Experts say a central Kansas police chief was on legally shaky ground when he ordered the raid of a weekly newspaper
. Recent events have exposed roiling divisions over local politics and the newspaper's aggressive coverage. But it also focused an intense spotlight on Cody in only his third month on the job.
“I would be surprised if they are not looking at this, if they haven’t already been asked by various interests to look at it, and I would think they would take it seriously,” McAllister, a University of Kansas law professor who also served as the state's solicitor general, said of federal officials. The Record is known for its aggressive coverage of local politics and its community about 150 miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri. It received an outpouring of support from other news organizations and media groups after the raid, and Editor and Publisher Eric Meyer said Friday that it had picked up 4,000 additional subscribers, which is double its normal press run.
Meyer said that after the mayor offered Cody the police chief's job in late April, the newspaper received anonymous tips on “a variety of tales” about why Cody gave up a Kansas City position paying $115,848 a year to take a job paying $60,000, according to a sister paper. Meyer said the newspaper could not verify the tips to its satisfaction.
Anstaett said he believes the state's shield law for journalists, enacted in 2010 by the Republican-controlled Legislature, should have protected the paper. It allows law enforcement agencies to seek subpoenas to obtain confidential information from news organizations, but it requires them to show that they have a compelling interest and can't obtain it in another way.
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