Abortion Opponents File Ethics Complaint Against Kansas Judge For Not Disclosing Financial Contributions From Physician Tiller’s Law Firm
April 8, 2007 – 7:02 pm | posted in AbortionKansas state Sen. Tim Huelskamp (R) and members of the antiabortion group Operation Rescue West on Thursday submitted an ethics complaint against a state judge for not disclosing campaign contributions he received from a law firm representing physician George Tiller before ruling in a case involving Tiller, the Wichita Eagle reports (Sylvester, Wichita Eagle, 3/23). Former state Attorney General Phill Kline (R) last year filed 30 misdemeanor charges against Tiller — who owns the Wichita, Kan.-based abortion clinic Women’s Health Care Services — for allegedly performing 15 illegal late-term abortions in 2003 on patients ages 10 to 22 without properly reporting the details to the state. Kline hired attorney Don McKinney to be special prosecutor in the case. Sedgwick County, Kan., District Judge Paul Clark in January dismissed the charges on a jurisdictional issue at the request of Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston (D), and McKinney filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court. The Kansas Supreme Court in February upheld Clark’s ruling (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 2/16). The complaint alleges that Clark did not disclose that he received campaign contributions from a law firm representing Tiller and that he inappropriately discussed the case with Foulston (Wichita Eagle, 3/23). Tiller’s attorney, Dan Monnat, said the complaint was part of “last-gasp maneuvers” by antiabortion advocates against Tiller, adding, “I think it’s preposterous in Kansas that a judge should need to disqualify himself because lawyers have contributed to his campaign” (Milburn, AP/Forbes, 3/22). Troy Newman, head of Operation Rescue, said the complaint is “an issue of full public disclosure before the court, before the people to enhance the public trust.” According to the Eagle, ethics complaints usually find no wrongdoing. Clark and Foulston were not available for comment, the Eagle reports (Wichita Eagle, 3/23).
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