Putting his old constituents in cages

Outside of the hilarious burn rate we see in Jim Ryun's fundraising report (he's spent 75% of the money he raised in 2007), we're horrified to see in it three unique expenditures for "caging."

Caging, as you remember from posts here and on Blue Tide Rising, and on other blogs nationwide, is a practice by which registered mail is sent to a poor person, a college student, or someone serving in the armed services, at the address provided by them on their voter registration card in hopes that that letter comes back undeliverable.

If it does come back undeliverable, the campaign logs that name and address, and will use that information to contest that person's vote come election day.

Not only is it unethical to attempt to deny someone their vote, it's also illegal.

Now, the Kansas Republican Party tried, and I'm sure Ryun will as well, to convince people "caging" is just a mailing term and that nothing untoward is occurring.

That just doesn't jive, though. To quote the web site of one of the firms Ryun has used:

We don't engage in creative design, printing or lettershop services. We don't sell mailing lists or involve ourselves in fundraising management. No, we do just one thing- caging.

How a man hoping to be the representative of the people can actively engage in disenfranchising voters is beyond us, and we hope the mainstream media nails him to the wall for it.

BREAKING: Lynn Jenkins raises next to nothing!

Our updates are complete with Lynn Jenkins numbers, and, let me tell you, these are the best of the night!

4Q raised: A tiny, measly $90,376.52!!!! (Even less than Nick Jordan raised)
Cycle to Date: $406,377.37

Again, the number that pushes us all forward:
Cash on hand: $416,241.73 (it's higher than contributions because of some pesky "other receipts."

So, this quarter ends like all the others: with Nancy Boyda leading in the number that matters most: cash on hand. It's a little different this quarter, though...because she's got almost twice as much as Jim Ryun and hundreds of thousands more than Lynn Jenkins.

Here's the big question, though: what on Earth happened to Lynn Jenkins, CPA?

BREAKING: Boyda blows past Ryun!

Needs to be in the district some more:

4Q raised: 198,454.18
Cycle-to-Date: $960,127.85

HUGELY important:
Cash on Hand: ONLY $364,789.19!

BREAKING: Boyda raises $218K for 4Q, $654K COH

More to come, but Congresswoman Boyda's FEC report has been filled:

4th Quarter raised: $218,054.81
Cycle-to-Date: $771,305.76

And, the important one:
Cash on Hand: $654,420.83

Excellent numbers- more analysis tonight.

Boyda helps towns, connects with constituents

Congresswoman Nancy Boyda has made a name for herself with the residents of eastern Kansas by bringing home federal money for her district- including almost a half million dollars for the city of Iola for a new water treatment plant.

It isn't just Iola, of course, it's cities all over her district, and the money goes to fund deeply important projects that will directly benefit thousands of her constituents.

Iola went so far as to hire a firm to help them secure their money, and while that might be needed when dealing with the offices of our Senators, Nancy Boyda doesn't need anyone to help her connect with her voters- look at the millions of dollars she got for her constituents with no one other than regular Kansans lobbying on their behalf.

But saying Iola had a "lobbyist" goes a little far, though- it was Kansans who had a passion for improving their community:

A dozen residents of Iola, including one who had never been on an airplane, met in Washington, D.C., with U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda to discuss federal funding for three community projects.

"We're not talking about well-heeled lobbyists," said Iola city manager Judy Brigham, who was in the delegation. "It was 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.' "

This novice delegation urged the Kansas Democrat to support a $1.5 million sewer system upgrade, $750,000 community center renovation and $500,000 public library program expansion.

Boyda was persuaded by the presentation and included at least partial funding for all three on a list of 64 projects she recommended to receive support in the federal government's new budget.

Stories like that tell you things can be better in Washington when you have the right kind of people representing you. For the most part, though, the system in Washington is broken, and special interests and big money have too much power. It's refreshing to have someone like Nancy Boyda representing us, because she does what's best for her district regardless of what K Street says.

Government employees thank Boyda for work on their behalf

Today the American Federation of Government Employees issued a press release thanking Congresswoman Nancy Boyda for her work on the Armed Services Committee on their behalf, making it possible once again for civilian men and women who work for the Defense Department under the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) to come together as one voice to ask for better compensation and benefits.

The issue had been a contentious one, with the government acting directly to limit the ability of civilians to collectively bargain.

DoD misled the Congress about the intentions to preserve collective bargaining and ensure a fair appeals process governing suspensions and terminations. The court suits brought by the unions established that DoD intended to strip employees of their rights to a fair hearing and their right to bargaining collectively contravention to DoD’s promise.

