Two Weeks After it is Learned that the Sebelius Administration destroyed key evidence against Planned Parenthood it is learned that four years later a Sebelius appointed official destroyed copies of that evidence. Evidence destruction apparently routine in the Sebelius Administration. As a result, only felony charges ever filed against Planned Parenthood are dismissed.
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The news of document destruction in Kansas does not come as a surprise for me. Rather, after a decade of obstruction, the latest indicates that the evidence of Kansas corruption to protect Planned Parenthood is leaking into the media.
Two weeks ago a hearing in a criminal case against Planned Parenthood was delayed. The delay was a result of the administration of current Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius destroying evidence of criminal activity while Sebelius was Governor of Kansas.
The evidence was destroyed at a time the Sebelius administration knew the documents were key to a criminal investigation of Planned Parenthood’s failure to report child rape. Planned Parenthood is an important and long-term political ally of Sebelius.
When the documents were destroyed in 2005, I was leading the investigation of Planned Parenthood as the Attorney General of Kansas. Our
While Governor, the Sebelius Administration destroyed documents the administration knew were evidence in a criminal investigation of key Sebelius political ally Planned Parenthood. The Sebelius Administration fought for years to keep the evidence showing that Planned Parenthood failed to report child sexual abuse out of the hands of prosecutors working for former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline. After losing several court battles, the Sebelius Administration was ordered to produce copies of the documents. This week it was learned that not only did the Sebelius Administration then destroy the original documents, but also Sebelius appointed Attorney General Stephen Six, who followed Kline, destroyed the remaining documents in the Attonrey General’s office, left there by Kline. Six’s actions took place while the criminal case against Planned Parenthood was pending.
evidence had revealed that during a time when 166 abortions were performed on children in Kansas, Planned Parenthood had only reported one case of child molestation.
My investigators obtained this evidence after months of battling the Sebelius administration and obtaining four separate court orders for the administration to produce the documents.
The evidence could lead to Planned Parenthood losing more than $350 million in annual federal funding. Federal law requires Planned Parenthood to comply with state laws mandating the report of child rape. Planned Parenthood knew the stakes in my investigation, I knew the stakes and Sebelius knew as well.
After losing the court battles, the Sebelius administration, without notifying my office or the court, destroyed the evidence. Calling it a “routine” document destruction, the Sebelius administration shredded documents it knew served as key evidence in a criminal investigation against a Sebelius ally.
Yet, this alone was not enough to kill the criminal prosecution of Planned Parenthood. In fact, in October of 2007 a judge reviewed my evidence and found probable cause to believe that Planned Parenthood committed 107 criminal acts, including 23 felonies. This evidence was partially based on copies of the documents Sebelius destroyed. The rules of evidence would allow me to introduce the copies of the documents originally produced by the Sebelius administration to my office in late 2004. The case was proceeding.
But now, we learn that Sebelius and Planned Parenthood allies had access to another shredder, and these originally produced copies were destroyed by a Sebelius appointed Attorney General.
In 2006, thanks to millions of abortion industry monies and an incredibly false and distorted depiction of my investigation by the Kansas major daily newspapers, I lost my re-election to Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison.
The Sebelius recruited Morrison had switched parties from Republican to Democrat to run against me and had to vacate his position as District Attorney to assume the office of Attorney General. Since Mr. Morrison was initially elected District Attorney as a Republican, Republicans chose his successor and they chose me. Accordingly, Mr. Morrison and I switched offices in January of 2007.
While transitioning in the offices, I took copies of the KDHE and Planned Parenthood documents with me since Planned Parenthood was within my new jurisdiction and I could continue the investigation. For safekeeping I left the originally produced documents with the Judge who issued the orders for the Sebelius administration to produce those documents.
In January of 2007 that Judge gave the documents to incoming AG Morrison. Mr. Morrison, who ran promising to end my investigation, then initiated an unprecedented effort to return all evidence back to the target of a criminal investigation in which he sued the Judge who issued the subpoenas. Morrison’s suit sought an order that the Judge give up any evidence still in his possession and turn it over to Planned Parenthood. Mr. Morrison also joined Planned Parenthood in suing me seeking a court order that I be forced to give up my copies of the evidence.
Mr. Morrison lost both of these lawsuits but the litigation delayed my efforts for years more and resulted in the Sebelius appointed Kansas Supreme Court[i] ordering a secret trial and at one time, secretly silencing a witness to Planned Parenthood’s criminal conduct.
Yet, Morrison took a step too far. In December of 2007, Paul Morrison’s mistress stepped forward and claimed that Mr. Morrison was trying to use their relationship to interfere with the investigation of Planned Parenthood. The mistress worked in Morrison’s District Attorney’s office and when Mr. Morrison and I switched offices, she remained behind in the District Attorney’s office to work for me. Morrison resigned within a week.
With Morrison’s resignation, Sebelius was able to appoint his successor. In January of 2008, Sebelius appointed Stephen Six as Kansas Attorney General. The only offices Mr. Six have ever held are due to Sebelius appointments.
Mr. Six picked up where Morrison left off — continuing to sue the Judge and myself. Now we know that Mr. Six did something else.
