House select committee reviews evidence in complaint against Rep. Ford Carr; Carr objects under Mason’s Manual

A House select committee met in Topeka on Feb. 20, 2025, to review videos, documents and news articles submitted in a complaint alleging disorderly conduct by Representative Ford Carr (R-Wichita). During the session, Carr formally objected and moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the allegations did not comply with the procedures in Mason’s Manual governing "use of disorderly words in debate." The committee proceeded to play recorded video evidence while taking Carr’s objection under advisement.

The hearing centered on excerpts from floor remarks, several videos of an incident at the Celtic Fox on Jan. 22, 2025, and newspaper articles that the committee chair said were partly excluded because portions constituted hearsay or were redundant to video evidence. The chair explained a narrow hearsay exception under Kansas evidence law for prior statements by persons present at the hearing and said quoted statements attributed to Carr in some articles were preserved because Carr is available to testify.

Carr told the committee he objected because the complaint did not follow the procedural requirements he said Mason’s Manual lays out for handling alleged disorderly words, including that alleged words be "taken down" and placed on the record and that a timely objection be made on the floor. "There have been no words that were taken down," Carr said, and he argued that several of the manual’s steps—including a body vote and offering the member an opportunity to explain—had not occurred on the House floor. He asked the committee to dismiss the complaint "with prejudice."

The committee chair replied that Carr’s objection would be taken under advisement and that the hearing would continue with the evidence the parties submitted. The committee played a composite video of admissible clips and displayed a table of contents of the submitted materials. The chair told members that both parties will testify at a later date and that written testimony from additional legislators would also be considered.

Much of the hearing also reviewed documents surrounding the incident and subsequent disciplinary letters. The committee read a May 26, 2023, letter from the Speaker and Speaker pro tem notifying Carr that his April 28, 2023, floor remarks related to Quindaro Ruins funding were considered disorderly under Mason’s Manual section 121. The record also included Carr’s May 30, 2023, response letter rejecting the reprimand and asserting his statements were protected and that the complaint was a "futile attempt to silence" him as a Black lawmaker.

In introductions and questions, committee members sought clarification about which submitted videos originated the complaint and who recorded them; the chair said both parties had submitted videos and that authorship may be clarified when witnesses testify. The chair also noted the committee would consider after the hearing any objections to evidence exclusions raised by either party.

The committee did not vote during the Feb. 20 session. The chair set the next hearing for Thursday at noon and said he would seek a larger room for the next meeting, when both parties are scheduled to testify and when committee members will review additional written materials.

The record from the hearing includes video and documentary exhibits, two published letters (one from House leadership and Carr’s reply), and a composite video of the Celtic Fox incident. The committee’s procedural ruling about excluding redundant newspaper reporting and applying the Kansas hearsay exception means quoted statements attributed to Carr in preserved documents remain in the evidentiary bundle and may be tested when Carr and other witnesses testify.

The committee’s continuation date and the chair’s instruction that objections to excluded evidence be submitted after the hearing leave the formal disposition of Carr’s objection unresolved as of Feb. 20.