Topeka ? The attempt to oust Mayor Butch Felker from office will proceed, after a judge denied the suspended mayor’s motion to dismiss the case.

Shawnee County Judge Eric Rosen suspended Felker on Oct. 17 for claims that he violated Kansas campaign finance laws, allegations made by Dist. Atty. Robert Hecht in a lawsuit seeking to have the three-term mayor removed from office.

Felker filed a motion asking that the ouster action be dismissed, contending that Hecht had no legal authority to pursue ouster of an elected official. Rosen denied the motion on Tuesday, and the case is scheduled for trial Nov. 17-18.

Hecht contended that Felker not only violated the campaign finance law but also took part in a cover-up of the theft of taxpayer money from the Topeka Convention and Visitors Bureau, conspired with three bureau employees and perhaps perjured himself when testifying in October.

After a four-day hearing, Rosen dismissed the allegations of misconduct and misuse of funds, but he ruled that the case could proceed on the campaign finance allegations.

The ethics charge accuses Felker of falsifying a campaign finance report from his 2001 mayoral campaign to hide questionable contributions and the identities of some contributors.

In July the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission fined Felker $7,500 on three other campaign contribution violations to which he had pleaded guilty.

In his motion for dismissal, Felker argued that only the attorney general could bring an action to oust a mayor for violations of campaign finance laws. He said a district attorney doesn’t have authority for an ouster action linked to the Campaign Finance Act and that Hecht lacks standing to pursue the ouster.

However, Rosen ruled that the Campaign Finance Act and the ouster petition law have to be considered together in Felker’s case.

Someone in state office who violates the campaign finance act can face an ouster action only when brought by the attorney general, Rosen wrote.

But he said an ouster case against a city office-holder for campaign finance violations could be brought by either the attorney general or a district attorney.

Felker was first elected mayor in 1989 after serving earlier as the city’s parks commissioner. He served two terms, declining to run for health reasons in 1997, but won a third term in 2001.