Lawrence attorney Wint Winter Jr. came under intense questioning from a Senate committee Wednesday as he went through a second confirmation hearing for the Kansas Board of Regents.
Winter, appointed by the governor to the board last year, ran into questions about political comments he’s made in the past, whether as a Republican he supported the GOP platform and a consent degree his bank entered into with the Federal Reserve Board four years ago.
There also was a question raised about why he didn’t talk more about his children in listing his credentials for the Board of Regents.
Winter’s nomination was approved by the Senate Confirmation Oversight Committee last summer, but it was returned along with two other nominees to the Education Committee for further review after new information emerged.
Earlier in the week, Regents nominees Carl Ice and Cynthia Lane appeared before the committee, which is expected to make a recommendation about them Thursday.
For Winter, senators homed in on a 2017 consent order against Peoples Bank in Lawrence “for deceptive residential mortgage origination practices.”
Winter was previously CEO and co-chair of Peoples Bank, which according to the consent order told certain borrowers that they were paying an additional amount for discount points that would lower the borrowers’ interest rate.
The consent order said many borrowers did not receive a reduced rate, and the bank was ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution.
The consent order came up in the context of a question that Winter answered on his nomination application about whether he had been cited for breach of ethics or unprofessional conduct as well as named in a complaint to a court.
Winter said while he had been involved in litigation matters involving the bank, but it did not involve him personally. He said bank the fiercely disputed the allegations and findings of the Federal Reserve Board.
“What you’re telling me is as a licensed attorney, as an owner of the bank for four years, this was not something that you were personally involved with,” said Republican state Sen. Gene Suellentrop of Wichita.
Winter said the bank contested the Federal Reserve’s findings and he ultimately signed the consent order as a way of settling the case, something he pointed out “happens all the time between parties that have different views.”
“Those allegations, those findings, those recommendations by the Federal Reserve Bank were very much disputed by us,” he said. “We denied them.”
He provided a letter from the firm that represented the bank, saying that unequivocally “there was no allegation of fraud or intentional or knowing wrongdoing against the bank – or Mr. Winter – ever.
“Even though we maintain that Peoples did not engage in any wrongdoing, intentional or otherwise, the decision to settle was ultimately made to avoid a lengthy and protracted defense,” the letter from Jeffrey Naimon at the Buckley firm said.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City had raised concerns about whether Peoples Bank made misleading representations in its mortgage pricing disclosures by not being able to prove for each loan file exactly how the interest rate decreased as a result of discount points that were charged, the letter said.
Lawyers for the bank thought that was a “novel” interpretation of law.
Republican senators didn’t seem persuaded by Winter’s explanation.
Suellentrop said that banking regulations can hold executives personally responsible and liable for the actions of the bank.
“To say they did not implicate a particular CEO or something of that nature is not quite accurate,” Suellentrop said.
“You know, as an owner of a financial institution in this state, in this country, you will be held personally responsible and liable for the actions of that financial institution.”
Winter said he was aware of those facts, pointing out that regulators have a number actions available to them depending on the degree of fault by bank management.
“In this case, none of those was involved,” Winter responded. “Zero of those other sanctions was involved. The only sanction involved was against the bank.”
Republican senators also peppered Winter with questions about reported comments he made about abortion opponents and supporters of former Gov. Sam Brownback.
Republican Sen. Molly Baumgarder of Louisburg questioned how Winter could talk about the need of making colleges affordable given the actions of the bank.
“It is a little interesting to me that on the one hand you’re concerned about affordability for attending our colleges, but that wasn’t the practice of your bank with regard to the affordability of loans – at least that’s what the federal board is saying.”
Republican Sen. Beverly Gossage of Eudora asked Winter about comments in a newspaper editorial where described abortion opponents as “bullies.”
“Are all pro-life advocates bullies by your standards?” Gossage asked Winter.
Winter said if he made that remark it was not appropriate.
“I respect those issues,” he said. “I think it’s critically important that all of us continue to work around and express our very strongly held beliefs about that issue.”‘
Winter was nominated although he was saddled with a reputation of fighting conservatives through the Save Kansas Coalition and Republicans for Kansas Values.
Winter said Republicans for Kansas Values started in 2011 or 2012 and was made up of former members of the Legislature who were Republican.
He said the group was created to oppose former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax policy that was blamed for crippling the state budget before most of it was reversed in 2017.
The Republicans for Kansas Values group, he said, came to an end when the former governor’s tax cuts were reversed.
The Save Kansas Coalition came about later as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit to raise money and incorporated a broader group of people.
State records show that Winter started the group along with former Senate President Steve Morris in 2016. The group had the same address as Winter’s law firm.
Republican Sen. Renee Erickson later in the hearing questioned Winter about comments he made in a 2016 newspaper story where he referred to Brownback’s “legislative lemmings.”
“Are members of the Kansas Senate that were reelected in 2016, would you still classify them as ‘lemmings’?” Erickson asked.
Winter said the reference to “lemmings” wasn’t about any single senator.
“It was a reference to a philosophy…that Gov. Brownback was talking about in terms of his tax and budget policies,” he said.
“It wasn’t meant as any suggestion whatsoever that any legislator didn’t think and didn’t have independent judgment. It was simply a reference to followers.
“I should have used the word followers as opposed to lemmings,” he said.
Erickson asked Winter if it was customary to call people names that he might not agree with politically.
“If you don’t agree with an action on the part of the Legislature, is it your standard practice to call names and refer to others that you disagree with in a derogatory manner?”
Winter said he hoped that wasn’t the case, but added that there are times when he has used flowery language.
“I’m an advocate, and sometimes I allow my role as an advocate get in the way of the use of better or more appropriate language,” he said.
Republican state Rep. Alicia Straub of Ellinwood questioned why Winter’s family didn’t have more of a presence in the credentials provided to the Senate.
“My most valuable experience is being a mother, and I don’t see a lot here that you’ve talked about your children,” she said.
Winter said he and his wife have three daughters and eight grandchildren.
“I will defend myself vigorously in any suggestion that I am not a family person, that I am not a great father, that I’m not a great grandfather,” he said.
“Those are very important things to me and my wife.”
