Topeka ? A state senator said Tuesday that she caught state Rep. TerriLois Gregory, R-Baldwin City, recording a conversation between the two of them.

“I found it shocking,” said state Sen. Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka. “I have been really taken aback by it. I don’t expect colleagues to record colleagues inside an office.”

The incident occurred last week, Schmidt said.

Gregory came into Schmidt’s office and asked her some questions dealing with Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan to privatize Medicaid, specifically how it would apply to those with disabilities.

Schmidt, chairwoman of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, has been holding discussions this week in her committee on the plan.

Schmidt said she saw a red light in Gregory’s purse and at first thought it was a cellphone, but then she asked Gregory about it. Gregory said it was a tape recorder and that she was taping their conversation.

In response to the incident, Gregory gave a prepared statement.

“I care deeply about the disability community and wanted to be sure I got my facts straight. My goal was to be sure I fully understood, and offending Senator Schmidt was not my intention.”