As mayor of Topeka, Michelle De La Isla has worked to not only increase the city’s police department budget but also to strengthen relationships between law enforcement officers and the public they serve.
De La Isla is running as a Democrat for the 2nd Congressional District against Republican Jake LaTurner, state treasurer.
A LaTurner campaign ad currently airing states De La Isla has defunded the Topeka Police Department.
The race is tighter than expected, which is perhaps why the LaTurner campaign has resorted to falsehoods.
The TV ad depicts De La Isla participating in a peaceful demonstration this summer where she is holding a piece of cardboard on which is written “Justice.” By her side is Topeka Police Chief Bill Cochran. The two are walking in support of Black Lives Matter.
But that’s not what the ad says. Instead, the voiceover characterizes the Topeka mayor as an anti-law enforcement “radical.”
The truth is that since 2017, the Topeka Police Department’s budget has increased $5 million, now surpassing $40 million.
De La Isla has served on the Topeka City Council since 2013, and was elected mayor in 2018. Since June 2018, the city has been participating in a program called Strengthening Police and Community Partnerships whose goal is to identify problems and solve them together.
Now that’s radical.
When asked for a response about their ad by Kansas Reflector reporter Tim Carpenter, the LaTurner campaign declined to comment Monday.
When De La Isla was prompted for a reaction, she took the high road, saying, “I ask all of you not to feed into the division and please do not continue sharing misinformation. We do this by coming together. There is no one saying we will shut down our police department.”
LATURNER, age 32,is the better known of the two. He has been in elective politics since he was 24 and has known little else.
In an interview this summer with the Register he spoke against the Affordable Care Act, against the expansion of Medicaid and for building the wall along the Mexico border.
THE TOPEKA mayor breaks most political molds, including refraining from campaign mudslinging. She’s Latina. A single mother. She’s experienced homelessness. Survived cancer. Battled crippling medical debt. And after eight long years interrupted by “life,” she graduated from Wichita State University at the age of 25 with a degree in molecular biology.
After college, she again rejected expectations by taking a position with Upward Bound, a program that helps students from low-income families prepare for college.
