Dakota Loomis has many ties to politics in family and past employment.
As a new law school graduate in 2008, Loomis helped campaign for Chad Taylor, a Democratic candidate for Shawnee County District Attorney. Taylor won the election and served until 2016.
Chad Taylor had no prior prosecutorial experience. He was, however, politically ambitious and viewed his job as a political stepping stone.
Although fresh from law school, Taylor hired Dakota Loomis for the District Attorney’s office, believing that Loomis’s political connections could be helpful. Taylor eventually ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 2014.
Chad Taylor departed Shawnee County amid controversy. Former female staff members filed discrimination lawsuits against him, and his deputy district attorney, Jacqie Spradling, was disbarred for a pattern of sustained prosecutorial misconduct.
Dakota Loomis had no experience and was not a front-line, felony case Shawnee County assistant district attorney. He was given duties and responsibilities typically assigned to political hires and interns.
He was called “Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff” and handled misdemeanor cases, among other backroom and office duties. If he was involved in any felony cases, it was as an observer or sometimes over-described as a second chair. Interns still in law school often “second chair” jury trials.
Dakota Loomis does not mention solo, first-chair felony case prosecutorial experience on his resume.
It is unclear why Dakota Loomis left the Shawnee County District Attorney’s office in December 2011.
Dakota Loomis next worked in another politically connected job as Kansas Democratic Party Communications Director.
Loomis was fired from this job in 2014 for commenting online about the “most craphole small towns in Kansas.” In his now-deleted comment, Loomis nominated Cherryvale, Columbus, and Galena as “craphole Kansas cities.” He further commented that southeast Kansas was “poor, depressed, and getting worse.” It is unknown whether Loomis still lists this prior employment on his resume.
After leaving two politically connected jobs, Loomis started working as a solo practitioner in Lawrence, representing criminal defendants. Eventually, he also worked in municipal positions in presumably acceptable small towns. As a municipal court prosecutor, Loomis handles ordinance violations once a month. Municipal courts do not process felony cases, and no jury trials exist.
Dakota Loomis is now the Democratic candidate for Douglas County District attorney. His candidacy has much fanfare, given his political connections and family relationships with political sponsors. Douglas County is also considered a “blue” county, and regardless of qualifications, whoever is nominated will prevail.
Business interests and defense attorneys have accepted this premise and have donated heavily to the Loomis campaign. Democrats also feel confident their funding, yard signs, political advertising, and mailers will persuade voters to select Loomis based on publicity and name recognition rather than actual readiness to do the job.
The history of Democratic prosecutors in Kansas is not a pretty picture. The individuals supported by the Democratic party have not performed well. Consider Chad Taylor in Shawnee County, former Attorney General Paul Morrison’s sex scandal, and the timid tenure of politically ambitious and failed Senate candidate Barry Grissom in the District of Kansas U.S. Attorney’s Office. Currently, one can see the very rocky, if not tumultuous, tenures of Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree and, of course, the incumbent Douglas County DA, Suzanne Valdez. Past and current Kansas political leaders supported these candidates, too.
It was also troubling to observe how the Loomis campaign and associated supporters treated competing Democratic candidate Tonda Hill before the August 2024 primary election.
Lawrence’s defense attorneys desperately want one of their own as the next District Attorney. Tonda Hill was the only primary candidate with a record of successful prosecutorial experience and political independence. A smear campaign was conducted against her, claiming that she did not live in Douglas County even though she had been a resident for over a decade. Additionally, she was unfairly characterized as an “angry, difficult-to-get-along-with, argumentative black female with a history of over-litigious conduct.”
Historically, this type of profiling is commonly attributed to right-wing candidates. Interestingly, Tonda Hill shares many similarities with the Democratic Party’s present presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. I endorsed Tonda Hill in her primary campaign because she was the most independent, experienced Democratic candidate. She did not have a history of political patronage jobs and represented someone who could serve as a diverse, politically independent public official. Moreover, she endured the smear campaign with dignity and principle. When they went low, she stayed high.
This year, all Douglas County voters will have the opportunity to choose the next District Attorney. There hasn’t been a two-party DA election since 2004. The race will essentially come down to whether voters want an experienced, qualified District Attorney without political connections or if they will vote based on affiliation and popularity.
For many years, a single party has controlled the district attorney’s office and other local government offices. Citizens are fed up with high property taxes, inflated property valuations, and taxes eating into their incomes, with the money going somewhere other than their bank accounts. County and city officials are viewed as indifferent and dismissive regarding the concerns of regular working people and families. Citizens want choices and change.
PLEASE VOTE IN THE GENERAL ELECTION. Research the qualifications of candidates beforehand. Local issues significantly impact all of us, and candidates like myself and others are focused on solving problems instead of engaging in the dysfunctional rhetoric of our national parties.
I have received no support from the state or national party and am not motivated by politics or ideology. I only want an opportunity to fix a damaged district attorney’s office and make it functional and respectable again.
Prosecutorial experience and political independence matter.
