Johnson County

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

Hey, you'll never hear me saying Phill Kline is a one-issue candidate. He is ALL OVER this cockfighting bust.

A news release from Kline's office:

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Give Johnson County DA Phill Kline credit: He won big-time in the lawsuit filed against him by eight former attorneys in his office.

Denise Tiller, Midwest Voices 2008

According to the Kansas City Star's special Johnson County Section about the "New Urbanism" we poor Johnson County residents have been suffering from a lack of shopping. Retail square footage in the county increased 49.3% in 2007, with the addition of 1.3 million square feet of retail space. In other words, square footage for shopping went from about 2.6 million square feet to 3.9 million. In the first 4 months of this year, another 207,000 square feet were added.

Denise Tiller, Midwest Voices 2008

The Johnson County Commissioners once again voted that retail space and developer profits are more important than lifestyle by denying Stilwell its freedom to not become part of the Overland Park sprawl.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Yes, the first thing people think when they hear the name Phill Kline is "strong law enforcement officer." Oh, just kidding. How about "headline-hunting district attorney"? Much better.

By Denise Tiller, Midwest Voices panelist 2008

This fall, Johnson County voters will get a chance to decide if we want to make our area one of the top 20 life-science centers in the country by voting for a "forever" sales tax. The money would fund a business, engineering, and technology center at KU Edwards, a KU clinical research facility in Fairway, and a National Food and Animal Health Institute for KSU in Olathe.

Denise Tiller, Midwest Voices 2008

Not long ago, Johnson County voters were given the opportunity to put much needed soccer fields and a park at 159th and Antioch. The opposition was very vocal. "No, no," they cried. "You can't put something like that across the street from a high school. It would generate too much traffic."

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

Steve Rose, publisher of Sun Newspapers, has written a talker of a column about Phill Kline.

Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline takes pains to portray himself as an involved prosecutor, not just an anti-abortion crusader.

But a Web site designed by a leading abortion opponent leaves no doubt that Kline works hand-in-hand with activists who want to see abortion clinics shut down.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Prediction: Phill Kline will run for Johnson County district attorney this fall. Or not. Hey, how should I know? Even Kline doesn't.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial board

It's tempting for me, a city resident, to join the chorus that's blaming insensitive suburban developers and homeowners for invading coyote turf and placing the pets of Leawood, Kansas, at risk.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board

The Johnson County Commission got in bed with District Attorney Phill Kline back in December. Now, the commissioners will have to live with their mistake.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial board

Who's going to blink: Phill Kline or the Johnson County Commission?

Kline, the county district attorney, says he won't show up at the commission meeting today, as requested, to answer questions about his handling of an "independent" investigation into Paul Morrison's conduct during a long-term extramarital affair with a former staffer.

Two experienced elected officials face off Tuesday in the Shawnee mayoral race.

Mayor Jeff Meyers has made a strong case that he deserves to be re-elected in his contest against City Council member Dan Pflumm.

By Denise Tiller, 2008 Midwest Voices Columnist

A few weeks ago, The Star ran a column in the Blue Valley Section basically calling for Overland Park to take over the rest of Johnson County because of Manifest Destiny. The author didn't feel the hicks south of 159th had a clue what to do with land.

The problem for Paul Morrison and Phill Kline is they were born more than a century and a half too late.

According to a book I've been consulting a lot this week, The Almanac of Political Corruption, Scandals and Dirty Politics, many a personal and political difference in the early 1800's was resolved by a duel.

They often didn't end well, as when U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr fatally wounded Alexander Hamilton in 1804.

I think everyone needs a vision, cities in included. Overland Park made a nice gesture with their "vision team" for Metcalf, but why did they limit their vision to the developed part of Metcalf?

I think it's because they want a free rein to develop the rest of Metcalf, and the city to maximize their profits, without regard to the surrounding neighborhoods.

Nine years ago, 135th and Metcalf was open fields and 2 lane streets. Now it's nearly continous strip malls with buildings maybe 20 feet from the street. There's nothing terribly attactive about that. Other cities, like Irvine, California, do a much better job of hiding strip malls.

A judge will have to decide the validity of accusations that Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline improperly withheld evidence that could aid the defense of the man accused of killing teenager Kelsey Smith. (See this story in today's Star.)

But I think it's fair to wonder why a first-term district attorney with limited criminal defense work on his resume is handling a case in which federal prosecutors could also claim jurisdiction. Smith was kidnapped in Kansas and taken across the state line into Missouri.

Phill Kline has outmaneuvered Kathleen Sebelius.

Had the governor requested a special prosecutor to look into allegations against Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison, she could have selected the investigator and had a say in the boundaries.

She waited, however, and Kline took the opening. The Johnson County commission has given the district attorney $25,000 to investigate alleged wrongdoing.

That's the worse-case scenario for Morrison--and by extension the governor and the Democratic party. Kline now gets to hand-pick the person who will investigate his bitterest enemy.

Truly, these are dark days for judges in the Johnson County Courthouse.

A conservative group has gathered enough signatures to force a ballot question that would require judges to run for election. (Currently they're elected by the governor.) Partisan elections would require raising money, making promises, and all kind of things that judges properly don't like to do.

Add to that looming cloud the turmoil surrounding the office of the Johnson County prosecutor, which has never stopped churning since the Paul Morrison-Phill Kline job switch.

And now the judges find they have a peripheral role in the scandal involving Morrison's admission that he conducted a two-year affair with one of his employees.

Striking a blow for common sense, Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline has announced he won't drag the retailer Spirit Halloween into court on obscenity charges.

A grand jury, formed in response to a citizens' petition drive, indicted Spirit Halloween and three other businesses on charges of promoting obscenity.

The problem, of course, is that obscenity is a subjective target. I've seen e-mail photos of the costumes that bothered the jurors, and "goofy" is the description I would use. (I can't go into details, but one of them involves a sheep.)

One can understand, though, why parents wouldn't want those particular costumes on display while searching for a pumpkin outfit for little Suzy.