Panel discusses Complaint over judge dismissing Tiller Charges
Panel discusses complaint over judge dismissing Tiller charges
TOPEKA -
April 8, 2007 Kansas.com
The Wichita Eagle
When a state panel met Friday, its agenda included an anti-abortion senator's ethics complaint against a Sedgwick County district judge who dismissed criminal charges against the state's best-known abortion provider.
A seven-member panel of the Commission on Judicial Qualifications had a private meeting and made no announcement about whether it had decided to pursue the complaint against Judge Paul Clark.
In December, on jurisdictional grounds, Clark dismissed 30 misdemeanor charges alleging that George Tiller performed illegal late-term abortions in 2003 at his Wichita clinic.
The commission is obligated by Kansas Supreme Court rules to keep its deliberations confidential until it decides to schedule a public hearing on a complaint. However, it will notify Clark and Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, who filed the complaint, of any decision.
National anti-abortion leaders also are involved in the complaint. They note that Clark received maximum contributions of $500 each during his re-election campaign from a law firm representing Tiller and from District Attorney Nola Foulston and her husband. Foulston asked Clark to dismiss the charges, arguing that outgoing Attorney General Phill Kline didn't have the authority to file them.
Kline, an anti-abortion Republican, lost to Paul Morrison, a Democrat who supports abortion rights, in the November election, but Kline's term didn't end until Jan. 8. Morrison has said he is conducting his own investigation of Tiller.
-- Associated Press