KC Buzz Blog

Morrison has payday lenders in his sights

    Paul Morrison's taking aim at payday lenders.
   The new Kansas attorney general announced the creation of a task force to look at ways of preventing predatory lending at the neighborhood lenders. The task force will make recommendations to the Legislature, possibly including caps on the interest rates the lenders can charge.
   Morrison said too many low-income residents can fall into a crushing cycle of these loans as the interest mounts.
   “These businesses tend to target the most financially vulnerable citizens in our communities,” Morrison said.
   Whitney Damron, a lobbyist with the Kansas Payday Loan Association, defended his clients, and said that without payday lenders, there would be no place for these people to go to get the short-sterm, small loans they need.
   Holly Petraeus will lead the task force. Petraeus has worked on efforts to stop predatory lending near U.S. bases. She is the wife of Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the top officer at Fort Leavenworth who was recently tapped to command U.S. forces in Iraq.
   This was Morrison's first announcement made in his new office (the one formerly occupied by Phill Kline).
  One quick observation: Gone is the Bible Kline displayed prominently on the desk.

Posted by David Klepper

Source of anti-Morrison calls revealed

   Kansans have wondered about those phone calls they're getting that say incoming Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison is corrupt.

   Who's behind the calls?

   Turns out it's a California man who blames Morrison for legal problems dating to 1989.

   The man also owns a call center.

   The Lawrence Journal-World has the story.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Could OR stand for Overwrought?

    Here's a different take on Paul Morrison's landslide victory over Phill Kline in the race for Kansas AG.

   Operation Rescue, the anti-abortion group known for organizing blockades of abortion clinics across the nation, filed its version of the race on the Christian Newswire. The headline: "Morrison Slithers into Kansas AG's Office on Backs of Dead Babies"

    Perhaps they can be forgiven a bit of hyperbole. It's been a bad week at Operation Rescue.

   First, they lost Kline. Then they lost a referendum in South Dakota, where voters rejected a ban on virtually all abortions.

Posted by Kit Wagar

Morrison: Abortion records probe an 'open case'

    With anti-abortion groups frustrated by his victory, Kansas Attorney General-elect Paul Morrison said Wednesday he won't automatically drop a review of abortion records, though he's not opposed to having a "neutral" party intervene. Here's the full AP story.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Kline, Morrison await results at election parties

    Kansas Republicans will be watching election results tonight at the Capital Plaza Hotel in Topeka. State Democrats will be across town at the Ramada Inn.

   Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline will be at the Capital Plaza while his Democratic opponent, Paul Morrison, will attend a watch party at the Ritz Charles conference center in Overland Park before heading to Topeka around 8 p.m.

    U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, a Lenexa Democrat, is hosting the Ritz Charles watch party.

   Voters who describe themselves as "pro-life" were enthusiastic about Kline after casting their votes today.

    "I vote for life," said Carolyn Seifert after voting at a Lenexa polling place. "Therefore, I voted for Phill Kline. There was no debate in my mind."

   Morrison had his voters, too.

   "I'm a person of faith, a practicing Christian, and I think he's (Kline) taken his agenda a little too far and imposed it on the rest of the population," said Jim Kelly, who voted in Johnson County for Morrison.

Posted by Jim Sullinger

Abortion clinics want Kansas court to take control of records

  Here's the latest on the request by Kansas abortion clinics into statements by Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that he had obtained information about abortion records.  The clinics want the Kansas Supreme Court to seize the records from Kansas AG Phill Kline. He calls a request for a special prosecutor "frivolous."

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Topeka Capital-Journal endorses Kline

     The Capital-Journal ed board comes out for Phill Kline in the Kansas AG race but explains:

   "Kline, who wears his Republican conservatism on his sleeve, has ruffled feathers by pursuing records from abortion clinics and holding private meetings with conservative members of the Kansas State Board of Education. This endorsement acknowledges those concerns. We urge the attorney general to stick to his responsibilities as the state's chief law enforcement officer and avoid a political agenda he seems to pursue, at times openly and combatively. We don't believe that agenda serves well either law enforcement or the state of Kansas."

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Just checks please, no cash over $100

    As the election nears and tensions rise, a favorite campaign sport is nitpicking the opponent's campaign.

