NewsFlash, ACORN-watchers in the Heartland!  If you liked THEIR creative
corrupt campaign activities in 13 states recently, you'll love OUR new
improved Midwest version.  Best of all:  There's no longer any need to
go so far afield.  We're nothing if not 'up to date in Kansas City' so...

Say 'Hello' to ACORN.  Kansas-style.

On October 14 Richard Downing, Campaign Mgr. for Sen. Julia Lynn
(R-Olathe) was photographed sprinting across lanes of rush hour traffic
after stopping his car (containing his two small children) directly in
that traffic.  His object?  The Minutemen sponsored 'Ask Him Why He's
For Illegal Aliens!' sign abutting that of his Boss, Julia Lynn.  Mr.
Downing proceeded to steal the sign, sprint back to his car and hide the
sign in his trunk before threatening sign-placer Ed Hayes, Director of
the Heart of America Minutemen.  Still in heavy traffic and oblivious to
his frightened children, Downing rolled down his window to shake his
fist at Mr. Hayes screaming:  'You'd better watch out!  I'm going to get
you!'.   He then wheeled away-but not before Hayes snapped pictures of
Downing engaged in all the above.

Dedication?  Or criminality/child-endangerment?  You make the call.

Now before we unhesitatingly condemn theft of campaign signs by a
bona-fide Campaign Manager, we must take into consideration Downing's
boss, Sen.[appointed-not-elected] Lynn.  When you've been instrumental
in defeating Anti-Illegal Alien SB 458 earlier this year as she has,
you've simply got to think outside the box.  The good Senator
experienced  unprecedented outrage on the part of Kansans when she and
Sen. Pete Brungardt (inter alia) systematically disemboweled  458 which
would have mandated E-Verify in hiring and imposed stiff fines/penalties
on employers who hired illegal aliens.  Clearly, Sen. Lynn remembers. 
How the calls were 8:1 FOR SB 458.  How her constituents burned up the
legislative phone lines in the wake of its defeat, promising to 'Vote
The Bums Out!'.

Sen. Lynn even did Brungardt and the other pro-illegal senators one
better.  At voting time, Lynn pulled an Obama.  Having already advanced
her agenda OFF the record (to keep her coveted Chamber of Commerce
'Legislator of the Year' awarded  for pro-illegal activity) she cleverly
abstained from voting ON the record.  'No Vote, No Foul!' her motto,
Lynn was betting her constituents would be too stupid to recall her
dirty work on SB 458 come November.

But now she's got a real election on her hands and she's pulling out the
stops.  Lynn's not leaving anything to chance.  On the same day that
Downing was stealing signs in broad daylight, she released a pack of
lies aka a 'Campaign Update'.  Its title?  "JULIA LYNN WILL CONTINUE TO
FIGHT AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION".  Therein, she ingeniously
characterized her opponent Ron Wimmer as the pro-illegal candidate while
herself engaged in some very public hand-wringing. "I'm not sure how he
is going to...crack down on illegal immigration as a State Senator"

Lynn's worried alright.  But not about pro-illegal senators.  After all,
she's one herself.  Instead, Julia Lynn is worried about the
attention-span of her constituents.  About their memory.

And when you're worried like that, law-breaking can't be too much of a
consideration.  The hard truth is:  The pro-citizen people of  Kansas
just may not be as ready as Lynn would like, to forgive and forget.

Which brings us to the Downing sign-stealing/child endangerment.

The Police Report filed by Mr. Hayes was investigated by the Olathe PD. 
Despite Downing's attempts to flee the scene undetected, police
identified the 'individual' photographed by Ed Hayes as Sen. Lynn's
Campaign Manager Richard Downing.

In an effort to be fair and balanced I spoke with Richard Downing.   He
didn't deny that he had stolen the signs, or endangered his children. 
He told me:  'I do want to talk with someone about this, but only if I
can tell the whole story'.  Invited to do so, he hung up.  Twice.  I'd
hoped to discourse with Mr. Downing, to ask him why he'd risk his
children's lives and his entire career for a $7 campaign sign.  But in
the end, it's hardly necessary.

Because we all know what they say about pictures, don't we?  That old
saw 'one picture is worth a thousand words'?  It's quite true, of course.

And in this case there's so much more than one picture.  In point of
fact, there are 13.

Ed Hayes has informed Sen. Lynn of  Mr. Downing's activities.  As of
this writing, he's still her Campaign Manager.  A complaint against
Downing to Child Protective Services of Johnson County is pending.

Kathy Brown, Esq.