Monday, December 18, 2006
(11:21 AM) | Stephen:
Kline's a Brick and They're Drowning Slowly
I heard some interesting things about the Phill Kline fiasco.
He's been meeting with the DA's office, and has reportedly been quite "nice" through the whole thing. Well, duh. No one accused him of not being nice. Supposedly he's been very humble in his approach and conciliatory toward Morrison's team. We'll see how long it lasts. While it would be to Kline's great benefit to actually be humble and in the background for the next two years, it would also be playing against type and the behavior he's exhibited in every dealing he's had over his career.
There are slightly more than 600 GOP Precint Leaders in Johnson County. The attendance at last Monday's meeting was no where near 600 (for Precint Leaders, not including spectators). Not only did Phill not submit a resume to the Precint Leaders - other candidates did - not only did he wait until the very last minute of the last day to register to vote in Johnson county, using an apartment in Gardner owned by a GOP Precint Leader that is unoccupied as his "address," but Kline's supporters went around the county gathering proxies from every Precint Leader they could, fearing that the more people saw Steve Howe in action, the more they would want to vote for him. It worked, because the scuttlebut is that the majority of those in attendance voted for Howe, while the proxies carried the day for Kline.
When the results were announced, a group of Kline supporters fell to their knees and shouted phrases such as "God is good" and "Our God is still in control." Steve Howe is a conservative Republican, an abortion opponent, regular church attender, morally upright guy. He can, to use the vernacular, testify to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I fail to see how anyone can claim that there was God's candidate and, I don't know, the notGod's candidate in this. Especially because "God's candidate," true to form, ran an intentionally secretive and deceitful campaign.
Finally, the idea has crystallized, for now, that this was political suicide for Kine and the Johnson County GOP. That's from Republicans, not partisan Democrats like me. We of course will see in two years. But Republicans are furious about this. There was an immediate move to either recall Kline or perform an "ouster," but neither looks possible. The Democratic party in Johnson County will probably see a nice uptick in registrations over this, and can probably count on a few more votes next time.
He's been meeting with the DA's office, and has reportedly been quite "nice" through the whole thing. Well, duh. No one accused him of not being nice. Supposedly he's been very humble in his approach and conciliatory toward Morrison's team. We'll see how long it lasts. While it would be to Kline's great benefit to actually be humble and in the background for the next two years, it would also be playing against type and the behavior he's exhibited in every dealing he's had over his career.
There are slightly more than 600 GOP Precint Leaders in Johnson County. The attendance at last Monday's meeting was no where near 600 (for Precint Leaders, not including spectators). Not only did Phill not submit a resume to the Precint Leaders - other candidates did - not only did he wait until the very last minute of the last day to register to vote in Johnson county, using an apartment in Gardner owned by a GOP Precint Leader that is unoccupied as his "address," but Kline's supporters went around the county gathering proxies from every Precint Leader they could, fearing that the more people saw Steve Howe in action, the more they would want to vote for him. It worked, because the scuttlebut is that the majority of those in attendance voted for Howe, while the proxies carried the day for Kline.
When the results were announced, a group of Kline supporters fell to their knees and shouted phrases such as "God is good" and "Our God is still in control." Steve Howe is a conservative Republican, an abortion opponent, regular church attender, morally upright guy. He can, to use the vernacular, testify to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I fail to see how anyone can claim that there was God's candidate and, I don't know, the notGod's candidate in this. Especially because "God's candidate," true to form, ran an intentionally secretive and deceitful campaign.
Finally, the idea has crystallized, for now, that this was political suicide for Kine and the Johnson County GOP. That's from Republicans, not partisan Democrats like me. We of course will see in two years. But Republicans are furious about this. There was an immediate move to either recall Kline or perform an "ouster," but neither looks possible. The Democratic party in Johnson County will probably see a nice uptick in registrations over this, and can probably count on a few more votes next time.
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