Harry L. "Butch" Felker III (September 13, 1945 – January 3, 2008) was an American

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and former

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...

who served two full terms and one portion of a term, resigning in 2003 due to political pressure as a result of a scandal. Felker lived in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

his whole life, having attended Topeka public schools and then

Washburn University Washburn University (WU), formally Washburn University of Topeka, is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs as well as professional programs in law and business. The university enroll ...

, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1967. He subsequently attended Washburn School of Law where he earned his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 1972. Following college, he first entered in the public life as the elected parks and Recreation commissioner of Topeka, a position he held from 1975 to 1985. He subsequently ran for mayor in 1989 and served for two terms before resigning due to health problems in 1997. In 2001, he ran for mayor again and served until 2003 before resigning amid a scandal. After leaving office, he ran the nonprofit Heartland Park Foundation.

Scandal and resignation

In 2002, Felker was investigated by the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission who charged him with six counts of violating the state's

campaign finance Campaign financealso called election finance, political donations, or political financerefers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Donors and recipients include individuals, corpor ...

laws. This included allegations that employees of the Topeka Convention and Visitors Bureau filed false travel expense reports and subsequently donated the money to Felker's re-election campaign. The sources of these donations were also not properly documented by the campaign. In July 2003, he pleaded guilty to three ethics violations and two other ethics charges were subsequently dropped. He was fined $7,500. As a result of those violations, and of other alleged misconduct, the Shawnee County district attorney, Robert Hecht, brought an ouster trial against Felker and suspended him from work on October 10, 2003. The trial had been scheduled for November 17, 2003, although it was cancelled after Felker resigned from office on November 6. Duane Pomeroy, his deputy mayor, became the acting mayor following his resignation and during his suspension. In 2005, a second ethical complaint on the same incident was filed by a Kansas state disciplinary panel, this time alleging that he broke rules of professional conduct for lawyers.

External links

Topeka Capital-Journal article, ''Felker ethical complaint filed'' about 2005 ethical complaintTopeka Capital-Journal index of resignation-related articles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felker, Butch Mayors of Topeka, Kansas 1945 births 2008 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Kansas 21st-century mayors of places in Kansas