Posted on 08/01/2008 5:37:47 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur
A local election contest rarely draws national attention. But the issue of abortion has catapulted the district attorney’s race in Johnson County into that sphere.
Phill Kline, who is campaigning to keep the job, is the first prosecutor since Roe v. Wade to file a criminal case against Planned Parenthood. Those who oppose abortion have taken note and are sending manpower and money.
“There is no other elected official taking a more principled and courageous stand for the sanctity of human life than Phill Kline,” conservative James Dobson, who heads Focus on the Family, wrote recently in a letter soliciting contributions for Kline.
Challenger Steve Howe, who faces Kline on Tuesday in the GOP primary, also opposes abortion. He has pulled together supporters from both wings of the local Republican Party. That makes the national support all the more significant for Kline. The winner will meet Democrat Rick Guinn in the Nov. 4 general election.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
Go Phill !
Which inaccuracies are the ones to which you refer? As I've been seeing, reading, hearing all, which are "inaccurate?"
Where to begin?
In one ad they claim that Howe's performance in the DAs office was so bad it led to his dismissal. The whole county knows that the reason why Howe was dismissed was because he'd run against Kline to replace Morrison as DA and lost. Kline has stated for the record that the performance of Howe and all the other dismissed ADAs was exemplary and all were eligible for rehire.
Kline says Howe made an error in the Nugene Wilson case that almost let him walk. The fact is that after the jury was hung in October 2006, Howe and his staff were working on a plea to the decision. When they were fired, they had no chance to conduct a proper turnover of their cases and it was Phill's people who overlooked the plea and failed to file for a new court date.
Kline claims credit for personally prosecuting the Kauffman House. He did not. The statute of limitations had run out on the complaint, and the case was prosecuted and tried in the federal courts. There were a lot of state agencies who deserve credit, including the AGs office. And a lot who dropped the ball, including the AGs office. But Kline claims full credit for the prosecution and that's just wrong.
It would seem that you have internal knowledge on the Nugene Wilson that is not found anywhere in county court records, not beholden either to Howe or Kline.
As to your comment, "the whole country knows......" that is a very huge jump even on FR.
Howe, unfortunately, has claimed that all he was seeking was his job back in a public forum but a search, again in court records, shows Howe was seeking actual and punitive damages.
No matter if Howe wins because Rick Guinn will get all of the "moderate" Republican support AND he will also use the factual records of incompetency of his former colleague, Steve Howe against him in the General Election.
No, I was at work at 8 this morning.
It would seem that you have internal knowledge on the Nugene Wilson that is not found anywhere in county court records, not beholden either to Howe or Kline.
I have several friends in the Johnson County legal community who are familiar with the workings of the DAs office, both before and during Phill's tenure. I trust them as men and women of their word, and they're familiar with the case.
As to your comment, "the whole country knows......" that is a very huge jump even on FR.
I think it's an accurate statement, borne out by the fact that when Kline settled their wrongful dismissal suit his office issued a statement aknowledging that stating that he had no personal knowledge of any negative performance issues with Howe or the other ADAa he fired, and that he believed they would be eligible to be rehired by the Johnson County DA's office. Had their dismissal been for cause then he couldn't say that.
Howe, unfortunately, has claimed that all he was seeking was his job back in a public forum but a search, again in court records, shows Howe was seeking actual and punitive damages.
They all claimed that they were trying to clear their names and reputations, which they believed had been damaged by false charges made by Kline's office. All settled for a formal admission by Kline that the claims made against them were not true.
No matter if Howe wins because Rick Guinn will get all of the "moderate" Republican support AND he will also use the factual records of incompetency of his former colleague, Steve Howe against him in the General Election.
There are no factual records of incompetence on the part of Howe or any of the other ADAs dismissed by Phill. Had Phill not gone back on his stated promise not to run for re-election then Howe would have run a very strong campaign against Guinn, and I believe Howe would have won. Now, Howe will have spent too much money on the primary and will enter the November election way behind Guinn in fundraising. Phill, on the other hand, lost the 2006 election in Johnson county by a huge margin. Nothing he has done as DA will change that kind of a result in November.
Regardless, I've met both Howe and Guinn. I knew both of them when they were with the DAs office. Either man will make a fine district attorney. My preference for Howe over Guinn is based primarily on the fact that I didn't think much of Guinn's decision to switch parties in order to run. Considering that the primary purpose of the DAs office is to put criminals in jail then I think either man will do a better job that the current incumbent.
What “Unity” Looks Like
Steve Howe boasts the following endorsements in a mailer paid for by his campaign. Here’s who else they endorse.
Greg Musil
Hon. Nancy Kassebaum – Baker
Hon. Larry Winn, Jr.
Hon. Jan Meyers
Nick Powell
Rex Hoy
Karl Hansen
Glen and Rosalie Schreiber
Hon. Ed Eilert
Mayor Carl Gerlach
Mayor Laura McConwell
Shane Jones
Neal Sawyer
Marvin Kleeb
Terry Dunn
Hon. Robert Stephan
Larry Winn, III
Jon Stewart
Rod Richardson
Bob and Sally Bibb
Eric and Alison Jager
Other Howe contributors with financial ties to liberal groups and individuals:
Steve Cloud
Ramona Allenbrand
Rob Boyer (who happens to be the campaign manager, Karl Hansen’s, employer)
Robert and Audrey Langworthy
Tim and Kim Pickell
Jim and Mareal Denning
Thomas Van Dyke
Dr. James Quigley, husband of Rep. Jill Quigley
Dalton Hermes
Rosalie Schreiber
John Petersen
Ben Craig
Richard Rossman
J.M. Coopersmith
Clifford Illig
William Dunn
Mary Ann and Nicholas Powell
Sibyl Hayden
James Azeltine
James and Betty Lu Duncan
The GKCCCF, funded by Stowers, is also a contributor
Yes, indeed. Looks like a who’s who of liberals/RINOs. No surprise there.
