The conclusion of a Kansas House investigation into a conversation between two state senators and a state Supreme Court justice confirms earlier indications that this political exercise was a waste of legislators’ time and taxpayers’ money.

After a meeting Tuesday in Topeka, members of the investigating committee instructed their staff to prepare two contradictory reports: one that has the support of the six Republicans on the committee and one that will be presented as a minority dissent on behalf of the four Democratic members.

The Democrats have concluded that the conversation Supreme Court Justice Lawton Nuss had with Senate President Steve Morris and state Sen. Pete Brungardt had no impact on the Legislature’s discussions or action on school finance. They also concluded that the evidence was overwhelming that the lunch conversation was the only contact between the court and the Legislature on this matter.

Republican members see a more sinister plot afoot. The six GOP committee members have ordered up a report that reflects their belief that more than one contact occurred between the court and the Legislature and that the lunch conversation influenced the Legislature’s approval of a school finance plan.

After hearing from witnesses and examining records from the governor’s office, the committee uncovered no evidence of multiple contacts between the court and the Legislature. It apparently is just a feeling some committee members can’t shake.

Whether the single conversation with Nuss had an impact on the legislation is difficult to determine. Legislators are entitled to talk to anyone they want to about the bills they are considering and they don’t have to reveal who those people are. Any number of conversations involving legislators – not just one conversation with Nuss – had an impact on the outcome of the school finance issue, but there’s nothing unethical or illegal about that.

The only question in this incident was whether Nuss had acted improperly by discussing school finance with legislators while the case still was active before the court. The answer to that question was yes, and Nuss was admonished by the Commission on Judicial Qualifications for his mistake. Case closed.

The House investigation appeared from the beginning to be prompted more by politics than by facts or ethical concerns. Conservative Republicans in the House and Senate were unhappy that the school finance plan supported by Morris gained approval and they hoped to embarrass the Senate president and those who supported his plan.

The investigation has taken several months and an undisclosed amount of taxpayer money to accomplish nothing. There is no new evidence and no new revelations. As one committee member said Tuesday, “it’s been an incredible waste of time.”

Their goal may have been to embarrass someone else, but those who should be most embarrassed by this so-called investigation are the people who launched it in the first place.