I am ill; the worst political scenario imaginable

[proud2BlibKansan]

is happening in my home county. Our DA ran for state AG and beat Phill Kline, who was probably one of the worst in the country. Now the local GOP picked Phill to be our new DA.

Goodbye womens' clinics. Goodbye privacy. Goodbye low crime rate. (Phill has no trial experience)

Goodbye sanity.

Oh how I despise these conservative repukes.

[atommom]

1. I think he got the job on the strength of his anti-abortion crusade.

But when it comes to qualifications, he doesn't have any. He doesn't have the necessary experience as a trial lawyer. He was a civil lawyer only briefly ... the rest of his time has been spent doing other things, like politics, agitating against abortion, and doing a radio show. And if he brings his own staff with him, there won't be anyone in the DA's office who knows how to run it. This is very bad for Johnson County.

It was an amazingly ignorant and arrogant thing for the Repubs to do. He lost the AG's race by a good 40 points in this county!

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. At the last Jo Co Dems meeting,

they told us he was not eligible for the position. So were they lying or will he be immediately removed?

[atommom]

11. I assumed they meant that he didn't meet the stated qualifications at all.

But if they let the delegates vote for him, I guess he must have squeaked by somehow. I'm looking for a position description/job requirements, but haven't found one so far. I can't imagine how on earth he could be considered for a job like this.

[atommom]

14. Oh crap. According to the KC Star, he only needs to be a registered

voter in JoCo and have been a licensed attorney for 5 years! How can that be???

Kline, a former state lawmaker who represented Shawnee, now lives in the Topeka area. On Thursday he registered using the Stilwell address of 19840 Floyd, #4.

The property, a house with four apartments, is owned by Ernest and Pat Adair, who are precinct committee members. Pat Adair, a former executive director of the anti-abortion Kansans for Life in Johnson County, signed a letter mailed to precinct committee members this week urging support for Kline.

She said the Kline family was not living full-time at the address now.

The only other qualification is that the district attorney be a licensed lawyer for five years.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/16191206.htm

[Porcupine]

2. Since when do criminals get a fair trial?

March yourself down to the courthouse and you will find that 95% of the cases brought before your superior court result in plea bargains. The court system is set up to punish everybody who stands up for their rights so only the rich do. Everybody else gets worthless public defenders.

Your crime rate will only go up because they will be setting up organized crime. The little guys will still go to jail in droves.

No worries.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. We just had a high profile murder trial

If Phill had tried it, the guy would have walked.

[kiahzero]

8. Is he just a bad lawyer, or is he malfeasant to boot? (n/t)

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. He has never tried a case

[atommom]

12. He did some questionable things as state AG, in support of his

right-wing agenda. He hasn't actually practiced law enough to have a record, and doesn't have any criminal law background.

[kiahzero]

7. Non sequitur

The high percentage of plea bargains does not imply "The court system is set up to punish everybody who stands up for their rights so only the rich do."

[Porcupine]

10. DA's and judges both admit punishing plea refusals...

with longer sentances upon ultimate conviction as a means of keeping the calender clear. There are many people in prisons who are factually innocent of the charge for which they pled to. It's made clear to them that they can take the plea or other charges will appear.

They may not be innocent of all criminal action but they don't have somebody willing to argue their case do they? Public defenders are neither.

There are reasons that the US has more of it's people in jail than any other nation. Justice is NOT one of them.

[kiahzero]

13. That's the point of plea bargains.

The accused gets a lesser sentence if they admit to being guilty. In cases where there is no genuine question of guilt, this is beneficial to both the guilty party and to the government at large, in the same sense that a pre-trial settlement is generally beneficial to both parties in a civil suit.

I think the reason the US has a higher percentage of people in jail than other nations has a lot more to do with the failure of the "War on Drugs" than the failure of plea bargaining.

[rurallib]

3. Can you mount a petition to have him removed or something?

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I don't know

I would sign it. :)

[dsc]

15. DAs rarely try cases

His ability as a manager or lack thereof would be the most relevent thing to this job. At least your local GOP should never win an election again.

[atommom]

16. His lack thereof is legendary in these parts.

He neglected his AG duties in favor of pleasing the right wing. I wouldn't expect this job to be any different.

[dsc]

17. admittedly he isn't exactly a confidence building kind of guy

Durham is seeing what a DA can do when he isn't exactly a great one.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. The guy he is replacing did try cases

lots of them. He just finished a high profile murder trial.

[Neecy]

19. The whole thing makes me ill

The anti-abortion nuts in the JoCo GOP ignored the will of the voters and installed this wholly incompetent jerk in office - at the comfy salary of $143,000 a year. All he has to do in return is harass abortion providers, violate our privacy by demanding our medical records (and passing them along to Fox News!) and plotting for his next elective office. He will be WORTHLESS as the DA for the largest county by population in the state.

Why do party hacks get to appoint our DA? Why isn't there a special election? Why doesn't the Governor appoint this position? What we need to do - NOW, before such an obscenity happens again - is to fight to change this system. It's just wrong that our chief law enforcement official is chosen by the same group of wingnuts that even Kansas Republicans are rejecting!

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. Yes it is a messed up system

The repuke who won in my district (24th) resigned. His replacement is picked by the party. He was picked for the seat in 2003 to replace the repuke who resigned then.

See how much the Jo Co GOP cares about the 24th district?

Bastards.