By Justin Kendall
Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline is 
moving back to Shawnee – and he’s buying a house from two long-time campaign donors.
The day after announcing his intentions to seek a full term as district attorney on June 10, Kline told The Kansas City Star that his family would be Johnson County homeowners "very, very soon.”
Kline was serious.
That same day, Kline and his wife Deborah filed a $165,000 contract deed to buy a one-story brick home in Shawnee from Robert E. Hodgdon, co-owner of Shawnee-based gunpowder company Hodgdon Powder, and his wife, Mary Jane Hodgdon. The Klines agreed to pay a down payment of $9,960. Earlier this year, Johnson County appraisers valued the house at $173,600.
Kline spokesman Brian Burgess tells The Pitch that Kline is just returning to his roots.
“The fact is, Phill’s always lived in this community," Burgess says. "He’s always lived in Shawnee. His entire family is from Shawnee. He graduated from Shawnee Mission Northwest. He moved to Topeka when he had the honor of being the attorney general of Kansas.”
The Klines supposedly had been shacking up in an apartment in Stilwell above the office to Stor-It-Park-It South mini-storage facility.
Last year, KCTV 5 staked out Kline, tailed him home to Topeka and insinuated that Kline was rarely staying in Stilwell.
The Hodgdons have given generously to Kline throughout the years, dating back to Kline’s 1997 re-election run for Kansas statehouse. (Robert Hodgdon first gave $100.)
Since then, the Hodgdon family has been even more generous. In Kline’s unsuccessful 2000 congressional run against Dennis Moore, Robert Hodgdon donated $2,000 to Kline, according to OpenSecrets.org. Mary Jane Hodgdon contributed $2,000. Robert’s brother and business partner, J.B. Hodgdon, gave $1,500.
In December 2001, Robert and Mary Jane Hodgdon pledged $4,000 to Kline’s first run for Kansas Attorney General. J.B. Hodgdon gave $250, and Hodgdon’s gunpowder company chipped in $1,900.
In October 2002, Robert and Mary Jane Hodgdon gave Kline $5,000 to help him beat Chris Biggs.
In January 2003, Robert Hodgdon contributed $1,000 to Kline’s war chest. In December 2003, Hodgdon Parents Trust threw in an extra $2,000.
In the heat of Kline’s re-election run against Paul Morrison in 2006, Robert Hodgdon forked over $4,000, Mary Jane $2,000 and J.B. $1,000 in the losing effort.
At times, Hodgdon and his wife have given a little too generously. The Hodgdons each received $2,000 refunds in 2006 for donations exceeding the maximum allowed by law. The max amount a person may give a statewide candidate is $2,000 in the primary election and $2,000 in the general election.
Burgess said he doesn’t know if Kline is selling his Topeka home.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Burgess said. “That would be a personal question for Phill.”
I haven't lived in JoCo for a while, but I can't imagine the market's so bad that houses are selling below appraised value in Shawnee. Here in Baltimore we call those sorts of overly friendly transactions to politicians illegal campaign contributions... then again, we generally look the other way.
Posted at: July 2, 2008 9:28 PM