Posted on 12/10/2007 2:16:27 PM PST by Huntress
TOPEKA | Attorney General Paul Morrison should step down if it’s proven that he tried to use a former lover to gain information or influence in cases handled by the Johnson County District Attorney’s office, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said today.
Sebelius said that she wanted the facts to play out, and that she wasn’t calling for his resignation. She noted that Morrison has accepted responsibility for the affair, but that if the allegations about his professional conduct are true, it’s a different mater.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
hehe, I really am loving this.
Ping!
This is a one-time ping to those of you who posted on the earlier thread about this story, or who have been active on past threads about the ongoing feud between Morrison and Phill Kline.
You were IBTP, too. ;-)
I have no doubt she’d like it if he did slink off quietly. If Morrison resigns then Sebelius appoints a replacement for the duration of the term. In other words, no special election. The sooner he’s out of office, then the sooner it’s forgotten. Or at least that’s what they’re probably hoping.
I think you’re probably right as to what Sebilius wants, but I doubt that will happen. I do think it’s interesting that she has distanced herself from him so quickly.
I don't think it's surprising at all. It's a serious issue and there is no loyalty in politics; just ask Larry Craig or Trent Lott. And I think that as the days go by you'll begin to hear him described as "Paul Morrison, who left the Republican party to run..." or "Former Republican Paul Morrison..." or "One-time Republican Paul Morrison..." Anything to try and tar the GOP and deflect any attention they can.
Pols and dimocRATS especially, surely can turn on a dime, can't they?
Ditto.
Sebelius is preparing to throw him under the bus. LOL, he's one of yours now, babe.
As I posted before, I was glad when he switch parties last year. Good riddance.
Thanks for the ping.
I guess Morrison wanted abortion legal to use on his mistresses.
Was a shame Kline got kicked out.
Not really, no. Phill got what was coming to him. The Dems could have run anyone against him and he still would have lost.
Me too. I'm trying not to, but I can't help it. This seems to be a fitting 'punishment' for him.
Why?
Because he is an inept politician and a hack lawyer. Two traits beople don't like their Attorney General to have.
What is your basis for making these comments? What specifically did he do that causes you to characterize him in this way?
I only ask because I feel he accomplished quite a bit as Atty General (i.e. setting up the internet child porn task force, setting up a task force to investigate senior citizen abuse). What I've observed seems to be quite different from the way you are characterizing him.
Your response (complete silence) is generally what I get when I ask the Kline detractors to be specific about what he has done that is wrong. The only other reaction I get is that they are upset that he dared to investigate abortion providers.
Let me preface by saying while I know Phill, I don't know him personally. I've met him occasionally at Johnson County GOP functions. And I'm not a lawyer. But I know a lot of lawyers, as might be expected being involved in politics, and many of them know Phill a lot better than I do. Some go back to his law school days. And they know Phill a lot better than I.
First of all, you shouldn't give Phill much credit for the internet porn taskforce or the senior citizen taskforce. I've heard that the idea for both came up during the last year under Carla Stovall, Phill's AG predecessor, and that in fact it took a while to generate enough interest in the AG to let them go forward. I've heard this from more than one source so I'm inclined to believe it. Phill's sole interest from the moment he became AG was jailing Tiller.
I have no problem with the AG going after criminals. But the sad fact is that Kansas's late term abortion laws are pretty lenient as such laws go. There are loopholes big enough to drive a truck through and Tiller knows every one of them. Kline labored for four years, subpoenaed every medical record in sight, and at the end what did he have to show for it? He filed a number of misdemeanor charges a few weeks before the election. And in doing so he violated jurisdictional boundaries with the local prosecuting attorney and the charges were promptly thrown out. And Morrison's office refused to refile them saying that they were groundless. And Tiller walks away.
Now Phill and his fanatics have held this up as proof of just how indebted the Democrats are to Tiller. Was it? Were they serious charges quashed by Tiller's supporters or was it an election stunt? Stop and think. Four years of effort and it isn't until a few weeks before election day that you are able to file the charges? Then you make a procedural error that a first year law student should know enough to avoid that guarantees that the charges will be dismissed? Does that sound like the work of a competent Attorney General to you? Or is it someone who abused his office for polticial gain? Considering the magnitude of Phill's election defeat in 2006 a lot of people thought that it was the second. Most lawyers I know think the same, and that includes some who supported Phill.
