And the turmoil at the Kansas capitol continued today as House Speaker Mike O'Neal attracted the attention of prosecutors because of comments he made about their probe into open-meetings violations.

Last week, O'Neal told The Associated Press that he would urge lawmakers not to respond immediately to a letter from the Shawnee County district attorney asking them to preserve documents that could be potential evidence in his investigation.

Responding to a complaint filed by the Topeka Capital-Journal newspaper, the Democratic prosecutor is investigating whether dozens of lawmakers violated the state open meetings law when they attended seven dinner meetings at the governor's mansion last month.

The DA sent a letter to every legislator -- whether they attended a meeting or not -- asking them to secure any potential documents that might be needed in the investigation.

O'Neal told The AP he hoped that legislators would draft a collective response to the DA's letter, adding he didn't think it was professional for him to send it to all 165 members of the House and the Senate.

O'Neal told The AP that he wasn't encouraging legislators to ignore Taylor's investigation.

Today, DA Chad Taylor said he was "puzzled" by O'Neal's comments. Taylor said he hoped the speaker's comments "do not signal that he intended to obstruct or delay this investigation."

"I certainly understand that the Kansas Constitution may enable individual legislators to prolong or even prevent us from conducting a thorough and complete investigation, but such actions certainly would not reflect the spirit of the Kansas Open Meetings Act," Taylor said in a statement issued this afternoon.

"Hiding behind legislative immunity under these circumstances is not only inconsistent with the governor's commitment to openness and transparency, it would not serve the people of Kansas who have a right to know whether or not the Kansas Open Meetings Act has been violated," Taylor said in his statement.

Taylor emphasized that just because an investigation is under way, it does not mean any one violated the law.