To be precise, 316 ultra-conservative Republicans stuck their fingers in the eyes of 65 percent of Johnson County voters when they elected ousted Attorney General Phill Kline as the county's new district attorney.
Last night's vote by the county Republican committee sets up newly minted Democrat Paul Morrison and Kline to swap jobs. The current Johnson County district attorney, Morrison beat Kline in a landslide in November to win the office of attorney general. In Johnson County, Kansas' most populous county, 65 percent voted to boot Kline from office.
To gage the depth of the anger, even among Republicans, please note that the finger-in-the-eye quote doesn't come from me, but from Andy Wollen. AP reports:
Andy Wollen, chairman of the moderate Kansas Traditional Republican Majority, said GOP conservatives had "stuck a finger in the eye of Johnson County voters."Taking the issue of abortion and the culture war out of the discussion for the moment, Kline's victory is a clear sign that Kansas needs to change the way it fills open seats. Instead of allowing a party committee to fill the seat, isn't it time to bring a little democracy to the situation and begin holding special elections?
"The voters sent a clear message to Phill Kline -- 'you're fired,'" Wollen said after Monday night's balloting.
There are some jobs in government that, honestly, don't make much difference in people's lives. If you don't believe that, think about the last time you knew of a lieutenant governor who had an impact on your life.
But being a county district attorney isn't one of those. DAs are an important part of the law enforcement team. To put someone with no experience as a prosecutor and little to no experience in criminal law in that prosition is ridiculous.
AP reports the Kline will probably bring his team from the attorney general office with him. That means displacing the proven professionals Morrison has put in place. That can't be a good sign for the county.
AP also gives us an interesting quote from Morrison. It shows that the state's new attorney general understands something Kline may never get: Some things are beyond politics.
Morrison said he was "deeply disappointed" by the vote. But he pledged a smooth transition for Kline into the county office, saying, "public safety should be above politics."The Kansas City Star has a good look at the vote and the politics of it.
12 comments:
The Kansas Traditional Republican Majority is affiliated with a national organization that received funding from George Soros and several wealthy Democrats. Soros, of course, spent $25 million of his own money in 2004 in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat George Bush. Wollen and his fellow ultraliberals are much closer to the Democrat Party than to the GOP.
As far as professionals in the DA's office, Morrison failed the family of Ali Kemp by not seeking the death penalty for her killer. Again, there's a George Soros connection since Morrison is an associate member of the the Vera Institute of Justice, which receives grants from a program within Soros' Open Society Institute. That program gives grants to associations that are anti-death penalty.
Then we add that fact that Morrison is essentially Tiller's Toady, and it's difficult to characterize Morrison as a professional.
Ultraliberal Kansas Republicans? Surely you jest. You might consider the possibility that Soros is interested in funding a wide variety of programs through his Open Society Institute.
"You might consider the possibility that Soros is interested in funding a wide variety of programs through his Open Society Institute."
True, but how many of those programs support the death penalty? Morrison belongs to a Soros-supported group that opposes the death penalty. For Tiller's Toady, it's all right to take the life of another only when that person is an unborn child.
As far as liberal Republicans, there are Republicans in Johnson County, Kansas, who would be Democrats if they did not consider members of that party to be part of the dirty, working class. For them, class trumps ideology.
The fringe is where the fun is. The extremists on either side can be so entertainingly blind,ignorant and dramatic.
Appleby will die in prison. Morrison chose to prosecute the case based upon the evidence. He won this conviction. Examine his conviction record and you could hardly call him a slouch in pursuing the death sentence.
And Morrison as the Johnson County DA has NOTHING to do with Tiller who lives and practices in
Wichita. (I have no doubt that Tiller contributed money to Morrisons campaign, but whining about that is as logical as the democrats who whined about Phred Phelps contributing to the Kline campaign.)
The only conspiracy here is the conspiracy of rhetoric and ignorance spreading through the population.
