In 2013, Kansas legislators voted to give then-Gov. Sam Brownback sole authority to appoint judges to the Court of Appeals, pending Senate approval.
That came back to bite them this year when Gov. Laura Kellys nominee was found to have untenable flaws.
Under the previous law, a non-partisan nine-member commission would have vetted candidates before ultimately submitting three names from which the governor would choose.
Brownback balked at the practice, insisting he alone should have the privilege of the nomination, in addition to not disclosing the names of potential candidates, another departure from the more public nomination process.
Against their better judgement, the Republican majority acquiesced and changed the law to suit Brownbacks authoritarian nature.
No matter how good-intentioned a governor may be, the current system is flawed exactly because of its private nature and lack of inherent checks and balances in the beginning stages.
Add a stacked Senate, as Brownback had, and the nominee can be ramrodded through. Just look at the case of ultra-conservative Caleb Stegall in 2013.
Whats really scary is that Brownback wanted the state constitution changed to give him the same authority to appoint Supreme Court justices, which members of the House stopped in its tracks in 2016.
Fast forward to this March, when Gov. Kelly nominated Labette County District Judge Jeffrey Jack for a position on the Appeals Court only to find that in 2017 the judge had tweeted disparaging remarks about newly elected President Donald Trump. All sides Republicans and Democrats agreed the remarks made Judge Jack unfit for the position.
Judges are held to ethical standards that forbid them from compromising the publics confidence in their ability to be impartial.
IN MAKING a mountain out of a molehill, Senate President Susan Wagle is trying to link the judges errant behavior as proof of a display of incompetence on Gov. Kellys part in addition to being a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Lets be clear: The minute Gov. Kelly discovered the judges tweets from two years ago, she asked to withdraw his nomination.
There was no stonewalling to see if things would pass. There was no effort to make light of his actions.
Instead, Gov. Kelly nominated Kansas City-based attorney Sarah Warner, which in a sane world would proceed as normal.
