KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree has resigned from a federal commission created by President Donald Trump to study law enforcement issues, saying the group had a political agenda that included eroding the discretion of local prosecutors.
In a letter sent Thursday to U.S. Attorney General William Barr, Dupree said he also was concerned by a lack of transparency and inclusiveness on the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice.
Dupree was appointed a year ago to the commission’s working group on reentry programs to study how to improve the lives of criminal offenders after their prison sentences.
In an interview with The Star, Dupree said he believed the commission’s favored a political agenda of “wanting and trying to appease police to court them for political gain.”
U.S. District Court Judge John Bates last month ruled the commission violated a law meant to ensure that federal advisory committees fairly balance the viewpoints represented and conduct their business publicly. He later ruled the commission’s recommendations could be released but only with a disclaimer from him saying it violated the law.
A Justice Department spokesperson said Dupree’s request to resign would be accepted.