Linn County Commissioners, from left, Jim Johnson, Danny McCullough and Jason Hightower discuss coverage of the commission by the Linn County Journal at the end of their meeting on Monday, Aug. 12. (Screen capture/Linn County Kansas Live Stream)
[Editor’s note: The following story contains opinions by Linn County Commissioners about the Linn County Journal. We are publishing this story as an opinion piece, first because it contains strong opinions about the Journal. We are reporting most of these as actual statements that were made by Linn County Commissioners during their Aug. 10 meeting. However, because they attack the integrity of the Journal’s editors, we feel a response is in order. Those responses will be in brackets and will use italic text.]
By Roger Sims, publisher, rsims@linncountyjournal.com
MOUND CITY – Commissioners Danny McCullough and Jim Johnson reacted sharply to a Linn County Journal story published Saturday, Aug. 10, that said the result of a Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) appeared to show that both commissioners were communicating with one another outside of commission meetings. The article went on to say that if that was the case, the two commissioners violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA). Here is a link to that story.
Both commissioners accused the Journal of invading their privacy and printing articles meant to discredit them both at the meeting on Monday, Aug. 12. They then both voted to remove Journal writer and editor Charlene Sims from the county’s planning commission by a 2-1 vote. Commissioner Jason Hightower voted against the motion.
Commissioner Danny McCullough told fellow commissioners that he had something to announce at the end of the meeting. When that time came he said he had a public comment as if it was a forum.
McCullough said that his personal opinion was that the articles in the Journal are “garbage.”
“Their articles have affected my boys, 5- and 7-years-old, at school or at the pool,” he said.
He referenced the opinion piece by editor Roger Sims which said that by not acting on replacing the Hell’s Bend bridge over railroad tracks north of La Cygne, Johnson and McCullough were putting people at risk of serious injury or death. McCullough said that kids would come up and tell his sons that their daddy was going to hurt someone if he didn’t fix the bridge.
(Editor: McCullough did call Roger Sims about the incident in a several minute expletive-filled rant before hanging up without discussion.)
It was a garbage article, he continued. They had no idea what was going on behind closed doors, and we ended up saving the county $250,000.
(Editor: Our understanding about what was happening in open and behind closed doors is that Johnson and McCullough in open session turned down a state grant to replace the bridge just before the deadline set by the state department of transportation (KDOT). KDOT officials were livid and were threatening to sue the county, but Sen. Caryn Tyson stepped in and negotiated another quarter million dollars in state grant money to convince Johnson and McCullough to capitulate and agree to the project.)
McCullough then took aim at a request made from Charlene Sims and the Journal under the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) that included asking for records from the private and county cell phones of all three commissioners.
(Editor: Mark Hagen, who was county counselor when the Journal first filed the request at the end of May, approved the request and commissioners were asked to take their phones to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office to have data from the phones recovered.
McCullough refused to turn over either his county or personal phone. Johnson turned over his personal phone only because he did not take a county phone when it was offered in 2023. Commissioner Jason Hightower turned in both his personal and county phone.
County Clerk David Lamb went through the texts and emails, redacting much of the personal and irrelevant information. That process took several weeks with him working evenings to complete the task. He turned the results over to the Journal staff on Friday, Aug. 2, four days before Republican voters were to decide on electing Johnson to a second term as commissioner.
After carefully reviewing the results and discussing the findings with experts for several days, the Journal on Saturday, Aug. 10, published a story that based on text records that appeared to show that Johnson and McCullough along with commission candidate Rod Earnest were exchanging information about county business outside of commission meetings.
If that was the case, Johnson and McCullough would be in violation of the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA), which says the majority of a quorum cannot meet privately to discuss the business of a county, city or school district. Because the Linn County Commission is comprised of three people, two commissioners discussing business outside of a meeting violates that act.)
Johnson asked how much the KORA request cost the Journal.
County Clerk David Lamb said the newspaper paid $360.
“Do we have a policy on that?” McCullough asked.
Before Lamb could respond, Johnson asked why a KORA request by an anti-solar group in the county only had screen shots while information requested by the Journal had phone information.
Lamb said that when the anti-solar group submitted their request, his office wasn’t aware that the sheriff’s office had the technology.
Johnson suggested the sheriff’s office should run the anti-solar group’s request again.
McCullough said that Roger and Charlene Sims thought that he and Johnson were colluding outside of commission meetings.
He then asked how she would know that Daniel Earnest, a member of the county’s planning commission, was anti-solar other than being on the committee. Based on that he assumed she was using her position on the planning committee to gather inside information.
“That’s why I made the motion (during the commission meeting on Aug. 5) to remove Charlene,” McCullough said, adding that she was not open-minded. “She harassed Ali Hamilton, Emily Thies and her husband. A business in La Cygne put up an order so they cannot use their name in articles anymore.”
(Editor: At the commission meeting on Dec. 28, 2023, Emily Thies spoke to the commission for 10 minutes about removing Charlene Sims from the planning commission because she was not opposed to solar development. Thies falsely claimed that during a emotionally charged meeting that Charlene Sims told anti-solar activists to “shut up,” and that Sims called the group “you people.”
