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Published online 12/13/2007 11:58 PM

Carter confided to Kline about affair

By Chris Green and Sarah Kessinger - Harris News Service

TOPEKA - A woman revealed details about her extramarital affair with state Attorney General Paul Morrison to her boss, Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, before the relationship became public earlier this week.

Linda Carter made a full disclosure of her past relationship with Morrison on Oct. 23 to Kline and one of his top deputies, Senior Deputy District Attorney Stephen Maxwell, according to a document from Kline's office obtained by Harris News Service.

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Kline and Maxwell may have been tipped off about the affair several months before Carter's meeting with them, which came after she claims to have admonished Morrison to make peace with Kline, whom Morrison defeated in a battle for the state AG's office.

Carter had worked for Morrison during part of his 18-year tenure as Johnson County district attorney, but she stayed on to work as director of administration for Kline after the bitter rivals swapped jobs earlier this year.

Thomas D. Williams, an investigator from Kline's office, along with a court reporter took sworn testimony at a "discreet location" from Carter on Nov. 1, according to her documented testimony to Williams.

The statement was taken in the presence of Shawna Chambless, another employee in the office.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Sunday that Carter's sexual harassment complaint against Morrison was forwarded seven days later to the federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. Carter signed a statement Nov. 16 based on her testimony to Williams, which became an investigative report that detailed her allegations that Morrison sexually harassed her and attempted to meddle in legal matters involving Kline's office.

Morrison has acknowledged the affair but denies allegations of criminal or professional wrongdoing.

Carter ended up leaving her job in Kline's office Nov. 30 and could not be reached for comment through her attorney, Brian Russell.

Information contained in the investigative report since has found its way to the press, first in a Topeka Capital-Journal story published Sunday, which cited a signed statement from Carter. However, the newspaper did not reveal how it obtained her statement or who provided it.

Since then, media outlets across the state have published stories based on information contained in the newspaper's report.

The copy of Carter's sworn statement obtained by Harris News Service is written in third person and includes details mentioned in the Capital-Journal's report on Morrison's romance with Carter. Both were married during the affair and have not divorced.

Morrison spokeswoman Ashley Anstaett said Morrison's office has not seen Carter's statement but questioned its validity if it had been taken by Kline's office.

"I have my doubts it would have credibility," Anstaett said.

Brian Burgess, a spokesman for Kline, did not return repeated phone calls from Harris News Service this week, although a secretary indicated he was in the office Thursday.

Political assault?

In the report, Carter also alleges that Morrison made repeated telephone calls that included threats to bad-mouth her to prospective employers after she disclosed the relationship to Kline, a claim which Morrison denied Thursday.

It also indicates that Morrison called Carter's cellular phone on Oct. 31 and "threatened to destroy" Carter's job in Arkansas if she did not answer Morrison's questions.

She indicated that 22 phone calls came from Morrison that day, "four of which were answered by Carter and overhead by Chambless and Maxwell."

Morrison threatened that he would tell the prospective employer that Carter was a "monster, (expletive) sociopath, liar, (expletive) and bad manager."

Kline was given permission by Johnson County commissioners Thursday to hire a special prosecutor to investigate blackmail and harassment, the same day that Morrison's spokeswoman said the attorney general had hired an outside lawyer to represent him.

"I take full responsibility for my personal failings and once again apologize to all of the people across Kansas that I have let down," Morrison said in a written statement Thursday. "There is no doubt, however, that all accusations of official or criminal wrongdoing are false and part of a political assault against me waged for partisan gain."

Overland Park attorney Nick Badgerow will represent Morrison in an independent investigation of his professional conduct by the state's attorney disciplinary office. Badgerow will also represent his client on the federal complaint.

Anonymous letter

Although Carter first provided all the details about her relationship with Morrison to Kline in October, Kline and his top deputy may have learned about the affair several months earlier.

In her statement, Carter said that in July Morrison called her to relay information that Kline had received an anonymous letter about their affair in March. Carter said she told Morrison that she doubted the letter's existencex because she'd not heard of it. She said she assumed Kline would fire her if there were an actual letter.

A few days later, Morrison called Carter again to say that a former assistant district attorney had heard a letter had been sent to the district attorney's office in March and eventually was turned over to Kline.

After receiving Morrison's second call, Carter called Kline, according to her statement, and asked whether he had received a letter in March. Kline replied that he'd only read the first paragraph before making a conscious decision to read nothing further.

He then turned the letter over to Maxwell, who still had the letter, Carter stated.

"Morrison immediately blamed Carter for the letter since Morrison always relied on Carter's judgment to maintain the integrity (secrecy) (sic) of their affair," her statement read.

Morrison also told her that Kline would hold a press conference about the letter to destroy him. Carter's statement indicates she assured Morrison that Kline had the letter since March and would not do anything to harm Carter.

Kline had lost a re-election bid to Morrison last year in a contentious race that centered on the conservative Republican's use of abortion records in his investigations.

However, because Morrison had left the Republican Party to run against Kline as a Democrat, Republican officials in Johnson County had the right to choose Morrison's successor and selected Kline in December of last year.

The two have been frequently at odds since then, with Kline firing eight of Morrison's former employees, who later sued him in federal court. Earlier this year, a federal judge dismissed all but one count of the wrongful termination suit against Kline.

Kline and Morrison also have battled over the prosecution of alleged illegal later-term abortions in Kansas. Kline filed 107 charges against a clinic in Johnson County that Morrison had cleared. Morrison has refused to prosecute Kline's charges against Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller, instead filing his own.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.