By
Brad Cooperb
NOTE: This is the last of
three profiles of candidates seeking the 3rd Congressional District's
Republican nomination. (The Phill Kline profile appeared July 5, and the Gary Morsch profile appeared July 12.) The winner of the Aug. 1
primary will face Rep. Dennis Moore, a Lenexa Democrat, in the Nov. 7 general
election.
Too polite to inquire why the young
congressional staffer would need a cane, Sloan put it out of her mind.
A
couple of dates later, Sloan got the answer to her question when Musil had her
over for dinner at his townhouse. This time, there were crutches. No cane. No
prosthesis.
Musil didn't have a right leg. It was amputated
near the hip after he was hit by an shotgun blast in
1976, when he was 19.
Surprised at first, Sloan put Musil's disability aside and became caught up in
conversation. Two years later, she married Musil. They later had two daughters
together.
"I didn't sit there and worry about
it," Sloan said of her discovery. "We were talking about lots and
lots of things. That was one of things that I liked about Greg. We would talk
about all kinds of interesting things."
Sloan's reaction isn't a whole lot different
from that of others who have met Musil, the Overland Park city councilman who
is seeking the Republican nomination for Congress in Kansas' 3rd District.
Those who know Musil say he goes out of his way
to make others comfortable.
Musil's friends talk about his
self-deprecating sense of humor in which he'll occasionally poke fun at himself
about losing his leg. An occasional joke about putting his best foot forward or
getting off on the right foot is not out of the question, friends say.
Musil doesn't wear a
prosthesis in most situations. He wears one for balance when golfing.
The prosthesis is too uncomfortable to wear all
the time because doctors removed his femur when they amputated his leg, leaving
him with no bone mass to support an artificial limb.
"It's energy consuming and it's painful,
and I fall down more than I ever fall on crutches," he said.
So much of how Musil deals with his disability,
friends say, is emblematic of who he is as a person and what drives him to
succeed.
Whether it's the courtroom, the City Council
chamber or the tennis court or softball diamond (both sports without
prosthesis), Musil has a passion and a work ethic that is seen in few others,
friends and family say.
"He has an amazing spirit," said Jack Kilroy Jr., who hired Musil at the Kansas City law firm of Shughart, Thomson & Kilroy.
"He just is able to deal with important
things, keep focused and keep going forward. Most people can't do that. They
feel sorry for themselves. They let something beat them."
Musil, the second of three children, grew up on
a farm in northeast Kansas just outside of Frankfort, about 30 miles north of
Manhattan.
He excelled in athletics at Frankfort High
School, playing football, basketball and baseball. He also ran track.
He attended Kansas State University on an Army
ROTC scholarship and received an honorable discharge after the shotgun
accident. He later received financial aid from the state to finish his degree.
Musil still talks with emotion about the
accident.
A roommate had a shotgun to do some hunting in
the Manhattan area. The roommate pumped the shotgun and pulled the trigger
several times, thinking the gun wasn't loaded.
At one point, the roommate pointed the gun at Musil's side. As Musil pushed the barrel down, the roommate
pulled the trigger, firing a blast into Musil's right
thigh. The shot severed an artery. The leg was amputated a week later.
From the outset, doctors told him the leg was in
jeopardy. By the time they were ready to amputate, Musil was ready "to get
rid of it."
"From the time I got to the hospital, it
wasn't part of me," he said. "It was a swollen, painful lump of
flesh."
He graduated cum laude from Kansas State in 1980
and enrolled at the University of Virginia Law School
that fall.
After law school, Musil went to work for Kassebaum. He met her when he went to Capitol Hill in the
fall of 1980 to plead for saving the federal student loan program.
While in Washington, Musil met Sloan, who was
working on the staff of then-Rep. Larry Winn Jr. The two married in 1986 and
returned to Kansas, in part, so she could go to law school.
Those who know Musil talk about his courtroom
skills.
Incisive thinker. Good listener.
Articulate. Those are all descriptions other lawyers use to describe Musil's legal abilities.
He once borrowed lyrics from a country song for
a closing statement.
"You've got to stand for something or
you'll fall for anything," Musil told the jury, quoting country star Aaron
Tippin.
Musil won a $1.2 million judgment for his
client.
Many talk about his engaging personality and dry
wit.
"What is a `no contest'?" Overland
Park City Councilman David Belpedio once asked an
Overland Park judge at a City Council meeting.
"When K-State plays
KU in football," Interjected Musil, a Wildcat partisan.
They talk about his athleticism. In high school,
Musil started at quarterback and safety. He still is active, occasionally
playing doubles tennis and softball.
"He can put people at ease about his
handicap faster than anybody I have ever seen," said James P. O'Hara, a
former law partner of Musil's at Shugart,
Thomson and Kilroy and now a federal magistrate in
Topeka. "I don't think I have ever met a person as constructively positive about
life."
Musil said part of that zest for life comes from
his family and his farm background.
"I think my family was always positive and
upbeat," he said. "If you farm for 45 years, you better be an
optimist. You have to be an optimist to think things are going to work
out."
Consequently, Musil said, his family refused to
let him mope after the gunshot injury.
"It was always `You're going to get back to
school as soon as you can and you're going to go ahead finish your degree,'
" Musil said.
The shooting, he said, taught him not to take
things for granted.
"From the minute I was shot, I didn't care
about my leg at all," he said. "There is something that is very much
a higher priority, and that's just living."
Musil's political and legal
adversaries admire Musil for his ability to not let business interfere with
personal relationships.
"He is one of the easiest lawyers to get
along with," said Kansas City lawyer John McFarland, a legal opponent from
several years ago.
"Business is business, but there is never a
reason that personal disagreements have to degenerate into personal
animosities. I love to try cases with him. Not that I always win, but it's such
a relief to work with somebody like that who you don't mind calling and talking
to."
Democratic Overland Park City Councilman Neil Sader has been a philosophical rival of Musil's
over the years. In recent years, the two have sparred over issues such as tax breaks, smoking
ordinances and partisan elections.
"I think Greg has one of the finer minds
that I have run across among elected officials, Sader
said. "He is very bright. He is, in my opinion,
able to show extraordinary concentration and understanding of issues."
But Sader and Musil
have some fundamental disagreements.
"I think he is too tied to the development
community and to large business interests throughout our city," Sader said.
Sader said he believed Musil
sacrificed the interest of the "little guy" in his efforts to
ingratiate himself with the business community.
Musil disagrees. He says that by creating a
positive atmosphere for business, the city is helping the so-called
"little guy" find jobs and start new businesses. Regardless, Musil
said, he is not beholden to developers.
"If you want to call me a pro-business `yes
man', you've got consider all of the rezonings and
all of the things I haven't supported that business interests came in and
(said) they wanted from the city."
Among other things, Musil has opposed a SuperTarget, a Home Depot and a Hy-Vee
store.
"All and all, Neil and I get along
well," Musil said of his council political rival. "I appreciate the
fact that we have different philosophies and we are able to work
together."
To
reach Brad Cooper, Johnson County municipal reporter, call (816) 234-7724 or
send e-mail to bcooper@kcstar.com