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A Political Tornado in Kansas
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Phill Kline, the state's attorney general, often preaches from pulpits as he pushes a conservative agenda aimed at curbing abortions and gay rights.

By Stephanie Simon
Times Staff Writer

April 11 2005

TOPEKA, Kan.; Atty. Gen. Phill Kline predicts a more righteous future for this nation. A future shaped in Kansas.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/f...lines-frontpage

Interesting article that shows what may happen if we allow religious zealots to merge their religious beliefs with government. This guy is truly scary.

Date set for ruling on abortionist's license
The Associated Press

Friday, April 8, 2005




TOPEKA — A doctor whose Kansas City, Kan., clinic has been the focus of a legislative debate over new rules for abortion will learn April 23 whether he'll lose his medical license.

The State Board of Healing Arts suspended the license of Dr. Krishna Rajanna two weeks ago, and a hearing officer issued an order last week to revoke his license, citing "unprofessional conduct" that is "likely to harm the public." However, the board must approve the revocation.

An inspector testified at a hearing on Rajanna's case that he saw a dead mouse in the clinic's hallway and that the clinic wasn't clean. The inspector also said Rajanna premixed syringes of medications and stored them in an unlocked refrigerator.

Rajanna was not available at his clinic Thursday, and there was no answer at his Kansas City, Mo., home telephone. He has said conditions inside his clinic have been misrepresented.

But in her order seeking the revocation of Rajanna's license, hearing officer Nancy Welsh, a Topeka-area physician and a board member, said the inspector presented convincing evidence of problems at the clinic. Welsh also concluded that Rajanna's handling of medications violated state and federal law.

Legislators have approved a bill sought by abortion opponents to require abortion clinics to obtain an annual license from the Department of Health and Environment. The measure also would set health and safety standards.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, an abortion rights supporter, vetoed a similar bill in 2003. She has said she would sign legislation dealing with all surgeries that occur under anesthesia in doctor's offices and clinics, rather than only abortions.

http://ww.ljworld.com/section/abortion/storypr/201347

■ "The rift between conservative and moderate wings of the GOP in Kansas has been called the nation’s biggest such party chasm."
~ (so true, and this quote is at the very bottom of the KC Star article - MC)

www.kansascity.com
Posted on November 19, 2005

PARTY VETERANS SPEAK OUT (Republicans)

STEEP SIDES LINE GORGE OF KANSAS GOP RIFT

By STEVE KRASKE

The Kansas City Star

Mark Gietzen thinks only abortion opponents should be allowed in the Kansas Republican Party.

“Any person who does not respect human life from conception to death is not fit for public office,” the former Sedgwick County Republican chairman says.

Betty Lu Duncan asserts that no political party has the right to tell a woman how she should handle a pregnancy. A lifelong Republican and former mayor of Mission Hills, Duncan voted for Democrat Kathleen Sebelius in 2002 and may do so again next year.

“I’d like to be a Republican, but the extreme right won’t let me,” she says.

Gietzen, 51, and Duncan, 72, embody the challenge facing the state GOP chairman, Tim Shallenburger, who said this week that the party must quit its internal squabbling to begin pulling together for the 2006 elections.

If it doesn’t, Shallenburger said, he’ll resign.

But Gietzen and Duncan hardly appear eager to form a united front against the Democrats. Duncan says there’s no way to repair the rift unless social issues can somehow magically be tossed out of politics.

Gietzen, meantime, says Shallenburger, also a social conservative, should step down now.

The bitter divide dates back at least 10 years. Political scientists have said the struggle between the conservative and moderate wings is the most intense in the nation.

As the following edited interviews of Gietzen and Duncan show, don’t expect either side to raise a white flag.

Mark Gietzen

Director of the Christian Singles Information Exchange and owner of Gietzen Aerial Services. Chairman of the Sedgwick County Republican Party from 1992 to 1998.

Why is Tim Shallenburger off-base in his attempts to pull the party together?

It’s just not going to work. It’s beyond ridiculous. The problem here is that these lessons were learned a long time ago, and now we have to learn them again.

So why can’t the party unite?

Compromise does not apply to the abortion issue. You’re either with us or against us. Abortion is killing. If there’s any moral fiber in you at all, you’ll oppose that. Shallenburger is trying to say we should allow a few pro-aborts in here. He’s saying to the pro-aborts, we should allow pro-lifers in here.

Tim has gone too far in his efforts to be all things to all people.

But neither side wants anything to do with the other. Tim knows that.

What should Shallenburger do?

He should resign. I think it would be right for him to do that. I don’t know why he wants to wait until January to do that. As smart a guy as he is, he’s just painting himself into a corner.

Should the GOP be the exclusive enclave of abortion opponents?

Yes. There’s no room for anybody who is not pro-life to be a part of this party. I don’t mean that in a mean way. If you supported slavery, you weren’t part of the soon-to-be-born Republican Party. That’s where we were born, was on human rights.

