Johnson County commissioners came out of a closed session late this afternoon and gave Phill Kline, the county's newly minted district attorney, until noon Friday to say whether he plans to abide by their hiring and firing practices as others before him have done.
If he does, then the seven assistant district attorneys and one investigator in the D.A.'s office fired by Kline on Monday have greater leverage in an appeal hearing to fight for their old jobs. County policies state employees can only be fired for cause.
If Kline does not -- and misses the commission-imposed deadline -- "we will be unable to provide an appeal hearing and we will conclude that the district attorney is acting in his capacity as a state official independent of the policies of the county," commissioners said in a statement released Thursday.
That's significant because under that scenario, Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison, the fired employees' old boss, gets to call the shots on their fate.
Posted by Finn Bullers
Phill has the right to hire christians. Paul Morrisons people were not men of god. Phill should have the right to hire people from the christian community to wage war against unholy occurences in JOCO. The abortion clinics should be shut down. All of the bars and dance clubs should be shut down and closed. All families should go back to church and pray. The people that were fired were not good people. Phill should fire everyone and rehire his staff from Topeka.
Posted by: churchlady | January 11, 2007 at 10:12 PM
Popcorn time! Either way Crazy Phill loses!
Posted by: aka | January 11, 2007 at 10:17 PM
Man, I love fascism. There just isn't enough of it in modern life.
I agree with churchlady 100%. More fascism now!
Posted by: Kurt Rambis | January 11, 2007 at 10:20 PM
I hope churchlady is a parody.
Posted by: aka | January 11, 2007 at 10:22 PM
Churchlady is indeed a bigoted parody. yes, what a pathetic state we're in either Kline is stuck with these 8 losers, or the decision is turned over to that vindictive sleaze over in Topeka to handle.
Either way Kline is stuck with 8 saboteurs in his office. Too bad Morrison didn't have to keep Kline's people. Then we'd know he had at least a couple of honest lawyers in the office.
I say let the weasel in Topeka show his true colors. Can them and tie them up in court for a couple of years and then let the next DA get stuck with the tab (and the duds).
Posted by: Gentle Ben | January 11, 2007 at 10:50 PM
If this wasn't impacting real people, then this would be hilarious.
Does prove again, Kline is an incompetent who is in way over his head.
Posted by: | January 11, 2007 at 11:50 PM
It proves nothing other than the Democrats are more interested in ginning up trouble with Kline than seeing that criminals are prosecuted. This is a blatant attempt to undermine Kline and then these whiners have the gall to say that they care about prosecuting criminals. Great, get out of the way and let Kline do his job. then if he doesn't do it you've got a complaint. As it is, they're a part of the problem.
Posted by: Gentle Ben | January 12, 2007 at 12:35 AM
Kline is a uniter. He's got the Dems, Reps and Inds lined up against him.
He screwed up. He didn't even know how to hire and fire people in his new job. He looks like a fool.
Posted by: | January 12, 2007 at 12:53 AM
gentle ben has just made churchlady's post credible. Man, such hate you have.
Posted by: | January 12, 2007 at 06:38 AM
WWJF?
Who Would Jesus Fire?
Posted by: Geekfather | January 12, 2007 at 07:46 AM
Thanks geekfather - that laugh made my day! I'm going to stop reading now while I can still laugh!
Posted by: sickofpolitics | January 12, 2007 at 07:57 AM
First, this is such a great story. I live in MO, but I've been intrigued by the Morrison/Kline saga for a while. Thanks to both for keeping things interesting.
Second, Kline should be able to fire these people if he wants. The job is a political one, and to the victor go the spoils. And yes, Kline is the victor - like it or not he is there because of the rule of law.
If Joe Colantuono and his clients are so concerned about the prosecuting "wife-beaters, criminals and juvenile delinquents", why don't they stop the grandstanding and let Kline do his job. The elections are over, let's let both Morrison and Kline get to work.
Posted by: AC Green | January 12, 2007 at 08:02 AM
AC Green -
I would generally agree that staff changes with new political leadership, however, there are victims lives at stake here. These prosecutors have prepared cases for trial and for the victims, that is the only thing in the world they are concerned about right not - NOT POLITICS! I'm sure that if he really believed that they had to go, he could have made a transition plan and let them finish working for the victims!
