LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - The mayor speaks out for the first time since being criticized publicly for writing a letter to a judge asking for a lighter sentence for a family friend sentenced for drug trafficking.
He got 20 years despite a letter on his behalf, written by Leavenworth Mayor Shay Baker.
Now Baker faces possible removal as the Mayor for writing that letter.
Shay Baker says that what she did was not in the capacity as Mayor but as a childhood friend of Billy Joe Trinkle.
She also lashes back at her critics who said she used official letterhead paper.
"This letter was written on a white sheet of paper and when it was handed over Billy's family. They attached one of my business cards to the bottom," says Baker.
She says that letter was faxed by the family leaving just a trace of Baker's business card.
But Leavenworth resident Karl Lawson says what she did was inappropriate.
"They ought to get rid of her. She's supposed to be representing Leavenworth and not representing convicts," says Lawson angrily.
City Attorney Tom Dawson says it isn't clear in the charter whether her fellow commissioners can strip Baker of her title, since they are the same people who voted her into that position last April.
What is clear is that Shay Baker will still remain a City Commissioner unless she is recalled by special election.
As for Baker, she believes she was acting with compassion even though her decision is not popular.
