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Kline, controversy continue in Johnson County
BY: Jack Miles, Editor
District Attorney Phill Kline remains chin deep in dumb deeds.
Johnson County voters are not to blame. They did not vote for Kline.
Instead, blame the Republican Party's right wing.
County voters, Republicans and Democrats alike, voted 2-1 to kick Kline out of office as Kansas attorney general. The rest of the state agreed, rendering Kline jobless.
But Kline, the golden child of the religious right, appealed to the minority of one-issue Johnson County Republicans. They wanted someone who would strike with terrible vengeance at abortion doctors and Kline met that sole criteria.
They used their power – a slim majority on the Republican Central Committee – to resurrect Kline's failed political career. They appointed him to fill the two years remaining on retired District Attorney Paul Morrison's term – to their lasting shame.
Hurricane Kline is a Johnson County disaster.
In less than a year, Kline:
• Got booted out of the Attorney General's Office, but took with him abortion investigation records obtained by that office;
• Dismantled the state's No. 1 prosecutorial team, starting on day one by firing seven assistant district attorneys and the chief investigator;
• Ignored county personnel practices to fire people, resulting in a lawsuit;
• Separately fired the chief prosecutor in domestic violence cases, Jacqie Spradling, whose pending allegations include Kline allowing an atmosphere for sexual harassment;
• The woman Kline hired to replace Spradling, Sue Carpenter, quit less than two months after being hired;
• Oversaw an office where almost a dozen more prosecutors quit; and
• An investigation by the state's new attorney general, Morrison, showed no wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood in Johnson County, but anti-abortion Kline – no doubt to the resounding hallelujahs of religious right-wingers – filed felony charges in October against Planned Parenthood.
As if these constant sources of controversy did not represent enough of an embarrassment to everyday Johnson Countians, Kline has been under scrutiny for months by media organizations regarding how much work he does on the job and where he lives.
The latest report suggests he puts in fewer than 30 hours per week as district attorney while flying around the country to tout his anti-abortion agenda to admiring religious crowds. The same report suggests Kline lives in Johnson County in name only, with him and his family continuing to live near Topeka where his daughter attends school.
The religious right would no doubt suggest the media is out to get Kline, casting him in a martyr's role. But the religious right is wrong.
Many people with a deep and abiding love of God work within the media. They are motivated not by hate or a "secular humanist" agenda, but by the simple necessity of reporting facts. When they examine Kline's record, without bias, they find facts that show a man who has been wrong in how he conducts himself in public office.
For the past year, Kline and controversy have gone together like dogs and fleas.
Every indication suggests the controversy will continue as long as Kline remains in office.
He would never give up the $143,000 job that the religious right served up as an offering to him at taxpayers' expense, but for the record and the county's good…
Kline should resign.
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Johnson County voters are not to blame. They did not vote for Kline.
Instead, blame the Republican Party's right wing.
County voters, Republicans and Democrats alike, voted 2-1 to kick Kline out of office as Kansas attorney general. The rest of the state agreed, rendering Kline jobless.
But Kline, the golden child of the religious right, appealed to the minority of one-issue Johnson County Republicans. They wanted someone who would strike with terrible vengeance at abortion doctors and Kline met that sole criteria.
They used their power – a slim majority on the Republican Central Committee – to resurrect Kline's failed political career. They appointed him to fill the two years remaining on retired District Attorney Paul Morrison's term – to their lasting shame.
Hurricane Kline is a Johnson County disaster.
In less than a year, Kline:
• Got booted out of the Attorney General's Office, but took with him abortion investigation records obtained by that office;
• Dismantled the state's No. 1 prosecutorial team, starting on day one by firing seven assistant district attorneys and the chief investigator;
• Ignored county personnel practices to fire people, resulting in a lawsuit;
• Separately fired the chief prosecutor in domestic violence cases, Jacqie Spradling, whose pending allegations include Kline allowing an atmosphere for sexual harassment;
• The woman Kline hired to replace Spradling, Sue Carpenter, quit less than two months after being hired;
• Oversaw an office where almost a dozen more prosecutors quit; and
• An investigation by the state's new attorney general, Morrison, showed no wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood in Johnson County, but anti-abortion Kline – no doubt to the resounding hallelujahs of religious right-wingers – filed felony charges in October against Planned Parenthood.
As if these constant sources of controversy did not represent enough of an embarrassment to everyday Johnson Countians, Kline has been under scrutiny for months by media organizations regarding how much work he does on the job and where he lives.
The latest report suggests he puts in fewer than 30 hours per week as district attorney while flying around the country to tout his anti-abortion agenda to admiring religious crowds. The same report suggests Kline lives in Johnson County in name only, with him and his family continuing to live near Topeka where his daughter attends school.
The religious right would no doubt suggest the media is out to get Kline, casting him in a martyr's role. But the religious right is wrong.
Many people with a deep and abiding love of God work within the media. They are motivated not by hate or a "secular humanist" agenda, but by the simple necessity of reporting facts. When they examine Kline's record, without bias, they find facts that show a man who has been wrong in how he conducts himself in public office.
For the past year, Kline and controversy have gone together like dogs and fleas.
Every indication suggests the controversy will continue as long as Kline remains in office.
He would never give up the $143,000 job that the religious right served up as an offering to him at taxpayers' expense, but for the record and the county's good…
Kline should resign.
Comments on "Kline, controversy continue in Johnson County"
Comments are limited to 200 words or less.John M wrote on Dec 5, 2007 11:37 AM:
" As a Phill Kline supporter, I agree with you that controversy will surround him as long as he remains in office, and that he lives in Johnson County in name only and is violating his residency requirement. Kline is a flawed individual who will be out of office within a year's time. But you exhibit selective outrage when you lambaste the conservative antics like Phill Kline and Kay O'Connor while not whispering even a scintilla of criticism about Kansas Democrats and their allies. No one is perfect in politics, yet your lionization of the Democratic party in this state is fulsome at best. "
Shawnee Resident wrote on Dec 3, 2007 7:23 PM:
" I'm no Phill Kline fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't know how an opinion based piece such as this, with terms thrown around like the "religious right, "shame," "dumb deeds." Miles is foaming at the mouth with his rapid hate of Kline--this has no business in the news section. Put it in opinion where it belongs, or better yet, in the trash, since it is not even professional enough to be in the opinion column.
I hate to admit it, but the Sun is even worse than the Star in their disregard for journalistic integrity and their blantant injection of opinion and malicious diatribe into every news piece. With subscription rates down this low, hopefully this newspaper will cease to exist in a few years. "
Ann in Overland park wrote on Dec 1, 2007 5:05 PM:
" So how many days, hours, minutes do we have left with Phil Kline?
The end can't come any too soon. "
Ray Parker wrote on Nov 29, 2007 10:13 PM:
" Did you run out of news to comment on this week, Mr. Miles? "
Mel wrote on Nov 29, 2007 8:41 PM:
" You are an idiot! Your comments are so biased and slanted, no one could ever take anything you say seriously. I am not a Kline fan, but the latest media hit job is just that. It appears to me that the DA's office is running smoothly...I work in the courthouse and their are good prosecutors in that office including ones Kline hired. As for your St. Morrison, he is a tyrant and bully and you shouldn't count on him as your idol. It is truly sad that people like you have a pen and a place to print your blather. I hear St. Morrison fired over 30 good people when he took over the AG's office. Why do you slam Kline for firing 8? Can you not even see your own bias? "