July 13 hearing set for Tiller challenge

Dr. George Tiller's lawyers are challenging the state's late-term abortion law. The Wichita doctor claims the part of the law dealing with 19 charges filed against him is vague and unconstitutional.

Why Operation Rescue hates Attorney General Paul Morrison

AP's John Hanna does a good job today of explaining why abortion opponents are less than thrilled with Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison.

Despite the fact that he has filed 19 charges against Wichita Dr. George Tiller, Morrison's charges don't revolve around the core of the state's late-term abortion law as former AG Phill Kline's charges did.

Hanna does a good job of explaining the legal situation. His explanation also shows why Kline was desperate to move forward with his charges. If Kline had been successful, the case would have made it much harder for any doctor to have done late-term abortions in Kansas. It could also have easily gone to the U.S. Supreme Court. Hanna implies that the temptation of having his name attached to such an important case may have been overwhelming.

If Morrison is right that Kline and his staff completely botched their case against Tiller, then Hanna has just explained Kline's motivation. Of course, the story also explains Operation Rescue's fury.

Doctor denies financial ties to George Tiller

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that an attorney for former Lawrence physician Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus denies that she had a financial connection to Wichita's Dr. George Tiller.

The alleged ties are the basis for 19 misdemeanor charges filed against Tiller yesterday.

Morrison says Kline is either grossly incompetent or manufacturing evidence

And that's just the start of the back and forth between Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison and his predecessor as AG, Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline. All of this, of course, surrounds the charging of Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita abortion provider.

The incompetent-or-unethical quote is from today's Topeka Capital-Journal, which also reports on the tight security that greeted reporters when they went to Morrison's news conference yesterday. The security was in response to all the emails Morrison's office received. Judging from some of the emails I've received from anti-abortion folks, I think Morrison has every right to be concerned.

Meanwhile, Kline is trying to claim that Morrison's charges are a victory for him. While it's true that Morrison did use the records Kline obtained, it's also true that Morrison threw out all 30 of the charges Kline was trying to file against Tiller. If you believe Morrison, then all 30 of those charges was botched. That's hardly a victory for Kline.

Morrison says Kline was so driven by his political agenda that he did sloppy work. Whether or not Kline botched the cases, it does make sense that he was driven to press the charges he did. At least half of those charges had to do with how to define a medical rationale for a late-term abortion. If Kline had succeeded, that might well have had the effect of choking off just about any late-term abortions.

Morrison's point is that Kline was trying to make a political point and not trying to enforce the law. If so, then Kline was way out of line.

The Kansas Constitution kindly created an institution to allow citizens to change the law. It's called the Legislature. Kline's job as AG was to enforce the law. That's what his job is now in Johnson County. His record on the Tiller case is just one reason why Johnson County residents are a tad nervous about their new DA.

Tiller is expected to make his first court appearance Aug. 7.

The Lawrence Journal-World has a good story about the 19 charges Morrison filed against Tiller. It includes detail on each count.

Here's the Wichita Eagle's story. The Eagle's best contribution to the story are a timeline of events surrounding Tiller and a brief biography of Tiller.

Kansas Public Radio has an audio report with lots of quotes from Morrison's news conference. I can't seem to link directly to the Morrison story, so you will have to scroll down until you find it on a page of other news reports.

The Kansas City Star reports on the record of the physician who signed off on the abortions performed by Tiller. The doctor, who once practiced in Lawrence, was disciplined by a state board.

BREAKING: Kansas Attorney General rejects all of Kline's charges against Tiller, but files new counts

[updated 1:13 p.m.]

Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison has filed 19 misdemeanor counts against Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller.

The charges stem from a state law requiring that a doctor who provides an abortion and a referring doctor not have any financial or legal ties. Morrison is alleging that Tiller had those kinds of ties in 19 cases.

Here's the Kansas City Star report.

The Star adds this interesting paragraph.

Morrison’s decision to charge Tiller is likely to come as a shock to anti-abortion groups who expected Tiller to be cleared. They predicted that Morrison would decline to charge Tiller, saying the attorney general would shield the abortion provider. A political action committee controlled by Tiller spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the recent election attacking Kline.

One problem with instant analysis of the news is that you don't have time to dig up facts or get perspective, but having said that I'm going to leap in here for a quick opinion: At first blush, it appears that Morrison and his staff took their job seriously to investigate Tiller. (Hence the "shock" expected from anti-abortion groups.)

If that is true, isn't it much better that the new AG took his time and did a careful job, rather than doing what the previous AG, Phill Kline, may well have done? Botching an indictment doesn't help get a conviction.

It will be interesting to hear the reaction of Kline and his camp to today's events.

One important fact to note is that both Kline's and Morrison's charges are misdemeanors.

The bottom line is that we will only know over time whether Kline or Morrison or neither of them have been right about Tiller.

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[1:12 p.m. update]

Here's AP's take on the story. They quote Morrison as saying the 19 counts are "technical" violations of the law.

More from AP. This story names the doctor with alleged ties to Tiller. See the bottom of the story, which also provides more detail.

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[1:02 p.m. update]

A more national perspective is available at In This Moment.

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[earlier post]

First reports from Topeka say that Attorney General Paul Morrison has rejected all 30 counts Phill Kline filed against Wichita abortion provider George Tiller in December. However, Morrison has filed 19 new counts against Tiller.

Details are coming.

Morrison's office had already announced that it was not filing 15 of the original 30 charges originally pressed by Kline. Calling Kline's work sloppy and unethical, Morrison's spokesperson yesterday told the AP that the charges the previous AG had filed were unfounded.

Here's background on the entire Tiller saga.
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PHOTO: Paul Morrison

Morrison to announce whether he will charge Tiller at noon

The KC Star reports that Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison has just notified the media of a noon news conference. The results of his investigation into George Tiller -- and whether or not Tiller will be charged -- will be announced then.

