On June 29, the three members of the committee seeking to recall Bourbon County Clerk Susan Walker filed a reply urging the judge to let them rejoin the lawsuit they had previously been dismissed from, so they can defend the petition they started. The lawsuit is one Walker brought to block the recall.
The filing (from Kyle R. Parks, Kevin Wagner, and Lyle K. Owenby, represented by Wichita attorney Patrick B. Hughes) answers Walker’s objection to their request to “intervene,” or formally join the case. Their core argument: Walker’s own response “confirms, rather than defeats, the basis for intervention.”
The members’ filing makes several points:
- They are joining as individuals, not as a “recall committee,” so Walker’s argument that a committee cannot sue or be sued does not apply. Walker, they note, concedes that “as individuals, they have that capacity.”
- Even though Walker’s amended lawsuit no longer names them, it still asks the court to declare their petition invalid and to block any recall election — which, as a practical matter, affects them under K.S.A. 60-224, the state law on joining a lawsuit.
- As the people who signed and filed the petition, they have a specific interest “no other Bourbon County resident” shares — a role K.S.A. 25-4322 assigns to the recall committee.
- County Attorney James Crux, the official Walker sued, cannot stand in for them, because he cannot raise their own free-speech and petition defense under the Kansas Public Speech Protection Act (K.S.A. 60-5320).
As a practical matter, the fact that they are no longer a party to the lawsuit prevents the committee members from trying to get Walker to pay for their legal fees, something they had previously requested. The anti-SLAPP fee provision (K.S.A. 60-5320(g)) they invoked would require them to be a party to the lawsuit from which they were dismissed on May 29.
The judge has not ruled on the request to rejoin or on the petition’s validity. The case is in its scheduling stage, and organizers have until July 26 to gather the roughly 2,374 signatures required to put the recall on a ballot.
Being named in a lawsuit is not a finding of wrongdoing, and the filings described here reflect each party’s arguments, not the court’s conclusions. FortScott.biz will continue to follow the case.
Timeline and documents
For readers who want the fuller history, here are the key filings and our prior coverage, in order:
- May 22, 2026 — Walker sues County Attorney Crux and the three committee members. (Our story)
- May 28, 2026 — Walker narrows the suit and drops the committee members. (Our story · amended petition)
- May 29, 2026 — The committee is dismissed; member Wagner fights back. (Our story)
- June 9, 2026 — The three members move to intervene and seek to dismiss the suit. (Our story)
- June 18, 2026 — County Attorney Crux consents to the members joining.
- June 23, 2026 — Crux files his answer and a motion for judgment on the pleadings; Walker opposes the members joining.
- June 29, 2026 — The committee files its reply in support of joining the case. (newest filing)
Background: the recall petition and the clerk’s public statement on the recall.
Read the newest filing: Kyle R. Parks, Kevin Wagner and Lyle K. Owenby’s Reply in Support of Motion to Intervene (PDF), filed June 29, 2026 in Bourbon County District Court, Case No. BB-2026-CV-000048.