Topeka — State Sen. Roger Pine, R-Lawrence, has so far declined to testify before a House investigative committee looking into a communication between Kansas Supreme Court Justice Lawton Nuss and Senate President Steve Morris.
Pine also has refused to allow his sworn statement about a meeting he had with Morris to be released.
Pine said Thursday he wanted more information about the committee's investigation and its rules.
He and others have questioned whether the House has the right to investigate incidents in the Senate.
"I've been hesitant to want to testify," Pine said.
He said he hasn't made up his mind yet on whether he will testify eventually.
"I'm going to have to (make up my mind) before too long," he said.
The committee wants Pine to testify because he was in a meeting March 31 with Morris and several other senators when Morris allegedly said he had a communication with the Kansas Supreme Court on what would be a suitable school finance plan.
Pine was one of five senators who signed sworn statements about the meeting. The statements were drawn up by an investigator with the Kansas Attorney General's Office.
The other four senators have allowed those affidavits to be released, and they testified Thursday before the House committee.
Justice Lawton Nuss
More about Justice Lawton Nuss
- Documents
- Nuss gets off with warning over school finance talk
- Nuss talks turn political
- Communication between governor's office and Kansas judicial branch (.pdf)
- Code of judicial conduct (.pdf)
- Rules relating to judicial conduct(.pdf)
- Justice Nuss' response to the allegations (.pdf)
- KSGovernor.org: Sebelius responds to wide-ranging open records requests
- Justice Lawton Nuss biography, from Kansas Supreme Court web site
- KSCourts.org: Recusal Statement
- School Finance Proposed Expenditures Comparison (.pdf)
- Video
- 6News video: Nuss controversy ends with questionable punishment
- 6News video: Nuss meeting descends to bickering
- 6News video: Committee begins interviews in Nuss affair (06-08-06)
- 6News video: Committee begins investigation into Nuss affair (05-25-06)
- 6News video: Kansas lawmakers determine school finance plan (05-02-06)
- Stories
- House panel votes to expand Nuss probe (06-09-06)
- Senator from Lawrence declines to testify for now (06-09-06)
- Senator denies court contact before Nuss lunch (06-08-06)
- Nuss says he regrets meeting (06-02-06)
- Supreme Court justices at a glance (08-20-04)
- More about the 'Nuss Fuss'
- More about the school finance case
Comments
youngitized 6 years, 11 months ago
Come on Senator, don't you owe this to the Kansas people. I mean your Republican friends seem to be playing the lets smash Sebelius card here. Put the partisan politics aside and give the information that you know.
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