   A good example is the Kansas attorney general's race. Phill Kline, the Republican incumbent, found three instances in his opponent's campaign finance report in which a campaign finance law was broken.

   Democrat Paul Morrison's report had three instances in which cash donations of more than $100 were made, a technical violation of the law. When informed of the problem, Morrison said the money would be refunded.

   Not to be outdone, Mark Simpson, Morrison's campaign manager, found a $500 cash donation on the Kline report from a man in Leavenworth.

   Carol Williams, executive director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, said a lot of campaigns are ignorant of this legal provision and mistakes are common and usually rectified immedicately when they are pointed out.

   Williams said donations are easier to track when checks are involved. Cash is much harder to trace, she said, when the commission is investigating a complaint.

Posted by Jim Sullinger

Standing by her allegation

   Kelly Summerlin, the woman who accused Kansas attorney general candidate Paul Morrison of sexual harassment in 1991, issued a statement Friday about the incident. In it, she stands by her account of the alleged harassment and accuses Morrison of releasing "misleading and false information." Here's the release.

Posted by Kirk Weber

UPDATE: Here's Jim Sullinger's story in The Star Saturday.

Morrison finishes one debate only to start another

  The Topeka debate today between Paul Morrison and Phill Kline was contentious but nothing like Morrison would endure shortly afterward.

   He agreed, to his campaign's regret, to spend a few minutes on the Raubin Pierce and Megan Mosack program live on WIBW radio, Topeka -- a politically conservative talk show that confronts guests.

    For seven minutes Morrison faced combative questioning about threatening televisions stations that didn't pull a pro-Kline commercial and why he was criticizing Kline for seeking medical records from abortion clinics when he has subpeonaed thousands of medical records in criminal cases.

   As Morrison was trying to explain, the show's hosts kept trying to interupt him. It must have been high radio drama for the station's listeners.

   At one point, a clearly frustrated Morrison asked his inquisitors: "I just got out of a debate. You want to have a second one here."

   As Morrison left the interview, Pierce said the district attorney slammed the headphones on a table and stormed off.

   Morrison's campaign manager,  Mark Simpson, said he watched the interview and denied that it ended that way. He said the two talk show hosts have been promoting Kline's candidacy for weeks.

Posted by Jim Sullinger

New Kline ad cites old harassment charge

   In a move Democrat Paul Morrison calls "desperate and sleazy," Republican Phill Kline's latest television ad in the attorney general's race highlights unproven, 15-year-old sexual harassment allegations against Morrison.

   The AP reports that the ad has an actor reading statements attributed to Morrison by a former employee who sued him twice in federal court. Kline, who is seeking a second term, has made her allegations a campaign issue even though both cases were dismissed and Morrison, the Johnson County district attorney, paid no monetary damages to the woman.

   Kline began broadcasting the 30-second spot across the state this weekend, less than a week after holding a news conference to publicize the cases.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Lawyers dispute Kline claim of secret settlement

    Democrat Paul Morrison's brush with a former employee, who sued him for sexual harrassment 15 years ago, continues to bubble up in the Kansas campaign for attorney general.

   Phill Kline, the Republican incumbent who raised the issue early this week, and his supporters are convinced that a secret settlementl in the case must have been reached between Morrison and the woman's attorney that resulted in a federal judge dismissing the lawsuit at the request of both parties.

  The Wichita Eagle contacted the attorneys for the former employee, brothers Bryan and Ronald Nelson, who said they didn't recall any settlement other than signing paperwork asking the judge to dismiss the case.

   Morrison's campaign has contended that no settlement was made and that the woman didn't receive any money when the case was dismissed. The woman worked for Morrison, who is Johnson County district attorney, before being fired in 1991.

   There has been some confusion, however, about that lawsuit's dismissal. Many newspapers reported that the judge dismissed the sexual harrassment lawsuit for lack of evidence.

   That "fact" was conveyed in a Morrison press release the same day Kline brought up the lawsuit.

   What Morrison's information didn't reveal was that there were two lawsuits_ one for sexual harrassment and the other alleging that the woman's due process rights were violated when she was fired.

   The due process lawsuit -- not the sexual harrassment lawsuit -- went to trial and the judge threw the case out.

   The sexual harrassment lawsuit was then headed for trial but was stopped when the two parties agreed to dismiss it.