These core rights not only assure fairness for employees, but these rights are vital to a merit based career civil service instead of a politicized system. The firing and hiring process in the Department of Justice became highly politicized. NSPS would have opened up DoD to that kind of chicanery on a much bigger scale.

Boyda deserves the thanks of working men and women all over the country for her work on their behalf, from voting to make it easier to form a union to this bill forcing the DoD to back off a highly suspicious plan- she deserves our thanks, and she has them from all of us here.

Democratic enthusiasm vs. Republican depression

This last weekend was a big one for Kansas politics. Both Kansas Democrats and Kansas Republicans held events, as they always do the weekend before Kansas Day.

Now, normally, the event that's the bigger deal, the even that brings in the really big crowds and the big money, is the KS GOP state convention- creatively named "Kansas Days."

Kansas is a Republican state, right? That means lots of excited Republicans getting ready for a great year of stomping Democrats, right?

Wrong, it seems. From all the reports, both media and otherwise, this year's Kansas Days was a massive embarrassment for the KS GOP. Fewer than 300 people showed up for the festivities, and eyewitnesses say both Jim Ryun and Lynn Jenkins where lucky to have more than 25 sad souls visiting their receptions. Look, the only person Jim could find in his empty room to talk to was non-constituent Speaker of the House Melvin "Greenhouse Gases are good for you" Neufeld:

Democrats, on the other hand, held the annual Shawnee County Democrats Bean Feed, which was started years ago to point out a fundamental differnce between Democrats and Republicans: while they're having a fancy $50-a-pop sit down dinner, the Democrats charge ya $10 and we have ham & beans and cornbread in a shelter house at Gage Park.

Normally the Bean Feed attaches 100-150 folk (it is just a one county party event, after all), but this year the folks in charge decided to up the energy a bit, and turned it into a pre-caucus blowout. Still $10, and still ham & beans with cornbread, but instead of a shelter house at Gage Park, the ballroom at the Downtown Ramada, and instead of 100 people, 450-500 people, representatives from all the major presidential campaigns and more enthusiasm and excitement than this cynical D could believe.

As we move into the Kansas Caucuses, that same divide is apparent- Kansas Democrats worry we won't know what to do with huge overflow crowds statewide, while Republicans worry about a PR disaster when no one shows up.

It's things like these, folks, that help all of us be that much more sure that Congressman Dennis Moore will be re-elected in 2008, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda will be re-elected in 2008, and Greg Orman will be our new United States Senator in 2008. It'll never be easy to be a Democrat in Kansas, but with Republicans this depressed and Democrats this engaged, it makes things just a little big easier.

A pround night to be a Kansan- and a reminder of hard work ahead

Governor Kathleen Sebelius just delivered an excellent speech in response to the President's State of the Union address (the video and text of her speech is available here), and having our governor in such a prominent position can't help but make everyone in Kansas (who isn't a partisan Republican hack) feel particularly good about the quality of leadership we have at the top in Topeka.

The success of Kathleen Sebelius in Kansas reminds us that Democrats can win in state like ours if they run on common sense Kansas theme like fiscal responsibility, and Democrats in Kansas since the Sebelius Revolution have had tremendous success with that same message (Dennis Moore and Nancy Boyda, for instance). But even in our successes, we're reminded that it will never be easy for Democrats to win in states like ours where voter registration still is, unfortunately, 2-1 Republican. Dennis Moore got lucking in 2006- it was the first time since he was first elected in 1998 that he had an easy race, and that was only because the Republicans nominated a loser to run against him.

Just like it used to be with Dennis Moore, not one of us here at this blog, or at any level of the Kansas Democratic Party, we would venture to guess, considers Congresswoman Nancy Boyda to be a "safe" incumbent. We know, and Kansas knows, too, that she's representing her district ably and more effectively than her predecessor ever did, but we know in a state like Kansas any Democrat will always face an uphill battle- not because the policies are off, but because of the Republican voter registration advantage.

That factor, and the fact Boyda has two well-funded opponents means we agree she's one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the nation.

But, lets look at history for a second. History says the 2nd District voters splits their vote, supporting their Democratic congressperson and a Republican for president, often- most notably as pointed out by Dr. Bill Roy: He won re-election to his second term with 61% of the vote when Kansas gave George McGovern 29% of the vote in the same election. It did the same thing for Jim Slattery in 1984, 1988, and 1992.

Dr. Roy also correctly points out that Democrats have held this "Republican" district for 22 out of the last 36 years.

