Topeka ? Atty. Gen. Phill Kline’s nephew, who serves as his driver and personal assistant, is on probation for marijuana possession, according to a background check by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Brad Kline, 23, is on probation for one year for a conviction in Lenexa for marijuana possession. The probation runs through July 10, 2003.

This was the second known substance-related conviction for Brad Kline, who was hired in the fall by Eric Rucker, the attorney general’s chief of staff, to be his uncle’s driver. The job of driver for the attorney general was a newly created position.

“We are aware of Brad’s past mistakes,” Rucker said in a statement Monday. “Brad has accepted full responsibility for, and the consequences of, those mistakes. More importantly, since his employment with our office he has done a great job.”

Rucker added: “I am confident that his job performance in the future will continue to be a credit to this office.”

Brad Kline had also lost his driver’s license for one year after refusing to submit to a chemical test in February 2000, after a one-car accident.

On Dec. 28, 2001, six months after getting his driver’s license back, Brad Kline was pulled over in Lenexa for an expired vehicle tag. Officers arrested him after discovering a warrant in Shawnee for possession of marijuana. Officers also found marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the center console of his car.

The attorney general was unavailable for comment because of a death in the family but has defended the hiring of his nephew. Rucker hired Brad Kline to take notes at the attorney general’s meetings and to be his driver. Calls by The Associated Press to Brad Kline’s home Monday were unanswered.

The attorney general is driven in a private vehicle and reimbursed for mileage on state business up to 33 cents per mile, said the attorney general’s spokesman Whitney Watson. The state pays drivers using personal vehicles 33 cents per mile but pays 22 cents per mile if a state-owned vehicle could have been used.

The state does not require new employees to disclose past convictions. But on Monday, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger asked the Department of Administration to prohibit people with an “unacceptable driving record” from operating state vehicles.

Praeger said an unacceptable driver could be defined as narrowly as anyone with more than one at-fault accident or any driver with a major moving violation, such as driving under the influence of alcohol.

The Department of Administration does not check driving records of state employees who drive state vehicles.

Asher said that employees were required to sign a document agreeing not to use drugs or alcohol while on the job.