Posted by Jim Sullinger

Former GOP AG Stovall out for Morrison

   Former Kansas Attorney General Carla Stovall -- yes, you remember correctly, she's a Republican -- today endorsed Democrat Paul Morrison for attorney general.

    “There is a time for partisan loyalty. And there is a time to take a principled stand. Now is that time and I stand with Paul Morrison,” said Stovall.

   She added: "For two decades, Paul has conducted himself and run his office in a dignified and professional manner. He is a no-nonsense, straight arrow kind of law enforcement officer with an inner moral compass that is unquestioned."

   This has not been a good week for incumbent Phill Kline.

UPDATE:

On the heels of the Stovall announcement, the Kline campaign issued a release saying that state Sen. Mark Gilstrap, a Kansas City, Kan., Democrat, was one of several Democrats heading up a Democrats for Kline Committee. Gilstrap is known as a reliable anti-abortion vote.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Collection plate politics

  Former Kansas Attorney General Bob Stephan said he distanced himself from the state's current top prosecutor, Phill Kline, because of concerns about the GOP candidate's use of churches to raise campaign funds. Stephan told the Lawrence Journal-World on Tuesday that he was particularly upset about an instance in which a church made donations to a business owned by Kline's wife, Deborah. Here's the complete AP story.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Morrison takes aim at DNA backlog

      Rival Paul Morrison is criticizing Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline for saying the backlog of DNA tests at the KBI has been eliminated.

    Morrison, Kline's Democratic opponent, has posted a short video "news release" on his Web site accusing Kline of lying about the that backlog. He uses a recently obtained document from the Kansas Bureau of Investigating stating that on July 1 there were 16,632 cases awaiting analysis for entry into a DNA databank and 1,495 cases "submitted for analysis regarding actual cases."

   "The KBI backlog on DNA is gone," Kline said during a Sept. 24 debate at the Johnson County Community College.

   Kline clarified that statement during an appearance Monday at a meeting of The Kansas City Star's editorial board.

   When he took office four years ago, he said the backlog was 30,000 samples. He started working with area congressmen and obtained federal funds to expand the KBI's processing capability.

   "We eliminated that backlog," he added. "Since then the Legislature has expanded our DNA sample...and we do arrest records now."

    He was referring to a successful bill sponsored by Rep. Pat Colloton, a Leawood Republican, requiring DNA samples from anyone arrested in Kansas for a felony crime.

   "And that causes a problem," he said, adding that efforts are currently under way to further expand the KBI's processing operations to handle this new requirement.

   Morrison's Web site is www.morrisonforag.com

   For more information on Kline's appearance before the editorial board, read The Star Tuesday.

Posted by Jim Sullinger

Former Kansas GOP chair backs Morrison

   Former state GOP chair Dennis Jones announced his endorsement today for attorney general.

   He didn't go with the Republican.

   In another example of the political shifting going on in Kansas this year, Jones backed Democrat Paul Morrison. One factor, Jones said in an interview, is what he views as Kline's "unbridled political ambition."

   "As a lawyer, I think it's important that the office of attorney general command the respect and protect the integrity of the profession of practicing law," Jones said. "I just don't believe the incumbent attorney general has demonstrated that he has a grasp of what the attorney general is supposed to do."

   Jones, the Kearny County attorney, was state GOP chair from 2003-2005. More in tomorrow's Star.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Morrison, Kline trade barbs in Sunday debate

   A couple of highlights from Sunday's debate in Overland Park between Democrat Paul Morrison and Republican Phill Kline, candidates for Kansas attorney general:

    Morrison, who says repeatedly that no prison sentences were reduced by SB 323 six years ago, agreed that some prison time might have been shortened by a few months under the legislation.

    These were inmates who had committed low-level crimes, completed the prison portion of their sentences and were serving the "post release supervision" phase in the community. They were returned to prison because they had violated some provision of that post release. That prison time was cut short by a few months under provisions of SB 323, according the the Kansas Sentencing Commission.

   "First of all, I think it's important that you look at the big picture with SB 323," Morrison said. (The bill) did not affect anybody but the lowest of the low-grade offenders."

   A member of the sentencing commission, Morrison said the state needed to make more room in the state's prison system for violent offenders and sexual predators.

    He reinterated that no prison sentences were reduced under the bill. That is correct if you only look at the prison portion of a judge's sentence and not the post release phase.

