Washington ? Phill Kline, Republican attorney general of Kansas, is determined not to be defensive. Making headlines with his subpoena of abortion records and his closed-door discussions of evolution with State Board of Education members, the former scholarship wrestler comes across as well-satisfied with what he has wrought.

He has a job to do, Kline explained during a break at a meeting of attorneys general here. Principles are at stake, he said, and liberals who dismiss the conservative values agenda as a political stratagem really do not know what they are talking about.

Take Kansas-born Thomas Frank, author of last year’s political bestseller “What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America.”

“Mr. Frank,” Kline said, “kind of mocks conviction as a guidepost for one’s life, basically stating that those who have convictions are too ignorant to understand convictions don’t matter; what matters is economics. And that those who claim conviction publicly are smart enough to manipulate those who are too dumb to understand convictions shouldn’t exist.”

These days, a number of liberals and Democrats point to Kline as an example of what ails a small, conservative state that continually makes news.

“This is one of the most extreme anti-choice politicians, who’s invading people’s most private medical information,” said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. “He believes government should have control over your personal records and your personal decisions, and he’s willing to use the subpoena process. It’s a form of intimidation.”

“If we didn’t know where he stood on the abortion issue, we might see him as sincere,” scoffed Caroline McKnight, executive director of the Mainstream Coalition and a frequent foe. She said Kline, satisfying his political base, believes “it’s time to remind people that he’s there and working hard for the regressives of the state.”

On the surface, at least, Kline smiles at the slights. Equipped with degrees in political science, public relations and law, he wraps aspirations and jibes alike in the vocabulary of faith, truth and liberty.

Kline, 45, a fifth-generation Kansan, spent eight years in the Kansas House, adding an extra “l” to his first name to avoid mix-ups with a senior legislator with the same name. Becoming known as “Little Phill,” he sponsored laws on crime victims’ rights and was named legislator of the year by the state’s developmentally disabled and mental health communities, according to his Web site.

He also helped write a state law restricting late-term abortions, the issue now winning him so much national attention.

Kline edged Democrat Chris Biggs in the 2002 race for attorney general, winning by one-half of 1 percent. His name routinely surfaces in speculation about the 2006 governor’s race, although Kline in the interview said it was “very unlikely” that he would run.

‘Fishing expedition’

As attorney general, Kline sought to require Kansas health workers to report sexual activity of girls younger than 16, the age of consent. The workers filed suit, and a federal judge blocked his effort. Kline then persuaded a state judge to back the subpoena for records of more than 80 women and girls who received abortions in 2003 at two clinics. He described it as a search for evidence of illegal late-term abortions and child rape.

Clinic lawyers made the investigation public last month when they termed Kline’s quest a “fishing expedition” and asked the Kansas Supreme Court to intercede on grounds of privacy. Supporters of the clinics — Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita and a Planned Parenthood facility in Overland Park — noted Kline’s hope that Roe v. Wade (the case that resulted in a decision upholding the right to abortion) will be overturned, and they said his true goal was to frighten women away from abortions.

Skeptics said that if Kline’s ambition were to find criminal cases of underage sex, he would have focused just as intently on girls who gave birth as on those who had abortions and targeted other categories of health workers. They also noted that the Wichita clinic is operated by George Tiller, who channeled about $150,000 to Kline’s opponent in 2002.

Kline’s spokesman said that in 2003, 78 girls age 14 or younger had abortions.

Criminal target

Kline insisted his goal was to uncover criminal activity, including at the clinics.

“They are a target of an investigation. It’s like you show up at a bank robber’s house and say, ‘Hey, we think you robbed a bank. You have a ski mask inside, a gun and some money.’ ‘Well, let me go and check, and I’ll get back to you,'” Kline said.

In February, Kline sparked complaints from six news organizations, including the Lawrence Journal-World, after he met behind closed doors with the six conservative members of the Kansas State Board of Education. He held back-to-back sessions, each attended by three members. Had he met with the six together, the media organizations wrote, the state Open Meetings Act would have required the session to be open.

Kline said board members — intent on changing how evolution is taught in public schools — asked him whether it would be constitutional to affix a sticker to textbooks saying evolution is a theory, not a fact. A federal judge in Cobb County, Ga., recently ordered such stickers removed.

“Yeah, it’s constitutional. It is theory. I know the difference between scientific law, scientific theory, scientific hypothesis,” Kline said in the interview.

Although evolution is commonly termed a theory, most scientists consider the evidence, accumulated over 150-plus years, to be overwhelming, and they say opponents misuse language to mislead the public.

Kline maintains that Kansans — especially conservative Kansans who gave the state to President Bush by nearly 2 to 1 in November — do not always get the credit they deserve from outsiders, especially liberals.