A Kansas legislator has filed a complaint claiming judicial misconduct against a district judge, who failed to disclose his financial ties to the state’s most notorious abortion provider before tossing the 30 misdemeanor charges against him.
State Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, has alleged District Judge Paul W. Clark committed judicial misconduct in the investigation of abortionist George Tiller, who was under investigation by then-Attorney General Phil Kline for illegal late-term abortions, failures to report properly the details to state health officials, and failure to report suspected child sexual abuse.
“Judge Clark failed to disclose on the record his financial ties with abortionist Tiller and D.A. Foulston while ruling in their favor,” reads the complaint lodged today by Huelskamp with the Kansas Commission on Judicial Qualifications (KCJQ).
The complaint requests the KCJQ “take appropriate disciplinary action, and thereby preserve and protect the public trust in the judicial system of the State of Kansas.”
For two years, outgoing Attorney General Phil Kline pursued an investigation into Tiller’s activities resulting in 30 criminal misdemeanor charges.
However, Dec. 22, 2006, Judge Clark dismissed the charges – a day after Kline filed his criminal case – at the behest of Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, who claimed the AG had no jurisdiction in the matter unless she gave her consent, and she had no intention of prosecuting Tiller.
Operation Rescue (OR) investigated and exposed Judge Clark’s campaign finance ties with Dan Monnet, the attorney representing Tiller, and with DA Foulston.
Records show they both contributed $500 to Clark’s election campaign in 2004.
Judge Clark held the hearing with Monnet and Foulston present, but did not notify Kline, who then had to dispatch lawyers to defend his right under Kansas law to prosecute Tiller at later separate hearings.
The judge’s maneuvers, however, killed Kline’s investigation into Tiller, since Kline had to vacate the AG office on Jan. 8 to pro-abortion Democrat Paul Morrison.
Morrison then fired the special prosecutor Kline appointed to bypass Clark’s decision and handle charges against Tiller.
“We think this is a very serious charge,” Huelskamp said according to the Associated Press.
The senator stated Judge Clark’s haste to dismiss the result of Kline’s two-year investigation against Tiller gave an appearance that the campaign contributions influenced his decision.
Rules established by the Kansas Supreme Court require a judge to recuse himself from a case “in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”
Huelskamp charges Clark had 3 opportunities to disclose his campaign ties with Foulston and Monnet and wants the KCJQ to investigate any illegal private conversations Clark may have made with Monnet and DA Foulston.
“Judges must be held to a high standard of ethics, and we believe that Clark violated those ethics by making a ruling that showed obvious partiality,” OR President Troy Newman said in a press release.
Newman added that Clark should be held accountable for his actions to restore Americans’ confidence in the justice system.
Narrative of complaint filed against Clark can be found here:
http://operationrescue.org/files/Clark/Appendix%20A.pdf
Links to the complete complaint can be found at: http://www.operationrescue.org
[23March07, Peter J. Smith, TOPEKA, Kansas, LifeSiteNews.com]
‘ROE’ PLEADS FOR KANSANS TO CHARGE TILLER.
The longtime poster child for America’s abortion industry, Jane Roe of the precedent-creating Roe v. Wade lawsuit in 1973, is pleading with Kansas lawmakers to enforce their own state law and prosecute a late-term abortionist accused of failing to follow state law.
“As the woman who helped make abortion ‘legal’ in America, I urge you to do everything in your power to stop one of the worst abortionists in America. George Tiller MUST be punished for the crimes he has committed – and you can help make that happen,” said the letter this week to Kansas lawmakers.
It is from Norma McCorvey, who has run the “Roe No More” ministry, now called “Crossing Over Ministry,” since she abandoned the abortion industry to become a Christian a decade ago.
Tiller was the subject of a multi-year investigation by former Kansas state Attorney General Phill Kline, who filed 30 criminal counts against him in late 2006.
However, those charges were dismissed by a judge with connections to Tiller’s lawyers on the request of a prosecutor who also had connections to the other players in the case.
Efforts by a special prosecutor subsequently to pursue the case were defeated when the state’s new attorney general, Paul Morrison, fired him and asked that his requests to the state Supreme Court be dismissed.
The actual allegations, which never have been evaluated in a courtroom, were reviewed in advance by two separate judges and approved, and accused Tiller of performing illegal late-term abortions in Kansas and failing to provide the documentation the state requires for late-term procedures.
Now Resolution 6018 in the state House of Representatives would direct Morrison to refile the charges and pursue them to a just conclusion.
The resolution was approved by the Federal and State Affairs Committee earlier this week, but Morrison has informed the Legislature that he alone will decide whether charges will be filed against Tiller.
“Any further charges will be based on my professional judgment, not legislative action or political calculations,” he wrote.
McCorvey’s pleas went directly to lawmakers. “Hello, my name is Norma McCorvey. Perhaps you’ve heard of me. It was my Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade, that sentenced tens of millions of innocent babies to die by abortion…Now I work to tell people that abortion is a horrible crime against humanity – at ANY stage in a woman’s pregnancy. But the most abhorrent abortions of all are LATE-TERM abortions, such as those performed by Dr. George R. Tiller of Wichita.
“Dr. Tiller performs abortions on babies up to 37 weeks – past the point when most babies are born. And, to justify his crimes, he claims the women are ‘depressed’ or have ‘anxiety disorders’ – two conditions that are not valid reasons to have late-term abortions, according to Kansas law 65-6703,” she wrote.
Kansas law actually considers those conditions as reasons for substantiating an abortion, but only if they also cause “substantial and irreversible” impacts on a “major bodily function.”
McCorvey’s letter says Tiller’s “political connections” triggered the “improper” dismissal of the counts.
“You and your colleagues in the Kansas Legislature have the legal authority to force Attorney General Paul Morrison to prosecute Dr. Tiller on those 30 criminal counts,” she wrote.
“Please vote to enforce KSA 75-702, which requires the Attorney General to appear on behalf of the state and ‘prosecute or defend, in any other court or before any officer, in any cause or matter, civil or criminal, in which this state may be a party or interested.'”
Just about a week earlier, a Kansas state lawmaker filed a formal complaint against the district judge for refusing to disclose his financial ties to the attorney for Tiller and others while ruling in Tiller’s favor in that criminal case.
State Sen. Tim Huelskamp has submitted the complaint against District Judge Paul W. Clark, which was co-signed by several leaders of national pro-life organizations, to the Kansas Commission on Judicial Qualifications.
At issue are Clark’s repeated rulings that prevented Kline from pursuing a case while he still was in office involving the criminal counts against Tiller.
[March 30, 2007, WorldNetDaily.com]
[NOTE: This story continues to change. There is a possibility that charges will still be brought against Tiller, as of 1 April 2007.]