A formal complaint was filed with the Kansas Attorney General's Office in reaction to Senate President Susan Wagle's actions last Wednesday (May 29) when a group of protesters disrupted a Senate meeting about Medicaid Expansion legislation.

According to the complaint, nine protesters were arrested, but the news media were also removed, clearing the Senate gallery and removing the news media because they said reporters were providing publicity or an audience for the protesters. President of the Kansas Sunshine Coalition for Open Government, Ron Keefover, tells us what happened.
 

The complaint against Wagle was filed on behalf of the Kansas Sunshine Coalition for Open Government, the Kansas Press Association, the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, and the Kansas Institute for Government Transparency for being in violation of the State of Kansas Constitution, the Senate's own rules, and the Kansas Open Meetings Act (or KOMA) which declares it public policy “that meetings for the conduct of governmental affairs and the transaction of governmental business be open to the public.” (click to read more about KOMA).