Dear Govornor

Dear Governor Sebelius,
You’re really making things rough for me. A few friends of mine are really mad about your appointment of Dan Monnat to the Kansas Sentencing Commission. I probably didn’t help myself by explaining to them he’s an attorney representing George Tiller. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I’d just kept my mouth shut about that little detail. I’ve never been good at that sort of thing though. They asked me to write you and explain how they see things. Please keep in mind, these are their concerns. I’ve got your back.
Lets see, they remember Paul Morrison promising to drop the charges against Mr. Tiller if elected, and they’ll never forget the day Mr. Morrison withdrew the case from the Kansas Supreme Court. They can say what they want about Mr. Morrison. But they can’t say he’s not a man of his word.
I’m sure you know the story, but I promised I’d write just the same. They remember the bizarre events that took place in Wichita. You know, when Sedgwick County District Attorney, Nola Foulston convinced District Judge, Paul Clark to drop the charges against Tiller the day after Phill Kline filed them on jurisdictional grounds. I tried to explain to my friends this sort of thing happens all the time. And that the Attorney General always has to ask a District Attorney for permission before filing charges in their district, although I couldn’t actually give them any examples of it ever happening . But I assured them it was all on the up and up. Hell, we live in the great state of Kansas. It has to be. Doesn’t it?
They stood by and watched as Tiller pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into our last election. You know, the one in which Mr. Morrison defeated Phill Kline. Sorry, these friends of mine are a cynical bunch. A few of them actually believe this is why the charges against Tiller were dropped. Again, I’ve assured them there’s no way that could ever happen in Kansas.
When they heard that Nola Foulston and your new appointee, Mr. Monnat had both contributed money to Judge Clark’s re-election campaign, well I won’t even get into the things they were saying about that. I’m sure you can imagine.
I’m sorry, but when they learned that Senator Tim Huelskamp had filed a formal complaint against the good Judge for failing to disclose this information while ruling in their favor in what seemed to be the speediest court action in history. Can you believe they had the nerve to say the judge should have recused himself from the case? I’ll admit, this one looked a little bad to me too Governor.
You’ll never believe what else they’re saying. They actually believe that maybe Mr. Morrison is getting ready to file charges against Mr. Tiller, and that your appointment of his attorney to our Sentencing Commission might in some way benefit the good doctor. Crazy, isn’t it.
They keep harping on the fact you’ve vetoed every single attempt to set standards and inspections for abortion clinics since you‘ve been in office. And they keep reminding me about the thousands upon thousands of dollars you’ve accepted from Mr. Tiller for your own political campaigns over the years.
Again, I’m trying to convince them this just a long line of coincidences, and that nothing improper could ever happen in our great state. I wouldn’t worry though Governor. I’m not sure that many people care about it anyway. Yeah, this old guy’s got your back.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net