how phill kline broke the law... again

Due to some excellent investigative work by KCTV 5, it has come to light that unelected Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline does not actually reside in Johnson County. Although Kline isn't running for re-election (probably because he would get trounced and hand the seat to Democrat), this could mean that Johnson County is Kline-free well before the 2008 election.

The KCTV 5 piece briefly mentioned that Kansas state law requires a district attorney to live in the county that he serves. The specific law is KSA 22a-103(d), which states:

(d) In the event that any district attorney changes residence outside of the judicial district from which elected, such district attorney shall promptly resign from such office as district attorney. If such district attorney fails to resign, such district attorney shall be subject to removal from office as provided by law.

Johnson County is located in the 10th judicial district. Shawnee County, which includes Topeka, is within the state's 3rd judicial district. Although the statute uses the term "elected," this clearly encompasses Kline's "election" by Republican precinct captains.

Because Kline is a lawyer and elected official, it is also likely that, by claiming to reside in a place that he doesn't, he has broken several ethics codes. For starters, there is the Johnson County Code of Ethics (in .pdf format). The Code outlines the standards for all Johnson County employees and elected officials, including:

STANDARD 201: UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION, LAWS AND REGULATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, THE STATE OF KANSAS, AND JOHNSON COUNTY AND NEVER BE A PARTY TO THEIR EVASION

STANDARD 901: AT ALL TIMES DISPLAY THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF INTEGRITY IN PERFORMING HIS OR HER DUTIES AND NEVER KNOWINGLY NOR NEGLIGENTLY MISLEAD OR ALLOW OTHERS TO MISLEAD THE PUBLIC OR OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, NOR FAIL TO DISCLOSE OR REPORT TO APPROPRIATE OFFICIALS ANY CORRUPTION WHEREVER DISCOVERED.

It is also likely that there are several violations of the Kansas Code of Professional Responsibility, the code governing all Kansas lawyers. Although it is hard to say which codes were violated without seeing the paperwork Kline had to file to become District Attorney, it is highly likely that he signed many documents claiming his bogus Johnson County address. From the KCTV story, it is apparent that Kline claimed to reside in Johnson County on both his motor vehicle and voter registration. The Kansas Office of the Disciplinary Administrator tends to take a rather dim view of lawyers who make knowingly false statements in official documents.

The bottom line is that Kline misled an awful lot of people. The idea that Kline, someone who went from corporate lawyer to politician, would live in a crappy apartment out in the sticks, is dubious to say the least. Even if he did need to live in a $400/month apartment when he makes nearly $150,000 a year, there are countless cheap apartments located within a few miles of the Johnson County courthouse. The fact that his alleged residence is not only far away from his job, but in a highly isolated area, makes it even more likely that his Johnson County residence is a sham.

Although this is not a criminal offense, it is still a blatant violation of the law by Johnson County's top law enforcement officer. Johnson County residents should not have to take one more minute of Kline's sleazy behavior. Here is how we can show him the door early:

1) If you live in Johnson County, contact your county commissioner, and let him know that Kline has to go. A little political pressure could go a long way.

2) File a complaint with the Office of the Disciplinary Administrator. You don't have to be a lawyer to file, and the form is available right here. If Kline gets called before a disciplinary committee, he'll be in a very tough position--either continue to dissemble about his true residence (lying to the ethics committee is a serious ethical offense in and of itself), or come clean and admit that he's not legally qualified to be Johnson County's district attorney.

There is also a procedure in Johnson County where an ethics complaint can be filed against an elected official, although it is not clear whether citizens can file the complaints. I will post more as soon as I can get ahold of someone in the office.

UPDATE:
A conscientious reader has obtained information about how to file an ethics complaint. In Johnson County, the complaint is to be filed with the supervisor--which, in this case, is either Kline himself or the Attorney General (although it is not clear whether the Attorney General has any responsibility to enforce county ethics codes). The Johnson County Code does say that Kline would have to recuse himself from any ethics investigation.
You can send an ethics complaint to the District Attorney's office via email at this email address.
Contact info for the Attorney General's office is here.

Kline is not likely to go easily. From the minute he started as Johnson County DA, he has conducted himself as someone with nothing to lose--an inevitable result of the fact that he knows he will never face voter accountability for his actions. But if enough people make enough racket, we can send him packing.