A cease and desist letter has been sent to Judge F. William Cullins by the Kansas Commission on Judicial Conduct. The veteran judge, known for his experience and expertise in the Kansas judicial community, is facing allegations of unethical behavior.
An Independence attorney has filed a complaint against Cullins, alleging that he tried to manipulate a local judicial race in 2022.
The commission discovered that Cullins breached state judicial ethics rules when he actively sought funds and made campaign donations to fellow candidates. The complaint stems from a phone conversation in which Cullins urged the opposing attorney in the Republican primary to consider a move to a recently established judgeship.
Cullins and the attorney have differing recollections of their conversation, but one thing is clear: Cullins’ retirement benefits hinged on serving eight more years as a judge. With the possibility of losing these benefits if he were to be defeated in the 2022 elections, Cullins put forth the idea of providing financial support and campaign contributions to convince the attorney to change races.
The judicial conduct panel has unanimously determined that Cullins’ actions have breached ethical rules. As a result, Cullins has been instructed to refrain from engaging in any more prohibited solicitation of funds or contributions to other candidates.
Cullins has been under scrutiny before. Complaints about abusive language and conduct resulted in a 60-day suspension in 2021. However, Cullins met the reinstatement criteria and was reinstated in 2022. In the 2022 elections, Cullins won the Republican primary against the attorney who had filed the complaints. Later, Cullins was re-elected in the general election. The newly-created judgeship went to Dan Reynolds, an Independence lawyer. Reynolds won the Republican primary and faced no opposition in the general election.
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