Nancy Boyda is regardless vulnerable, and we shouldn't ever forget that the other side is going to throw everything they can make up at her. This blog does it's best to show everything she's doing that is superb, but, in the end, Republicans will demonize her and try to convince voters she's something she isn't. On top of that, they come into this with a built in advantage, so we'll have to work twice as hard and be twice as smart to make up for it.

We're sure we'll prevail in November. Why? Because Kathleen Sebelius did, and Dennis Moore did, and Bill Roy did and Jim Slattery did and, mostly, because Nancy Boyda did. 2008 will be a lot more like 2006 than 2004, and, if we don't get complacent, we'll see that same success we say in '06 in '08.

Boyda announces more disaster relief for Kansas farmers

2007 was a hard year for a lot of people in Kansas, particularly in the Second Congressional districts. Late snow, the Greensburg tornado and May flooding, and then more flooding later in the summer left our farmers looking at ruined crops and no idea as to what would come next.

Congresswoman Nancy Boyda's office, along with the offices of our two US Senators, worked hard to make sure as many Kansans as possible were covered by FEMA with disaster aid, and communities from Osawatomie to Burlingame thank them for their dedication to the people they were elected to serve.

Boyda also announced this week that even more assistance will be made available to her constituents.

Congresswoman Nancy Boyda (Kansas Second District) announced today that Kansas farmers and ranchers who suffered crop, feed, and livestock losses in federally declared disaster areas in 2007 may be eligible for new assistance from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

"A whole lot of folks suffered damage to their crops and livestock as a result of Kansas weather last year," Rep. Boyda said. "With this new disaster aid, Congress is extending a helping hand."

Congresswoman Boyda's hard work on our behalf has benefited us again and again this past year, and we'd positive the people of the district see and appreciate her efforts.

Thank you to the rest of the Kansas delegation for helping ensure every district of Kansas got the assistance that was so desperately needed.

Boyda endorses stimulus package

As reported in today's Topeka Capitol-Journal, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda supports the stimulus package agreement that has been reached between Democratic House leadership, the Republican minority and the White House.

The stimulus package negotiated by the Bush administration and House Republicans and Democrats would provide individual taxpayers up to $600 rebates, with working couples pocketing $1,200. Those with children would get an additional $300 per child.

"That will be money injected directly into the economy," said Democratic Rep. Nancy Boyda.

Though we are loath to say it, Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) made a good point, though we don't agree with his analysis. The article reads thusly:

The drawback, Tiahrt said, was the Internal Revenue Service might not be able to send out rebate checks until June or July. It is a big job, given that more than 100 million taxpayers might qualify for a rebate.

"If there is a recession, it will probably be over by then," he said.

It is deeply unfortunate that the rebate checks might not be in the mail until June or July because our economy needs a stimulus right this very minute. Our end fear is very different from Mr. Tiahrt's- we're afraid this will all come too late to do any good, and by June or July the recession will have firmly established itself, and millions of Kansans and Americans will have suffered for months.

Boyda votes to override President's SCHIP veto- again

News from Wednesday (from the Wichita Eagle):

President Bush reportedly was “pleased” that Congress failed Wednesday to override his veto of an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. No doubt the estimated 4 million children the legislation could have helped aren’t as happy.

The bill, which Bush called “misguided,” has broad support in both chambers and has the bipartisan backing of state governors. And as Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., has noted, most of the criticisms of the bill are phony, including Bush’s current line that SCHIP pushes people out of the private insurance market.

Nonetheless, the House failed again to override Bush’s veto, this time by 15 votes. Reps. Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, and Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, voted to override. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, voted not to override. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, didn’t vote.

All of us agree Congress has to continue working to override the President's irresasonible veto of SCHIP, and we'd like to thank Senator Pat Roberts, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda and Congressman Dennis Moore for their vote.

We challenge you to create the next great viral video

The Internet revolution has changed the way people run for office- nowadays, having a web site is almost as important has having a phone number. The Internet has provided amazing new ways to contact and connect with voters, be it through social networking sites like Facebook or Myspace, or via blogs just like this one- each new advent has expanded exponentially the ability for candidates or elected officials to spread their message and engage with the community.

There's another part of the revolution that hasn't made it into this race yet: the use of YouTube videos to show your support for your candidate of choice. Our personal favorite way folks nationwide have been showing their support for candidates is through song:

None of us here can sing...also, none of us play the guitar (though the harmonica is another thing entirely...). But we have a feeling someone out there in Internet land can sing, and can play the guitar, and feels the same way we do about the excellent job Nancy Boyda is doing in Congress.

