Steve Fry: "Rucker answers discipline board" @ The Topeka Capital-Journal

The Pus of Right-wing Reaction Oozes Forth from Jefferson county, Kansas ...

by
Yer Curmudgeonly Country Editor, Michael Caddell
North Jefferson county, Kansas

For a backgrounder on what and how the lawyers' disciplinary hearing is, according to a recent news report in the same conservative newspaper, click here.

Fast and loose, the "Pro-life" and "Anti-Immigrant" Lawyer Gangs of Kansas ...

It's all about the New White Jesus followers going forth among the chosen Tea Party people of Kansas.

Take the recent notoriety of the former head of the Kansas Republican Party, Kris Kobach, as he becomes a rising star for writing what millions in the country describe as a draconian law against all immigrants in Arizona.

Of course most white, middle class and middle aged Kansans are part of a particularly Know Nothing brand of the Republican Party and simply don't care.

Take Eric Rucker, the source of the immediate media hoopla in Kansas, he is part of what seems to be a lawyer-heavy ultra-conservative, organized syndicate of statewide fat cats, variously described in some circles as a mafia-type organization, or a mercurial cabal of right-wing lawyers for "free market" and "pro-life" Christian fanaticism.

Will the State of Kansas ever investigate who within former Attorney General Phill Kline's offices leaked private medical records of women (some 16 years old or less) to conservative media mouthpieces like Bill O'Reilly and many others? Apparently most who do the investigations in Kansas haven't the guts, brains or power to take on such reactionary scumbags.

The photo caption from the Cap-Journal article linked here reads:

"Rucker attorney Caleb Stegall told a three-member disciplinary panel that his client gave 'truthful and accurate answers' to Kansas Supreme Court justices when arguing a case before them in 2005."

Why wouldn't Stegall say this to defend his far-right "pro-life" buddies?

Has Caleb Stegall, contrary to common notions of his elected public office, as the Jefferson county attorney, gone too far at what local critics decry as a "private practice" publicity hound?

Eric Rucker, Stephan Maxwell and their old boss, former Ks. Attorney General Phill Kline wasted tax payers money, destroyed the careers of medical professionals, brought mental suffering to thousands of women who had abortions in Kansas and, many claim, inflamed the fanaticism that led to the terrorist murder of Dr. George Tiller in his Wichita church.

Jefferson County Attorney Caleb Stegall is in the fellowship of such buzzards of the conservative crudballs and defends, even the scoundrels, like Kline who is now writing movie reviews as a law professor at dead Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.

Stegall held a Feb. 18th media-frenzied press conference at the Kansas City International airport welcoming the "Christian missionaries" who were briefly investigated for snatching Haitian children during the aftermath of the earthquake. He was their "private practice" lawyer.

Stegall represented former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline (known as the snickering weasel elsewhere in The Flyer) and he has been referred to as a "rising religious-right political star."

Of course anyone with half a brain could read that in the Republican-dominated Jefferson county courthouse that is reason enough to swoon in awe before the glowering countenance of Caleb Stegall.

He was Kline's "private practice" lawyer, too.

Stegall as the Jefferson County prosecutor, briefly put the same Eric Rucker on the county payroll as an assistant prosecutor when first elected into the office. Apparently while many real Jefferson county citizens fret over school cutbacks, possible unemployment, courthouse enforced home foreclosures and onerous lawsuits from debt, some in the courthouse feel it is appropriate to line each others pockets.

Stegall recently cut a notorious courtroom deal with former Jefferson County Commissioner (and retired county police detective) Don Edmonds, who plead guilty to a $193,000 theft from a local construction company. The "deal" allowed Edmonds a walk-out into the sunshine without a day of state prison time and a ludicrous $500/month payment for "restitution."

According to a March 25, 2010 article by Oskaloosa Independent Editor Dennis Sharkey:

"Jefferson County Prosecutor Caleb Stegall worked out a plea agreement with Edmonds in order to recover restitution. Stegall said it was more important to recover the money stolen than to seek a long prison sentence for Edmonds.

Part of the plea agreement requires Edmonds to pay a minimum of $500 a month."

That comes to approximately 44 months of "payments" and Edmonds received two suspended 13 month prison sentences, in lieu of a 2 year probationary period.

While hundreds, if not thousands of Jefferson county poor are being thrown before the mercies of the Jefferson county courtrooms.

Could the New White Jesus be just another "pro-life" pro-war Kansan posing as a "free market" lawyer?

Stay tuned.