A former aide to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) reportedly confronted a teacher for mentioning the governor in a way he felt was unprofessional during a Model United Nations competition on Monday.
Witnesses told the Topeka Capital-Journal that David Kensinger, a lobbyist who is a longtime Brownback adviser and former staffer of the governor’s, was “badgering” and “hostile” toward Model UN coordinator Jenay Weekly, who told the newspaper that she felt bullied by Kensinger.
The Capital-Journal found just one direct reference to Brownback in a copy of Weekly’s speech at the competition. Weekly went over the history of the Topeka Model UN before noting that then-Sen. Brownback had once delivered the keynote address. “We felt pretty proud when we were able to secure his participation,” she said. “Who could have known?”
Weekly also referenced the state’s budget cuts in the context of the Model UN’s lack of funding from the Topeka school district, according to the newspaper.
In an email to the Capital-Journal, Kensinger didn’t elaborate on what he called “unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” during Weekly’s speech. Instead, he said that he confronted Weekly as a parent who believed she had “compromised the educational environment for the students.”
Those who witnessed the bizarre confrontation told the newspaper that Kensinger made them feel uncomfortable. Marty Stessman, the superintendent of the Shawnee Heights School District, later reached out to the Topeka-Journal to say that he “was concerned that it might be inappropriate for a lobbyist to berate a teacher.”
As of last fall, Kensinger was reportedly being investigated by the FBI for receiving financial compensation from insurance companies involved in Brownback’s health care reform.
A Brownback spokesperson didn’t respond to the Topeka-Journal’s request for comment on the incident.
This post has been updated.
