Today the Kansas Republican Party denounced the notion that Governor Sebelius was anything less then a left-wing liberal Democrat who ignores the needs of her state. Kansas Republican Party Chairman Kris Kobach stated, “Sebelius has shown over and over again that she is more interested in pandering to special interests on the east and west coasts than serving the people of Kansas.”

Since getting elected the Governor has:

*Proposed tax increases totaling over $600 million. These tax increases included hiking state sales taxes by 8%, income taxes by 5%, and property taxes by 10%.

*Promised to “twist arms” to get a $0.50 per pack cigarette tax increase passed.

*Imposed on Kansas the 15the highest state-local tax burden in the nation. It has risen 6% since Sebelius took office.

*Increased government spending 28% since she took office, while at the same time job growth has been well behind the national average.

*Failed to produce private sector jobs. Kansas now ranks 49th in its economic climate rank which “reflects job, income, and gross state product growth as well as unemployment and presence of big companies.” (www.forbes.com)

*Demonstrated that only kind of jobs she knows how to create are government jobs. Kansas is third-highest state in the country in the number of government employees per capita.

*Rejected the permit for a coal-fired power plant in western Kansas, solely on the grounds that coal plants produce carbon emissions. Kansas is now the only state in the country that takes the radical view that no new coal plant shall ever be built. Her decision cost the state 2,400 jobs. It also made it impossible for seven new wind farms to be built near the plant.

Chairman Kobach added, “Sebelius has the most radical and nonsensical environmentalist agenda of all the governors in America. And she evidently doesn’t care how many jobs Kansas loses.”

Additionally, since Sebelius has taken office, she has vetoed legislation that would have stopped frivolous litigation from harming businesses and driving up the cost of healthcare.

*Since Sebelius took office in 2002, Kansas has dropped 9 places in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reforms state rankings.

*Kansas has received a “D” by the American College of Emergency Physicians on medical liability. Governor Sebelius has stated, “Perhaps my objectivity has been seriously compromised by my trial lawyers employment, but the premise that people are too eager to use the courts seems hollow to me.” (Sebelius is the former Executive Director of the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association.)

Chairman Kobach continued, “This is the typical MO of the national Democratic Party. They are attempting to trot out a perceived moderate Democrat. In all reality, Kathleen Sebelius is as liberal as Senator Clinton or Barak Obama. The people of Kansas have realized this, and eventually the whole nation will recognize that Sebelius is no different then any other Democrat on the national stage. She speaks in trite sound bites, and has repeatedly failed to step-up and lead on the pressing issues facing Kansans.”