Carla Stovall

Carla J. Stovall (born March 18, 1957, Hardtner, Kansas) - also known as Carla Stovall Steckline - is a Republican politician from Marion, Kansas who served as Attorney General of the State of Kansas from 1995 to 2003. During her tenure, she also served as president of the National Association of Attorneys General.[1][2][3]

Carla Stovall
40th Kansas Attorney General
In office
January 9, 1995 – January 13, 2003
GovernorBill Graves
Preceded byRobert Stephan
Succeeded byPhill Kline
Personal details
Born (1957-03-18) March 18, 1957
Hardtner, Kansas, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Alma materPittsburg State University
University of Kansas

Early life and education

Stovall, from rural Marion County, Kansas, is the daughter of Carl and Juanita Stovall. In 1975, she graduated from Marion High School. In 1979, she graduated from Pittsburg State University with a social science degree, and, in 1982, from the University of Kansas School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree.[3]

Her law career started in 1982 at a private law practice in Pittsburg, Kansas.[3]

Political career

Early government career

A Republican, in 1985, Stovall was elected Crawford County Attorney, serving until 1988,[3] and served as a member of Kansas Parole Board[2] (which she eventually chaired).[3]

Kansas Attorney General

Stovall was elected Attorney General of the State of Kansas in 1994, serving from 1995 to 2003. In 1998, she was re-elected with 75% of the vote.[2]

Among her most noted activities were her work against sex offenders (advocating for stricter sex-crime laws, and more severe punishment for convicted offenders)[3][4] and against the tobacco industry (particularly as it affected children).[3][5]

Tobacco battles

In 1996, Stovall sued the tobacco industry—the 11th state attorney general to do so, and one of the nation's first Republican AGs to file suit against the tobacco industry. The largest settlement in all her cases as A.G. was a $1.6 billion judgment against the tobacco industry, and an injunction ordering large tobacco companies to stop marketing their products to children.[3][5][6]

Some controversy arose in Stovall's handling of the tobacco case, when she hired her former law firm, Entz & Chanay, to serve as "local counsel" during the state's settlement negotiations with the tobacco defendants, despite their lack of experience in tobacco litigation. Her local colleagues subsequently made donations to Stovall's campaign.[7][8] After the courts awarded lawyers for Kansas $54 million, Stovall (by then no longer Kansas Attorney General) was summoned before a legislative committee to explain why her former law firm had gotten half of the money ($27 million).[7][9]

In 1999, Stovall was among the founding board members of the American Legacy Foundation, an organization formed to reduce teen tobacco use and warn all people of tobacco-related disease (particularly through their familiar "truth" campaign). Stovall also pushed for tobacco prevention measures as a member of the Kansas Children's Cabinet (a board advising the Kansas Legislature on how to spend money from tobacco lawsuit settlements).[5]

National Association of Attorneys General

During her tenure as Kansas Attorney General, she also served as president of the National Association of Attorneys General from 2001 to 2002.[3][10]

2002 gubernatorial race

During the 2002 election, Stovall briefly campaigned for the Republican nomination for the office of Governor of Kansas. Kent Glasscock, a former Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, served as her running mate.[2]

In 2001, Kansas Republican party moderates had united behind Stovall for the gubernatorial race, in hopes of defeating the conservative wing of the party in a one-on-one contest with its standard-bearer, State Treasurer Tim Shallenburger. However, the late entry of former Wichita mayor Bob Knight complicated matters.[2]

Initially, Stovall was one of the presumed "front-runner" candidates, and her anticipated run against the probable Democratic nominee, Kansas Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Sebelius, drew national attention as becoming possibly a rare "woman-vs.-woman" gubernatorial race.[11][12]

Though the front-runner among moderate candidates[2][13][14] — and confident that she would win if she stayed in the race[14] — Stovall dropped out in April, 2002, citing a lack of enthusiasm for campaigning, and for the job of governor,[14][15][2] and announced plans to marry Kansas media mogul Larry Steckline, whom she married in August.[16][17]

Stovall's abrupt withdrawal threw the moderate wing of the Kansas Republican Party into chaos, as they scrambled to replace her.[13][14] Kent Glasscock, her running mate, was the heir-apparent, and claimed entitlement to Stovall's campaign funds,[14] but opponent Shallenburger, the incumbent State Treasurer, argued that the funds—per his interpretation of state law—had to be returned to the state Republican party, or to the donors, a charity, or the state government's general revenue fund.[14] Additional Republican candidates began to emerge, further complicating the race.[14] Glasscock ultimately became a running mate for gubernatorial candidate Bob Knight.[18]

