Payouts mushroom in Kansas newspaper raid. But officials still haven’t taken responsibility.

What hasn’t happened, so far, is a full-throated apology from those who authorized and conducted the raid, from the people who shredded the First Amendment in their vendetta against the Record. We can’t put the raid behind us — we can’t hope to move forward as Kansans — until those responsible take accountability.

There have been feints toward a reckoning, but they have been few and far between.

Last year, the county apologized for its part in the raid, writing: “The Sheriff’s Office wishes to express its sincere regrets to Eric and Joan Meyer and Ruth and Ronald Herbel for its participation in the drafting and execution of the Marion Police Department’s search warrants on their homes and the Marion County Record.”

In other words: We’re sorry for helping with a thing that wasn’t really our idea. Never mind us paying 3 million smackaroos.

Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody resigned from his job and has been charged with a low-level felony based on his conduct after the raid. And a mere five days after the 2023 raid, officials returned the property they seized.

That’s about all that officials have done to right the grievous wrongs done that sweltering Aug. 11, 2023. A handful of payouts. One apology. One vaguely connected charge. Private property grudgingly returned. Believe me, I looked for more official gestures of regret and contrition from law enforcement’s blatant abuse of our nation’s founding document.

I didn’t find them.

The costs were not just theoretical. Marion residents paid a heavy personal price. Meyer’s mother, Joan, died from the stress of the raid. Zorn has grappled with a seizure disorder. Herbel’s husband, who suffers from dementia, was traumatized.

So where does the buck stop? Whose fault, ultimately, was it? Powerful forces in Kansas law and government arrayed to ensure that no one would pay a lasting price, or ever face tough questions about their role. A 2o24 report from special prosecutors outlined an immaculate deception absolving law enforcement of any legal responsibility.

Kansas Bureau of Investigation director Tony Mattivi pontificated shortly after the raid that “no one is above the law, whether a public official or a representative of the media.” He was subsequently nominated by President Donald Trump to a federal judgeship. That’s all despite the fact that reporting from Kansas Reflector editor Sherman Smith showed that the KBI was intimately involved in planning the raid.

Some dire consequences, huh?

Accountability was skirted in even more cases. Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, who authorized faulty search warrants, escaped censure from the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who oversees the KBI, stayed mum. His office didn’t acknowledge further requests for comment. GOP leaders in the Kansas Legislature couldn’t overcome their hatred of free speech to voice even mild disapproval.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad that Marion County and Marion itself are paying up. Meyer, Zorn, Herbel and former reporter Deb Gruver all deserve what they’ve received and far more beside. But they also deserve — and what I imagined three years ago that they would have received — is a plainspoken apology for harm done.

No, the attempt to intimidate journalists didn’t work. For that, I’m grateful to the gritty community journalists of Marion and beyond. But I had hoped for better from those who purport to serve the public.

Regret. Remorse. An iota of self reflection.

I’ll give the final word today to Eric Meyer, who exchanged email messages with Smith earlier this week. He was less concerned than I about apologies and more about sending a lasting message.

“They were trying to weaponize law enforcement in much the same way as we see happening now with the federal Justice Department,” he said. “The question is, when will anyone learn that such tactics ultimately will fail? So far, it’s a lesson that’s cost city and county insurance companies more than $4.5 million locally.

“I don’t know how much the federal government has spent trying to justify similar actions. The only thing any of us can do is stand up and just say ‘No,’ even if it tosses us into expensive turmoil for years to come. That’s the price of living in a democracy when there are others who try to abuse their power.”