Good for former Kansas Attorney General Bob Stephan for better explaining his recent decision to part ways with the re-election campaign of Attorney General Phill Kline. Many voters will share Stephan’s concerns — with how Kline has used churches to raise campaign dollars and with how a church made donations to a business owned by Kline’s wife, Deborah. Kline’s campaign defended the “love offerings” to his wife’s business, SWT Communications, which has contributed at least $1,181 to Kline’s campaign. But “when you use your faith to shuttle money into your for-profit corporation, that bothers me,” Stephan told the Lawrence Journal-World. “Especially when you are there, certainly giving voice to your faith, but with the credential of being the attorney general.”
Stephan, who held the office from 1979 to 1995, commands a lot of respect in the state and GOP. On the question of whether to go public with his problems with Kline’s campaign, Stephan said, “I’ve hesitated, frankly, because Republicans have helped me all my political career. But there are some things you decide are important. This speaks to the candidate.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The good news for Ken Lay is that he’s now off the hook on all those fraud and conspiracy charges related to the collapse of Enron.
The bad news, of course, is that he’s dead.
A federal judge agreed with Lay’s lawyers Tuesday that the ex-tycoon’s unfortunate demise — while on summer vacation in Aspen — requires that his convictions be erased.
Which amounts to bad news for Enron ex-employees and investors: The ruling means the government can’t try to recover the $43.5 million Lay looted from the company.
It’s also another blot on Congress, which recessed without acting on a last-ditch Justice Department proposal that would have changed the law to let prosecutors go after Lay’s assets.
Posted by Dave Knadler
“It’s all baseless name-calling, and it’s all wrong. Unless, of course, being a ‘Defeatocrat’ means taking a good hard look at the administration’s Iraq policy and determining that it’s a failure,” Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., wrote in the Washington Post, responding to White House attempts to label Democrats as appeasers who want to cut and run.
Murtha’s position (which isn’t shared by many Democrats): “Our military has done all it can do in Iraq, and the Iraqis want their occupation to end. I support bringing our troops home at the earliest practicable date, at a rate that will keep those remaining there safe on the ground. It’s time that the White House and the GOP start working with Democrats in Congress to come up with a reasonable timetable for withdrawal and for handing the Iraqi government over to the Iraqis.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
There was an interesting Washington Post article this week about the increase in homophily — or the tendency of people to associate with others who are similar to them. This is particularly true with politics, as most people associate nearly exclusively with others who share their political beliefs. And because of cable TV and the Internet, they can also get news and opinions from their points of view. The result, the Post reported, is that “ever larger numbers of people seem to be sealing themselves off in worlds where everyone thinks the way they do.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
A Washington Post editorial headlined “Sen. Brownback’s Litmus Test” examined what it is about Judge Janet T. Neff that has Kansas’ senior senator holding up her nomination by President Bush to the federal bench in Michigan: “Judge Neff, it turns out, once attended a commitment ceremony for a lesbian couple — and that has Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (R) reaching for the smelling salts and blocking the nomination.” In urging Brownback to back off, the editorial aptly noted that a commitment ceremony is not a marriage, and said that Neff has told Brownback she did not preside at the occasion. So “keeping Judge Neff off the federal bench over such a matter is perilously close to declaring her unfit to serve because she has lesbian friends.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
To their credit, voters already have spoken about Connie Morris, the Kansas State Board of Education member from St. Francis who was ousted in the GOP primary. But there is still the matter of what, if anything, the state board is going to do in response to the two state-funded trips Morris is taking during her lame-duck months. The question came up during a debate this week in the District 7 race between incumbent Ken Willard (in photo) of Hutchinson and challenger Jack Wempe of Lyons. Willard said: “I don’t see it as improper. As a board member, you’re elected for four years. It doesn’t end after a primary election.”
But something can be proper and utterly at odds with common sense and fiscal responsibility. So Wempe is right to support reassessing the policy: “This travel policy lumps all reimbursements made into one pot.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
