http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/n...al/12988949.htm
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Political surprise brews in Kansas
Morrison poised to switch parties to challenge Kline
By JIM SULLINGER and DIANE CARROLL
The Kansas City Star
Posted on Tue, Oct. 25, 2005
Paul Morrison, Johnson County’s Republican district attorney for the last 16 years, is expected to announce today that he is a candidate for Kansas attorney general.
Morrison will switch parties and run as a Democrat, according to a political source who has spoken to Morrison. Two other sources confirmed his decision.
Morrison has scheduled campaign stops today in Olathe, Wichita, Topeka and Pittsburg. His Topeka event will be held on the steps of the Kansas Judicial Center, which houses the state’s Supreme Court.
To win the job, he would have to unseat Phill Kline, the current GOP attorney general, who won the position three years ago and is expected to seek re-election next year, although no formal announcement has been made.
Morrison declined to confirm or deny Monday if he is running for attorney general. All of his press conferences except one are on the steps of courthouses and the judicial center. The fourth press conference, the last one of the day, will be at 3:30 p.m. at Pittsburg’s airport.
The prospect of Morrison’s entry into the attorney general’s race caught many politicians by surprise.
Running as a Democrat was even more surprising.
“I’m trying to think of when I’ve heard of something like this,” said Kevin Yowell, an Overland Park political consultant. “I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of this around here. It’s not uncommon for a Democrat to switch to Republican. But for an entrenched officeholder to leave the GOP to become a Democrat, I am just stunned.”
Former state Sen. David Adkins, a Leawood Republican who lost to Kline in the GOP primary three years ago, said Morrison’s emergence as a candidate surprised him.
“Even though General Kline has been controversial, the power of incumbency combined with his very engaged presence within the party would hold him in good stead,” Adkins said.
Morrison supported Adkins in the GOP primary campaign three years ago and was his Johnson County chairman.
So far, no major Democratic contender has come forward.
“Surely he (Morrison) would have called me if he was going to run as a Republican,” said Tim Shallenburger, chairman of the Kansas Republican Party.
Kline soundly defeated Adkins, a political moderate, in the 2002 GOP primary but barely won the general election when challenged by Democrat Chris Biggs of Junction City. Consequently, the conventional political wisdom suggested that any major challenge to Kline, a conservative, would be mounted next year by Democrats and not moderate Republicans.
Kansas incumbents for statewide office have a great track record when it comes to winning party primaries. Since 1956, only three lost to challengers from their own party.
“Phill has done a pretty good job as attorney general,” said Sen. Nick Jordan, a Shawnee Republican.
Jordan said Kline’s recent inquiry into abortion clinic records has gotten mixed reviews but “overall I think the reviews of Phill’s work have been pretty good.”
“I had a funny feeling a moderate Republican might run against Phill, but it is still a surprise,” Jordan added.
Kline’s office declined to comment Monday on Morrison’s expected entry into the campaign.
Allan Cigler, a political science professor at the University of Kansas, said Morrison may be known in Johnson County but is unknown around the rest of the state, while Kline is well-known statewide.
Adkins said Morrison would not enter such a contest if he thought his chances weren’t good.
Cigler echoed that sentiment.
“A person of the stature of Morrison wouldn’t jump into a race without some assurances that Kline is vulnerable,” he said. “They probably did a statewide poll or have access to a statewide poll.”
Yowell said Morrison also would have to overcome some resentment against affluent Johnson County from other parts of the state. He also faces the prospect of being called a GOP turncoat, Yowell added.
“Phill’s biggest problem in the last general election was that he was from Johnson County and not that Biggs was that great a candidate,” Yowell said.
Kline, 45, ran three years ago as a resident of Shawnee, but now lives in Topeka.
Morrison, 51, joined the district attorney’s office shortly after graduating from the Washburn University School of Law in 1980. He was an assistant district attorney under Dennis Moore until 1989, when Morrison took over the top spot. Moore, a Democrat, is now a U.S. congressman.
Morrison was unopposed in his 2004 re-election bid. He would not be up for re-election until 2008.
Morrison was born in Dodge City and grew up in Hays, Plainville, Bonner Springs and Kansas City, Kan. He graduated from Washington High School in Kansas City, Kan. He and his wife, Joyce Morrison, live in Lenexa and are instructors in a marriage preparation program at the Catholic church they attend in Shawnee.
Morrison has prosecuted many of the county’s high-profile murder cases, including those against Richard Grissom Jr., Debora Green and John E. Robinson Sr. In the 1980s, he headed the county’s narcotics prosecution and became a regional authority on drug prosecution.
Morrison was an original member of the Kansas Sentencing Commission and is currently its vice chairman. He is an associate member of the VERA Institute, a public policy group that promotes sentencing reform.