Sandy Praeger, a moderate who favors abortion rights, is a Republican running for re-election as insurance commissioner. Can you back her?

Not in a primary, but I certainly would vote for her in a general election if she’s the nominee. I think she’s an honorable person. I respect her. I like her. I would like to sit down with Sandy for about 10 lunches and explain to her why she has the wrong position.

She should either change her position or join a party that acknowledges her position.

But abortion has little to do with the Insurance Department.

The problem with that is the Insurance Department is oftentimes the steppingstone for higher office. Because of that, I wouldn’t vote for her for dogcatcher. Because dogcatcher might be a steppingstone for the mailroom. And the mailroom might be a steppingstone for secretary of state. If someone was not pro-life, I would not vote for them for anything in a primary.

Is the purpose of a political party to win offices or to stand for certain principles?

The purpose of a political party by definition is to organize and win elections. That’s what you have to do. Shallenburger would say that’s what he’s trying to do.

But that’s not how you do it. We never asked pro-abort Republicans to leave the party (when Gietzen was Sedgwick County GOP chairman). But we changed a lot of hearts and minds. The pro-aborts, some of them, joined the Democrats.

For every one who went that way, we would gain two or three. Everybody wants to stand for something. You can’t be pro-life and welcome pro-aborts into the party because you can’t get support from the massive right wing of the party that way.

But the last time a conservative Republican challenged a sitting moderate Republican governor was in 1998, and incumbent Bill Graves crushed his conservative challenger, David Miller.

That was not a good test of pro-life versus pro-abort.

Governor Graves, he was pro-life ‘lite.’ He had done just about everything we asked for. He appointed judges we asked for. We were not mad at him. No pro-lifers with a lick of sense thought David Miller would make it.

It was not the pro-lifers who were pushing David into running. It was certainly people of religious conviction, but it was for other things like evolution and education issues.

Betty Lu Duncan

Former Indian Hills Middle School teacher. From 1981 to 1989 on the City Council of Mission Hills and from 1989 to 1993 mayor. Moved to Olathe about two years ago. Lifelong Republican and former GOP precinct committeewoman for about 10 years.

You say you’d like to be a Republican, but the extreme right won’t let you. What do you mean?

The biggest issue, of course, is abortion. I don’t think any political party has the right to tell a woman what she can do.

I’m opposed to abortion except in extreme cases, but I am also opposed to being told that I have to think a certain way. That’s my huge issue with the right side of the Republican Party. They seem to want to legislate all the way from the bedroom to my pocketbook. So I can’t go along with those points of view.

Why did you vote for Sebelius in 2002 over Shallenburger, who was the GOP nominee that year?

I couldn’t agree with Shallenburger’s social policies. I don’t think politics has any business in it. And Shallenburger was on that side.

You said for you the party fell apart about 10 years ago. What happened?

What happened was the people at the precinct level in particular became so totally passionate and overzealous about social issues and quit thinking about the broader issues that are important in running the community. The social issues were the crux of the thing.

Whom are you going to vote for in the election next year for attorney general: Republican Phill Kline or Democrat Paul Morrison?

Morrison. Oh, darn. That’s going to make three Democrats for me: (Congressman) Dennis Moore, Sebelius and this. Philosophically, Phill Kline and I aren’t on the same base. I don’t feel he’s the right person for the job. I would rather not vote for Democrats, but I feel I don’t have a choice right now.

Do you deserve to be called a Republican?

The way that group has been created within the Republican Party, I don’t belong there anymore. I just don’t happen to believe that I can change it from within. I tried and didn’t get anywhere. Now I have to try to change it from without.

Why not join the Democrats?

Because on the national level, I am not philosophically in the same camp with them. It’s basically a local concern.

How has it felt to you emotionally to watch the Republican Party drift away from you?

It’s a huge disappointment. I’m going to sit back and watch the pendulum swing the other way. As soon as the extremists manage to drive enough people away that they can no longer win, then the pendulum will swing back. It always does, although maybe not in my lifetime.

It’s really sad that Paul Morrison has to change parties in order to win.

Is there any way to mend the rift?

That’s a very good question. I guess the only way I could see to mend the rift is to get social policies out of politics. (Former U.S. senator) Nancy Kassebaum and I are friends. One time when she was in the Senate, she called her father (former Kansas governor Alf Landon) and told him they were having huge discussions about abortion.

His reaction was, “What in the world are you spending time on that subject for when we have so many bigger problems?” I sort of subscribe to that same point of view.

Can Shallenburger pull the party together in the next few months?

I applaud him for trying. Until the social issues don’t dominate the party, I don’t think he’ll have a lot of success with pulling it together.

Should he resign?

I’d be the last one to suggest what he should do or not do, whatever his conscience tells him. But there’s no problem with trying.

If he can’t moderate his own views, I don’t see how he can succeed. He’s got an incredibly tough job.
First glance

■ The rift between conservative and moderate wings of the GOP in Kansas has been called the nation’s biggest such party chasm.