Women Influencing the Nation

This website only posts articles like this for the sole purpose of exposing the lap dogs and players in place in Kansas that carry the water for Planned Parenthood and abortion industry. Steve Rose has long been one of these. It is all too obvious when he comes out with his "pearls of wisdom" which we are all suppose to stop and be in "awe" about when in fact the community views him as nothing but the journalistic "whore" that he is. This column presents yet another agenda driven example of just how far he will continue to sell his soul to sell his papers and back the abortion industry and the political liberal left...

When Channel 5 aired its much ballyhooed expose on Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, accusing Kline of, among other things, really living in Topeka when he declared Johnson County his home, critics rightfully cried foul, because it was much ado about nothing. And when The New York Times recently published its lame investigation into John McCain’s unsubstantiated behavior eight years ago, critics rightfully accused the newspaper of irresponsible journalism and abuse of power.

Of course, when Phill Kline, as Kansas attorney general, went after abortion doctor George Tiller without probable cause, and when Kline, as Johnson County district attorney, went after Planned Parenthood without probable cause, where were the right-wing critics then? A witch hunt apparently is OK if you think you are on the moral high ground.

But, you know, all this abuse of power on both sides pales beside the frightening use of an obscure Kansas law from 1887 that allows for a small number of people to petition for the creation of a grand jury, for virtually no reason at all.

That law, which only five other states have, was created during the nation’s great railroad boom to curb political corruption. Because petitioners would have to gather signatures traveling on horseback, one farmer at a time, the number of signatures required is miniscule, a mere 2 percent plus 100 of registered voters who voted in the last gubernatorial election in that county. In Johnson County, that translates to 3,814 signatures out of 350,000 registered voters, a number you could get at Oak Park Mall over a weekend.

The statute is a blank check. It declares only that the grand jury can be called by petition “when determined in the public interest.”

The law was dusted off and used for one of the first times ever three years ago, when petitioners called for a grand jury to investigate owners of pornography stores in Wichita. More recently, a grand jury was called by petition in Wichita to investigate Dr. Tiller. And then, a few months ago, Kansans for Life gathered enough signatures to create a grand jury to investigate Planned Parenthood in Overland Park, on top of another investigation already under way by Kline.

So far this grand jury goldmine has only been tapped by the religious right. So, with their clout, we cannot expect the state Legislature to kill this abusive, outdated law. We cannot even expect the Legislature to change the threshold from its current 2 percent to, say, 10 percent.

But, wait. The tables will someday turn.

What if, for example, Channel 5, or any other organization or citizen, had decided to push for a grand jury to investigate whether Phill Kline was, in fact, living in Topeka, instead of his so-called Johnson County residence? A grand jury could tie Kline up in knots.

The grand jury could subpoena neighbors near his stated Johnson County residence, as well as his Topeka residence to testify how often they had seen him at each location. Then, the grand jury might call to testify the letter carrier who would deliver mail to the Johnson County address, as well as the letter carrier who delivers to the Topeka address, to see where Kline received his first-class mail. (Oh, heavens, would this be an invasion of privacy?) The grand jury could also subpoena the utility records of each residence to ascertain how much the residences were used, if at all. The 15-member grand jury could go wherever their imaginations would take them.

This, of course, would be a disgusting use of a grand jury. But a witch hunt is a witch hunt and if we are in the business of calling grand juries at whim, the day will come when the religious right will be on the receiving end of this un-American travesty.

Then, we pray, the Legislature will undo what it did in 1887.

Email
Confirm email

Join Our Email List