Michael Capps is an American politician who was born in Wichita, Kansas. A Republican, he was a member of the Kansas House of Representatives for the 85th district from 2018 to 2021.
Early life and family Capps was born in 1978.Potter, Tim: "Abandoned Republican with issues wins Wichita-area legislative race," November 6, 2018, Wichita Eagle, retrieved September 11, 2021"Michael Capps (R-Kansas House District 95)," October 17, 2016, Kansas State Network, retrieved September 11, 2021Lutz, Bob: column: "Bob Lutz: How Mike Capps became more than a big brother," September 25, 2015, Sports section, Wichita Eagle, retrieved September 11, 2021 In profile interviews, he reported that he was born and raised in the northwest Wichita suburb of Valley Center, by a single mother, and never knew his biological father until age 18. As a kid, he said, he participated in wrestling, but was not interested in sports, and preferred involvement with computers, software and gadgets. He reported graduating high school in 1996, subsequently becoming involved with his church, "mentoring disciple students."
Four years later, he joined the U.S. Air Force, serving around the globe, including in combat situations in the Middle East, until 2003. He indicated he was a radio operator on C-130 transports, including in combat service during the events of 9/11.
Capps reported that, when he returned to Kansas, he again became involved in his church. At age 27, he became a single father to a seven-year-old boy who was assigned to him while Capps volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters in 2005. Capps adopted the boy - the son of a disabled, terminally ill mother. However, she entered remission, and by mutual arrangement remained engaged with her son, who lived with his adoptive father, Capps, until adulthood.
Business activity Capps engaged in various businesses, particularly in computers and business consulting. He founded Integrated Technologies of Kansas ("itKansas" or "ITK"), a computer services firm, reportedly in 2005 (another report says 2008).Heck, Josh: "Integrated Technologies of Kansas sold," September 21, 2015, Wichita Business Journal, retrieved September 11, 2021 The firm developed experience working in federal government support.Sheridan, Jimmy: "Cybertron, Aiming At Cloud Services Market, Buys ITKansas," September 23, 2015, CRN retrieved September 11, 2021 In 2015, Capps sold ITK to Cybertron International, Inc., a larger local computer services firm, and became Cybertron's employee, as vice president of technology services, for less than a year."Non-Compete Pact Survives Chapter 7 Discharge," July 30, 2018, BloombergLaw
In 2016, Capps reported that he was the CEO of Ray Alan and Associates, Inc., a "business coaching and consulting firm" serving "small business owners."
Electoral career
2016 In 2016, Capps ran for the Kansas House of Representatives for the 95th District against incumbent Democrat Tom Sawyer. Each was unopposed in the primary. Sawyer won with 54.4% against 45.5% of the vote for Capps."Kansas 95th District State House Results: Tom Sawyer Wins," August 1, 2017, New York Times, retrieved September 11, 2021Caudillo, Angela, Election Commissioner: "November 8, 2016 General Election - State Representative 95TH DISTRICT.htm," last updated November 21, 2016, Sedgwick County Election Office, retrieved September 11, 20212016 General Election Official Results, Kansas Secretary of State. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
2018 In 2018, Capps filed to run for the seat in Kansas House District 97, using an address on South Chase Street, in south Wichita.
But, several months before the election, Chuck Weber, the incumbent Representative for House District 85 - a staunchly Republican district that includes parts of north Wichita, plus suburbs to the north (Bel Aire and Kechi) and Benton northeast of Wichita - decided to withdraw from his run for re-election.
Capps changed his campaign filing, and ran for the District 85 seat, instead, reporting his address as 3103 North Governeour, Wichita, with a mailing address of 6505 E Central Ave #110.Candidates for the 2018 General (unofficial), Kansas Secretary of State. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
When Capps said he lived at the Governeour street address, a home which had been scheduled to be sold at auction on June 27, 2018, Democrats complained it was not Capps' true address. However, the state Objections Board, all Republicans - Lieutenant Governor Tracey Mann, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach - refused to uphold the complaint.
In 2018, Capps reported that he was endorsed by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, and Kansans for Life.
During the summer before the election, incumbent Weber resigned his 85th District seat in the Legislature, effective July 14, 2018. The Sedgwick County Republican Central Committee appointed candidate Capps to fill the remainder of Weber's 85th District term, while Capps was running for that seat, though the legislature did not meet during those months.GOP appoints Michael Capps to empty Kansas House seat; Democrats push for grand jury probe, Wichita Eagle, Chance Swaim, July 21, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
Abuse allegations Not long after Capps's appointment to the vacant seat, allegations of child abuse surfaced. The Kansas GOP cut ties with Capps after it was revealed that the Kansas Department of Children and Families (DCF) had found him responsible for emotional abuse of boys, in 2017, in his work as a volunteer Court-appointed special advocate (CASA). Capps denied the allegations, countering that the agency had investigated him in retaliation for his reporting of a foster parent's misconduct. (The agency's findings against Capps were reversed by the state Office of Administrative Hearings, which found them "unsubstantiated", and cited DCF procedural errors). The local CASA office said it suspended Capps from his role. He resigned from CASA, and was subsequently decertified from the work.Kansas GOP Cuts Ties With Michael Capps After Child Abuse Accusations Surface, KCUR, Stephen Bisaha, August 31, 2018. Retrieved November 4, 2019."Kansas lawmaker accused of child abuse, tries to clear name," August 30, 2018, KAKE-TV retrieved September 10, 2021
Republican Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, Ron Ryckman Jr., asked him to withdraw from the November election race for his District 85 seat. "Unfortunately, he has chosen to remain a candidate," the party's letter said. "Mr. Capps has been made aware that his decision to stay in the race is not supported by the Kansas Republican Party."