BREAKING: Paul Morrison's office says Kline botched George Tiller case

AP is reporting an exclusive interview with Ashley Anstaett, spokeswoman for Attorney General Paul Morrison. She alleges that former AG Phill Kline engaged in "unethical behavior" and left a mess for Morrison.

In a nutshell, Anstaett says Morrison's predecessor Kline, botched at least half of the charges he filed against Wichita abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller. Among the charges Anstaett makes, according to AP, are:

• 15 of the 30 misdemeanor counts Kline filled in December were flawed.
• In 11 of those 15 counts, Kline failed to include information that was favorable to Tiller -- a major ethical lapse by an attorney. (Kline's recently departed Johnson County Domestic Violence Division Chief Sue Carpenter was once censured for doing this.)
• In 4 of the counts, Kline cited the wrong patient records to back up his charges.
• “The case was not organized, summarized and ready to go, as Kline claims. This couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Anstaett’s comments covered only 15 charges. Morrison is set to announce by Friday whether or not he will file any charges against Tiller.

Kline denies everything. See AP for the details of his comments.

If what Anstaett says is true, then it's no surprise that Morrison has taken six months to finish his investigation of Tiller. If Tiller really is breaking the law, then the absolute worst thing Morrison could do is to bring a botched case before a judge. It amazes me that the anti-abortion folks can't seem to understand that. They seem more interested in screaming and making political points, than in actually getting a successful prosecution of Tiller.

My guess -- and I have no information on this -- is that Anstaett's interview is part of a PR campaign by Morrison to counter the Operation Rescue message that has been filling the Kansas media for the last few weeks.

I'm also guessing, that Morrison may well file charges against Tiller. Anstaett only discussed 15 of the counts. I suspect that she would have discussed more, if Morrison intended to clear Tiller completely.

Again, I have no information. Only guesses.

Morrison clears Planned Parenthood in Overland Park, but Kline still has records

Attorney General Paul Morrison has cleared Planned Parenthood -- one of two clinics at the center of former AG Phill Kline's mining expedition for medical records.

The attorney for the Overland Park clinic released a letter from Morrison tonight.

Here is a link to Morrison's letter. Note that the letter says that Kline -- now Johnson County District Attorney -- still has copies of the records. As the local DA, Kline could still file charges against Planned Parenthood.

No word yet on what Morrison intends to do about the 2nd and most controversial clinic -- that of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita.

I hear a lot of folks -- particularly anti-abortion groups -- screaming about how long it has taken Morrison to complete his investigation of the clinics. Given the controversy and all the publicity, I much prefer to see Morrison take his time and do a thorough job rather than jumping in to either follow in Kline's hasty footsteps or to jump away from them.

Not Really News: Phill Kline attacks Paul Morrison & George Tiller

Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline rails against his two favorite enemies at the National Right To Life Convention in Kansas City, Mo.

This is hardly a surprise, but what I do find surprising is the claim by Jenn Giroux that it's "amazing divine providence" that the never-quite-disappearing controversy about Dr. George Tiller is heating up again.

How is this divine providence when Giroux herself brought Kline's hand-picked doctor, Paul McHugh, to stomp around Kansas just before the covention and yell about how Tiller is awful? This isn't divine; this is Giroux' very good sense of media timing.

Phill Kline's hand-picked doctor commits "gross breach of trust" & more

The pursuit of abortion provider George Tiller -- aka the saga that never dies -- heated up this week when anti-abortion activists brought Paul McHugh to Kansas. McHugh's appearance coincides with the National Right to Life Convention meeting Thursday through Saturday in Kansas City, Mo.

McHugh is the former head of Johns Hopkins University’s psychiatry program. He reviewed the records of some of Tiller's patients for Phill Kline when Kline was the Kansas attorney general and continuing his Ahab-like pursuit of Tiller.

What McHugh did when he arrived was to stump the state talking about what he saw in those records -- that is, what he saw in the PRIVATE, CONFIDENTIAL medical records of these patients. To make matters worse, McHugh's statements concern an ongoing investigation in new Attorney General Paul Morrison's office. McHugh also attacked Morrison personally. Morrison was not amused.

The Kansas City Star reports:

Morrison fired back Tuesday with a stinging letter to McHugh, saying his public comments about the case threaten the integrity of the investigation and violate rules of conduct for physicians. Also, Morrison disputed McHugh’s claim that he had not been contacted by Morrison’s office and threatened to file disciplinary or legal actions against McHugh if he continued to speak publicly about the case.

“Your actions are a gross breach of trust, and demonstrate the dangers in allowing prosecutors to randomly invade the privacy rights of American citizens,” Morrison wrote. “… You do a disservice to you, Johns Hopkins and your profession.”

Because of the letter, McHugh refused to speak with The Star and did not discuss the case, as planned, at a public meeting in Overland Park Tuesday night.

McHugh claims Morrison's office never contacted him for his ideas on the records. In the letter, Morrison details the many efforts his office made to contact McHugh. The details are in the story in The Star.

Morrison's office is investigating Tiller and has said an announcement on the case will be made by the end of the month. That's only two weeks. Surely, folks can have the sense to wait two weeks to allow a proper investigation to be completed.

Details of Kline and anti-abortion group's pursuit of Tiller are available at my national-commentary blog, In This Moment.

A little Googling reveals that McHugh has been attached to many socially conservative organizations. He is a longtime opponent of sex-reassignment surgery for transgendered peoples. The Transexual Roadmap has a good overview of at least some of his ideas.

For a more positive view of McHugh, the Johns Hopkins Magazine did a profile in 1999.