STATE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, February 18, 1994
9
THE RACE FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL OF KANSAS Winter opposes capital punishment law Stovall wants to crack down on crime
Amy Solt / KANSAN
Wint Winter Jr., a former state senator from Lawrence, said one of his main objectives if elected attorney general would be working to prevent people, especially young people, from breaking the law.
By Stephen Martino Kansan staff writer
Wint Wint Jr. says he sees Kansas being ravaged by crime, and the traditional ways of fighting just won't work any more.
Winter said that his experience serving in the Legislature would aid the state in trying new and innovative ways to fight crime if he was elected attorney general.
"The attorney general's office is a place to provide positive leadership to change the system," he said. "The crime problem is very serious in Kansas, and the criminal justice system is broken and flawed."
Winter, a University of Kansas law school graduate and former Lawrence senator, is seeking the Republican nomination for attorney general. The primary is Aug. 2, and his opponent is Topeka attorney Carla Stovall.
Winter cited statistics that showed Kansas ranked 15th in violent crimes in the nation, while neighboring states such as Nebraska and Iowa were ranked 44th and 48th, respectively.
Winter said that the state had to move past what it was doing in adult corrections to tackle the problems of crime.
"We need a new kind of attorney general," he said. "One who has worked in the Legislature with legislators. Someone who can head up the command post against crime and violence."
Winter has proposed two basic solutions: getting tougher on people who break laws and working to prevent people, especially young people, from breaking laws.
As a state senator, Winter advocated sentencing guidelines, something his opponent, he said, rejects.
"Sentencing guidelines fought the old notion of how to handle criminals," he said. "We fought to eliminate the parole system and the idea that everyone can be rehabilitated. We moved from having corrections
facilities to having penitentiaries. Because of sentencing guidelines, prisons will be more full of meaner, tougher people."
William Alix / KANSAN
"We have got to recognize the time to prevent people from becoming criminals is early in life," he said.
However, Winter said that he personally opposed capital punishment. "I didn't vote for it when I was in the Legislature, and I wouldn't vote for it if I was now," he said. "But if it becomes the law of the state, the attorney general has a responsibility to enforce the law, and I will."
Winter, 40, said the state had to be just as concerned about preventing possible high-risk violators. He said the juvenile system of today was designed for truants and runaways of the '60s and not the carjackers and gang members of the '90s.
Programs that advocated against teen pregnancy, for drug treatment and that generally strengthen the family would begin to solve many problems, he said.
Burdett Loomis, professor of political science, said that Winter's name recognition and ability to raise money would probably benefit the candidate in the long run.
"No one's going to get around Carla Stovall on the fight on crime," he said. "But Wint's pretty much a moderate Republican who has done some pretty progressive things in Kansas."
By Stephen Martino
Kansan staff writer
TOPEKA — Carla Stovall's candidacy for attorney general is based on something that no other candidate can claim, she said — a first-hand account of the effects of crime.
Stovall's best friend, a Methodist minister in Denver, Colo., was murdered a couple of years ago. She was shot five times.
"I learned from that experience that life is very fragile," she said. "I have to do something while I'm here because her death explained to me how unexpected life can be, and we have to do something while we are here."
That, in part, is why Stovall, 36, is seeking the Republican nomination for attorney general.
Carla Stovall, a Topeka lawyer, said she was a supporter of the death penalty. If elected attorney general, Stovall said she would be able to make the decision about who received the sentence.
She is in private practice in the Topeka firm of Entz and Chanay, but she said that her experience as Crawford County attorney from 1985 to 1988 is what set her apart from her opponent, Lawrence attorney Wint Winter Jr. The primary is Aug. 2.
"Prosecuting is wearing the white hat and protecting the victim," Stovall said. "Politics and law enforcement stay in your blood. I love it so. I want to protect the public and do what's right."
Stovall said that since she had spent time as a prosecutor, she was in the best position to address the problem of crime in the state.
"The attorney general has to be a very effective advocate for crime and safety issues in Kansas," she said. "The office has to protect the public and do what is right."
On the top of the list, Stovall said, is support for the death penalty.
Stovall has outlined 13 specific proposals that she says will help address the problem of crime, juvenile offenders and consumer protection.
Stovall said that a majority of Kansans supported the death penalty and that she could make the decision
of who to apply the sentence to, if need be.
"Some crimes are so awful that it is the appropriate consequence," she said.
Stovall said that she would have preferred the original bill as opposed to the one which passed in the Legislature last week. The first draft of the bill called for felony murder to be included in the crimes that could be punishable by death. Felony murder is an unpremeditated murder made in commission of a felony crime, such as armed robbery or rape. That provision was removed in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee.
difference between her and her opponent was with sentencing guidelines. She said the guidelines, which Winter helped push through the Legislature, released hundreds of criminals back into the streets.
Stovall said that another point of
"These guidelines send the message that what you did wasn't that bad," she said. "They are nonsensical, and 15 percent of those released are already back in prison."
Attorney General Robert Stephan, who is actively supporting Stovall's candidacy, said she was the best candidate.
"She is less of a politician and more the lawyer," he said. "She's the one that is cut out for the job."