Brownback asks why records are an issue

   U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.

   In endorsing Phill Kline for attorney general, Brownback told the Wichita Eagle that he doesn't understand why the fight over abortion clinic medical records is that big a deal.

   Kline's attempts to obtain the records has become a hot issue in his campaign against Democrat Paul Morrison.

   Said Brownback: "Phill and his opponent both subpoena medical records regularly. It seems really strange this would be an issue."

   Kline has said he's after the records because he's entitled to investigate illegal abortions and sexual abuse of minors. Opponents say Kline is violating privacy and common sense.

   Morrison campaign manager Mark Simpson told the Eagle that Morrison does subpoena medical records in criminal cases. But he said Kline's efforts go beyond legitimate law enforcement needs.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Comments

[yes]

Steve,

Good reporting. Excellent points made by Brownback.

[kayceewolf]

Of course Sen. Brownshirt ... oops! I mean "Brownback" has a point. But if he wears a hat no one will notice.

[KC Cicero]

Sen. Brownback is telling the truth: He really doesn't get why it is an issue, because he does not see the individual right to privacy as a right, much less as an important enough one to trump a prosecutor's lust for publicity.

Barry Goldwater -- who was pro-choice and thought we should not discriminate against gays -- would understand. But Goldwater was a CONSERVATIVE. Those who go by that title now -- including the junior senator from Kansas and the AG Who Can't Spell Phil -- are flying under a false flag. They are religious authoritarians -- would-be ayatollahs from Topeka.

[KS Meadowlark]

Is Morrison claiming that protection of children, especially young girls, from sexual predators goes "beyond legitimate law enforcement"?

Where's the Star's story about a medical provider using medical records for political fundraising:

"Fundraising Communications. We may contact you to request a tax-deductible contribution to support important activities of Women’s Health Care Services, PA and/or ProKanDo. In connection with any fundraising, we may disclose to out fundraising staff demographic information about you (e.g. your name, address and phone number) and dates of health care that we provided you. If you do not want to receive any fundraising requests in the future, you may contact our Privacy Officer."

For details the Star ignores: http://www.kansasmeadowlark.com/2005/02-25.htm

There is a difference between going on a fishing expedition and needing medical records for a legitimate criminal investigation.

Is Brownback just being a good ole boy GOPer by making these comments or is he just dumb. Maybe he has been talking to that embryo again.

[PoliticalJunkie]

KC Cicero could not have said it better. While I believe that religion and spirituality do aid personal growth and one's connection with others, Brownback and his ilk use it to control others and chain them to a narrow-minded, repressive fantasy world they've concocted. In their Orwellian world the "right" to privacy would be solely on their terms.

[newdealer]

If Kline and Brownback were sincerely concerned about investigations of illegal abortions and sexual abuse of minors I might give them the benefit of the doubt.

Neither, however, cares the least about those issues. Since they haven't been able to make abortion illegal and consistently oppose a woman's right to choose, their only motive is to use terror tactics to freighten young women into fearing that if they seek help, not only will their medical records be made public but they will be publically humiliated as well.

Did I say "terror?" Yes, that's what it amounts to, and please don't think that I equate it to anything happening in the middle east. That's another issue entirely. This is the terror of the cowardly schoolyard bully who makes young children fear going to school every day. These are people who want to impose their own twisted definition of "moral values" on everyone else.

Brownback says he doesn't understand what the fuss is all about. I don't doubt that. Neither does he understand what democracy is all about.

[exiled kansan]

"These are people who want to impose their own twisted definition of "moral values" on everyone else."

Kind of like the way lefties say it's moral to provide free stuff to the poor and go about it by removing my wealth through the use of force. I'll support your right to privacy for abortions when you stop supporting the violation of my right to financial privacy.

[confused by exiled kansan]

exiled kansan, help me out, what are you talking about when you say, "I'll support your right to privacy for abortions when you stop supporting the violation of my right to financial privacy." I really have no idea what you mean.

[newdealer]

exiled kansas - While I didn't actually understand the point you seemed to be trying to make, I assume from your post that you don't believe you have any obligation to contribute to your community or to help someone else in need. Both strong Christian values, included in other religions, as well.

So, you don't want the "lefties" taking away your "wealth" to provide a strong military to protect you from foreign threats, or a police force to protect you from domestic threats, or firefighters to help save your home, or the folks who provide clean water to your home. If you went to school, someone else paid for your education, which is why the "lefties" want to take you wealth now to educate other people's children.

If you ever have a chance to go to Amish country and see a barn raising, then you may get some understanding of what it means to belong to a "community." Of course, you don't have to be Amish. There's "Habitat for Humanity," but then you really need to be a humanitarian to enjoy that sort of thing. Those poor folks might take your wealth away while you weren't looking.

[Johnathan Swift]

Where do government officals get the notion that they have the right to investigate medical records that involve the rape of teenage girls? Rape should always be a private issue. If I was a child molester I wouldn't want my victims records released to anyone, let alone some rightwing nutjob who probably would try to enforce his view of right and wrong to put me in jail. I'm so sick of these religous fundies trying to establsh "moral codes". Hey rape and incest have been practiced in many different cultures for centuries. Stop ramming your Judeo-Christian ethics down my throat.

Johnathan, understand your need for sarcasm, being as you choose not to defend Kline on the facts associated with this issue, but rather make light of the crime of rape and incest. But I find your post to be offensive.

[exiled kansan]

Please let me try to clear up the point I was making. I find it ironic that people get so upset about their right to privacy and their right to choose when it comes to abortion but have no problem violating the right to choose and the right to privacy of other individuals if it does not concern abortion. I agree that, as long as abortion is legal, these documents should be private. What I disagree with is that liberals continually violate the "right to privacy" and the "right to choose" continuously when they stand to gain from it. This is illustrated by compulsion to disclose my financial statements on a yearly basis and the inability to choose what I do with ~1/3 of my earnings.

Isn't it funny that there are several posts here that rail against Brownback for imposing his "moral values" on others while these same people responded to my post by making a case for high taxes based on "moral values". Sure the government must defend its citizens from criminals and enemies from abroad and that must be supported by taxes. You will not get any argument from me on that...I will argue that it is not to my benefit for the government to provide social security, medicare, welfare, public schooling (although I like the idea of publically funded private schooling), etc. All I ask is that I have the right to choose whether I participate in funding these programs. Call me crazy but I still like the option of personal responsibility.

PS - The Amish barn raising analogy is not completely accurate. The difference between the Amish raising a barn and an American citizen is that the Amish community voluntarily chooses to participate. Americans contribute by threat of incarceration.

[JC]

Exiled Kansan, please don't forget that Republicans control the White House, Senate, and House or Reps. This administration has spent OUR money like nobody in history. How can you blame this on liberals?

Look, I think all politicians need a reminder of who they're really working for. Simply blaming problems on the other side of the aisle overlooks the root of the problem completely.

[Johnathan Swift]

Ok, here are the facts. Kline was investigating the death of a teenage girl who was raped and died after having an abortion in a Kansas clinic. He also asked for medical records of other teenage girls that had been raped. Why is that crossing the line. Why did the abortion clinics insist on protecting the identities of child molesters?

[PoliticalJunkie]

Exiled Kansan: Without your money we could not fight for democracy in Iraq (military spending accounts for the majority of our federal budget, get it??)