Posted by: sick of politics | January 12, 2007 at 08:06 AM
SOP -
Not sure where you got the idea these 8 were going to trial in the near future. Colantuono said they had "hearings and interviews" which, frankly, are not a big deal. Putting things off for a month is not at all unusual in our legal system.
I do agree with you that career people at the prosecutors office should be mostly insulated from the political process. The problem is we have no idea why there were fired. Maybe they hate Kline and it would be a huge distraction to the whole DA's office for them to remain there. Maybe they're bad lawyers. The point is that Special K is now the boss, and hiring and firing his staff should be at his discretion, whether we like it or not.
Posted by: AC Green | January 12, 2007 at 08:19 AM
"they had "hearings and interviews" which, frankly, are not a big deal"
why don't you tell the victims and their families it's not a big deal
Posted by: | January 12, 2007 at 08:26 AM
I don't have a dog in this fight. I'm in private enterprise where there is no such thing as tenure. I'm very experienced and competent at what I do, but, if my employer thinks it's better for the company, in his sole discretion, he can let me go without notice and without severence. At that point in my life, I will begin a new job search and find one. That's capitalism, that's life and that's America.
Posted by: Flyonthewall | January 12, 2007 at 08:31 AM
Morrison was elected by the people for his position.
Kline was appointed for his.
Posted by: | January 12, 2007 at 08:35 AM
I wasn't elected for my job but can fire people in my department if I see fit.
Posted by: Flyonthewall | January 12, 2007 at 08:48 AM
Well, when someone is elected to do a job for a certain number of years, and then that person decides to quit before fulfilling their commitment, then the rules say we appoint someone instead of holding a new election. I suppose you would rather leave the DA position vacant until the next election?
Posted by: AC Green | January 12, 2007 at 08:50 AM
I'm having difficulty telling who is serious and who is writing with tongue in cheek while reading the Kline-related blogs.
Posted by: Mizzou82 | January 12, 2007 at 09:30 AM
Kline was just as elected to this position as Morrison. This is typical leftist undermining of an institution. If they were serious about working for Kline they would have sent in their attorney to negotiate with Kline privately. Instead they're making a gigantic stink just to embarrass him.
The folks are right on here that point out that you are employed at the discretion of your employer in the private sector, yet these liberal parasites who infest government employment think they're like Tiller, above the law. Time to get these duds out into the real world and see how the rest of us live. And, this is too much to hope for, time for the media to point out that the shyster running this freak show is a huge Democrat donor and contributor to Paul Morrison.
What's the old joke about the school bus with 50 lawyers in it going over a cliff? It was a sad day because the bus seated 80.
Posted by: Gentle Ben | January 12, 2007 at 09:32 AM
Johnson County has employment policies that dictate the manner in which employees are hired and fired. Kline did not follow these policies. It's as simple as that. Had he followed the policies, this would be a non-story and the fired employees would have no case. Instead, now Kline has the JoCo commission telling him that he messed up and that he has to fix it. We'll see if he does.
Also, if Kline wanted to fire people, he could have done so 3 weeks ago(within the county policies if he had bothered to pay attention to the legal process - what a novel idea). Instead, he waited until the last minute and gave them 4 hours notice to clean up their stuff and get out the door. Nice.
Posted by: mike | January 12, 2007 at 09:52 AM
"Johnson County Government establishes all Human Resources Policies and Procedures in its sole discretion and has the right to modify the Policies and Procedures without prior notice to employees. The Policies and Procedures are not intended to create legal rights for any employee. The Policies and Procedures are not a contract with the employees of Johnson County Government and do not constitute an offer to contract with Johnson County Government employees concerning the terms and conditions of employment. Even though Johnson County Government intends to comply with its own policies, Johnson County Government employees are employees-at-will as a matter of law and can be terminated with or without just cause."
http://hr.jocogov.org/Policies/Policies%20Disclaimer.shtml
Posted by: AC Green | January 12, 2007 at 10:07 AM
Mizzou82: That's because the whole thing is a farce. It's not supposed to make sense. Take the little blue pill and enjoy the ride. There is no spoon.
Posted by: Geekfather | January 12, 2007 at 10:27 AM
Phill is beginning to reap what he has sowed. If you are going to fire attorneys without cause, and you are Phill Kline, you better have all the I's dotted and T's crossed.
Posted by: Kansasdog | January 12, 2007 at 10:30 AM