Friday, February 25, 2005
Hey, Phill Kline. Subpoena This!
Red State Rabble feels for Attorney General Phill Kline, who may have been so busy poking his nose into the private medical records of Kansas women who have had abortions that he may not have had time to read the Kansas Open Meetings Act:
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, and Rep. Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat asked the Shawnee County prosecutor to investigate closed-door meetings held earlier this month between Kline and state school officials on Thursday.
They want an investigation into whether the meetings violated the state Open Meetings Act, which prohibits closed-door meetings when a majority of a body's quorum is present. Kline and the board tried to circumvent the law by holding two separate meetings with conservative members of the board. The KOMA provision that prohibits closed serial meetings that eventually include a quorum is a couple of paragraphs down in the act, and under the pressure of subpoenaing the 90 women's personal medical records, he may not have had a chance to read that far.
Mike Merriam, an attorney for six media organizations -- who have accused Kline and the board of circumventing state open meetings rules and violating the spirit of the law -- said an investigation by a county prosecutor would be valuable.
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, and Rep. Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat asked the Shawnee County prosecutor to investigate closed-door meetings held earlier this month between Kline and state school officials on Thursday.
They want an investigation into whether the meetings violated the state Open Meetings Act, which prohibits closed-door meetings when a majority of a body's quorum is present. Kline and the board tried to circumvent the law by holding two separate meetings with conservative members of the board. The KOMA provision that prohibits closed serial meetings that eventually include a quorum is a couple of paragraphs down in the act, and under the pressure of subpoenaing the 90 women's personal medical records, he may not have had a chance to read that far.
Mike Merriam, an attorney for six media organizations -- who have accused Kline and the board of circumventing state open meetings rules and violating the spirit of the law -- said an investigation by a county prosecutor would be valuable.
