By Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor for Operation Rescue
Topeka, KS – Since former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has moved on to her new post with the Obama administration, Kansas now has a new governor, Mark Parkinson, who appears to be picking up where the radical abortion supporter, Sebelius, left off.
“Sebelius has been replaced with a Sebelius puppet, at least as far as the abortion issue is concerned,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.
Parkinson stated in no uncertain terms at a press conference last week that he would be carrying the pro-abortion torch in Sebelius’ stead.
“Let me just state very clearly: My position is very similar, if not completely similar, to the governor’s position on the abortion issue,” said Parkinson in reference to Sebelius’ extremist abortion policies.
Not that there was ever any doubt.
In 2007, Sebelius was photographed at a dinner she hosted for the controversial late-term abortionist George Tiller holding up a t-shirt that proudly proclaimed, “Trifecta: Sebelius, Parkinson, Morrison, 2006.” The shirt was a gift to Sebelius from Tiller and illustrated his political support her and other members of the “Tiller Trifecta.” Sebelius’ confirmation as Secretary of Health and Human Services was slowed by growing opposition to her once news broke of her cozy relationship with Tiller and underreporting of his support for her campaigns. The underreporting scandal cost Sebelius the support of 31 senators that would likely have otherwise voted for her.
In fact, Sebelius persuaded her “Tiller Trifecta” partner, Parkinson, the former head of the Kansas Republican Party, to switch parties in order to run for Lt. Governor on her 2006 slate. In addition, she recruited Paul Morrison, who also jumped to the Democratic Party to run on the Sebelius ticket for Attorney General, with his support for abortion as a centerpiece of his campaign.
During Morrison’s run for Attorney General, he made a statement during a debate that his career had no hint of scandal. Incumbent Phill Kline corrected Morrison and reminded him of accusations of sexual harassment brought against him by former employee Kelly Summerlin.
Summerlin had worked for Morrison when he served as Johnson County District Attorney. According to Summerlin, she rebuffed Morrison’s drunken and unwanted sexual advances made during an after-hours party. She filed the suit against Morrison after she was fired from her job at the Johnson County DA’s office, a firing she believes as was related to her rejection of him. [Listen to Summerlin’s radio interview about this experience.]
Morrison was represented by none other than Mark Parkinson in the Summerlin case. Morrison swore under oath, and apparently with Parkinson’s blessing, that Summerlin’s story was completely untrue. The case was eventually dropped.
However, that was not the end of the story. Morrison was later involved in another sex scandal which eventually pointed a finger back to Parkinson.
Morrison conducted an adulterous affair with another of his employees, Linda Carter, inside the Johnson County Courthouse (among other places) on the taxpayer’s time. Once Morrison became the Attorney General, he asked Carter to help him “spy” on criminal investigations of Tiller and Planned Parenthood, for the purpose of impeding the investigations. Morrison later was forced to resign in disgrace.
Criminal charges were filed and pursued against Tiller. Morrison’s paramour, Carter, was called to testify during one of the hearings. Carter was specifically asked by Tiller’s attorney, Dan Monnet, if she and Morrison had ever discussed the Summerlin accusations. Carter told the court under oath that Morrison had discussed them with her and told her that the accusations were true.
So it now appears that Morrison, while under the advice and counsel of Mark Parkinson, lied under oath in the Summerlin sexual harassment case. This does not bode well for any improvement in the state of corruption in Kansas.
Parkinson has disavowed his former opposition to abortion that he claimed as head of the Kansas Republican Party and instead has now embraced the same extremist support for abortion as former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. He was supported by Tiller for election to the Lt. Governor’s office, and may have had a hand in covering up a sexual harassment case – a cover-up that led eventually to one of the most unseemly scandals in Kansas history.
Parkinson, Morrison, Sebelius, and Tiller are all peas in the same pod with a spider’s web of connections that are troubling, to say the least. Will Parkinson pick up where Sebelius left off in protecting Tiller and other abortionists in the state? All indications are that this will be the case. Operation Rescue is monitoring the new governor very closely and will be holding his feet to the fire on all abortion-related matters that are bound to cross his desk.
