Sam Brownback has been long gone from Topeka; he left to be an ambassador, his successor failed to win the Republican primary and the Republican nominee suffered a significant defeat at the hands of now Democratic Governor Laura Kelly. The damage the Brownback administration left behind, however, continues to deliver head-scratching news for Kansas taxpayers.
Thanks to a series of Kansas Open Record Act requests, KCUR published a story today indicating the Brownback administration burned up $899k in taxpayer funds fighting a losing battle trying to defund Planned Parenthood. The funds, paid out to out of state law firms, turned out to be not so successful, though they continued to ask for more funds.
From KCUR:
So Kansas hired three high-powered East Coast law firms to defend it in a case that would slog on for nearly three years before Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration agreed to drop the termination effort in April.
The case dates back to the administration of Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican who vowed to defund Planned Parenthood after he accused it of profiting from the sale of fetal tissue.
The state’s legal defense cost taxpayers at least $899,000, according to records obtained by KCUR through the Kansas Open Records Act.
One of the law firms retained by Kansas — Washington, D.C.,-based Consovoy McCarthy Park — represents President Donald Trump in a lawsuit seeking to block his accounting firm from complying with a congressional subpoena of Trump’s financial records.
The DC based lawfirm, described as a boutique collection of conservative minds, billed the state several hundred thousand dollars, along with other firms who got in on a piece of the pie.
KCUR did run into a stumbling block, however, as the billing statements from attorneys are normally itemized, but the provided documents to their KORA requests were redacted, with some items blacked out, indicating Attorney-Client privilege in the billing.
In most cases, the Attorney General’s office handles these cases. Attempts to discuss this case with the Attorney General’s office over the years has received largely non-response.
The Governor’s office has indicated they terminated further involvement in the case, citing it as a ‘waste of taxpayer money’ and not in the best interest of Kansans.