Jackson County chair alleges legislators approached with bribes

KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics in Kansas, Missouri and at the local level. Share your story idea with Charlie.

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Jackson County Legislative Chairman Manny Abarca alleged Thursday that a legislative aide offered him a $10,000 campaign “donation” in exchange for a vote.

Abarca made the allegations during a news conference on Thursday morning.

“The reality of this situation is this is very, very bad for Jackson County,” Abarca claimed.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forté said he received a phone call from Abarca on Wednesday night, during which Abarca told him about "allegations of corruption involving several elected officials and other individuals."

Forté said he asked Abarca to document the allegations and send him an email, which Forté said he did Thursday morning. Forté said he told Abarca that a member of the sheriff's office would contact him to set up a time to meet.

"Since that time, Sheriff's Office personnel have made numerous attempts to meet with Legislator Abarca to obtain information, complete a formal report, and ask questions necessary to assess the allegations," Forté said in the statement around 4 p.m. Thursday. "As of the issuance of this statement, Legislator Abarca has not responded to those requests or made himself available to investigators."

Forté says his office remains ready to meet with Abarca "at his earliest convenience to receive any additional information he may have."

As part of his announcement earlier Thursday, Abarca said he was suspending his campaign for Jackson County executive to focus on the investigation of the alleged bribe.

“I will be suspending campaign operations at this point because my focus has to be the chairman of the legislature and lead this investigation,” Abarca said, adding that he was not withdrawing as a candidate.

A spokesperson for the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said they had not been sent any case files related to the investigation.

“We stand ready to review any such investigation law enforcement refers to us for possible charges,” the prosecutor’s spokesperson said.

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