CJOnline / The Topeka Capital-Journal - Kline: Judges guided politically

CJOnline / The Topeka Capital-Journal - Kline: Judges guided politically
Kline: Judges guided politically
Former attorney general says Morrison tricked in Planned Parenthood case
By Tim Carpenter
The Capital-Journal
Published Saturday, May 31, 2008
Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline believes former Attorney General Paul Morrison was duped into clearing the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Overland Park of criminal wrongdoing.

Kline also alleges in new court documents the state's judicial branch often has been guided by "political considerations rather than the rule of law" in handling his case against the clinic.



Ann Williamson / The Capital-Journal
Phill Kline



Paul Morrison

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Robert Eye, a Topeka attorney for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said the claims illustrate Kline's desperate pursuit of the nation's first criminal charges against a Planned Parenthood facility.

"It's Kline perpetuating the myth that he's the only one to have the insight to ferret out criminal conduct," Eye said. "It's an unfortunate example of ideologically driven prosecution."

Ashley Anstaett, a spokeswoman in the attorney general's office, said Morrison's staff conducted a thorough review of Planned Parenthood documents prior to issuing a finding that no evidence pointed to criminal conduct by the abortion clinic.

After Morrison made that declaration, Kline charged the clinic in Johnson County with more than 100 felonies and misdemeanors, including allegations of illegal abortions and failure to maintain documentation of abortions in accordance with state law.

The bruising legal confrontation is being waged primarily in district court in Olathe. The drama spills into Topeka on June 12 when the Kansas Supreme Court hears oral arguments.

In the court documents filed by Kline in advance of that proceeding, the district attorney indicates Morrison's decision to vindicate Planned Parenthood in June 2007 was based on "concealment and false representation" of documents that led Morrison to "erroneously issue a clearance letter."

Kline, an anti-abortion Republican, argued Morrison should have recognized Planned Parenthood doctored records to conceal wrongdoing. Morrison is an abortion-rights Democrat.

In one case, according to documents made public by Kline, a discrepancy existed in the medical record of a Planned Parenthood patient who had an abortion. The original copy of the woman's abortion record was forwarded by Planned Parenthood to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, as required by law, and obtained by Kline with a subpoena. When Planned Parenthood was compelled to produce another copy of the patient's record of that abortion, the subsequent copy didn't match the original.

Shawnee County District Court Judge Richard Anderson, who presided over a portion of Kline's investigation of Kansas abortion clinics, testified in a previous court proceeding that the second version was fabricated.

Peter Brownlie, president and chief executive officer of the Planned Parenthood clinic, said discrepancies exist between the clinic's abortion records in the possession of Kline's investigators and on file with KDHE.

"There are explanations for the discrepancies, and when the time comes, we will explain it. There is nothing illegal," Brownlie said.

Morrison closed his review of Planned Parenthood one year ago, about six months before announcing his resignation in a sex scandal. His replacement, Attorney General Stephen Six, hasn't opened an investigation of Planned Parenthood.

"The letter that was sent to Planned Parenthood at the conclusion of the investigation is still accurate and still represents the opinion of this office," Anstaett said.

Eye said a grand jury in Johnson County examined evidence available to Morrison and adjourned without recommending prosecution of Planned Parenthood. Morrison didn't shy away from filing charges against Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller, Eye said.

He said Kline's interpretation of the documentary evidence didn't warrant charges against Planned Parenthood.

"It's misleading and it fails to do justice to the very careful analysis that Morrison's staff did," Eye said.

Kline also claimed in a court brief filed Wednesday that his prosecution of Planned Parenthood had been hampered because the case involved late-term abortions. Kline began investigating Planned Parenthood and Tiller in 2003 while he was serving as attorney general.

"If the current case dealt with records relating to any medical procedure but abortion, the rule of law would be made crystal clear by consistent court rulings that reflect the obvious meaning of Kansas statute," Kline wrote.

He added: "Since the records, however, touch on the issue of enforcing Kansas late-term abortion prohibitions, court equivocation and meanderings contrary to precedent and Kansas legislative intent all too often have emanated from the bench.

"Such a pattern demonstrates that judicial branch actions have been guided too often by political considerations rather than the rule of law. If the judicial branch continues its apparent effort to prevent enforcement of Kansas law regarding abortion through creating new and novel procedural obstacles that do not in any fashion enhance privacy nor reflect law, the long-term damage to integral government will be immeasurable."

Last year, Planned Parenthood filed a secret lawsuit against Kline to force the return of more than two dozen medical files he obtained while attorney general and transferred to himself at the D.A.'s office in Johnson County. The clinic's attorneys also want Kline sanctioned by the high court for carelessly handling the records.

Michael Leitch, deputy attorney general, argued in a court brief submitted in advance of the upcoming Supreme Court hearing that Kline's staff improperly removed Planned Parenthood and Tiller clinic abortion records from the attorney general's office in Topeka as Kline turned over the post to Morrison.

"This case presents a simple question: When a public official leaves office, may he take with him property that belongs to that office?" Leitch writes. "The answer, of course, is 'no.' But that is what happened here."

Leitch said Kline investigator Tom Williams took the records from the A.G.'s office and delivered them in January 2007 to the garage of a home owned by Steve Maxwell, one of Kline's assistant attorney generals and later a prosecutor in Kline's district attorney's office.

Investigator Jared Reed, who also followed Kline to the D.A.'s office, stored the abortion records for more than a month in a Rubbermaid container in his dining room. In February, Reed gave the materials to Kline's office.

The abortion files became the central feature of Kline's criminal case against Planned Parenthood.

"Failure to grant the requested relief could have dire consequences," Leitch wrote. "If public officials can now leave office with public property, these records may never be returned."

Tim Carpenter can be reached at (785) 296-3005 or timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com.