Wichita mayor Brandon Whipple and the Wichita Metro Crime Commission are in a war of words over a recent forum that was sponsored by the Commission.

The mayor said in a Facebook post that he had declined an invitation to participate in a forum on September 28th.  He stated  “I respect the Wichita Crime Commission and I am very proud of my proven record of strong support for public safety.  However, the last time I spoke with the organizer, former Sheriff Mike Hill, he was attempting to catfish me using his Facebook account with a fake name and picture.  I declined to participate in a closed-door event organized by someone who would stoop to such unprofessional, and frankly, creepy campaign tactics.”

The Crime Commission went ahead with the forum with mayoral challenger Lily Wu.

Mike Hill, former president and chairman of the Crime Commission, told KFDI’s news partners at KWCH that his Facebook account had been hacked and someone was using it to message people on his friends list.

The Crime Commission issued a statement saying that Hill made repeated attempts by phone and email to contact Whipple about the candidate forum, but did not get a response. The statement went on to say, “Mayoral candidate Whipple attended this same Mayoral forum in 2019 and never reached out to anyone at the Crime Commission about any concerns for this year’s event. Many non-members attended the Mayoral Forum and, in fact, the date for the Forum has been listed since June in the newsletters on the Wichita Metro Crime Commission’s website. The goal of the Crime Commission is to give both candidates in these important races an opportunity to answer questions and share their plans if elected. We are sorry Mayor Whipple chose not to respond, and the attack on former Sheriff Mike Hill is unconscionable.”