Three Wyandotte County officials are being investigated and could be charged with misdemeanors for appearing in a presentation promoting Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., one of four gaming companies vying to become operators of a Wyandotte County casino.

The three commissioners of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, are Donald DeSeure, Bill Miller and Ann-Brandau-Murguia. The trio appeared in the computer presentation, which was shown Wednesday to the Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board, the group that will award contracts to gaming companies who will manage state-owned casinos.

The investigation will be based on a provision in the Expanded Lottery Act that forbids public officials from attempting to influence gaming regulators, a provision that has been criticized by some legislators. An attorney general’s opinion issued in April interpreted the provision to mean that public officials couldn’t attempt to influence gaming regulators in their official capacity, but could do so as private citizens.

Some legislators believe the provision and the attorney general’s opinion would affect the ability of the Kansas Legislature to engage in oversight of an enterprise purportedly owned by the state, thus ceding that responsibility to non-elected officials.

The investigation was launched despite a disclaimer in the presentation that indicated the county officials were speaking as private citizens, not as commissioners.

“This is exactly what we’ve been fearing,” said Rep. Arlen Siegfried, an Olathe Republican and a critic of the provision since the issue first arose in April.

Siegfried said it was his belief and the belief of many other lawmakers that the legislative intent of the provision was to forbid elected officials from improperly influencing regulators behind closed doors to secure an outcome that would personally benefit them.

“This was part of a public presentation made during a public hearing – how could you get any more public and up-front than that?”

Siegfried reiterated his intent, if re-elected, to either persuade the legislature to re-open SB 66 so the provision could be re-written, or to seek a revision in the attorney general’s opinion.

“The way it’s been foolishly interpreted by the attorney general (the provision) criminalizes the normal activities of elected officials representing the best interests of their districts,” he said.

Sen. Karin Brownlee, an Olathe Republican who like Siegfried is a member of the joint legislative committee in which the issue first arose, also would like to see the provision clarified or refined. But she questioned whether the Wyandotte County officials acted appropriately in appearing in the presentation, regardless of the fact that they emphasized they were speaking as private citizens.

Brownlee said appearing in a presentation on behalf of one of four contenders for a Wyandotte County casino license, as opposed to promoting the county as a site for a casino, could give at least an appearance of impropriety.

The three Wyandotte County commissioners who are the target of the investigation did not return phone calls.

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