Why is this man not smiling?
Check out the debate between District Attorney Phill Kline and Steve Howe on KCPT's Week in Review. The video has been posted to YouTube in three parts. After watching this, it's pretty obvious why Steve Howe isn't smiling in the picture above.
Things to watch for:
Part 1 (click HERE to view)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiQptfDjL6w
01:40 - Howe isn't a happy camper. We don't know why he's sporting a frown, but he's clearly uncomfortable being on TV talking about his qualifications...or lack thereof.
02:30 - Howe claims he was a "manager of various departments." But he's not done a good job during the campaign of setting forth just exactly what he's talking about. What we do know is that he "led" the Economic Crimes Unit (where he was the only full time attorney), and he also managed the DA office Intern Program on behalf of Paul Morrison (yes, there's a joke in there somewhere).
04:13 - WiR Host Nick Haines picks up on Howe's lack of experience at managing and leading, but Howe counters by saying, "I have supervised people..." (he doesn't mention that the "people" he "managed" were four interns). Eighteen years of experience, indeed.
Part 2 (click HERE to view)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biTzDr5Z5t8
00:07 - This is priceless. Steve Howe claims he's worked on "hundreds of thousands" of cases, but he deliberately lied to the Sunflower Republican Club and the Olathe Republican Party about the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars he sued the county for. Let's check the math..."hundreds of thousands of cases" means that Steve Howe is claiming he handled the equivalent workload of 45 attorneys every year (it takes 30 attorneys at the DA office to process 8,000 cases each year). Howe is claiming he handled more than 11,000 cases per year by himself, or 45 cases every day. Not even Wilt Chamberlain made such outrageous claims.
01:00 - Phill refutes the "single-issue candidate" claim with a long list of law enforcement initiatives he pushed during his time as both DA and AG.
02:25 - Steve Howe makes the unfounded and ridiculous claim that the cooperation with federal agencies and the DA office "was far better than it is right now." As usual, he fails to back up his statements with facts - perhaps because one of those facts is Matthew Bass, who should have been prosecuted federally but was out on probation when he murdered two paramedics and then killed himself.
07:11 - Phill scolds Steve Howe for his refusal to take responsibility for a simple mistake (that almost let a murderer go free). Leaders don't blame others for their mistakes - they fix them. But then Steve doesn't really have much leadership experience, so we shouldn't hold that against him.
Part 3 (click HERE to view unedited version - click poster to view "Showdown" version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biTzDr5Z5t8
This is the highlight of the entire debate. Phill shoots down the empty-suit rhetoric of Steve Howe after Nick Haines asks Howe what he would do differently from Phill Kline when it comes to the Planned Parenthood case. His answer?
Why, he would treat it just like any other case and "use the law and the evidence to make a decision on what to do on that." He then admits that two judges have already found probable cause, and that the case should go to trial.
Howe then says, "I have not criticized the fact that he's filed charges. What I'm saying is that as a prosecutor you need to be fair and equitable."
So Phill asks him, "Where have I been unfair?"
Howe's response: "I haven't said you have."
In short - Steve Howe has ZERO criticism of Kline's handling of the Planned Parenthood case - which in turn means the entire basis of Howe's campaign is moot.
_____________________________________________________________________
Forward this message to your friends and family and urge them to contribute too!
We only have 1 day left!!!
We need your help to continue the fight!
"America, unlike any nation previous in human history, was founded on the promise that a limited government would recognize each person's inherent right of freedom and liberty. To deliver this promise, a nation must honor the rule of law so that no person or corporation, regardless of their wealth, power or influence can flaunt the law and exploit others without consequence." _____________________________________________________________________ Paid for by Kline for DA Committee, Shar Hoffman, Treasurer P.O. Box 2202, Olathe, KS 66061-2202
Have there been poll results printed for these two? I’m curious if there are any.
Here are two sites I like to read:
http://kcnewswatch.com/
http://kansasmeadowlark.com/
And the Topeka Capital Journal has much better coverage than the Star. Tim Carpenter wrote very professional, unbiased reports of the entire Morrison scandal.
I’m so happy kcnewswatch.com is up and running. Finally a website to dispute all the crap the KC Star spews.
Howe was also endorsed by Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback. More liberal/RINOs?
I'll bet you $10 that kcnewswatch is gone within a few weeks after Kline loses the election, be it primary or the general.
The only poll you need is the 2006 attorney general's race. Kline lost by almost 30 percentage points in Johnson County. If Kline wins the primary tomorrow, he'll get creamed in November.
I found this poll:
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=eb702b83-f9ad-4042-91da-faf633203246
Has Howe leading Kline 52% to 44%.
Leve is a former newspaper reporter and editor at the Miami Herald. He worked 7 years at Knight-Ridder, the company that owned the Miami Herald. Leve has a MSJ and a BSJ, with highest distinction, from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
To me, once a lying member of the MSM, always a lying member of the MSM. It's in their template.
That, plus, they do not point out that if you include the undecideds, the poll is within the MOE.
Keep hope alive!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.