    He did admit that some "conditional violators" (those on post release and returned to prison) were let out of jail a little early because of SB 323.

    In another part of the debate, Kline was asked about two meeting he had last year with conservative members of the Kansas Board of Education. At the time, he was accused but later cleared of conducting "serial meetings," a violation of the Kansas open meeting law.

    He was asked during those meetings if it would violate the constitution to place stickers in science text books stating, "Evolution is a theory, not a fact."

   Kline was asked during the debate if he believed evolution was a theory and not a fact.

   "Evolution is a scientific theory and I recognize that as a theory it holds more water than a hypothesis," he said.

   Morrison said that even if Kline did not technically break the open meetings law, he violated its spirit, an example of "scandal that has followed Mr. Kline during his short three and half years as attorney general."

   For those who missed Sunday's debate, it will be televised at 7:30 p.m. Friday on KCPT public television, channel 19. It also will be rebroadcast on Time Warner's cable channel 17 in Johnson County and Comcast's channel 22 in Olathe. The times and dates of each showing: 8 p.m. Oct. 10; 7 p.m. Oct. 22; 7 p.m. Nov. 1, and 8 p.m. Nov. 5.

Posted by Jim Sullinger 

McInerney says nope to prosecutor gig and other Torch tidbits

   Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Pat McInerney was the early front-runner to be the next Jackson County prosecutor to replace Mike Sanders, who is expected beat in November less-financed foes. McInerney had the backing of important folks on the courthouse's second floor and even had the endorsement of at least one district court judge. He had the necessary telegenic presence, the experience and the Democratic connections. The Buzz was that Chief Deputy Jim Kanatzar would get the consolation gig of county counselor, where he could ably continue keeping Sanders out of hot water. Now, Kanatzar is the No. 1 possibility with a bullet.

   Torch Dinner hostest-with-the-mostest Beth Gottstein saw fit to place KC Buzz Blog next to McInerney. And the obvious question had to be asked. And the Blackwell Sanders partner forthrightly admitted without any Hillary Clinton puss-footing around that he was content at his current gig (read: ka-ching!) and has no interesting in moving his shingle to the courthouse again. So McInerney is out as a prosecutor candidate, but like most everyone else he wonders who will wind up on the blue-ribbon selection committee.

  Buzz Blog even moseyed over to the Sanders table to try and get a scoop from Women's Caucus VP Georgia Sanders while her hubby was off kibitzing with KC Councilman Terry Riley and others. She swore no decision on the prosector has been made (Mike would die if he knew what she did confide!).

  But other decisions were made last night before, after and during the Westin gathering. Expect to see Congressman Emanuel Cleaver politicking on behalf of Missouri House candidate Chris Moreno in his race against Republican incumbent Will Kraus.

   Cleaver got stuck in DC but sent his ever gracious and lovely wife Dianne to speak in person on his behalf. (He also sent taped comments that talked about the influence in his life of strong women and a precocious granddaughter as well as funny comments about how mean his three sisters were to him as a child.)

   Missouri Auditor Claire McCaskill got the first standing ovation last night. A late-arriving from Wichita Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius also was well received, particularly when she offered up as an unexpected auction item dinner for six with her and the First Dude at the Governor's Mansion. Speaking of auction items, this is what happens when former Jackson County employee/former KC school board member Sandy Mayer allows hubby Bob to go to the Torch Dinner by himself. He successfully bid $1,000 for lunch with Her Honor, Mayor Kay Barnes.

   Barnes was wearing a lovely cream and apricot jacket (sans flower! and she wasn't one of the many people wearing stickers promoting the stem-cell initiative). The outgoing mayor (in perhaps her swan song?) spoke about past leaders, future leaders and being assured that the future is in good hands. Which all in all could have been the theme of a night where progressives partied like it was 1999 and certainly hope it will be again come the morning of Nov. 8.

Posted by DeAnn Smith   

Morrison begins TV ad campaign

     Paul Morrison is taking to the airwaves today in his campaign to defeat Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline.

    People in the Wichita and Topeka viewing areas will see two Morrison television commercials, mainly "feel good" ads trying to introduce Morrison to an audience that doesn't know him very well.

     The first one, called Priorities, features his wife, Joyce, and their three children, who do a little acting in the commercial.