Folks such as annonymous, regardless of their stand to the left or right of moderate, should perhaps be charged under some yet to be creatively imagined legislation with conspiracy to spread stupidity.
Get real. Get an education. Get a better argument. GEB
GEB:
Wow, talk about needing to get an education. You're ignorant of the facts concerning Tiller's Toady.
You write that Tiller had nothing to do with Morrison's campaign, yet several newspaper articles contradict that contention. Even liberal partisan Scott Rothschild reported on Tiller's ties to Morrison.
Forgot link to story:
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/oct/26/antikline_mailings_linked_tiller/
I really enjoy the right's obsession with George Soros. I'm surprised they haven't pinned the attack on Pearl Harbor on him yet - but I'm sure they're spending sleepless night trying to puzzle out a way to do so.
They decry the money Soros has spent, but are oddly silent about Richard Mellon Scaife and his obscene big-bucks campaign to destroy Bill Clinton. Interesting.
Come on dude, you gotta be smarter if you expect to get ahead in life. Whining just won't hack it. The newspaper link you tried to give was incomplete. Here it is. (You gave enough that I could still look it up though. Is that the game? Sound smart but use incomplete or unaccessable sources?)
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/oct/26/antikline_mailings_linked_tiller/
The core content of the article addresses the fact that Tillers PAC sent out anti-Kline adds, INDEPENDENT of Morrisons campaign.
Did you know that newspapers are generally written at he 7th grade reading level?
I previously wrote, "And Morrison as the Johnson County DA has NOTHING to do with Tiller who lives and practices in
Wichita. (I have no doubt that Tiller contributed money to Morrisons campaign, but whining about that is as logical as the democrats who whined about Phred Phelps contributing to the Kline campaign.)"
I stand by my statement. Geeze, I even acknowledged that Tiller -or his PAC- may have contributed to Morrisons campaign. YOU however turned it around.(As was so typical in Klines campaign of mis-information. Is there some school that teaches this kind of logic to the children that have been left behind?)
If you go back and read the entire article you sent us off to search for, you would also find this comment, "Brooks Jackson, director of the nonpartisan and nonprofit FactCheck.org, said voters need to be wary of what they see, hear and read during the campaigns." “Stay very skeptical and be aware that some of this false stuff is going to seep into your brain. It’s an insidious thing, and it’s very powerful,” Jackson said."
Well, somethings certainly seeping somewhere...
If you have the time (or know-how) to down load the files, you can go online to look and see the name of every PAC and individual contributor in both Morrisons and Klines campaigns. (Morrisons list is alphabetized. I'm not sure about Klines.) The files are available at:
http://www.kansas.gov/ethics/campaigncontributors.htm
Morrisons is longer. (12 vs 8)
GEB
geb:
If you're going to issue personal attacks, have the courage to use your real name.
If you don't think Tiller had any think to do with Morrison, you might stop wasting your time posting here and become Tiller's financial advisor. He's obvious wasting tens of thousands of dollars contributing to pro-aborts such as Morrison. You get him to invest that money in financials and you'd stand to earn quite a commission.
As far as the web site I provided, I did post the entire web address. Note that the link you tried to share is identical to mine. Will an apology be forthcoming?
I'm sorry, but how can someone who posts as "anonymous" possibly attack anyone for not using their own name?
dear anonymous: ah. Yes I will apologise. The blog format apparently erased the final portion of the address in both of our posts. Good catch. We both might have proof read our posts better. Sorry for the slight. I presumed you had copied it incorrectly.
For other readers interested in reading the article go to this address:(you will then have to scroll down to find the article)
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/oct/26/
The "attack" would only be personal if you had a name.
The core of your argument about the relationship between Tiller & Morrison is just silly. And anyone taking the time to step away from crazed emotion to read the comments clearly would understand that.
Peace Dude, Gary Bachman
"I'm sorry, but how can someone who posts as "anonymous" possibly attack anyone for not using their own name?"
Diane, my comment clearly included the qualification "If you're going to issue personal attacks, have the courage to use your real name."
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