Topeka ? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ quick reaction Thursday to a court ruling on the Pledge of Allegiance prompted a smirk from Atty. Gen. Phill Kline.

After a federal judge in California ruled that the reference to God in the pledge violated the right to be free from religion, Sebelius’ office issued a news release disagreeing with the ruling.

“As long as I’m governor, Kansans will continue to recite the Pledge of Allegiance,” Sebelius said.

Later, Kline, a Republican, was asked about her statement before a news conference on another matter, and he said, “We’ll support the pledge as well. It was good to see she was Johnny on the spot with that.”

He then implied her statement was probably the result of a poll she had taken.

Asked if that was true, Sebelius’ spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said, “Absolutely not. I was asked what she thought about it and since I was trying to be helpful and save people from calling me, I decided to just send to all reporters at once.”