When someone recently suggested in Opinion Line that retired KBI Director Larry Welch be named the state’s new attorney general, we checked to make sure that he had gone to law school (University of Kansas, class of 1961). Turns out, though, that we need not have bothered: Remarkably, neither the state’s constitution nor state law says the attorney general must be an attorney. Fortunately, the governor thinks a law degree and legal credentials are essential to the job. “That will be a key requirement the governor has while searching for the right person who can restore faith and integrity in the office of attorney general,†Nicole Corcoran, spokeswoman for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, told Harris News Service.
Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in.Contact us
Follow us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- DorisKing on Open thread 11/8
- cosmos_originally on Open thread 11/8
- BlueJay on Open thread 11/8
- sursum on Open thread 11/8
- Regular on Death penalty review promised
- Regular on Open thread 11/8
- Monkeyhawk on Open thread 11/8
- okobserver on Open thread 11/8
- okobserver on Open thread 11/8
- American_Way on Open thread 11/8
17 Comments
I’m in; call me, governor. God knows I couldn’t do any worse than the last two occupants.
Must be a lawyer, and a liberal, and a Democrat, and willing to look the other way on the George Tiller cases.
Kansas is so far ahead of everyone else that they coined the word “Backwardness”.
It’s funny, when the governor appoints someone to a position, the back-ground check is very complete. Yet we vote into office real nut cases and worse. Well, “we the people”, you know.
You do not have to be a lawyer but it helps. Nobody is going to listen to a legal opinion from a layman
GMC70, don’t sell you self short, you would just have to work harder to do worst than the last two!
Econ, no but it would be nice if they simply follow the law, which means not using the office for his personal agenda and keep their pants on.
I have met Mr. Welch several times during his prior occupation, fine man and good troop.I think he is a fine choice and would do honor to the office.
As I recall, a law degree is NOT required for various levels of judges and I suspect county prosecutors in western Kansas. Don’t know how these requirements would be distinguished between eastern and western Kansas so possibly this would apply to the whole state.
Perhaps someone who is familiar with these requirements could enlighten us.
Must be a lawyer is good.
An otherwise elected official appointed by the Governor is not so good. This is probably political payback to the appointee.
I think the Governor should appoint an interim KSAG until a special election can be held.
Hold it … I’m not sure the governor will fill the vacancy. I think the position might be filled by a CAUCUS of democratic state committee members.
As a refresher, in each primary election, each political party elects precinct committeemen and precinct committeewomen. (If no candidates, these positions may later be filled by appointment).
These precinct people later elect representatives from their group to the district level corresponding to the congressional districts.
These district representatives later elect the state-wide political committee members.
In the case of a vacancy in an elected state-wide position such as the Attorney General, a Democrat … the state wide Democratic committeemen would make the selection.
I’m sure if I am wrong, someone such as a party chairman here in Sedgwick County will quickly correct me.
JWink,
You’re wrong. From the Kansas Constitution:
Article 1.–EXECUTIVE
Section 11: Vacancies in executive offices. When the office of governor is vacant, the lieutenant governor shall become governor. In the event of the disability of the governor, the lieutenant governor shall assume the powers and duties of governor until the disability is removed. The legislature shall provide by law for the succession to the office of governor should the offices of governor and lieutenant governor be vacant, and for the assumption of the powers and duties of governor during the disability of the governor, should the office of lieutenant governor be vacant or the lieutenant governor be disabled. When the office of secretary of state or attorney general is vacant, the governor shall fill the vacancy by appointment for the remainder of the term. If the secretary of state or attorney general is disabled, the governor shall name a person to assume the powers and duties of the office until the disability is removed. The procedure for determining disability and the removal thereof shall be provided by law.
Tom: Interesting. I notice your reference doesn’t mention the elected state treasurer or the state insurance commissioner. I suspect succession is mentioned in the section of the constitution or law that creates these elected state-wide department head positions.
But anyway it seems to answer the question of how Paul Morrison will be replaced. I wonder if the Governor is obligated to replace Democrat Paul Morrison with a Democrat? Since she is a Democrat, I presume she probably would!
JWink,
The full Kansas Constitution is posted here:
http://www.kslib.info/ref/constitution/index.html
I’m surprised so few people bother reading it before opining on it. Not just you, Jwink, but even the reporters around the state who were “confused” about the succession immediately after Morrison announced his resignation. They of all people should know how to do their research. It’s all out there on the ‘net, ya know?
TomOne thing I can tell you, about most reporters, is that they are very lazy.
That is how press releases, from candidates and companies, often make it into “news” stories, almost verbatim.
Research, especially in the internet age, is not that hard. Reporters do have trouble “connecting the dots”, unfortunately.
If you are willing to connect those dots, for them, gosh, they don’t have to do any work!
Econ,
Like you, I’ve talked to many reporters. Some on background, some for attribution. Some on deadline, some for “feature” articles. Most of the reporters I’ve talked to are conscientious people on a tight, busy schedule. There are some lazy ones (I could name names!!!), but most are hard working people just doing the best they can in a tough business.
The whole AG-replacement confusion in the press was surprising. I know the Governor’s Office was telling the press what the facts were, but then they’d still go off and write articles speculating on Thornburg’s role in calling a special election. There was no reason for the confusion, then or now.
This whole fiasco has me waiting for Rod Serling to step out from behind a curtain somewhere.
Tom: Reading the applicable constitutional information about the ATTORNEY GENERAL that you have provided, it appears to me the appointee:
1) can be from either political party or none at all;
2) doesn’t have to be an attorney.
This opens up the appointment process to just about anybody who catches the Governor’s eye.
How about Bob Knight?
The founding fathers must have had experience even back then concerning the absence of respect for the law that attornies have:familiarity breeds contempt: Ms. Sebilius would require the new AG to be a practicing atty. so that the possibility of getting an honest AG is about as good as it was last election…. One thing about it though, getting the candidates rounded up should be as easy as picking a spot where the choice would be made and driving about a dozen ambulances with lights flashing to that location…
It would seem to me that the absolutely mandatory requirement for the new Attorney General is that he or she be a person of integrity without any personal agendas to pursue. By no means should a legal degree or credentials be essential…after all, the office has a staff of attorneys and paraprofessionals to research the necessary information and make recommendations to the AG with regards to the law. An otherwise capable and qualified person should not be rejected for lack of legal expertise.