WICHITA – The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue says a Kansas judicial panel has agreed to investigate the group’s ethics complaints against Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe. Operation Rescue claims Schmidt and Howe undermined criminal cases started by disgraced former Attorney General Phill Kline against a Planned Parenthood clinic in Johnson County and the late Dr. George Tiller, who was murdered by an anti-abortion extremist. It was the first time a Planned Parenthood clinic had faced a criminal prosecution and Kline’s critics said it was politically motivated. Howe, in consultation with Schmidt, dismissed the charges against clinics after he succeeded Kline as Johnson County district attorney. While he was district attorney, Kline lost his law license for what the same judicial disciplinary panel called ethical lapses during his investigations of the abortion clinics as attorney general and district attorney, and for charges that he discriminated against a female assistant district attorney.
Wednesday, Oct. 10, 7 a.m.