Topeka ? A professional ethics panel recommended Thursday that former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline have his state law license suspended indefinitely over his conduct during criminal investigations of abortion providers, saying he was “motivated by dishonesty and selfishness.”

The three-member panel of the state Board for Discipline of Attorneys said Kline repeatedly misled other officials or allowed subordinates to mislead others, including a Kansas City-area grand jury, to further investigations of abortion providers. The panel also said Kline made a false statement to the office investigating the misconduct claims against him and even attempted to mislead the panel itself as it considered his case.

Kline has strongly disputed the allegations against him and called the complaint politically motivated.

“I upheld my duty, upheld my oath of office and the integrity of my profession,” Kline said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “I will continue to speak and stand for the truth and for those who cannot speak for themselves.”

“My ‘mistake’ was my willingness to investigate politically powerful people and to let that investigation go where the evidence led,” he said.

The panel determined some allegations in a complaint against Kline didn’t represent violations of the state’s rules for attorneys. Those included key criticisms of Kline and his subordinates over their handling of abortion patients’ private medical records.

Yet the panel concluded Kline “engaged in a pattern of misconduct” while serving as Kansas attorney general in 2003-07 and as Johnson County district attorney for two years after he lost his bid for re-election to the state office.

“The Respondent’s (Kline’s) dishonest and selfish motives aggravate the misconduct in this case,” the panel wrote in its 184-page report. “The Respondent failed to take any responsibility for his misconduct.”

No loss of license

The recommended sanction from a three-member panel of the state Board for Discipline of Attorneys reflects the board’s belief that Kline repeatedly violated the state’s rules for attorneys. It stopped just short of recommending that he lose his law license, something state Disciplinary Administrator Stanton Hazlett had proposed in pursuing the case.

Hazlett didn’t comment on the panel’s decision, only summarizing its contents and noting that the Kansas Supreme Court will have the final say on whether Kline will face sanctions. It will be at least six months before the court hears Kline’s case.

An attorney whose license is indefinitely suspended can file a petition to have it reinstated, but such an action by the court is rare.

Kline’s investigations of the late Dr. George Tiller, of Wichita, and a Planned Parenthood clinic in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park led to criminal charges. Tiller eventually was acquitted; the Planned Parenthood case is pending.

Kline is now a visiting assistant law professor at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., founded by late evangelist the Rev. Jerry Falwell. His Kansas law license has been inactive since October 2010.

Case history

Though Hazlett brought the complaint to the board, Kline has long faced fierce criticism from abortion providers, abortion rights advocates, Democrats and even some fellow Republicans. The allegation that the Johnson County district attorney’s office misled a grand jury, empaneled in 2007 to review evidence against the Planned Parenthood clinic, came from the group’s presiding juror.

Abortion opponents, however, have called the disciplinary process unfair. Five of the seven Kansas Supreme Court justices were appointed by Democratic governors who supported abortion rights, and the court suggested in 2008 that Kline’s conduct could warrant sanctions. Kline also noted that the Supreme Court appointed Hazlett and the disciplinary board members.

As district attorney, Kline filed 107 criminal charges against the Planned Parenthood clinic in 2007, accusing it of performing illegal abortions and falsifying records. The clinic says the allegations are baseless, but a hearing to determine whether the case goes to trial — long delayed by legal disputes — is set for Oct. 24-26 in Johnson County District Court.