Topeka ? When lawyer Bryan Brown arrived from Mississippi in early 2003 to work for Atty. Gen. Phill Kline he needed a house for his family.

So, he was directed to a fellow conservative, Republican Tim Shallenburger, who only months earlier had lost in the 2002 governor’s race and was planning to sell his house in Topeka to move back to his hometown, Baxter Springs.

Brown and his wife toured Shallenburger’s ranch-style home in an upper middle-class section of Topeka. The house had a fireplace, full basement and large yard. They liked what they saw and bought it.

Two years later, Brown, the head of the consumer affairs division in the Attorney General’s Office, has filed a lawsuit against Shallenburger, who is now the chairman of the Kansas Republican Party.

In the lawsuit, Brown accuses Shallenburger of fraud and negligence, and Brown seeks thousands of dollars to cover repairs to the house, medical costs for his children, who became “profoundly ill” because of mold, and exemplary damages.

Brown did not return a telephone call seeking comment, but in the lawsuit he alleges that Shallenburger misled him about whether the house had termite damage and the conditions of the boiler, air conditioner and living room windows.

In an interview with the Journal-World, Shallenburger denied the accusations and said Brown was “just trying to get money out of me.”

“It’s just a shame that this is the way it is in America. I have to pay money to defend myself,” he said.

Termites and mold

In the lawsuit filed in Shawnee County, Brown said he had been told that Shallenburger “was a man of integrity who could be trusted in all manners.” He bought the house without the benefit of a buyer’s agent, he said. The deal was sealed with a handshake, he said.

Shortly after moving in, however, Brown said the situation went downhill.

After noticing water near the boiler, he called a repairman who said carbon monoxide gas was leaking because of failed gaskets. The heater had to be shut down and repaired.

Then when the weather warmed up and the Browns turned on the air conditioner; their two sons got sick.

“Mold was flourishing throughout the air-conditioning unit,” and the filter hadn’t been changed in the four years that Shallenburger had lived in the house, Brown said.

He had to hire a repairman to clean the air conditioner and buy a special light to kill the mold.

And Brown said they soon learned that termite damage was extensive in the house, even though Shallenburger had provided an inspection report that showed there was only one area with minor damage.

Brown said Shallenburger had painted over some of the areas with termite damage.

Brown also said Shallenburger told them that spots on the living room windows could be wiped away. But in the lawsuit, he states, “The whitish, foggy spots are vapor intrusions and will not come clean.”

Brown is seeking compensation for the repairs, which total more than $9,000, plus medical costs, exemplary damages, and $100 per hour for the time he has spent dealing with the problems.

Kline first

Shallenburger denied he tried to deceive Brown.

He conceded he didn’t change the filter on the air conditioner because he had been told by a repairman when he moved in the house that it didn’t need changing.

But, he said, he has a long list of people who spent the night at the house and never got sick from the air conditioner.

He said when he sold the house everything worked fine, and there was no extensive termite damage. He said the living room windows were double-paned and often had moisture trapped between them.

Shallenburger said that after he lost the governor’s race in November 2002 he decided to move back to Baxter Springs. Kline won his race during the same election, and Shallenburger asked Kline if he wanted the house.

“If I was going to cover up, I don’t think I’d offer to sell the house to the attorney general,” Shallenburger said.

Kline declined but apparently told Brown about the house, Shallenburger said.

Shallenburger said he was approached by Brown, who was coming from Tupelo, Miss., where he had been legal counsel for the conservative American Family Assn.’s Center for Law and Policy.

Shallenburger said Brown was eager to buy the house, and the two drew up a contract using a blank contract that can be purchased in office supply stores.

Shortly after Brown moved in, Shallenburger said he started getting long letters from Brown about problems with the house.

“I don’t know what you do about somebody who continually complains,” he said.