Morrison poised to switch parties to challenge Kline
By JIM SULLINGER and DIANE CARROLL
The Kansas City Star
Posted on Tue, Oct. 25, 2005
Paul Morrison, Johnson County’s Republican district attorney for the last 16 years, is expected to announce today that he is a candidate for Kansas attorney general.
Morrison will switch parties and run as a Democrat, according to a political source who has spoken to Morrison. Two other sources confirmed his decision.
Morrison has scheduled campaign stops today in Olathe, Wichita, Topeka and Pittsburg. His Topeka event will be held on the steps of the Kansas Judicial Center, which houses the state’s Supreme Court.
To win the job, he would have to unseat Phill Kline, the current GOP attorney general, who won the position three years ago and is expected to seek re-election next year, although no formal announcement has been made.
Morrison declined to confirm or deny Monday if he is running for attorney general. All of his press conferences except one are on the steps of courthouses and the judicial center. The fourth press conference, the last one of the day, will be at 3:30 p.m. at Pittsburg’s airport.
The prospect of Morrison’s entry into the attorney general’s race caught many politicians by surprise.
Running as a Democrat was even more surprising.
“I’m trying to think of when I’ve heard of something like this,” said Kevin Yowell, an Overland Park political consultant. “I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of this around here. It’s not uncommon for a Democrat to switch to Republican. But for an entrenched officeholder to leave the GOP to become a Democrat, I am just stunned.”
Former state Sen. David Adkins, a Leawood Republican who lost to Kline in the GOP primary three years ago, said Morrison’s emergence as a candidate surprised him.
“Even though General Kline has been controversial, the power of incumbency combined with his very engaged presence within the party would hold him in good stead,” Adkins said.
Morrison supported Adkins in the GOP primary campaign three years ago and was his Johnson County chairman.
So far, no major Democratic contender has come forward.
“Surely he (Morrison) would have called me if he was going to run as a Republican,” said Tim Shallenburger, chairman of the Kansas Republican Party.
Kline soundly defeated Adkins, a political moderate, in the 2002 GOP primary but barely won the general election when challenged by Democrat Chris Biggs of Junction City. Consequently, the conventional political wisdom suggested that any major challenge to Kline, a conservative, would be mounted next year by Democrats and not moderate Republicans.
Kansas incumbents for statewide office have a great track record when it comes to winning party primaries. Since 1956, only three lost to challengers from their own party.
“Phill has done a pretty good job as attorney general,” said Sen. Nick Jordan, a Shawnee Republican.
Jordan said Kline’s recent inquiry into abortion clinic records has gotten mixed reviews but “overall I think the reviews of Phill’s work have been pretty good.”
“I had a funny feeling a moderate Republican might run against Phill, but it is still a surprise,” Jordan added.
Kline’s office declined to comment Monday on Morrison’s expected entry into the campaign.
Allan Cigler, a political science professor at the University of Kansas, said Morrison may be known in Johnson County but is unknown around the rest of the state, while Kline is well-known statewide.
Adkins said Morrison would not enter such a contest if he thought his chances weren’t good.
Cigler echoed that sentiment.
“A person of the stature of Morrison wouldn’t jump into a race without some assurances that Kline is vulnerable,” he said. “They probably did a statewide poll or have access to a statewide poll.”
Yowell said Morrison also would have to overcome some resentment against affluent Johnson County from other parts of the state. He also faces the prospect of being called a GOP turncoat, Yowell added.
“Phill’s biggest problem in the last general election was that he was from Johnson County and not that Biggs was that great a candidate,” Yowell said.
Kline, 45, ran three years ago as a resident of Shawnee, but now lives in Topeka.
Morrison, 51, joined the district attorney’s office shortly after graduating from the Washburn University School of Law in 1980. He was an assistant district attorney under Dennis Moore until 1989, when Morrison took over the top spot. Moore, a Democrat, is now a U.S. congressman.
Morrison was unopposed in his 2004 re-election bid. He would not be up for re-election until 2008.
Morrison was born in Dodge City and grew up in Hays, Plainville, Bonner Springs and Kansas City, Kan. He graduated from Washington High School in Kansas City, Kan. He and his wife, Joyce Morrison, live in Lenexa and are instructors in a marriage preparation program at the Catholic church they attend in Shawnee.
Morrison has prosecuted many of the county’s high-profile murder cases, including those against Richard Grissom Jr., Debora Green and John E. Robinson Sr. In the 1980s, he headed the county’s narcotics prosecution and became a regional authority on drug prosecution.
Morrison was an original member of the Kansas Sentencing Commission and is currently its vice chairman. He is an associate member of the VERA Institute, a public policy group that promotes sentencing reform.