IN THE DISTRICT COURT, JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
CIVIL DEPARTMENT
James A. Denning,
Plaintiff,
v.
Cypress Media, LLC, d/b/a Kansas City Star and
Steve Rose
Defendant.

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Case No.
Ch. 60

PETITION
Plaintiff, Kansas Senator James A. Denning for his cause of action against the
Defendants, Cypress Media, L.L.C., d/b/a The Kansas City Star and its columnist, Steve Rose,
states and alleges as follows:
PARTIES
1.

Kansas Senator James A. Denning (“Senator Denning”) is a resident of Overland

Park, Johnson County, Kansas. Senator Denning is currently a member of the Kansas Senate and
serves as the Majority Leader of the Kansas Senate.
2.

Defendant Cypress Media, L.L.C. d/b/a The Kansas City Star (“The Kansas City

Star”) is the publisher of a newspaper known as “The Kansas City Star.” The Kansas City Star’s
principal place of business is in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. Defendant can be
served by serving its registered agent, The Corporation Company, 120 S. Central Avenue,
Clayton, Missouri 63105.
3.

Defendant Steve Rose (“Rose”) is a resident of Mission Hills, Johnson County,

Kansas. He is employed as a columnist for The Kansas City Star. Defendant Rose can be served
by personal service at his home in Mission Hills, Johnson County, Kansas.

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 JURISDICTION AND VENUE
4.

Jurisdiction is proper pursuant to K.S.A. 60-308.

5.

Venue is proper as to Defendant Rose pursuant to K.S.A. 60-603.

6.

Venue is proper as to The Kansas City Star pursuant to K.S.A. 60-604 or K.S.A.

60-605.
INTRODUCTION
On Saturday, January 26, 2019, The Kansas City Star published a false and defamatory
article written by Kansas City Star columnist Steve Rose titled “Why hasn’t Kansas expanded
Medicaid? This GOP leader has a long list of excuses.” In the article, Rose falsely attributes
statements in the article to Kansas Senate Majority Leader Denning though the two have not
spoken in 2 ½ years.
After Rose was confronted about the statements falsely attributed to Senator Denning,
Rose attempted to conceal his wrongdoing by offering that if Senator Denning’s staff would drop
the issue, Rose would resign from The Kansas City Star. Specifically, Rose wrote to Senator
Denning’s Chief of Staff offering “I would like to make this suggestion. Let it drop, and I will
resign my column in The Star, effective today.” (See Rose email, Jan. 26, 2019 at 3:51 pm
attached as Ex. A).
Rose initially submitted the column without citation to a source for the statements. The
editor required Rose to cite a source. Rose was faced with the pressure of a looming deadline so
Rose gave his editor Senator Denning’s name though he knew citing to Senator Denning was
attributing statements to Senator Denning that he did not make. In retrospect, Rose has admitted
he should have “killed the column.” Rose and The Kansas City Star knowingly and recklessly
disseminated the article containing statements they falsely attributed to Senator Denning. The

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 article has now gone viral and misled the public and caused significant damage to Senator
Denning.
FACTS
1.

Defendant Rose is a columnist for The Kansas City Star newspaper.

2.

On Saturday, January 26, 2019 the Kansas City Star published an article written

by Rose titled “Why hasn’t Kansas expanded Medicaid? This GOP leader has a long list of
excuses.” (A copy of the print edition of the article is attached as Ex. B).
3.

Rose’s article appeared on page 7A of the Saturday, January 26, 2019 edition of

The Kansas City Star and was also disseminated by electronic media by The Kansas City Star.
The article has now gone viral and has been further disseminated by further publication and
sharing numerous times.
4.

The article falsely attributes numerous statements to Senator Denning despite the

fact that Rose did not interview Senator Denning for the article. In fact, the last time Rose and
Senator Denning spoke was 2 ½ years ago, in August 2016.
5.

Rose knew the statements were falsely attributed to Senator Denning because

Rose did not interview Senator Denning for the January 26, 2019 article.
6.

The article written by Rose and published by the Kansas City Star contains

numerous false statements which have exposed Senator Denning to public hatred, contempt and
ridicule. (For example, See, email attached as Ex. C.)
7.

Despite the fact Senator Denning and Rose have not spoken in the past 2 ½ years,

Rose falsely attributed multiple statements to Senator Denning.

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 8.