The following Monday, Charlene Sims appeared before the commission to defend herself, reading from a prepared statement. McCullough made a move to stop her several times, but after Sims said she should have the right to defend herself, he let her continue and afterward apologized to her for trying to cut her off.
Charlene Sims knew that Daniel Earnest was against solar development because he said so in an open meeting and on Facebook. And there is no order preventing the Journal from using the name of any business in their articles.)
“I think that Charlene asking for all these KORA requests is very unprofessional,” McCullough said.
He said that Hamilton and the Thieses had made verbal complaints about how Charlene Sims acted toward them and charged that her comments weren’t true.
(Editor: For the record, the Journal staff has received considerable criticism on Facebook, profanity-laced emails, and in-your-face confrontations from leaders of the anti-solar movement. Why? Because we have taken the editorial stance that solar projects near the La Cygne power plant would be beneficial to the county and would expand the tax base.)
McCullough began reading from the beginning of the Journal’s Aug. 10 article on results of the KORA request.
He also put a slide on the overhead projector in the commission room showing a thread of a text conversation from his phone. He said in the thread he was answering a question from Rod Earnest, a taxpayer who had questions.
The Journal article indicated that it appeared that Johnson was at least watching the conversation.
“They’re going to have to answer for that one,” Johnson said.
The Journal also said that Johnson had been in almost daily contact with Mark Briggs, a leader of the anti-solar group.
“That’s another one she’ll answer or they’ll answer to,” Johnson said. “They stepped on my privacy rights.”
(Editor: Phone calls between Johnson and Briggs mostly just showed up as calls being made between their two phone numbers. However, in one instance Briggs sent a text to Johnson saying that Hightower was having a meal with a representative from EDF Renewables, one of the solar developers selected by Evergy.
Johnson sent a text back telling Briggs to use his phone to make a video of the meeting so the anti-solar group could put it on their Facebook page, a clear case of one commissioner looking to undermine another.
The meeting between Hightower and the solar development representative was not illegal and likely provided valuable information for Hightower. McCullough has said he would not meet with solar development representatives, instead preferring to get his information from the anti-solar group. Johnson apparently did not meet with any of the solar developers either.)
In a transcript of texts taken from Jim Johnson's phone (text highlighted in green), Feb. 2, 2024, he encourages solar-farm opponent Mark Briggs (phone number ending in 6802) to make a video of fellow Commissioner Jason Hightower while dining with a representative from EDF Renewables. A picture is instead taken and posted, and the text chain blows up.The timeline runs from the bottom to the top. (Kansas Open Record Act results/Linn County Sheriff's Office)
McCullough was particularly angry about the KORA request for his private phone. The request said that since he was receiving messages on both private and county phones during the open meeting, those messages should be a part of the public record.
“I’m a divorced, single dad, and I will keep my phone on me and nobody here will tell me differently,” McCullough said. “I own two businesses, and I run those businesses off my phone, so that doesn’t give anybody else the right to look at my personal phone.”
McCullough said he took a county phone when it was offered to him last January. However, most people still contact him on his private phone, a situation that is not his fault.
Looking back at the screen, McCullough showed a thread where he and Earnest were texting about terminating an employee.
“That’s not a fact either,” McCullough said.
“I don’t have Jim Johnson’s number in my phone,” he said. “I just don’t.”
Turning his attention back to the screen, he said, “Rod goes on. There’s one down here at the very bottom. There’s a number, and I don’t know whose number it is. I don’t have Jim Johnson’s number in my phone; 620-496-6550. Is that yours?”
“That’s mine,” Johnson said.
“What I see here is a ‘thumbs-up,’” said McCullough. “There is no communication here because he gave an acknowledgement to maybe a friend, maybe a pissed-off citizen.”
“What does thumbs-up mean?” Johnson asked.
“I have nothing to hide,” McCullough said. “I’m not running for commissioner anymore. I don’t delete nothing. Nobody gets my personal phone.”
“Her facts are bulls**t,” he added. “Nobody wants to be a damn commissioner in this county, anywhere in America, because of this bulls**t that goes on.”
“My personal opinion is they have an agenda against Jim,” McCullough continued. “They don’t like him. They wrote more articles about him than anybody else. They wanted to defame him so that he didn’t win his district again. If I were JIm, I would sue them like none other.”
Johnson said he wasn’t going to show his hand, but that the Simses will probably get some repercussions from what they put in the paper.
Although he said that he had differences with the Linn County News, McCullough said he believed that newspaper did a good job reporting the facts. But Johnson seemed to be more critical.
“I’ve been compared to Larry Hall multiple times in that paper in the public or opinion page of it,” Johnson said. “Multiple times I’ve been compared to Larry Hall, and you know, I don’t feel that I am. I’ve asked questions, I’ve asked hard questions a lot of times that people don’t want to answer. It’s just questions, you know, that I’m getting asked by people in the county.”
