by Tim Golba
Five courageous
Kansas legislators demonstrated their commitment to defending the unborn by
submitting their resignations to the House Speaker Melvin Neufeld on the
morning of Sine Die.
They desperately tried to reason with the speaker, but at the vary least they
drew the line in the sand with their unprecedented resignations.
I wish to commend these five legislators for standing together for the unborn.
Up till now, I have been reluctantly willing to extend to the House Speaker the
benefit of the doubt when he recently requested thirty to forty days to execute
his plan (a time period that expires about mid to late June). Here are the
concerns:
JUDICIAL FAILURE: A Wichita district attorney and a traffic judge blocked a standing attorney general’s charges against George Tiller with no legal basis to stand on.
JUDICIAL
COVER-UP: The traffic judge who had received campaign contributions from
Tiller’s attorney and the district attorney was charged with ethical violations
for not removing himself from the case. These complaints were dismissed because
the judge claimed that he did not look at his own campaign reports.
JUDICIAL FAILURE: Two judges have found probable cause to believe that crimes
have been committed. The latest judge found the evidence of criminal activity
was directly linked to Tiller. The allegations claim that Dr. Tiller performed
abortions for temporary mental health concerns.
All the
evidence to support that finding was filed with the original court case and has
been available directly to the Attorney General since he was sworn into office.
Considering the fact that Carla Stovall, who is pro-choice, stated in a 2000 AG
opinion that temporary mental health concerns did not justify a late-term
abortion on a viable fetus, do not the allegations indicate that Tiller
violated the law? Does the complaint not list the actual diagnosis provided for
the abortions? If so, why has Paul Morrison not filed charges? Why did Morrison
dismiss the appeal that he promised not to interfere with?
JUDICIAL COVER-UP: Attorney General Paul Morrison fired the Democrat special
prosecutor and then has stalled time and again to make a conclusive statement
regarding the 30 charges. Let’s not forget the huge campaign debt that Morrison
has to Tiller and Planned Parenthood.
LEGISLATIVE INACTION: After the Federal and State Affairs committee voted 12-8
to a approve a resolution designed to force Morrison to reinstate all 30 charge
counts against Tiller, Speaker Melvin Neufeld forbade a vote on the floor
(according to Tim Carpenter of the Capital-Journal 6-1-07).
LEGISLATIVE INACTION: Speaker Neufeld thus far refused to allow the Federal and
State Affairs or the Appropriations Committees to have subpoena power to
investigate these judicial failures. ‘A witch hunt is how Neufeld recently
characterized the process of the legislative branch holding the judicial branch
accountable for enforcing the law.
LEGISLATIVE LEADERSHIP PROMISES: Speaker Melvin Neufeld, the Kansas House
Speaker and others in House Leadership are attempting to buy themselves some
time by promising a coming announcement of new initiatives in the battle
against abortion. The speaker indicated to me along with others that he needed
another thirty to forty days to execute his plan. He made this compromise in
mid-May and now his time has about run. IS THIS NOT A CONTRADICTION? Is Speaker
Neufeld executing a plan as promised? Why would a reasonable person think that
the debt that Paul Morrison owes to Tiller would allow him to send Tiller to
prison? Why would Paul Morrison not just slap Tiller’s hand, fine him a few
dollars and seal the damning evidence that no Attorney General before Phill
Kline has ever been able to access? Has Neufeld ever had any intentions of
holding Tiller accountable for his crimes?
Federal and State Affairs Committee Chair, Arlen Siegfried, admitted to an Olathe News reporter on May 23rd, that his committee discussed early in the session whether they should pursue an investigation of Tiller, but that House leadership decided to leave the matter in Morrison’s hands. IS THIS NOT OBVIOUS?
Paul Morrison
is no more inclined to enforce the law than any of the other Tiller bought
political cronies that have covered for him to date. It is time to place
principle and the rule of law (in opposition to the Tiller killing machine) above
politics and just simply do the right thing! There are a lot of unanswered
questions. The mid to late June extension for Speaker Neufeld’s plan is fast
approaching. As a result, every pro-life advocate, every pro-life citizen of
this state now anxiously awaits the fruit that will come from the Speaker's
investigative and legislative efforts during the next few weeks. As always, it
is our responsibility to monitor the progress of our public officials as they
represent our best interests.
{Tim Golba is past President of Kansans for Life and project co-ordinator for the Judicial Watch, an organization seeking to hold judges to a strict interpretation of the law and Constitution. - Ed}