Breaking News: Rewarding CorruptionSummary of Events

Breaking News Archive 2011

Rewarding Corruption:
Summary of Events

Stephen Six was appointed Attorney General by former Governor, now HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius after Attorney General Paul Morrison resigned in scandal. Morrison had been recruited by Sebelius and ran his campaign promising to stop investigations of Kansas abortion clinics launched by former Attorney General Phill Kline. Kline was defeated for re-election in 2006 but became Johnson County District Attorney in 2007 and continued his investigation from that position. AG Morrison used the power of his office to block and attempt to thwart Kline’s continued investigation.

In December of 2007, Morrison announced his pending resignation due to allegations that he used his relationship with a former employee who now worked for Kline in an effort to interfere with Kline’s abortion investigation. Morrison was having an affair with the employee. In February of 2008, Sebelius appointed Six who had never held elective office.

Six picked up where Morrison left off, using his office to try to block the investigation of Planned Parenthood. In October of 2007, Kline took his evidence to Johnson County District Court Judge James Vano who over two days and 8 hours of hearing found probable cause to believe that Planned Parenthood had committed 107 criminal acts, including 23 felonies for falsifying medical records. The criminal charges remain the only criminal charges ever filed against the abortion giant and if convicted, would result in Planned Parenthood forfeiting its Title X federal funding which amounts to more than $350 million a year.

In preparation for preliminary hearing in the criminal case, Kline subpoenaed Shawnee County District Court Judge Richard Anderson. Anderson had originally issued the subpoenas for the Planned Parenthood abortion records. By order of the Kansas Supreme Court, Anderson was to maintain the originally produced Planned Parenthood records in case they were ever needed in a criminal trial. If such a trial took place, Anderson would be called as the “custodian of records.” The records custodian merely means he would testify that the records were provided by Planned Parenthood and have not been altered while in his custody. Kline only had working copies of the records in Anderson’s possession. Accordingly, Anderson was needed as a witness in Kline’s criminal case.

As Attorney General, Morrison knew that Kline needed the records in Anderson’s possession and so he sued Anderson seeking an order from the Kansas Supreme Court to for Anderson to give the records back to Planned Parenthood. The lawsuit was accepted by the Kansas Supreme Court and sealed from public view. Kansas has one of the most closed systems of selecting Judges in the nation. The judges are picked for life by the Governor without confirmation. Sebelius and her Lt. Governor have stacked the court with 5 out of 7 picks.

It is now known that Judge Anderson vigorously defended Kline’s investigation and his possession of the records informing the Supreme Court that Kline’s legal theories were sound and that the records showed evidence of falsification indicating that apparently Planned Parenthood “committed felonies to cover up misdemeanors.”

After Kline subpoenaed Anderson for the preliminary hearing, AG Six obtained a secret order from the Kansas Supreme Court to silence Anderson. Kline was not even informed that the order was sought. The Kansas Supreme Court granted the request in a one paragraph order that does not cite any case law, constitutional provision or statute in support of its issuance.

Now DA Phill Kline was forced to appeal the Supreme Court’s order back to the Supreme Court. In October 2010 the Supreme Court, in the face of Kline’s appeal, reversed itself and stated that Anderson could testify. The delay, however, was long enough that Kline was out of office and many doubt that current office holders have the courage to continue Kline’s fight. The Kansas Supreme Court and AG’s Morrison and Six actively used the power of their positions to work with the abortion industry to block Kline’s efforts and also to punish Kline. Kline has been sued numerous times and was even forced to finance his own defense in a lawsuit filed by AG Morrison and continued by AG Six and Planned Parenthood. The lawsuit sought to remove all evidence against Planned Parenthood from Kline’s possession. Kline had to personally fund more than $200,000 of legal fees just to keep the evidence in the criminal case in the possession of prosecutors.

