Anti-abortion efforts will be Kline's legacy
Anti-abortion efforts will be Kline's legacy
A tempest swirled in Topeka on Tuesday, as more than 100 protesters representing two anti-abortion groups rallied to pressure Attorney General Paul Morrison to file charges against Wichita physician George Tiller.
The day before, a House committee had passed a resolution that would order Morrison to reinstate 30 misdemeanor criminal charges filed in December against Tiller. Those charges were dismissed by a Sedgwick County judge and the district attorney on jurisdictional grounds.
From his new office in Johnson County, the man who filed those charges -- the man who for years has stirred this pot like no other -- watches contentedly.
"What we have here is an unwillingness to enforce the law," said new Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, in his first extended interview since leaving the attorney general's office.
Morrison has said he is conducting his own investigation of the evidence against Tiller.
"I know that we're getting close to the end," he told the Associated Press on Tuesday. "I'd say weeks -- it shouldn't be months."
I asked Kline if he'd had a hand in the demonstration, in the passing of Monday's resolution, and in the pressure mounting to refile the charges.
He replied: "I don't know much about that.
"What I do know, though, is that that ruling was wrong and ill-founded. Two judges have found probable cause for pursuing those charges."
After losing to Morrison by double digits last November, Kline must feel somewhat vindicated seeing other people press for charges against Tiller.
Kline's impact on abortion in Kansas is undeniable.
As attorney general, he supported and helped pass a law requiring the collection of tissue samples of aborted fetuses of underage mothers. Before, abusers had been able to dispose of evidence of their abuse via abortion. Now, there's a DNA tissue sample tying predators to their victims.
Kline has done national television interviews on Fox News with talk show giant Bill O'Reilly. GQ magazine labeled him "the most aggressive abortion litigator in the land" in a 2005 article titled, "This man will do anything to stop abortion."
That kind of publicity has made him the sharp, leading edge of the movement in Kansas.
But that blade cuts both ways.
"It was the primary reason I lost the election, and I do not regret that," he said of his anti-abortion stance. "Well, let me clarify: I didn't lose because I'm anti-abortion. I was clearly anti-abortion when I ran the first time. I lost because of how it was portrayed. I lost because of how this whole thing with Tiller was played out.
"A lot of people believed I was perusing their medical records on Friday evenings."
Still, he insists he's not just about abortion.
"I spend 99 percent of my time on (criminal) cases... but if somebody sneezes abortion in Hays, my name is in the headline," he said.
He says a task force he helped form put 100 Internet predators behind bars. He says nearly 90 sheriff's departments endorsed him before the November election.
Still, opposition to abortion will be Kline's legacy.
He seemed to acknowledge as much when I called to wish him well last November after he lost the attorney general's race.
He told me then that his cause -- opposition to abortion -- dwarfed any campaign or any office and that he'd support that cause no matter where he ended up.
He's the district attorney in Johnson County now. He says he remains active in the anti-abortion movement, but on his own time. He's a frequent speaker at churches and town hall meetings.
He says he doesn't want the media there, but that doesn't mean he's backing down.
"I'm not whining. I'm not bitter. I'm not angry," he says.
"I'm willing to take them on."
Article from The Wichita Eagle Kansas.com
Reach Mark McCormick at 316-268-6549 or mmccormick@wichitaeagle.com.