Lacey Cruse criticizes Sedgwick County’s $25K probe into her Facebook post accusations

Sedgwick County ordered a $25,000 forensic audit to look into Commissioner Lacey Cruse’s Facebook post that alleged corruption by the county manager, county commissioners and the county’s on-call real estate agent in a proposed downtown Wichita land deal.

Then it released the findings that refuted Cruse’s claims on Election Day as Cruse, a Democrat, squared off against Republican Ryan Baty. Cruse lost by more than 1,500 votes.

Cruse, whose term ends in January, is questioning the timing of the audit and called it a waste of time and taxpayer money.

“Of course they didn’t find anything wrong because it was stopped before it could start,” Cruse told The Eagle in a written statement. “We all knew that without the need to spend $25k.”

Still, County Manager Tom Stolz said the audit, conducted by the Forvis consulting group, was necessary to clear up charges leveled by Cruse that were so serious they could threaten the county’s credit rating and reputation, potentially costing Sedgwick County taxpayers more than $25,000 in the long run. Stolz said the auditors completed the report on Monday afternoon and that the county held off on releasing a statement until Tuesday afternoon to avoid the appearance of trying to influence the election or withhold it until after the election was over.

“We had an allegation made publicly — and not by some anonymous citizen but by a sitting commissioner — and we take those seriously,” Stolz told The Eagle. “She has a right to be heard, and if she makes an allegation, we have an obligation to investigate.”

Cruse, facing calls for her to resign after she was banned from an Old Town nightclub for making racially insensitive comments to a bartender, posted a 2,000 word Facebook statement on Sept. 7 calling out what she said she perceived as the start of a “backroom deal.”

Cruse accused county staff of “supply-side corruption” and giving “undue advantage” to Lange Realty — the county’s on-call real estate agent and one of two private businesses that provided free private flights to Commissioners David Dennis and Sarah Lopez in April — on a proposed sale of a county-owned parking lot at Second and St. Francis.

Lange Realty asked Assistant County Manager Tania Cole in August whether the county would be interested in selling the lot, which is one of the largest free parking lots in downtown Wichita, the audit report says.

About two weeks later, Stolz asked commissioners whether they would be interested in putting it up for sale.

Cruse said the question “set off bright red flags.” The parking lot is used primarily by Wave — an entertainment venue and bar owned by Wichita developers Dave Burk, Dave Wells, Jerry Jones, Pat Do and Steve Barrett — which had previously expressed interest in renting or buying the parking lot.

On Aug. 31, the day after her conversation with Stolz, Cruse told one of the owners of Wave — who is not identified in the audit — that Lange was interested in buying the lot, the audit report says.

“When I called this whole thing out, (Stolz) got so defensive that shot up all the red flags,” Cruse said. “I felt like I had no other choice but to make it public.”

A week later, Cruse shared her concerns on Facebook after a county commission meeting where Republican state Rep. Patrick Penn spoke during the public comment session and called on Cruse to resign.

The audit report largely reiterated statements county officials made to The Wichita Eagle in September disputing Cruse’s accusations. Under county policy, the land would have gone to the highest bidder in an open competition. Neither the county nor Lange did anything wrong, the audit found. And Sedgwick County had no obligation to negotiate a deal with Wave owners.

“Given the County’s established policies and procedures, the intent to sell the Coleman parking lot would have been publicly noticed and would be open to the participation of all interested parties,” the auditors wrote. “The successful buyer would be the buyer with the highest offer. Therefore, it appears that the fact that Lange Realty reached out to the County personnel to inquire about the County’s desire to sell the Coleman parking lot would not afford Lange Realty any inside track or unfair or undue advantage should the Commissioners decide to sell the parking lot.”

Cruse said in her September Facebook post that “regardless of a competitive bid or putting this up for sale, the Lange Group will have an inside advantage as the on-call real estate agent to the county. They were the reason for this discussion and why it may hit the marketplace soon.”

The Forvis report further explained Cruse’s reasoning for her Facebook post.

“The Commissioner stated to FORVIS that she really did not know what happened with the discussions regarding the Coleman parking lot between WAVE and the County,” the report says. “Her main concern was that, on the surface, ending negotiations or talks with the WAVE and then abruptly discussing potentially selling the property just because the County’s on-call realtor asked gives the perception of impropriety.”

Cruse, in her statement to The Eagle, indicated she believes the audit was retaliation for speaking out against what she saw as the beginnings of a backroom deal and not backing down once her colleagues denied the accusations, based on an email from Lindsay Poe Rousseau, the county’s chief financial officer.

“Each year as part of our financial audit, we must disclose any known concerns regarding our finances/County assets,” Poe Rousseau told Cruse in an Oct. 12 email. “We attempted to address the corruption concerns at a Commission meeting a few weeks ago, but since those concerns were still voiced publicly after that, management has an obligation to address those concerns in anticipation of the upcoming financial audit. As such, we engaged with the auditor on contract to investigate those concerns.”

“What this statement says to me is ‘if you would’ve kept your mouth shut, nothing else would’ve happened,’” Cruse said.

Cruse said her Facebook post did not warrant an investigation by the county.

“$25k to look into a Facebook post by a Commissioner who was calling out the beginnings of corruption is a waste of funds and time and shows what the Management of this county is really focused on,” Cruse said in her written statement.

Cruse renewed her calls for an investigation into the death of Cedric “CJ” Lofton, a 17-year-old foster child killed by county employees while being restrained face down for about 40 minutes in the juvenile lockup.

“I wish the county would stop trying to save itself and start trying to do what’s right for the public,” Cruse said. “Investigate the death of CJ Lofton already. We were able to hurry an investigation into a Facebook post but not when a child died in county custody.”

Cruse was critical of how the audit was ordered.

“The audit was called for by Tom (Stolz) behind closed doors and (the auditor) was told to hurry with the results,” Cruse said.

Because the forensic audit cost less than $50,000, it did not require approval from commissioners during an open meeting.

It’s unlikely that the audit affected the election. The county sent out a news release on the findings at 4:44 p.m. on Tuesday and did not release the full report until after polls closed, as election results rolled in. It received no news coverage on Election Day.

But a portion of the audit report had already been disclosed in a Facebook post by Commission Chairman David Dennis on the eve of the election. It’s not clear how many people saw it.

“The report is lengthy; however, the conclusions are clear that she was grasping at straws in her effort to be re-elected,” Dennis wrote.

Lopez, the other Democrat on the county commission, defended the audit in an interview with The Eagle.

“We had to do this,” Lopez said. “You can’t have someone like a commissioner or someone from top management within the county calling everybody corrupt and then not look into it. I mean, not looking into it would be significantly worse than having that checked out to make sure everything was fine.”