(Editor: While we have heard those comparisons as well, we have not made those comparison in either our stories on commission or in our editorials. For the record, our detailed coverage of commission meetings often puts Johnson in an unflattering light, not because we are “out to get him” but because we accurately portray his actions in the commission meetings.)
“Jason,” McCullough said to Hightower, “not picking on you, but imagine if when the whole eating dinner with the solar (representative) would have been. So Jim and I would have done that, I know there would have been an article over that about us.
“Jason, do they call and ask you for your opinion on things?” McCullough asked Hightower.
“She has reached out to me for an article, and I have returned her phone calls,” Hightower said.
“They haven’t called me in the last year,” McCullough said. “Before the whole solar thing started, all the time they were telling me I’m doing a good job before, when Jim and I weren’t seeing eye-to-eye, which is crazy to me.”
(Editor: In early 2024 when the solar issue began to arise, McCullough stopped answering or returning calls made by the Journal staff. After repeated calls went unanswered or were not returned, the staff simply stopped trying.)
McCullough then spoke about an incident earlier this summer where he and Johnson, without discussion in open meeting, voted to remove Hightower as commission chair. The vote came after it was revealed that Hightower had purposely suggested staff members not come to meetings to prevent bullying by commissioners.
“I think like they think that . . . Jim and I colluded together about trying to take over this chair spot again,” McCullough said. “That had nothing to do with it. I sat right here multiple times, and I felt like that if I went back to chair we could maybe try to get the meetings moving forward because of the nepotism thing that Jim has been high on about you and your wife.”
“I feel like the meetings have gone very well,” McCullough continued. “I’ve stated that two or three times sitting right here. I had nothing to do with Jim and I texted over. I don’t. I don’t have Jim’s number.”
(Editor: Johnson has made repeated attacks on Hightower about the fact that his wife, former economic development director Jessica Hightower, worked for the county as well. Voters in District 1 knew that Jason and Jessica were husband and wife and still elected him to the commissioner post by a wide margin. Because Jessica was under the supervision of Public Works Administrator Shaun West and Jason was not her immediate supervisor, it was not considered nepotism as Johnson has falsely claimed.
Once again, solar opponents have had a role in this. Because Commissioner Hightower has been open to solar development, the group of anti-solar activists led by Alison Hamilton and Eric and Emily Thies have placed a target on his back, hoping to unseat him. Johnson, who has curried favor with those leaders of the anti-solar group even though they are not in his district, has made several attempts to undermine a fellow commissioner.)
Hightower told McCullough that he had moved beyond that incident and was just trying to do his job.
“A good news source should be credible and accurate,” McCullough said. “A good news source should write about what is relevant in the county, and they should be diverse in their coverage.”
“And write the facts,” Johnson said.
“They should be doing investigations to find the facts,” McCullough said.
“It isn’t about opinion, it’s about facts,” Johnson added.
“By doing this, I’m probably bringing them more publicity than they deserve because they only have 10 readers on each post. So, you’re welcome.”
(Editor: We agree that a good new source should be credible and accurate, and we make every effort to do so. But a good news source should also offer opinion when it’s needed. When we do offer opinion, we clearly make that known by putting it in a special section and labeling it as such. Admittedly, some of our stories have less than a couple of dozen readers. But others may average 300 readers a day, and over the last month, more than 2,800 readers have visited our website.
We strive to maintain a high level of journalistic integrity. And we do investigative reporting. That is why we filed the Kansas Open Meetings Act requests. We sensed that there were things that were going on, not just behind the closed doors of executive sessions but outside of the commission chambers. So we decided to take that extra step and investigate, realizing that there could be retribution for that action. And it appears that our concerns were well-founded.)
Discussion then turned to the issue of Charlene Sims position on the planning commission. In a move spurred by the Journal’s KORA request, McCullough made the motion to remove her from that board, a motion that got a second from Johnson.
McCullough also claimed that Sims was using inside information from her position on the commission and that she was bullying other commission members.
Johnson spent several minutes pressuring (several people who have seen the video of the meeting would call it bullying) Hightower to vote to remove Sims, but Hightower refused to do so.
Mound City resident Mike White stepped up to the podium to deny claims from Hightower that he had bullied him and to say that Sims had called other commission members to find out whether he was talking to them about solar issues. White was removed from the commission earlier this year because of complaints about bullying and working against the county regulations that he and Johnson had approved.)
In the final vote, the commission voted 2 to 1 to remove Sims from the planning commission, with Hightower casting the dissenting vote. Shortly after the vote, the meeting adjourned.
(Editor: Sims did contact a couple of other commission members last year to ask if David Fisher, who at that time was not a commission member but was later appointed by Johnson, had contacted them to push them to vote against solar development. She did not ask about White, nor did she try to pressure those members either way on the solar issue. A 20-plus year veteran of the planning commission, Sims has been a voice of reason and experience, and people who know her would be surprised at the accusation of bullying.
The planning commission rarely has cause to go into an executive session. As such, Sims was not privy to inside information that could be printed on the Journal’s website. All of the information was discussed in open session.)
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