State House elections Capps won the 2018 election with 54% of the vote, to 46% for Democrat Monica Marks,Kansas House of Representatives District 85, Ballotpedia. Retrieved November 4, 2019. but remained ostracized by his own party. In 2020, he lost the Republican primary to Patrick Penn, who received 74.4%, 3,349 votes., Ballotpedia. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
2019 Capps was sworn in to serve a full two-year term as a Kansas State Representative on January 14. 2019. Prior to the start of the 2019 legislative session, Capps pre-filed his first piece of legislation, HB 2025, aimed at including a person who has filed a petition for adoption in the definition of an interested party in the child in need of care code. While HB 2025 never emerged from committee, Capps spoke frequently during the 2018 election campaign on the importance of reforming the Kansas Department of Children and Families. Capps also introduced HB 2285, a bill creating the Kansas legal tender act; providing for sales exemption from and modification for sales of specie legal tender. This was ultimately consolidated into other legislation passed in the 2019 session.
The Kansas Policy Institute gave him a 94% fiscally conservative evaluation in 2019.
2019 Wichita mayoral election slander allegations Attack ad project During a contested Wichita mayoral runoff nonpartisan election to be held on November 5, 2019, in an attack on the challenging candidate, Brandon Whipple, a Democrat, a salacious video appeared on-line.Mystery company targets Whipple with allegation originally made against Republicans, Wichita Eagle, Dion Lefler and Chance Swaim, October 17, 2019. The anonymously produced and circulated video was created by Matthew Colborn at the behest of Wichita Republican political officeholders.Man behind ‘Protect Wichita Girls’ video breaks silence, KWCH, Alex Flippin and Lily Wu, August 28, 2020. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
The video made a false claim of sexual harassment against Whipple. The allegation had, in fact, been copied word-for-word from an actual claim, made against an anonymous Republican state senator in a Kansas City Star article two years earlier.Political smear ad accused Kansas Democratic lawmaker of sexual misconduct actually involving Republican, Washington Post, Katie Shepherd, October 30, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.Rep. Capps can't explain why his firm's listed as creator of anti-Whipple fake-ad site, Wichita Eagle, Dion Lefler and Chance Swaim, November 1, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
Cover-up Elaborate covers had allegedly been implemented by the perpetrators of the smear against Whipple, in Wyoming and New Mexico, where state laws permit registered agents for mail forwarders and corporation principals to conceal the actual identities of the parties they represent.Swaim, Chance and Dion Lefler: Anatomy of a smear campaign, Part 2: 'Sleaze with a capital S', July 6, 2020, Wichita Eagle, retrieved October 2, 2020. An investigation by the Wichita Eagle revealed that the producer of the defamation was Capps. The video had been filmed a downtown Wichita office building that Capps shared with Wichita City Councilman James Clendenin, an alleged ally of the then-incumbent mayor, Jeff Longwell.
After the Sedgwick County, Kansas Republican party chair, Dalton Glasscock, publicly called for Capps to resign, Capps then falsely claimed, less than two days before the November 2019 election, that it was Glasscock who had actually approved the production of the video, an allegation which Glasscock denied.GOP lawmaker accuses county Republican chair of approving ad against mayoral candidate, Wichita Eagle, Dion Lefler and Chance Swaim, November 3, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.Andres, Craig: "Rep. Michael Capps has new allegations against local party chairman," Nov 4, 2019 (Updated Nov 5, 2019), Kansas State Network, retrieved September 11, 2021.
However, in August 2020, Colborn originally said that he was first approached by Glasscock to make the video, for which he was given a script and promised $20,000 for the work. Colborn further said that Capps had nothing to do with the making of the video, but that Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O'Donnell, provided him with the intended script. Colborn said he was paid by a $10,000 check drawn on a firm owned by Capps. Glasscock truthfully denied any role in the making of the video.
When a Wichita Eagle reporter went to the claimed Capps' residence in the wake of the October 2019 accusations about the fabricated attack video against Whipple, an unidentified young man living in the home said he was "house sitting" and hadn't seen Capps "in a while."Sedgwick County Republican Party calls on GOP Rep. Michael Capps to resign over video, Wichita Eagle, Chance Swaim and Dion Lefler, November 1, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
Initial lawsuit