Kansas House speaker challenges Democrat critics to file ethics complaint against him

? Kansas’ Republican House speaker is challenging Democratic critics to file an ethics complaint against him or stop attacking him.

Speaker Mike O’Neal sent a memo to House members Wednesday, decrying what he called “vicious” personal attacks.

O’Neal is a lawyer from Hutchinson. Democratic leaders have criticized him for filing suit against the state on behalf of businesses, insurance funds and trade groups. Democrats have demanded that he remove himself and his law firm from the case, threatening “formal action.”

O’Neal said if Democrats have proof of an ethics violation, they should file a complaint with the House.

But he said he has done nothing wrong.

Aides to House Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat, said he’d not seen the memo.