Posted on 07/29/2002 3:30:18 PM PDT by AdA$tra
OLATHE -- Gov. Bill Graves has jumped into a controversy over a campaign ad attacking the attorney general candidate he has endorsed in the Republican primary.
"This ad is dragging Kansas into the politics of personal destruction," Graves told reporters Monday.
The ad by the Law Enforcement Alliance of America attacks Sen. David Adkins, of Leawood. It ties Wichita murder suspect Reginald Carr's case to a 2000 law that Adkins supported while a member of the Kansas House.
Adkins is opposed in next Tuesday's primary by former state Rep. Phill Kline, of Shawnee, and Topeka attorney Charles McAtee. The winner faces Geary County District Attorney Chris Biggs, a Democrat, in November.
The ad began appearing Friday statewide. By Friday evening, four stations -- KWCH and KSNW in Wichita and KSNT and WIBW in Topeka -- had pulled the ad. A fifth station, KAKE of Wichita, pulled the ad on Saturday.
Joined by Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison, Graves criticized the ad and defended the 2-year-old criminal sentencing law. He also urged Kansas City, Mo., television stations to pull the ad as well.
Graves appearance represented another attempt by the state's top moderate Republican to help Adkins in his race against Kline, a conservative. The governor has appeared with Adkins in television ads.
The governor acknowledged there's a distinction between supporting a candidate and doing what he sees as setting the record staight.
"There is a fine line which we're walking here today," Graves said. "It gets a little murky to keep those lines straight."
The alliance, based in Falls Church, Va., is a pro-gun rights group for law enforcement officers and their supporters.
Its ad states that Reginald Carr of Wichita "murdered four people after his parole was cut short" and says Adkins led the effort "to release offenders like Carr."
Carr and his brother, Jonathan Carr, are scheduled for trial Sept. 9 charging with murdering five people in December 2000, not four as the ad states. The killings occurred shortly after Reginald Carr was released from supervision.
The Kansas Department of Corrections has said that a clerical error led to Carr's early release from parole supervision.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, whose is prosecuting Carr, said the commercial is irresponsible and inaccurate and could have serious consequences.
Adkins has criticized the ad as "political slime" and said its assertions about the 2000 law are inaccurate.
Graves and Morrison attempted to make the same case Monday, saying the law didn't release violent criminals from prison, as the ad suggests.
The law was designed to reduce the number of criminals who went to prison because they violated the conditions of probation or parole. It was a response to concerns about prison crowding.
For criminals sentenced to probation, the law shortened the length of time they remained on probation. Also, many criminals released from prison remained under state supervision for shorter periods.
Morrison called the law "merely minor adjustments in a philosophy adopted by the Legislature" when it enacted new sentencing laws in 1992.
Kline has strongly criticized the 2000 law, saying it endangered public safety.
But Kline's campaign has said no one involved with the campaign had previous knowledge of the ad.
The issue is a valid one, let me add. If early parole was not the reason Carr was released then they should be rightfully condemned for distorting facts, but pulling the ad should not be an option!
I do not buy the "low turnout will favor Shallenburger" theory, btw. That's media speak for "real Kansans don't like him...so if you're 'in the know' you won't vote for him either."
MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD......that's what this makes me! The media Nazi's just can't stand it if they don't get to frame the issues their way!
I have not seen this ad on the Kansas City stations, but I haven't been watching them much the past few days either. Does anyone know if they have aired here?
Carr was supposedly in custody 10 days before the crime spree and was released due to a clerical error. At least that is what I've read.
Maybe the ad is technically in error. I don't know.. But I do know that Carr's committed extremly viscious murders. After raping the victims, and doing other horrible things to them, they shot them and then, they also ran them over with a vehicle. One victim, amazingly, survived and identified Reginald.
The authorities have been on a mission to reduce media attention to this case. The murderers are black, the victims are white and there was unwanted attention because they weren't charged with hate crimes. The moderates want to keep that quiet.
I have not seen the ad and don't know enough facts about the implications made. It bothers however that this seems to resemble the approach the NAACP took with the Bush truck dragging death ads during the 2000 presidential race.
I'm glad Kline's campaign did not produce this and hope they can't be tied to it. It could turn into a negative that the moderates could use against him.
I support Kline.
I bet they do. They hate Kline too.
I saw Brownbacks name recently on a list of possible future VP candidates (quite a ways down the list though). The thought of aspirations of President never struck me before for Brownback, but once the idea was sparked, President Brownback sounds pretty good. Although I'd like to see him there, he's probably too conservative to be allowed to get in the oval office.
That being said, Adkins is NOT a moderate Republican. He is very liberal and would be considered a democrat if he did not live in such a Republican dominated state. I dare anyone to find out when he supported the last tax cut. RP is right about the slimy KC "Red" Star pulling out all the stops for their leftist candidate. They have been smearing Kline for months. And who is fit for a government position? Does the KC star not wonder why Graves was not selected for a position in the Bush White House?
Adkins is a POS and I remember how he snubbed Katherine Harris at Lincoln Days and publicly denounced her in front of the press - in effect firing a shot at Bush. He should be thrown out of the party.
I laugh till I cry when I read the editorial screeds that Steve Rose prints each week. Why anyone bothers to read what he thinks of the Republican primary races is beyond me. Mostly because he can't think unless he's wearing his corrective underwear. But also because on August 7, he will start campaigning for every Democrat in the state. Sheesh. fsf
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