Topeka ? Embattled Speaker Mike O’Neal filed Friday for re-election to the Kansas House, undeterred by a past ethics inquiry and successful efforts this year by GOP moderates to pass a tax increase over his opposition.

O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican and one of the House’s most senior members, is seeking his 14th term. He filed paperwork and paid a $105 fee to guarantee himself a spot on the Aug. 3 primary ballot.

Critics have questioned for weeks whether O’Neal would run again, citing his political setbacks. They’ve also pointed to an investigation Democrats forced the House to conduct after O’Neal, an attorney, sued the state on behalf of businesses and other private clients over a 2009 budget-balancing maneuver.

But a special committee dropped Democrats’ misconduct complaint against O’Neal and said he violated no laws or legislative rules. O’Neal and his chief of staff have dismissed talk that he wouldn’t seek re-election.

“I’ve spent 30-some years in a law practice dealing with conflict. I’ve dealt with conflict in the Legislature,” O’Neal said. “I fully intend — never had any question but — that I would run again and fully expect to be back where I am now.”

All 125 House seats are on the ballot this year; O’Neal is among 109 incumbents who’ve filed so far ahead of the June 10 deadline. Sixty-eight of the House’s 76 Republicans have filed, as have 41 of the 49 Democrats.

House Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat, said O’Neal will face questions from voters about the lawsuit he filed against the state. Under House rules, the chamber was required to investigate Democrats’ allegations once Davis and others filed a complaint.

Democrats argued the lawsuit, pending in Shawnee County District Court, created a conflict of interest for O’Neal. They said he could use his power as speaker to control legislation to benefit his clients.

O’Neal countered that Democrats offered no evidence to back up their claims, and he viewed their complaint as political.

Still, Davis said: “I expect that he’s probably going to have as tough a re-election as he’s had for a long time.”

O’Neal and his fellow conservative Republicans also were bedeviled this year by an alliance between Democrats and moderate Republicans.

That coalition pushed a bill increasing the state’s sales tax through the House to prevent cuts in aid to public schools, social services and other government programs. Davis predicted that if O’Neal is re-elected, he’ll still face trouble within the GOP caucus.

But even some GOP moderates don’t think so. Rep. Charles Roth, a moderate Salina Republican, said O’Neal still retains a strong conservative base among House Republicans.

And area legislators believe there’s little chance O’Neal will lose his seat this year. He’s held it since 1985.

O’Neal faces no opposition in the GOP primary so far. The only Democrat to have filed in his district is Jack Mace, a substitute teacher and former trainer at the state prison in Hutchinson.

Mace is the first Democrat to file in the district since 2000, and the district leans Republican, favoring O’Neal.

“He’s always been pretty well liked at home,” said Rep. Jan Pauls, a Hutchinson Democrat. “He’s in a pretty good Republican district.”