Stovall's withdrawal was credited with giving advantage to the Democratic nominee (and ultimate victor), Katheleen Sebelius.[13][15][19]

Post-political life

Stovall abandoned her gubernatorial candidacy, abruptly retiring from politics, married Kansas media mogul Larry Steckline, and settled into domestic family life. She became legal counsel for some of Steckline's enterprises, and hosted Fox Consumer Report on KSAS-TV (Wichita), and a consumer-education program on KFTI radio (Wichita). With Steckline, she acquired and operated a dinner cruise boat, the Cherokee Queens, on Grand Lake O' the Cherokees, near Grove, Oklahoma.[3]

Awards and recognition

References
  1. Moon, Chris (October 21, 2006). "Stovall backs Morrison for attorney general". The Topeka Capital-Journal. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
  2. "Stovall / Supports Glasscock," April 16, 2002, Salina Journal, retrieved from OCR text at Newspapers.com, August 29, 2020.
  3. Berg, Susan: "Carla trades courtroom for quiet life, family;" September 22, 2004,Marion County Record, retrieved October 27, 2020
  4. "Sex Crimes and Criminal Justice: Formerly Incarcerated Sex Offenders Say Civil Commitment Programs Deny Proper Rehabilitation," January 8, 2019, Prison Legal News retrieved October 28, 2020
  5. "2002 Youth Advocates Of The Year Awards Announced," May 08, 2002, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, retrieved October 27, 2020.
  6. "Kansas receives tobacco payment," December 15, 1999, Wichita Business Journal, retrieved October 28, 2020
  7. Dunbar, John "Tobacco settlement helps everyone but smokers," December 8, 2000, updated May 19, 2014, Center for Public Integrity, retrieved October 28, 2020
  8. "Justice for Hire: The Origins of the Trial Bar’s Cozy Relationship with State Attorneys General," in Trial Lawyers, Inc.: A Report on the Alliance Between State AGs and the plaintiffs' Bar 2011, 2011, Center for Legal Policy of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, retrieved October 28, 2020
  9. "Lawyers' tobacco suit fees divisive," December 24, 2000, Baltimore Sun, retrieved October 27, 2020
  10. "NAAG Presidents' Listing," National Association of Attorneys General, retrieved October 27, 2020.
  11. Clymer, Adam: "In 2002, Woman's Place May Be the Statehouse," date, The New York Times, retrieved July 28, 2020
  12. Broder, David: "Closing The Governor Gap," February 20, 2002, The Washington Post, retrieved July 28, 2020
  13. Associated Press: "Decision: Lt. Governor says he won't wait for formal announcement from Stovall before he makes decision," April 11, 2002, Garden City Telegram, page 1, from NewspaperArchive.com (OCR text), retrieved July 28, 2020
  14. "Stovall Drops Out," April 16, 2002, Lawrence Journal-World, retrieved July 28, 2020
  15. "Sebelius: A Legacy," April 28, 2009, Topeka Capital-Journal, retrieved July 28, 2020
  16. "Kansas official plans to marry,", May 9, 2002, Daily Oklahoman, retrieved July 29, 2020
  17. "Stovall-Steckline wedding," last modified Nov. 13, 2002, Marion County Record, retrieved July 29, 2020
  18. Beatty, Bob and Virgil W. Dean, editors: "Doing What Needed to Get Done, When It Needed to Get Done”: A Conversation with Former Governor Bill Graves," undated, Kansas History pp.172-197, retrieved July 29, 2020 from Washburn University reference archives.
  19. Beatty, Bob and Linsey Moddelmog, editors: "Find a Way to Find Common Ground": A Conversation with Former Governor Kathleen Sebelius," Winter 2017-2018, Kansas History, retrieved July 29, 2020; pp.277-278: former Gov. Sebelius: "I entered the race [when] Carla [Stovall] [was] in the primary, and... within four months [she was] dropping out. So [the race] changed dramatically."
  20. Annual Report 2017, Kansas Children's Service League, retrieved October 27, 2020.
  21. "Distinguished Leaders," December 11, 2019, Leadership Kansas (political orientation program of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, retrieved October 27, 2020.
  22. "Kansas AG Derek Schmidt recognized as nation’s Outstanding Attorney General 2019," December 11, 2019, Kansas State Network/KSNW-TV, retrieved October 27, 2020.
  23. "Schmidt named nation's top Attorney General," December 11, 2019, WIBW-TV, retrieved October 27, 2020.
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