TOPEKA, Kan. – According to the statement, he taunted the Highway Patrol trooper who arrested him and called the officer “donut boy.”
The move against Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop would be the first time in at least several decades that a Kansas legislative leader faced an ouster vote before the end of his or her term.
He stepped away from most of his duties as majority leader after his March 16 arrest in Topeka after he was stopped on Interstate 70 for driving the wrong way.
The 69-year-old Suellentrop holds the state Senate’s second-highest leadership job, and the majority leader decides which proposals are debated each day. He was set to hold the job through 2024.
Suellentrop faces five counts, including a felony fleeing to avoid arrest and a misdemeanor driving under the influence charge. The Highway Patrol officer’s affidavit said Suellentrop’s blood-alcohol level after his arrest was .17, more than twice the legal limit in Kansas of .08.
