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All Muck Is Local: What's the Matter With Kansas?
Last year ex-GOPer Paul Morrison decided he'd rather party with the Democrats if it meant he could defeat his arch-nemesis in the Kansas attorney general election. After his party switch, Morrison was elected Kansas attorney general but last week a torrid sex-and-politics scandal caused him to announce his resignation, effective January 31, 2008.
Name sound familiar? A few weeks ago we wrote about how the former Kansas Attorney General, Phill Kline, had been skipping work and living outside of the county he was supposed to be prosecutor for. Sprinkled throughout the story were mentions of Kline's political rival Paul Morrison, who had essentially switched jobs with Kline, stepping up to Attorney General and leaving the post of Johnson County District Attorney.
Now Morrison's in the muck. It started with a quickie at the courthouse with a female employee of his office. Many more quickies followed, in county offices and motels throughout Kansas and in at least three other states, in what became a two-year long extramarital affair between Morrison and Linda Carter, the longtime Johnson County District Attorney's Office director of administration.
Morrison won the attorney general election in August 2006, one year after the couple's first tryst. In December 2006, he bought her a $16,000 engagement ring, although they were both still married. Around the same time, Phill Kline became Johnson County District Attorney, and Carter's new boss.
By November 2007, the illicit romance had seriously soured. Carter filed a sexual harassment complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on November 8, resigning three weeks later. (She wasn't the first person to accuse Morrison of indiscretion -- a different female employee of the Johnson County's DA's office filed two lawsuits accusing him of inappropriate conduct fifteen years ago, but dropped them.)
Amid the sexual harassment claims, the suit alleges that Morrison tried to have his girlfriend spy on the enemy. Carter retained her position in the DA's office when Kline came in to head it, and her suit says Morrison tried to have her snoop into Kline's ongoing criminal investigation of Planned Parenthood, and regularly questioned her about its progress. She also says Morrison repeatedly tried to coerce her into advocating for the eight former Morrison colleagues who Kline fired. Then, when the relationship began to fall apart, Morrison called her 22 times in one day, threatening to ruin her career.
Morrison has admitted to the affair but denies the allegations in Carter's lawsuit. He has said that Carter and Kline are trying to smear him for their own benefit.
Carter's statements portray Morrison as a man haunted by the twin obsessions of love and hate.
Consumed by passion:
...According to Carter's statement, Morrison also made five back-to-back telephone calls from Lenexa to her at about 4 a.m. In part, Morrison wanted to know whether Carter had obtained a tattoo to demonstrate her commitment to him. She hadn't, her statement said, despite Morrison's acquisition of a tattoo.
Yet possessed by loathing:
In the twilight of their extramarital affair, Linda Carter urged Paul Morrison to let her go, repair his shattered marriage and resolve his hatred of Phill Kline.If not, Carter said, Morrison's life would remain a powder keg. A destructive fireball, when eventually triggered, would consume all in his wake: wife, children, friends, colleagues — even Carter.
It appears her prediction that Morrison's "hatred of Kline was going to destroy" him may be coming true. Kline has secured the power to handpick the special prosecutor who will investigation Morrison.
Comments (10)
jd8 wrote on December 23, 2007 12:51 PM:Sorry, broken link on report on how messed up our healthcare system is from a layperson level legal perspective. Understand the law at : http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/23/111435/41/334/425807
littleblackpropaganda wrote on December 23, 2007 2:26 PM:Is it too late to nominate this for a Golden Duke, in the category of Most Shakespearean?
Michael Lafferty wrote on December 23, 2007 6:01 PM:Sadly, there are no 'good guys' in this sordid tale.
Both Morrison and Kline are 'whack jobs' by any reasonable measure, wearing a D or R moniker simply as a label of convenience. Neither one are qualified to hold office, nor appear to recognize the importance of the law above their petty conflicts and poor choices.
One can only hope that the citizens of Olathe, of Johnson County and the larger state of Kansas will recognize their truly bad behavior, and ultimately turn both out of office. Surely, they can do better than these two.
Norman Tucker wrote on December 23, 2007 10:04 PM:The much greater scandal than Morrison's infidelity and attempts to get inormation improperly from Linda Carter were the massive level of incompetence, the breach of the U. S. Constitution regarding violations of principle of Separation of Church and State plus violation of the "right to privacy" performed by Kline. While Morrison spent a great deal of time in the office working and securing a number of positive outcomes, his departure had to happen. Kline, on the oher hand, neglected the office to propagandize his bigoted ideology and to glorify himself.
msfitz wrote on December 23, 2007 11:34 PM:As a native of the Midwest, I have often been somewhat amused by the idea that the "heartland" is the epitome of American values and that the coasts represent the worst values. Human behavior doesn't vary that much; I suppose that, if one believes in the concept of sin, there are none of us who do not qualify as sinners. Nonetheless, it is disappointing to discover problems with someone for whom one entertained some optimism in creating a rational approach to many issues.
Kinmo wrote on December 23, 2007 11:37 PM:Norman Tucker, you took the words right out of my mouth. I really hoped Morrison would be the one to stop Kline in his tracks. I honestly thought he could do it. Makes me sad.
parrot wrote on December 24, 2007 1:58 AM:I wonder what other tatoos...
Johnson Countian wrote on December 24, 2007 4:10 AM:Phill Kline gave women's private medical records to Bill O'Reilly. He let his law license lapse and had only argued one case in court before being elected state AG. Now that he is our county DA, he has driven away most of the prosecutors in the DA's office. He fired 8 of the best ones the day he took office. His agenda is abortion, abortion and abortion. Nothing else matters. He is on a witch hunt against Planned Parenthood.
He works less than 20 hours a week and doesn't even live in the county, as required by state law.
AND HE STILL HAS A JOB.
Paul Morrison had an affair. And he is resigning. The hypocrisy is just mind boggling.
Debunker wrote on December 24, 2007 10:43 AM:Not a single informed comment in the whole bunch.
1) The story about Kline not living in the county and not working as much as a local TV channel thinks has resulted in the producer being fired 3 days after the story aired. His name is Sam Zeff. Check it out for yourself. The "facts" claimed by the TV were poo-poohed even by Kline's worst media enemies, including "The Pitch" magazine, an ultra-liberal Kline hating rag. Look it up for yourself.
2) The claims that Kline gave files to O'Reilly is another myth spread by those who want desperately to believe it. Here are the FACTS: When Kline was a guest on the show last year, O'Reilly held up a stack of papers and at the same time claimed to have "inside information" about the medical files. He then proceeded to claim that "every file showed 'depression' to be the reason given for the abortion."
There are three problems with the facts for those who claim the files were given by Kline to O'Reilly:
-No evidence exists that any files were in O'Reilly's possession.
-O'Reilly's claim regarding "depression" was later proven false, meaning he didn't know what he was talking about.
-Even if O'Reilly did have the files, and there is no evidence suggesting he did, there is still not a shred of evidence they came from Kline.
3) Claims that Kline violated privacy is utter nonsense. He enforced Kansas law. Not a single identity was ever learned by him or his office. Better still, Morrison himself used the files obtained by Kline to file 19 criminal charges of his own.
All this stuff is out there and can easily be verified.
The truth is out there. It's just that the lefties want to continue believing in the Myth of Paul Morrison.
Have a nice Christmas.
Tsumbra wrote on December 25, 2007 3:20 PM:"The Mean Texas Love of Little Tommy Cryindick"
www.ilovepoetry.com/viewpoem.asp?id=94221
Love West Texas Style?
and A Merry Christmas to Y'All!