The Kansas Supreme Court has also teamed with Planned Parenthood to order an investigation of Kline for alleged “ethical” violations in Kline’s investigation of the abortion clinics. The Court’s own ethics administrator has brought a case against Kline seeking to remove his law license claiming that Kline’s “personal pro-life beliefs” constitute a conflict of interest in investigating the abortion clinics. Kline, however, points out that every Judge who has reviewed Kline’s evidence has found probable cause to believe that the clinics violated the law. Kline further states that “I’m also anti-murder and I’ve put a lot of murderers away as well.” Kline claims that allegations are merely intended to send a message to prosecutors that the abortion clinics are above the law and also that pro-life persons cannot hold public office. “The claims are an affront to the Constitution and the rule of law,” Kline stated.

“As Attorney General, Stephen Six demonstrated he is willing to use the power of his office to thwart a legitimate investigation and prosecution of a large corporate defendant in order to forward a personal political agenda,” commented Kline when he learned of the President’s appointment of Six to the federal bench. “Such action is not proper as an Attorney General and is scandalous for a federal appointee,” Kline added.

Beginning on February 21st, Kline’s ethics case resulted in eight days of hearing. Rather than demonstrate wrongdoing by Kline, the hearings resulted in revealing a coordinated and extensive effort by Sebelius and her appointees to stop Kline’s fruitful investigation. Early in 2003, Sebelius appointees were ordered to stop providing Kline information regarding allegations that abortion clinics failed to report child rape. Sebelius oversaw the state agency tasked with keeping track of such reports. The agency refused to volunteer information to Kline’s investigators and demanded to know all of the details of Kline’s investigation. When Kline successfully obtained a subpoena for the information, the agency suddenly produced a flurry of confusing and conflicting paper work. The “find the needle in the haystack” approach forced Kline investigators to work for more than five months to make sense of the data.

Regardless of such efforts, Kline investigators were able to determine that during a time there were hundreds of abortions on children in Kansas, Planned Parenthood only reported one case of child molestation. Kline next had to do battle with the Sebelius controlled agency that handled abortion reporting. That agency, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, filed motions to quash Kline subpoenas and also sought a stay on the subpoenas. Those motions were denied. But suddenly, however, Kline was sued by a group called Aid for Women. The suit was funded by the Center for Reproductive Rights which challenged Kline’s ability to enforce the Kansas mandatory reporting laws relating to child molestation. The timing of the lawsuit had led many to believe that Sebelius unlawfully leaked the existence of Kline’s investigation to outside sources. At the time, the abortion clinics were not aware of Kline’s investigation and the investigation was sealed by order of Judge Anderson.

Many are beginning to ask: what did Sebelius know, when did she know and who did she tell? Also, many are now calling into question President Obama’s appointment of Sebelius to Secretary of Health and Human Services, a position which grants Sebelius authority to oversee national Title X funding. Some are claiming the Sebelius appointment was payback for the former Governor’s efforts to stop Kline’s investigation, which could result in the loss of Title X funding for Planned Parenthood. Controversy is now swirling over such Title X funding due to the undercover video stings conducted by Live Action out of California. The prolife video activist, Lila Rose, coordinating a series of hidden video stings which show Planned Parenthood clinics actively assisting in covering up child rape.

The US House has initiated hearings calling for an end to Planned Parenthood funding and seeking an investigation of Planned Parenthood’s failure to address child rape. Sebelius is expected to testify in May before a House Committee. Now her testimony may include a demand by some to explain her active efforts to thwart an investigation into failure to report child rape. Kline’s investigation revealed such failings in 2003 and 2003, information about which Sebelius was familiar. Furthermore, once Sebelius led agencies failed in blocking Kline, the Sebelius appointed Kansas Supreme Court stepped in sealing the names of the children who were victims of child sexual abuse. This effectively ended the ability for Kline to ensure the children were safe and ended that portion of Kline’s investigation. Kline’s current charges against Planned Parenthood are for falsifying medical records and committing illegal abortions on viable unborn children.

Last week, 90 members of the Kansas House of Representatives and Senate held a news conference demanding an investigation into the “unholy alliance” between Sebelius, the Kansas Supreme Court and Planned Parenthood. The legislators are also calling on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood.

Go back to Breaking News: Rewarding Corruption

03/18/11

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