KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Police reform has been a topic of discussion recently in Topeka, and now the issue has been brought into Kansas' 2nd Congressional District race.
Republican state Treasurer Jake LaTurner and Democratic Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla are running against each other in the open race.
LaTurner's campaign has aired an ad on television that labels De La Isla as a radical. The ad features a clip from the Democrat making comments about defunding the police.
De La Isla's campaign is accusing LaTurner's campaign of heavily editing the mayor's words and taking them out of context. Her campaign started airing ads in response on the topic of defunding.
In an Aug. 18 news conference, De La Isla said she wanted to set the record straight on a newspaper interview where she talked about the topic of defunding.
Here's a transcription of De La Isla's comments from that day: "I expressed that defunding the police was a very bad marketing term because what it means is what the city of Topeka has been doing as practices for the last two years."
According to the Brookings Institution, defunding means reallocating or redirecting funding away from the police department and into other government agencies. Defunding does not mean to abolish funding, according to the group's definition.
During the August news conference De La Isla addressed concerns that she supported defunding police.
"I will say, we are not defunding the police department," De La Isla said at the time.
The Topeka Democrat said that as proof the city was not defunding their police, the City Council recently approved $20,000 for the police department. Council minutes show the approved money would address homelessness and mental health issues.
LaTurner campaign spokesperson Kara Zeyer responded in a statement through text:
“It looks like Mayor De La Isla has finally figured out how deeply unpopular her past statements and actions to defund the police are and how badly it is harming her campaign. Unfortunately for the mayor, her newfound realization doesn’t change what she’s said and done.”
The LaTurner campaign added in a news release that De La Isla's actions speak louder than her words and that during her time as mayor, cuts have been made to the Topeka Police Department.
41 Action News contacted the De La Isla campaign for comment on the latest release. Campaign manager Stephanie Houghton sent this statement in response:
"Mr. LaTurner is becoming increasingly desperate as more lies and deception are brought to light. Kansas won't fall for it. The facts are that under her leadership as Mayor, the Topeka Police Department's budget has increased by $5 million. It is left up to the Police Chief to distribute that budget within his department."
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