Suellentrop following his arrest early Tuesday morning. His only comment had been a brief interaction with a judge during a courtroom appearance.
Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, in a statement applauded Suellentrop for a “prudent decision.”
“It demonstrates respect for his colleagues and the Senate as an institution, as it will allow us to proceed forward without distraction nor delay as he handles the matters impacting him at the present time,” Masterson said.
In the hours beforehand, Republican support for Suellentrop began to waver, even as top lawmakers publicly offered prayers and withheld judgment.
Senate Vice President Rick Wilborn acknowledged in the morning that there “could be a reassessment” of his leadership position even as he praised Suellentrop as a legislator. Suellentrop, a businessman, had developed a reputation as a hardline conservative who opposed Medicaid expansion and voiced skepticism about mask wearing during the pandemic.
Others in the Republican caucus openly called for accountability. Before the caucus meeting, Sen. Rob Olson, an Olathe Republican, called the allegations against Suellentrop and his silence through Tuesday and early Wednesday “disturbing.”
A friend of Olson’s lost her entire family to a drunken driver, he said, and so the behavior Suellentrop is accused of is inexcusable.
“I’m just thanking God it wasn’t my family or friends on the highway and that no one was hurt,” he said. “I do believe it was anybody else I don’t think they’d be out (of jail) right now.”
Suellentrop’s alleged actions, Olson said, should impact his continued leadership role in the Senate.
“I’d like to see him take some serious ramifications to fix it. He owes an apology to a lot of people. He makes people like me look bad,” Olson said. “The people in this building can give forgiveness but you’ve got to start by standing up and acknowledging what you did wrong and he hasn’t done that.”
At the end of the caucus meeting, Olson asked to reclose the session so he could give his own statement. Through the window he and Sen. Dennis Pyle from Hiawatha could be seen speaking passionately. Afterwards, Olson declined to share the content of his statement.
Sen. John Doll, a Garden City Republican, earlier on Wednesday predicted Suellentrop would face political repercussions.
“I have no ill will. I wish him nothing but the best. But there’s a price to pay when you screw up and he had a bad night. He had a real bad night,” Doll said.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Suellentrop drove on the wrong side of the highway for at least 10 minutes early Tuesday morning. He led Capitol Police officers on a five-minute chase before eventually pulling over.
Shawnee County dispatchers fielded at least three 911 calls related to a white SUV traveling the wrong way, according to audio released by the county.
“They weren’t driving reckless, I’m not trying to say they were driving reckless. But they were in the wrong lane and they met coming up the on ramp and scared the crap out of me,” a caller said.
He spent the remainder of the night in jail on suspicion of a DUI, fleeing from a law enforcement officer and other traffic infractions.
At 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, a judge released Suellentrop from custody, saying that missing information in the arrest report caused her to rule there was no probable cause to detain him.
Suellentrop was released without needing to post bond. The Kansas Highway Patrol said Tuesday it still intends to investigate the incident and referred the case to the Shawnee County District Attorney for charges.
This story was originally published March 17, 2021 4:31 PM.