So now Phill is Johnson County DA and he's filed charges against Planned Parenthood. These charges haven't been thrown out, yet. But most local lawyers I've spoken with expect them to be, because it is believed that Phill used files that he compiled while AG as the basis for these charges. And these files should have been returned once the original charges were dismissed. And if this is true then the evidence is tainted and the charges will be thrown out. And Planned Parenthood will continue on it's way providing abortion services. So the question comes up again, is Phill using his office to harass Planned Parenthood? Or is he actually so stupid he didn't realize that he needed to return the files and couldn't use them to build his current case? Most people I've talked to believe it's the former. Either way doesn't reflect well on Phill. And from what I've heard the day the charges are dismissed, people are ready to file charges that could get Phill's license suspended or revoked altogether.
Please give us credit in Kansas for recognizing Phill for what he is. He is at best an inept attorney. He is at worst a man who will violate the law to obtain his goals. In either case he's doing nothing to slow Tiller or drive out Planned Parenthood. The only way to guarantee that is to tighten up our abortion laws, and I don't see where Phill is trying to get that done. On the other hand, there might be another way to stop Tiller. Within a few months of taking office, Morrison filed charges against Tiller on a number of financial dealings he has had with doctors who co-signed on late term abortions. There are, if memory serves, about 19 charges against him. And if he's convicted on all and gets the maximum then he can go away for 20 years. Some people claim that these are only technicalities and have nothing to do with the cruel practice of abortion. But Al Capone wasn't sent away because he was a bootlegger or murderer, he was sent away for not paying his taxes. If these charges stick, and unlike Phill's charges they haven't been thrown out, then Tiller still goes away. And the end result is the same.
Now bear in mind I haven't even touched any of the other times where Phill's case has been literally lauged out of court. Or the times where courts here have ruled against him in matters pertaining to evidence obtained. Phill's record there is dismal as well.
Phill has spent his whole life running for office. He ran for Congress when he was in law school. He lost his run against Dennis Moore for Congress in a year where Kansas voted overwhelmingly for George W. Bush. He barely won his run for AG against a complete and unfunded unknown. He lost his re-election by 17 points. He was appointed the DA in a county where 66% of the people voted against him. People in this state have seen through Phill for some time now and recognize him for the hack politician he is.
Now you will no doubt shrug your shoulders and write me off as an abortion supporter. So be it. But the fact is that while I don't like abortion, it is legal. And the only way to change that is to change the law. Not to abuse the law, but to change it. I'm willing to support someone who will go out and fight to change it. Phill, on the other hand, abuses it. So you can respect him for that if you want. I don't.
For you to claim that Kline's sole interest as AG was to 'jail Tiller' is a very subjective opinion, and is a view I've only heard from people who dislike him solely because he has tried to enforce the law against abortion providers while everyone else has been 'hands off, don't touch'.
Kline fought for some time trying to get the records from Tiller, despite his right to subpoena them being upheld twice by the judge. Even after that, Tiller drug is feet turning them over. So to claim that Kline only filed 'misdemeanor' charges after 4 years is to ignore the length of time it took to get the records and to assume that other charges were not forthcoming.
By the way, even Morrison had to levy a fine against Tiller once he took office. He couldn't just shrug off the charges Kline brought (even though he would have loved to, since Morrison hates Kline, not to mention the fact that Morrison's campaign was supported by Tiller, both financially and through public speech).
And getting a case thrown out? Gee, if a lawyer is a 'hack' just because that happens to them, then most attorneys in the country are 'hacks'.
As to Planned Parenthood, from what I've read in the papers and have been hearing, that is unlikely to be thrown out. Planned Parenthood is allegedly not following the law in reporting suspected cases of child sexual abuse. I'm assuming you would want that law enforced.
From your response, I can only assume you're either:
(a) ticked off at Kline because he went after the abortion providers, or
(b) not paying attention to what was actually going on and listening to your lawyer 'friends' who are ticked off at Kline because he went after the abortion providers.
You said "Now Phill and his fanatics
Sounds to me like (a) fits you perfectly.
Gotcha.
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