Brian Moline

Longtime Kansas public servant Brian J. Moline, 68, Topeka, died September 29, 2008 at Midland Hospice Care after a sudden and incapacitating illness. He is survived by his wife, Kathie Sparks, Topeka, a brother, Mike Moline, San Antonio, Tex., and four children, Justin Cooper, Denver, Colo., Brock Cooper, Lawrence, Matt Ingham, Ft. Worth, Tex. and Ashley Ludwick, Austin, Tex. Friends the world over also mourn his loss. Brian was preceded in death by a sister, Patricia Moline Russell, an actress who appeared on Broadway, and his parents, Charles and Tess. Mass of Ressurection will be held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, October 2, 2008 at Assumption Church, 204 W. 8th, Topeka. Visitation will be held 6:00 to 8:00 Wednesday, Oct. 1 at the Brennan Kevin Family Funeral Home, 2801 S.W. Urish Rd., where a prayer service will be prayed at 6:30 p.m. Brian lived an impactful life. He had broad interests, a deep intellect and a charming indifference to the mundane demands of daily life. But perhaps most of all, he had a large capacity for caring, which was evident in virtually all of his personal and professional dealings. A naturalized citizen of the United States – having immigrated from England at age 12 with his family – Brian believed deeply in the promise of his adopted country and dedicated much of his life to one of its foundational ideals: that everyone is equal under the law. As a lawyer, legislator and regulator Brian fought for fairness. He demanded it on behalf of the clients he represented, the constituents he served and the consumers and companies whose interests he protected first as general counsel and later as a member of and chairman of the Kansas Corporation Commission. Nowhere was his commitment to fairness more apparent than in his pioneering work in the early 1970s for the Wichita Legal Aid Society and later his co-founding of Kansas Legal Services. In those early days, Brian inspired, mentored and entertained a tight-knit group of young attorneys dedicated to ensuring that everyone, regardless of their income or station in life, received the legal representation to which they were entitled. Several attorneys who went on to lucrative careers, upon learning of Brian’s death, said that their legal-aid days were among the happiest and most purposeful of their lives. Brian himself said that he was able to do more to help people in a few months as a legal aid lawyer than in five years as a legislator. “Many people in this country just assume, as I used to, that if a person has a legal problem, then they can have their day in court,” Moline said in a newspaper interview. “But if you don’t have the money to hire a layer, your rights are an abstract thing, aren’t they?” Perhaps it was in Brian’s service to the entire state that he most distinguished himself. In addition to his more than 20 years at the KCC, he served on the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission and from 1995-1997 as general counsel to then Kansas Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Sebelius. Early in his KCC service, Brian recognized that there was a troubling dearth of information about the commission, its evolution and its regulatory responsibilities. Characteristically, he took it upon himself to rectify the problem by authoring an extensive monograph on those issues. His 1984 work is still considered the authoritative work on the subject. It also is indicative of Brian’s ability to peer into the future and see the big policy picture. In a preface to the monograph, he challenged the thinking of the day that the trend toward deregulation would continue unabated. “Regulation as a means of governmentally imposed limitation on the discretion of individuals and businesses,” was unlikely to be substantially diminished, he wrote. “The policy question is not, shall there be government regulation? The question is: what type of regulation is necessary and desirable at any given time.” Brian grappled with a host of complex issues at the KCC, from the Wolf Creek rate case to the breakup of AT&T. While serving as KCC chairman from 2003-2007, he was elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and was selected chairman of its subcommittee on nuclear issues. He lectured outside of the U.S. on ethical and legal issues confronting public utility commissions as a member of NARUC’s Committee on International Relations. Brian summed up his view of public service last year in a farewell column to the KCC staff. Because a public servant’s work often goes unnoticed by the public, he wrote, the work must be its own reward. “The knowledge that one has done the right thing as one sees it for the public interest becomes the main and often only reward for a public servant,” he wrote. The Kansas Bar Association twice recognized Brian, giving him its Distinguished Service Award in 1994 and its Distinguished Government Service Award in 2006. In 2003, Brian was named adjunct professor of the year by students at the Washburn University School of Law, the school from which he earned his law degree in 1966 and at which he taught juvenile law, trial techniques, insurance law and legal history for more than 20 years. As further indication of his commitment to community and state, Brian served on the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library Board of Trustees and the Kansas State Historical Society Executive Committee, serving terms as president of both organizations. He also was president of The Midland Trust, a fundraising entity that helped to sustain Kansas Legal Services. Though “retired,” Brian couldn’t stay away from the policy debate. He headed the Alliance for Sound Energy Policy during the 2008 legislative session and most recently returned to his professional roots by going to work for the Disability Rights Center of Kansas. Though friends marveled at how he found the time, Brian also wrote extensively about everything from legal ethics to Kansas history, authoring a chapter on former Attorney General Vern Miller for the 2006 book, “From John Brown to Bob Dole: Movers and Shakers in Kansas History.” And he contributed to a 1993 book on U.S. Supreme Court justices, authoring a chapter on David J. Brewer of Kansas, who sat on the high court from 1890-1910. Indicative of his popularity as an author and speaker, a Topeka Bar Association brochure published this year about an upcoming ethics seminar noted that Brian would be “back by popular demand” to conduct the session. Given Brian’s gift for language, it is fitting that the final words belong to him. The following is taken from yet another piece that Brian wrote in his “spare time” cloistered in his study among his books. In an essay published in the Topeka Capital-Journal on July 4, 1999, Brian reflects on his adopted country and in the process provides insight into the values that made him the person that he was. “For decades, America has symbolized opportunity to break the shackles of destiny defined by caste, class, accent or religion. And while the streets may not be paved with gold as some earlier immigrants may have believed, America has always and still does represent opportunity – a place where initiative and individualism is valued and where hard work, family solidarity and determination still count, and count for a great deal.” Memorial contributions may be made to: Kansas Democratic Party 420 SE Ave Topeka, Kansas 66607 Kansas Legal Service Corp. 712 S Kansas Ave Topeka, Kansas 66603 Disability Rights Center of Kansas 635 SW Harrison St. Topeka, Kansas 66603