Former Attorney General questions current AG's fundraising

Former Kansas AG Bob Stephan explains why he quit Phill Kline's office:

Stephan said Tuesday he resigned because he was upset by Kline’s strategy of using churches to raise campaign funds.

And he’s particularly upset about an instance where a church made donations to a business owned by Kline’s wife, Deborah.

“When you use your faith to shuttle money into your for-profit corporation, that bothers me. Especially when you are there, certainly giving voice to your faith, but with the credential of being the attorney general,” Stephan said in an interview with the Journal-World.

Kline argues that there's nothing wrong about it, but the Kansas Government Ethics Commission pointed out that if the $1,181 the wife's company gave to her husband's campaign came from the $1,339 the church gave, that would be improper.

It says something about how seriously Stephan takes this that he was even willing to speak out:

“I’ve hesitated, frankly, [to come forward] because Republicans have helped me all my political career,” he said. “But there are some things you decide are important.

“This speaks to the candidate. I’ve just decided to take whatever is coming.”

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