Stephen Six was appointed Kansas Attorney General in January of 2008. Six followed Paul Morrison who defeated Phill Kline in the 2006 elections. Morrison resigned in scandal after his mistress stepped forward and claimed that Morrison was trying to use their relationship to interfere with Kline’s investigation of Planned Parenthood. The mistress worked for Kline. It has now been revealed that Six destroyed evidence in the criminal case against Planned Parenthood. The destruction apparently took place in April of 2009, well after Six knew the criminal charges were filed and that the evidence was critical.
In April of 2009, reports indicate that the Office of Stephen Six destroyed the documents produced to that office while I was Attorney General in 2004. The Six Attorney General’s office destroyed documents produced pursuant to a criminal subpoena which it knew was evidence in a criminal prosecution filed in October of 2007.
Not only this, Six knew I was trying to use those documents in the criminal case. I personally wrote General Six asking for cooperation in the criminal prosecution. He did not reply. General Six did, however, file numerous motions in the criminal case to prevent the use of the documents and only later, after losing the ability to prevent their use, destroyed the documents.
The latest revelation of document shredding resulted in current Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe requesting a dismissal of the felony charges against Planned Parenthood. Howe had other options than to rely on the Six destroyed documents, but such options would be more difficult and evidently, Howe did not want to bear that burden. Who can blame him — few if any Kansas political players are willing to stand up for this case out of fear for their political futures.
In any other state, such conduct by a former Governor and her appointed Attorney General would be condemned from all corners — not so in Kansas. The major Kansas daily newspapers are apologists for abortion on demand and have so distorted this story that it is unrecognizable.
In fact, the State’s major daily newspaper, the Kansas City Star, true to form, tried to blame me for the Six destruction of evidence in April of 2009. I politely reminded the paper that at that time I was teaching at a law school in Lynchburg, Virginia. I doubt it will make any difference with The Star.
Also, a Sebelius appointed Kansas Supreme Court has also unduly harmed the investigation of Planned Parenthood. On this issue the Court is led by Sebelius appointee Justice Carol Beier, a former lawyer with the leftist National Women’s Law Center and a Justice who has written favorably about using court decisions as news releases for the left.[ii]
Kansas is corrupt and that corruption is only now leaking out. For close to 10 years I have witnessed those pledged to justice and to protecting children acting instead to protect political and money relationships. It is time that the fullness of this corruption is revealed.
There are those in Kansas calling for investigations by those in Kansas. Kansas Attorney General Derrick Schmidt announced he would ask others to investigate the record destruction.[iii]
Simply put, I don’t trust Kansas to get the job done. Those who seek to thwart justice have acted openly and with impunity in Kansas. They have successfully smeared and harmed those who disagree with them.
And all the while, others who had the opportunity to speak have generally remained silent, fearful of political consequences.
In the past, I have witnessed Kansas engage in such “investigations.” Generally the aim of these investigations was to explain things away by not placing blame on those currently with power while avoiding difficult questions.
Perhaps this time, on this issue, I am wrong. After all, it is rather hard to explain why you destroyed criminal evidence implicating a key political ally. If that is routine for the Sebelius Administration, no further evidence of corruption is needed.
[i] Unlike almost all other states, the Kansas Supreme Court Justices are appointed by the Governor for life without need for any form of confirmation. Sebelius and her Lt. Governor have appointed 5 of the 7 Justices.
[ii] Justice Beier joined with Planned Parenthood in filing an ethics complaint against me. The Sebelius court appointed the prosecutor and the panel that heard the complaint and will also make the final decision. The panel is recommending that my law license be indefinitely suspended. Among the “findings” is that I lied when my investigators refused early on to tell the Sebelius administration that we were investigating Planned Parenthood. My investigators sought documents within the Sebelius administration but the administration refused cooperation unless we informed them of key details of the investigations. My investigators instead obtained a subpoena and compelled the Sebelius administration to produce the evidence. At my ethics hearing my chief investigator testified that one of the reasons he decided to not inform Sebelius about the investigation is fear that she would tip off the target and that it would result in the destruction of evidence. Later, in 2004, when the Sebelius Administration learned of the target of our investigation we now know that such evidence destruction took place. Even if our concerns had not been proven legitimate, it is a longstanding principle that law enforcement does not have a duty to tell a third-party witness about the nature of an investigation. Such revelation could harm the investigation, cause harmful rumors, harm reputational interests, poison witnesses and possibly physically harm third parties. Regardless of clear law and practice on this issue, the Sebelius Supreme Court appointed panel found my investigators actions to be evidence that I “lied.” My appeal to the Court that filed the complaint will take place over the next several months.
[iii] The Attorney General has called for Shawnee County Sheriff Dick Barta to lead an investigation into the destruction of the records. Sheriff Barta has a good record. He will report the results of his investigation, however, to Shawnee County Prosecutor Chad Taylor. Taylor won election by criticizing the abortion investigation and should recuse himself from considering the investigation. You can read the most recent story on this topic here: https://cjonline.com/news/2011-11-09/ag-asks-county-investigate-abortion-papers#.Trr8CLJpukI
© Phill Kline
LifeNews.com Note: Phill Kline is the former Attorney General of Kansas and the only prosecutor since Roe vs. Wade to obtain redacted abortion records in a criminal investigation. He then formally charged Planned Parenthood with 107 criminal acts including 23 felonies. He currently serves as a Visiting Law Professor at Liberty Law School in Lynchburg, Virginia.
