KANSAS GOP SHARES NEW E-MAILS IN LAWSUIT AGAINST KANSAS CITY STAR!!!

In fairness and because we want to share this FIRST for our blog community . . . Here's what Kansas GOP leaders have to say about the lawsuit they're waging against The Kansas City Star.

NEW EMAILS RELEASED IN KC STAR DEFAMATION LAWSUIT

Steve Rose Blamed Newspaper, Deadline Pressure for Misattributing Comments to Senator

(Overland Park, KS) Feb. 19, 2019 - Senator Jim Denning (R-Overland Park) released 4 additional emails this morning, painting an even clearer picture of what led him to sue The Star and its former columnist, Steve Rose, for defamation. This accompanies several emails released earlier from both Sen. Denning and The Star.

In one email released today, Steve Rose admits to knowing he should have "killed" a column about Medicaid expansion, but Rose blames The Kansas City Star for putting him under "deadline pressure" to attribute the statements he made to Sen. Denning.

"It's important for the public to have a full and complete narrative of the communications taking place behind the scenes that led me to sue not only The Kansas City Star, but also former columnist Steve Rose," Denning says. "These communications came about after my chief of staff contacted Steve Rose about his January 26 column. I was stunned to read false allegations and misleading statements about Medicaid expansion in Kansas, not to mention budgetary quotes, because I hadn't been interviewed for this. In fact, I haven't spoken to Steve Rose in more than two years. He knew he was in the wrong, he tried to cover it up, editor Colleen Nelson admitted the column doesn't meet The Star's own editorial standards, then Rose pointed the finger back at The Star. Everyone knew how wrong this was."

Attorney Michael Kuckelman says it took far too long for The Star's editorial page editor to reach out to Sen. Denning's office after learning of the the shocking violation of journalistic ethics. "The story came out online Friday and in print on Saturday," Kuckelman points out. "But The Kansas City Star's editorial page editor, Colleen Nelson, waited until Monday afternoon at nearly 2 p.m. to contact Sen. Denning's office. That's a full two days, knowing there was an article with false attributions made against an elected official. The story went viral online and was shared widely across the internet. The only offer we received in this flurry of emails was an offer for Steve Rose to resign if Senator Denning would just 'let it drop' and conceal this from the public." Kuckelman says he would have expected a more conciliatory tone, as well as a retraction, from the newspaper.

"We're surprised at the tone the Kansas City Star has taken since the lawsuit was filed," Kuckelman explains. "The Star admits the column didn't meet its editorial standards, yet The Star comes out swinging. We would expect The Star to talk with us about finding ways to correct its own error. Just taking the article down and offering for Steve Rose to resign isn't nearly enough. Clearly, The Kansas City Star caused the damage, and it needs to make this right. The Star hasn't even put out a retraction, which it should have done immediately after discovering this massive violation of editorial standards, not to mention the incredible lapse in journalistic integrity."

"The public was misled by this column," Senator Denning adds. "Even The Kansas City Star's editor says she was misled in her email to Steve Rose. In an email exchange between Colleen Nelson and Steve Rose on January 26, Colleen states she was under the impression he had recently spoken to
me about the article. Rose confirmed he had not. Colleen responded, 'If that's not what happened, we have a problem.' Shouldn't The Star want to develop a solution to reach all of the readers who were misled? After all, The Star's credibility is on the line. I don't think it's fair that the mainstream media
can cover up a mistake of this magnitude by just removing a post and offering for a columnist to resign. They need to make this right. If a company puts out a product that does damage, it can't just blame it on an employee and be off the hook. Companies have to be responsible and stand behind their product, and so does The Kansas City Star."
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Here are links to the dox for further reading:

NEW EMAILS RELEASED IN KC STAR DEFAMATION LAWSUIT

Additional Emails plus KC Star's emails already filed Friday email addresses and numbers covered

Colleen Nelson to Ethan Patterson 153pm Jan28 email addresses and numbers removed

Ethan to Steve Rose 1135 on Jan 25 email addresses removed

Denning - Exhibit A (4)

Exhibit H from KC Star filing emails and numbers removed includes additional email at end

For full context, check Steve Rose's FIRST STATEMENT this morning as well.

Developing . . .