Kansas Supreme Court, on Kline:
"It is plain that he is interested in the pursuit of justice only as he chooses to define it" Here's what the Kansas Supreme Court said in ordering Phill Kline to deliver a full "set" of abortion-investigation-related documents to the current attorney general:
<skip>
...the patient records at the heart of this case and any and all other inquisition materials gathered or generated by Kline and/or his subordinates during the time he was Attorney General were gathered or generated through expenditure of state taxpayer dollars that flowed into the Attorney General's budget for salaries and expenses. The state's taxpayers, in the person of the current Attorney General, are entitled to a full, complete, and understandable set of those materials....
The record before us discloses numerous instances in which
Kline and/or his subordinates seriously interfered with the performance of his successors as Attorney General and seriously interfered with this court's effort to determine the facts underlying this action and the legal merit of the parties' positions....
Kline was demonstrably ignorant, evasive, and incomplete in his sworn written responses submitted to Judge King, this court's appointed agent in the fact-finding process. Kline's responses were far from full and forthright; they showed consistent disregard for Kline's role as a leader in state law enforcement; and they delayed and disrupted this court's inquiry. Among other things, he failed to consult with subordinates as appropriate to give responses, treating questions posed to him as a public servant whose conduct was under scrutiny in a mandamus action as though they were questions posed to him as an uncooperative and too-clever-by-half private litigant. He was thorough only when digressing from the point....
An obvious and sorry pattern emerges from the foregoing examples and from Kline's performance at oral argument before us.
ne exhibits little, if any, respect for the authority of this court or for his responsibility to it and to the rule of law it husbands. attitude and behavior are inexcusable, particularly for someone who purports to be a professional prosecutor. It is plain that he is interested in the pursuit of justice only as he chooses to define it.
Because Kline's actions also seriously interfered with this court's efforts to determine the facts and arrive at resolution, we also regard reimbursement of this court for the costs of this action in the amount of $50,000–i.e., the minimum personnel expense associated with filings, hearings, and conferences that could have been avoided if Kline's conduct had been otherwise–to be an appropriate additional sanction. However, were we to impose this sanction, it would be borne by Johnson County rather than Kline personally. We are unwilling to make those taxpayers foot any further bill for the conduct of a district attorney they did not elect in the first place and have now shown the door...
more . . .
http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/15919
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
