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Brownback appointments on agenda for special session

By The Associated Press - | Jul 30, 2013

TOPEKA — Kansas lawmakers expect to consider up to 19 of Gov. Sam Brownback’s appointments during a special legislative session, prompting a top critic Monday to declare that the session has been “orchestrated” to quickly confirm a new state Court of Appeals judge without much public scrutiny.

The Republican governor has called the GOP-dominated Legislature into session Sept. 3 to rewrite the state’s “Hard 50” criminal sentencing law. It allows judges to sentence convicted murderers to life in prison with no chance of parole for 50 years, and a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision raised questions about its constitutionality.

But GOP leaders said with lawmakers in session, the Senate is legally required to consider Brownback appointees who’ve yet to be confirmed. The list will include Brownback’s nominee for a newly created seat on the Court of Appeals, as well as his new secretary of administration, a new securities commissioner and three members of the Board of Regents, which oversees higher education.

Brownback has until Aug. 29 to nominate the Court of Appeals judge. Absent the special session, the Senate wouldn’t consider the appointment until the Legislature convenes its next regular session in January, and the judge wouldn’t be allowed to join the state’s second-highest court until then. But with the special session, the confirmation vote could come within 10 days of the governor’s nomination.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat and a vocal Brownback critic, issued a statement calling the special session a “decoy,” adding, “I strongly believe that the people of Kansas are being misled.”

“I think this has been orchestrated, basically from day one,” Hensley said during an interview. “He wants to expedite the Court of Appeals appointment, and he wants to avoid any sort of public outcry about that appointment.”

Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said the governor called the special session because of the “Hard 50” law and said it should remain the focus.

She noted that Attorney General Derek Schmidt asked for a special session last week, and Schmidt, a Republican, garnered strong, bipartisan support from legislators, prosecutors and law enforcement groups. Hawley called Hensley’s statements “ridiculous.”

“The governor called the special session out of concern for the victims of particularly heinous crimes,” Hawley said.

Under the “Hard 50” law, Kansas judges weigh whether aggravating factors in a case of premeditated, first-degree murder — such as whether a victim was tortured or the defendant shot into a crowd — warrant the tough sentence or life in prison with parole eligibility in 25 years. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month in a Virginia case that juries, not judges, must consider whether facts in a case trigger a mandatory minimum sentence.

Meanwhile, the coming Court of Appeals appointment has received an unusual amount of attention because it’s the first under new law under which the governor nominates the judges, subject to Senate confirmation. Under the old system, still in place for the Kansas Supreme Court, a nominating commission screened applicants and named three finalists, with no role for lawmakers after the governor’s appointment.

Before Schmidt began pushing for a special session on the “Hard 50,” Senate GOP leaders were considering a daylong confirmation hearing for the Court of Appeals nominee in October or November. Such a hearing now is likely to occur at the start of the special session, and Brownback and GOP leaders are hoping lawmakers remain in Topeka only a few days.

Republican leaders said Monday that even with Brownback’s appointments on the agenda, they still see legislators wrapping up their business quickly. Because the GOP enjoys a 32-8 majority in the Senate — and Brownback’s fellow conservatives are firmly in control — there’s little doubt he’ll win confirmation of all his appointees.

“That’s not going to slow anything down,” said Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican.