2011-07-17 "Koch Bros. Lawyers Defend Move To Defund Planned Parenthood" by Jessica P.
[http://www.care2.com/causes/koch-bros-lawyers-defend-move-to-defund-planned-parenthood.html]
Kansas is serious about permanently defunding Planned Parenthood. So serious, in fact, that it is prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of tax-payer dollars on lawyers to do so.
Last month the state passed a measure stripping Planned Parenthood of all funding over the straw-man argument of “taxpayer-funded abortions.” Planned Parenthood struck back, suing the state for improperly blocking the $334,000 in Title X family planning funds [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/12/kansas-planned-parenthood-koch-brothers_n_896348.html].
But rather than use the attorney general’s office to defend the suit, Gov. Sam Brownback has hired the white-shoe law firm of Foulston Siekfin, a firm who just happens to represent the billionaire Koch brothers.
“This is a state whose budget is in bad shape, run by Republicans who campaigned on fixing budget problems, and they’re spending thousands of dollars on outside counsel to keep Planned Parenthood from getting federal family planning funds,” said Peter Brownlie, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
Planned Parenthood is represented by a team of pro-bono attorneys in Washington, D.C. with one local Wichita attorney.
The economic waste generated by the Brownback administration’s assault on poor women is simply mind-boggling, especially in such bleak economic times. Brownback and other hard-right conservatives see no problem in wasting millions of tax-payer dollars on advancing a social agenda that is fueled by nothing more than a disdain of poor women and, in this latest move, have proven they no longer even care about keeping up appearances that these assaults are somehow tied to a legitimate fiscal agenda.