Terry Calaway broke the law in February 2009.  There is no remaining doubt, now that we have not only the recent Hodge decision by Attorney General Steve Six, but also this past week's formal opinions from the Kansas Press Association, the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, the Kansas Sunshine Coalition for Open Government, and the editorial board of The Kansas City Star.

Of course, the cover-up organized by JCCC President Calaway (right) and two JCCC Trustees -- Lynn Mitchelson of Mission Woods and Shirley Brown-VanArsdale of Gardner -- their cover-up quickly became far worse than the original crime.  The Calaway administration lied, obstructed, abused the intra-college communication systems, and wasted perhaps tens of thousands of tax dollars in its attempts to mislead the public and college employees.  But all they did was buy time for JCCC leadership, all the while either ending or shortening the careers of many of the administrators and politicians who made the mistake of trying to protect Calaway.

State-wide focus is now upon the administration of Terry Calaway.  Soon, Calaway will receive national attention, as well.  The fact that JCCC is considered nation-wide to be a leading community college -- this works against Calaway, and not in his favor. 

Trustee Jon Stewart is now board chair, is not expected to seek re-election in 2011, and has probably six months to define his legacy:  either Stewart will be remembered as being part of the problem, or else helping to fix the problems (with most "problems" being various college employees).  I really don't know which path Stewart will take.  He's certainly a nice guy, but he has a bit of a "loyalty problem."  As they say, follow the money.  He contributed to my successful 2006 House campaign, but also to the political efforts of Democrats Paul Morrison and Mark Parkinson.  To a large degree, Lynn Mitchelson was formative in Jon Stewart's very successful banking career -- is Stewart willing to be disloyal to Mitchelson?  He hasn't yet, and I'm less than optimistic that he will, but I hope that he proves me wrong.

Lynn Mitchelson will not attempt re-election, primarily because he knows that his record of incompetence and corruption will cause him to lose.  

Melody Rayl will likely be a one-term trustee.  Rayl, a partisan Democrat, was elected in 2009 to her first four-year term.  As the first ex-police officer to become a JCCC trustee, she unfortunately also became the first ex-police officer to tolerate and participate in the cover-up of a crime.

In other words, JCCC will likely have brand new trustees elected during both the 2011 and 2013 spring elections.  At minimum, all it will take is for one good-government proponent to become an elected trustee, and there will be an open records hey-day at JCCC.  Two or three new reform-minded trustees, and entire books may be able to be written on the mistakes made at JCCC.

On top of that, it's quite possible that conservatives within the Kansas legislature pass new laws that bring sweeping changes to local governments within Kansas; some of these legislative changes may be sought with Calaway specifically in mind.

I will not all be surprised when Calaway either resigns or is thrown under the bus, in order to minimize the damage to someone's reputation:  perhaps that of Jon Stewart, or Democratic Party chairman Larry Gates (law partner of college lawyer Mark Ferguson), or District Attorney Steve Howe, or even future Governor Sam Brownback, who clearly wants to be President, down the road.  Brownback went out of his way to secure sizeable federal earmarks for Calaway; in return, Calaway has been a major embarrassment to Brownback.  Calaway's actions brought light onto the mistake made by Brownback (perhaps more accurately, the mistake by Brownback associate Rob Wasinger or David Kensinger) in actively supporting the 2008 campaign of Steve Howe, who now has broken his pledge to uphold the rule of law within Johnson County.  DA Howe will be the number-one target of conservatives in 2012, and I will be surprised if he is elected to a second term.  With a new district attorney will come new levels of accountability toward the Calaway administration.

With regard to fighting JCCC's culture of corruption, the momentum has never been so clearly in the favor of Johnson County citizens, and against the Calaway administration.  The upcoming months will be interesting.

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Benjamin Hodge publishes the Web site KansasProgress.com, based in Johnson County, KS, in the Greater Kansas City area.  Hodge is a delegate to the Kansas GOP, a former state representative, and a former trustee at Johnson County Community College. You can join Hodge’s efforts on Facebook, through his personal Web site, on Twitter, and through his PAC.