Rose wrote, “One powerful conservative Republican leader in the Kansas Senate

[Senator Denning], who has fought the expansion of Medicaid, finally confessed to me his
reasons for rejecting it. His explanation, which I will get to in a moment is pathetic.”
9.

Rose’s claim that Senator Denning “finally confessed” to Rose is clearly false

because they have not spoken since August 2016.
10.

Rose wrote, “Jim Denning, the Kansas Senate majority leader, never brought up

Obama as the reason for his resistance. Instead, he recited a plethora of ill-conceived notions,
which may have a kernel of truth, but which ultimately fail the overall logic test.” Again, Rose’s
statement is false. He did not interview Senator Denning and the comments attributed to Senator
Denning were never spoken by Senator Denning.
11.

Rose wrote “some of his reasons are just plain ugly. Denning, a Republican from

Overland Park, started out by declaring that America does not need another entitlement program,
and that we never should have passed Medicaid in the first place.” Senator Denning did not
make this statement to Rose. Senator Denning was not interviewed by Rose for the article.
12.

Rose further wrote, “He [Senator Denning] said it is widely known by physicians

that Medicaid patients often do not show up for their appointments, thus robbing other patients of
those hard-to-get time slots. The senator said he resents able-bodied Kansans, regardless of their
income, who abuse the system by accepting free medical care when they refuse to work.”
Senator Denning did not make these statements to Rose.
13.

Rose falsely reported in his article that “he [Senator Denning] also claimed even

today, that Kansas cannot afford the $14 million per year it would need to spend as its share of
the overall costs of Medicaid expansion for the 150,000 recipients.”

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 14.

The $14 million figure was not known to Senator Denning until it was reported to

the Joint Budget Committee by Larry Campbell, Kansas Budget Director on January 17, 2019.
Senator Denning and Rose had no discussions between January 17, 2019 and the publication of
the article on January 26, 2019.
15.

It is impossible for Rose and The Kansas City Star to have a good faith basis to

claim that Senator Denning made the comments attributed to Senator Denning in the January 26,
2019 article because Senator Denning and Rose have not spoken since August 2016.
16.

Upon information and belief, the Kansas City Star’s Code of Ethics prohibits

deceiving readers by fabricating news. However, Rose and The Star published the article in a
manner that deceived readers as well as others that received the article after it was widely shared
on social media platforms.
17.

In the article written by Rose and published by The Kansas City Star, there is no

disclosure that Rose did not interview Senator Denning for the article and it is not obvious from
the article that the statements attributed to Senator Denning were in reality statements conjured
up by Rose and the Kansas City Star and falsely attributed to Senator Denning.
18.

Rose initially submitted the column for publication without attributing the

comments to any specific elected Kansas official.
19.

One of the Kansas City Star editors instructed Rose to attribute the comments to

some elected official.
20.

Rose was up against a deadline. He was under pressure to obtain a source for the

statements he conjured up.
21.

Rose now realizes he should have “killed the article” but under the deadline

pressure, Rose gave the editor the name of Senator Denning though in reality, Rose had not

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 interviewed Senator Denning for the article. Furthermore, according to Senator Denning’s
calendar, he has not spoken to Rose in 2 ½ years.

COUNT I
(Defamation)
22.

Plaintiff incorporates the preceding paragraphs as if fully restated herein.

23.

Rose and The Kansas City Star communicated false information about and

attributed to Senator Denning in print and electronic media.
24.

The false information communicated by Rose and The Kansas City Start exposed

Senator Denning to public hatred, contempt and ridicule.
25.

Rose and The Kansas City Star knew the statements attributed to Senator Denning

were false and /or were made with reckless disregard.
26.

As a direct and proximate cause of the wrongful conduct of the defendants,

Senator Denning has suffered damages.
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff Senator Denning prays for judgment against Defendants Steve
Rose and The Kansas City Star for an amount exceeding $75,000.00 and for his costs incurred
herein and for such other and further relief as this Court deems appropriate and just under the
circumstances.
JURY DEMAND
Plaintiff requests a trial by jury on all claims so triable.

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 Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Michael J. Kuckelman
Michael J. Kuckelman
KS #14587
KUCKELMAN TORLINE KIRKLAND
10740 Nall Ave., Ste. 250
Overland Park, KS 66211
(913) 948-8610 (phone)
(913) 948-8611 (fax)
mkuckelman@ktk-law.com
Attorneys for Plaintiff

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