     Joyce praises her husband, Johnson County's district attorney, for "cracking down on wrongdoing with the toughest sentences." In the next scene, Morrison takes the car keys away from his teen-age son, Cole, for staying out too late.

     Drew, another son, then talks about his dad "always putting safety first." The next scene shows him on a motorcycle wearing football shoulderpads and holding a helmet.

      In the second commercial, the announcer praises Morrison, "for 25 years one of the toughest prosecutors Kansas has ever seen," and mentions that he put away serial killers Richard Grissom and John Robinson.

      Although he doesn't mention Kline by name, Morrison takes a mild shot at his opponent at the end of the spot. The announcer praises Morrison for "never violating the privacy of our personal medical records."

     That's a reference to Kline's efforts to secure patient medical records from abortion clinics.

      You may not see them for awhile in Kansas City, but Buzz Blog links to 'em, here.

Posted by Jim Sullinger

Kline, Morrison in tiff over Fred Phelps

    Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline spoke Saturday to the Patriot Guard and denounced Fred Phelps Sr. and his family for picketing at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

    Guard members use their motorcycles to shield family members from Phelps picketers, who contend that the deaths are God's punishment of the U.S. for tolerating homosexuals.

   After the speech, Kline's Democratic opponent -- Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison -- criticized Kline for taking a $500 donation in 2002 from Benjamin C. Phelps, the son of Fred Phelps Sr.

    Sherriene Jones, communications director for Kline's campaign, said the contribution was one of thousands received that year and the attorney general was unaware that the contribution came from a member of the Phelps family.

  So, Kline is sending the Patriot Guard a donation of $500 to help in their efforts to combat the picketing.

   "There are a lot of legitimate issues to talk about in this campaign," Jones said. "Morrison chooses to throw mud instead."

Posted by Jim Sullinger

Morrison tops Kline in fund-raising

UPDATED!

Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison has turned switching parties into gold.

Morrison, a former Republican turned Democrat, has raised more than $1 million in his campaign to defeat the current Kansas attorney general, Republican Phill Kline.

Kline reported raising more than $800,000 for all of 2005 and the 2006 primary reporting period.

With this kind of money, the race should far exceed any previous spending in a campaign for attorney general.

Morrison's total is believed to be the most ever raised by an attorney general candidate in Kansas.

Officials in the Morrison campaign said the money has come from both Republicans and  Democrats. Today is the deadline for Kansas candidates to file campaign finance reports.

Gentlemen, cross your swords

    The first mano-a-mano in the Kansas Attorney General's race is set for Saturday.

  Phill Kline and Paul Morrison -- without, one assumes, American flags behind them -- will both take part in a candidate forum sponsored by the Kansas Bar Association.

   It starts at 8:30 AM at the Overland Park Marriott in -- uh, Overland Park.

       The KBA says media and members of the public are welcome.

       Also on the agenda:  Gov candidates Jim Barnett, Ken Canfield, and Rob Jennison's L-Gov pick, Dennis Wilson.

       No Kathleen Sebelius, tho, which should leave most of the spotlight on Messrs. Kline and Morrison.

       Watch for Steve Kraske's story Sunday and I'll blog about it Saturday....

Posted by Dave Helling 2:45 p.m.

Morrison files, let the fun begin

  Johnson County DA Paul Morrison signed all the paperwork and is now officially filed to run for Attorney General against incumbent Phill Kline, in what's sure to be a muddy, hard fought race for the state's top law enforcement post.

  After filing, Morrison came out swinging pretty hard, criticizing Kline's lack of court room experience, his probe into abortion medical records, and his penchant for calling press conferences.

   "I'm happy to provide the voters of this state an alternative to Phill Kline," he said.

   "Phill Kline's world is a world of politics, posturing and press conferences," he said.

   Morrison, who like his friend Mark Parkinson, defected to the Dems to run for office this year, has served as JoCo District Attorney for 17 years and as assistant DA for eight years before that.

   "It's the choice between a career prosecutor and a career politician," he said of the general election. Republican Kline, he noted, has let his law license lapse three times and "has practiced very little law in his entire life."

   No response yet from Kline.

   Here's Kline's campaign website: http://www.phillkline.com/

  And Morrison's: http://morrisonforag.com/

Posted by David Klepper 11:35 a.m.