Change Watch Backgrounder: Kathleen Sebelius
by Tom McClusky
February 19, 2009
POSITION: HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY
NOMINEE: Kathleen Sebelius
Born: Cincinnati, Ohio, May 15, 1948
Family: Husband, K. Gary Sebelius, and two sons.
Occupation: 44th Governor of Kansas
Education: B.A. Trinity Washington University, Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Kansas.
Work history: Jan 2003-present, Governor of Kansas (term-limited, term ends Jan 2011)
1994-2002, Kansas Insurance Commissioner
1987-1994, Member of the Kansas House of Representatives
1977-1987, Director of the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association
1975-1977, Aide with the Kansas Department of Corrections
ON HEALTH CARE
“We are stronger as a nation when our people have access to the highest-quality, most-affordable health care.”
[Source]
“We know that caring for our children, so they have a healthy and better start in life, is what grownups do. A large majority of the Congress are ready, right now, to provide health care to 10 million American children, as a first step in overhauling our health care system.”
Retrieved on February 10, 2009 from: [Source]
ON ABORTION
Sebelius has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood and they have conducted fundraising activity on her behalf.
“Reviewing the record of Gov. Sebelius when she served in the Kansas House of Representatives, it is difficult to find a single instance, either in a procedural or substantive vote, where she acted in a manner that would afford unborn children the maximum protection. In the 1980s and 1990s then- Representative Sebelius voted to weaken or eliminate even such modest measures as parental notification, waiting periods and informed consent.
As governor, she twice has vetoed bills attempting to protect the health and safety of women by more tightly regulating abortion clinics.”
[Source]
“I think for me and a lot of other people there are certain inalienable rights established for a person, but those are not applied in utero.”
[Source]
In April 2007, Sebelius hosted a private reception for infamous abortion doctor George Tiller and his staff at the governor’s mansion.
[Source]
Vetoed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act as unconstitutional because it would allow court orders to be written to help prevent second and third term abortions.
[Source]
ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
Sebelius did not support an amendment to the Kansas Constitution that made same-sex marriage in the state unconstitutional saying, “‘I don’t think we need a constitutional amendment, and particularly a constitutional amendment that goes far beyond the bounds of that law.”
[Source]
MISCELLANEOUS
Conflict with her Faith
The Governor’s constant support of abortion prompted the unusual step of Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas to publicly inform Governor Kathleen Sebelius that she should refrain from taking Communion until she publicly repudiates her support for abortion rights. The Archbishop wrote:
‘The spiritually lethal message, communicated by our governor, as well as many other high-profile Catholics in public life, has been in effect: The church’s teaching on abortion is optional! . . I hope that my request of the governor, not to present herself for Holy Communion, will provoke her to reconsider the serious spiritual and moral consequences of her past and present actions.’”
[Source]
Lifetime Grade of “D” as Governor
Every year the CATO Institute rates the nation’s governors on tax and spending issues in their states. Every year she has been eligible Governor Sebulius has received a “D” grade:
“Kathleen Sebelius has supported tax increases during her tenure, but she has also supported a number of pro-growth tax cuts. In 2004, she proposed a temporary increase in the sales tax rate that has turned out to be permanent, and more recently she has supported cigarette tax increases. However, Sebelius has also supported an impressive list of business tax cuts, including reductions in corporate income taxes, unemployment compensation taxes, and business property taxes. She has also supported repeal of the estate tax and repeal of the corporate franchise tax, which is being phased out by 2011. With these cuts, the governor has made Kansas more attractive for business investment. It is on spending where Sebelius dragged down her grade by presiding over per capita budget increases averaging about 7 percent annually since 2003.” CATO Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors: 2008. [Source]
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Comments
As a conservative, I am astounded by this pick. As a Kansan, I am appalled. While I as others would love to see our governor dismissed from our state, it would be rather disconcerting to see her placed in a national position of such influence and power. Her record here in our state has been in direct opposition to that of guarding the health of those born here. And I am grieved that though we have long been seen as a conservative state and known consistently as “red” in the elections, we have become a state marked with the red of the blood of countless pre-born whose lives have been swiftly snuffed out by the abortion mill in our state. The governor’s alliance with those in this industry evidences her future positions on the matter. However, this will only increase in the devaluing of human life…and I fear that it will not just plateau but further the cost of life to realms of euthanasia and further infanticide. God help us to awaken…and may the Lord preserve our country from further “promotions” that would further this cause. May God help us to remember II Chronicles 7:14 and keep us looking to HIM!
I am a Kansan and can only say “Good riddance!” and “I am sorry to our country that we are sending such a bad politian to Washington, DC where she will do even more damage.”
I just deplore that the governor is not confirmed as the HHS official. I just can not see how much longer she can serve her state’s constituents in such an offensive way. God forbid she move on and upward to curse the rest of our federal citizens. I do so wish there was some way to put an end to Dr. tiller’s power and performance in Kansas.
Kansas and Arizona have something in common. When Janet Napolitano left to become Homeland Security Director, it was Arizona’s gain and the country’s loss. Isn’t it predictable that both these governors are vehemently anti-life?
And what is this I hear about Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback? They are supporting this Sebelius woman for this appointment? Wow, I feel like I’m really living in the Twilight Zone.
I cannot believe it either. I cannot understand why someone wants to kill unborn babies so badly. I mean, when my babies were all inside of me I was concerned with their well-being. All three of my babies were in distress and we did everything to save their lives. I simply cannot imagine thinking the other way. I agree with the person that posted that he has not had any kids and would have been happy to adopt several babies. I would take more children too. I have three, but I would raise many more than that to save them from death and I could do it without any government money, not because I’m rich, but because I would sacrifice to do so. I can’t stand the thought of abortion procedures.
I pray for people who have had abortions to be able to realize it was wrong and not to feel guilty but to advocate against it instead and help other women avoid being party to murder. I believe in forgiveness for those who made the mistake, but I pray they change their hearts and minds. I think a lot of people are for it because they either had one and don’t want to be judged or they know someone who did and they don’t want to be judgmental, this logic is incorrect and allows people to become complicit in murder.
It’s sort of ironic that the same folks who want women to get all kinds of prenatal care (poor women who can’t pay for it on their own) also want to pay for babies to be aborted. Hmmmm….just doesn’t make sense.
I pray that our country will stop turning its back on God’s ways and ask for forgiveness for our sins, so that our nation can once again be fertile soil and protected by God. Anyone who knows even a modicum of history has to acknowledge that the United States was born from divine providence. We have turned our collective backs on God. Now we are paying the price for that.
We must pray for our leaders to have the blinders taken off and for their hearts to soften and for their minds to be unbound by political ideologies and open to truth.
By: gary ellingson | February 19, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I would like to see pro life abolished. Our future new leaders are being butchard at the hands of
greed for money. Its all about the money. A baby that has been conceived is alive and well. People that kill unborn babys should be put out of bizness and locked up so they cant repeat the same thing over again some place else. If baby out side the woom gets killed its called murder, why should inside the womb be any different? Iv been married for 48 years without children thru not fault of my own. I could hav adopted one or 4 of those murdered babys. but our stupid leaders dont see it that way. Murder is OK as long as its inside the womb. There is some wrong with that way of thinking. Murder is killing. Some day they will pay a hi price for their killing ways