Kansas' Defense of Former A.G. Kline, Aides Exceeds $500,000

April 19, 2011 — Kansas has spent more than $500,000 in legal fees and other expenses to defend former state Attorney General Phill Kline (R) and two of his aides against alleged violations of the state's attorney ethics code, the AP/Wichita Eagle reports (AP/Wichita Eagle, 4/17). The hearings involve investigations launched by Kline -- also a former Johnson County district attorney -- into a Planned Parenthood affiliate and another clinic operated by abortion provider George Tiller, who was murdered in May 2009.

The disciplinary administrator of the state Board of Discipline of Attorneys alleges that Kline lied to the state Supreme Court about whether he was seeking the identities of women who had obtained abortions, selectively presented information to a Johnson County grand jury investigating Tiller, mishandled medical records and discussed active cases on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor." Kline accused abortion providers in the state of violating the law and not reporting pregnancies of minors, and he sought patient medical records for his case. The investigation began shortly after Kline became attorney general in 2003 and continued when he became district attorney in 2007. The first round of ethics hearings took place in March, and hearings will resume on July 19 for four days (Women's Health Policy Report, 3/7).

The state -- which is required under the Kansas Tort Claims Act to pay the legal fees of state officials and employees who are defendants in suits -- paid $200,023 in legal fees and $20,291 in other expenses to the law firm that defended Kline in the eight-day hearing in March. The state paid $178,285 in legal fees and $4,929 in expenses to another law firm, bringing the total to $403,528 in state funds used to defend Kline (Fry, Topeka Capital-Journal, 4/16). An additional $125,959 went to lawyers defending Eric Rucker and Steven Maxwell, two former Kline aides who received informal admonitions for assisting Kline while he was attorney general and district attorney. More than $2,500 was spent on Kline's travel from his home in Virginia to Topeka.

No decision has been made on the ethics allegations against Kline. In the most recent hearing, the state Board of Discipline of Attorneys heard testimony regarding Kline's alleged misconduct, mishandling of abortion records, infractions of trial publicity, conflicts of interest, and lack of truthfulness toward a court and in statements (AP/Wichita Eagle, 4/17).