Michael O'Donnell Jr. is a Republican member of the Sedgwick County Commission in Kansas, representing District 2 since 2017. He previously represented the 25th District in the Kansas Senate and was a Wichita City Councilperson. In the year before O'Donnell was born, his father Michael O'Donnell Sr. became pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Wichita. O'Donnell earned a B.S. in political science from Friends University in Wichita. He has been the chair of the Sedgwick County Young Republicans and on the board of the Wichita YMCA.
Political Career
O'Donnell began his political career in April 2011 as a member of the Wichita City Council.. He resigned from the Wichita City Council in 2013. O'Donnell served in the Kansas Senate, representing the 25th District from 2013 until 2017. O'Donnell defeated three-term Republican incumbent Jean Schodorf in the primary election on August 7, 2012 by a 58.8% to 41.2% margin. In the general election on November 6, 2012, O'Donnell beat Democrat Tim Snow by 263 votes, 46.6% to 45.3%, with LibertarianDave Thomas garnering 8% of the vote. While in the Kansas Senate O'Donnell was Chair of Regulatory Boards and Commissions, a member of Ethics and Elections, and Vice-chair of Education Budget, Legislative Post Audit, and Public Health and Welfare. All of the legislation sponsored by O'Donnell died in the Kansas House or Senate, except for general statements of congratulations, support, and commendation. O'Donnell chose not to run as an incumbent for this seat after one term and he was succeeded by Democrat Lynn Rogers. In 2016, O'Donnell defeated four-term Democratic incumbent Tim Norton on November 8, 2016 for the District 2 seat on the Sedgwick County Commission. On November 3, 2016 Michael O'Donnell was rated 93% by American Conservative Union.
Controversies
Federal Investigation and FBI Wiretap
On February 14, 2017, it was reported that O'Donnell's cell phone had been wiretapped by the FBI in 2015. On the same day, Wichita businessman Brandon Steven confirmed that he was the subject of a federal investigation related to his involvement in high-stakes poker and the proposed development of Castle Rock Casino. It is unclear whether the two incidents are related.
On May 4, 2018, while serving as Sedgwick County Commissioner, O'Donnell was indicted on federal charges including 23 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. He remained free on a $5000 secured bond. The charges relate to his successful campaign for the Kansas Senate seat. The indictment states that over a period of months in 2015 and 2016, O'Donnell wrote checks from his campaign funds to three of his friends, who cashed them totaling $10,500. Prosecutors charged that O'Donnell's friends did little or no campaign work to earn the payments. Furthermore, the indictment maintains that at least $2000 from the cashed checks was deposited into O'Donnell's personal account. On March 4, 2019, O'Donnell was acquitted of 21 counts of money laundering. The jury was hung on five charges, including two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. The decisions on all of the federal charges were based on whether O'Donnell's intent in violating campaign finance rules was "knowingly and intentionally" to defraud the public, rather than just routine campaign finance violations. Federal JudgeEric Melgren granted the request of prosecutors to dismiss the two remaining counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering "without prejudice." That gives the Department of Justice the ability to file the charges again in the future.
