Topeka ? Atty. Gen.-elect Phill Kline, who received campaign contributions from companies facing consumer complaints, isn’t retaining the official overseeing investigations into alleged violations of the state’s new “no call” law.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Steve Rarrick, who leads the office’s consumer protection division, said Tuesday that Kline’s staff told him he wouldn’t keep his job. Rarrick said he suspected his departure was tied to his vocal advocacy for a no-call law.

Rarrick expressed doubts about Kline’s commitment to enforcing the no-call law, adding, “I’m just disappointed it appears this administration is not going to do serious consumer protection work.”

Kline said Tuesday that was not the case. He said that he simply wanted to bring in his own director .

“There is a no-call division within the Attorney General’s Office that will continue as it is,” Kline said. “And it will enforce the law vigorously.”

AARP, which represents more than 350,000 Kansans 50 or older and pushed for the no-call list, plans to monitor Kline’s office closely, said Mary Tritsch, the group’s spokeswoman and a former staffer for Kline’s predecessor, Carla Stovall.

Campaign finance records show Kline received $2,000 from SBC Communications Inc. and a political action committee with ties to it before the Nov. 5 general election.

A spokeswoman with SBC said Tuesday that the company contributed another $500 to Kline’s campaign after it received a request before a fund-raising event this week in Topeka.

Two PACs affiliated with Sprint Corp. also gave Kline a total of $2,000 before the election, his campaign finance records show.

Both companies had opposed the establishment of a state “no call” list to protect consumers from unwanted telemarketing calls.