So, today, we'd like to challenge you out there to create your own Nancy Boyda YouTube video. It doesn't have to be a song, it can be a testimonial, it can be anything- just let us know why you think Nancy Boyda is a great member of Congress, and why she's the best candidate to vote for in 2008.

Send your submissions (or a link to it) to boydabloc@gmail.com and we'll post any we receive (and that we like) here on the blog.

Here's another fun example of what you could do...though this is a little older:

Lynn Jenkins Ceepeeaye

OK, no, we aren't going to call the Treasurer of the State of Kansas anything other than her name, Lynn Jenkins, because we aren't nearly as childish as the good people of that other Nancy Boyda blog (that one that doesn't like her very much, you know the one...), but we all found this comment really, really funny:

"Did you know, for instance, that Lynn is a CPA?"

LOL....judging by her tv commercials, I assumed that her full name was Lynn Jenkins-Ceepeeaye.

This follow-up was particularly funny, too:

that actually is her legal name..that's why she has to have "CPA" on all her yard signs

Our readership always spikes when Lynn gets a mention...dunno why. We'd love to talk about her more, and we will- the very next time she makes the news.

Boyda celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in Topeka, Manhattan

Yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and Cngresswoman Nancy Boyda joined hundreds celebrating the life of Dr. King at events in Topeka and Manhattan.

KSNT news quoted her saying this about his legacy:

Congress woman Nancy Boyda challenged this group of Kansans to use Dr. King's teachings in their everyday lives, “It's easy to stand up and respect him because we do, and we honor his legacy because we do, but now it's time to figure out what that means in our daily lives."

KSNT also has video of Boyda's remarks- link at the beginning of the article.

Lynn Jenkins: A self-promoting self-promoter

How we missed this is a complete and total mystery- Lynn Jenkins makes the news so rarely you would have thought it would have jumped out at us.

In his Jan. 8 column in the The Topeka Capital-Journal, columnist Ric Anderson ranked Lynn Jenkins the worst self-promoter of all the statewide elected officials and department heads in Kansas, mentioning the fact she's spent thousands of dollars to put herself in shiny TV ads that promote herse-oh no, wait, Learning Quest:

Mr. Anderson saying the following:

1. Lynn Jenkins, treasurer

Many state department sites lead off with a general "About Us" option that explains basic operations, services, organizational structure, etc. Not the treasurer's. Instead, visitors are invited to "Meet Lynn" as the first button on navigation menus that extend vertically and horizontally from a photo of Jenkins. The button connects to a bio containing one paragraph of information about the state treasurer's duties and five graphs about Jenkins' accomplishments and background. There's also a link to an "official bio sheet" that contains exactly the same information in pdf form.

Did you know, for instance, that Lynn is a CPA? How about the fact she drove all the snakes out of Ireland during a year abroad during her undergrad education?

Anderson asks a good question:

Take State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins' ad campaign for Learning Quest, a college investment fund administered by her office. Is she doing it for Kansas kids or to butter up voters in her personal quest to succeed Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan.?

We're certain Jenkins cares a lot more about her own personal ambition than for anyone else who lives in Kansas, and we're also sure that she's using the budget at her disposal to increase her name recognition for her run for Congress.

A little promotion never hurt anybody, but Lynn Jenkins crosses the line when she spends ridiculous amounts of money on television ads to shove her smiling face in front of the voters.

Note: Jenkins responded to Anderson's column. We're glad she's got a sense of humor, and we're as glad as she is that she is number one on this list, too. The more she can do to remind the taxpayers she isn't responsible with money, the better.

Nancy Boyda: In your corner, on your corner

We've done our level best since this blog went live in October to trumpet all of Nancy Boyda's successes, and we've brought you links to articles published in newspapers districtwide that support the very important, very real message that Congresswoman Boyda has spent a full year voting with her district, securing funds for projects in her district, and, probably most importantly, coming home and talking to people that live in her district.

Former Congressman Jim Ryun got kicked out on his tail because 1) people in the district decided he was corrupt (bingo!) and 2) they suddenly all realized they only saw him during election years. That makes sense, since he didn't really think of Kansas as his home anymore- he didn't have any reason to come back here.

That certainly hasn't been the case with Rep. Nancy Boyda. From our count, there have only been 3 or 4 weekends out of all of 2007 that Nancy Boyda didn't make it back to her district for some public event- far, far better than the vast majority of members of Congress, and much more time back at home than most of the rest of the freshmen class.

Boyda's record would be nearly perfect if it wasn't for her two trips to Iraq (which is one more, by the way, than our former member of Congress made to Iraq in his entire term...), and the new member orientation that was held the very first weekend after she was sworn in.

When she's back in Kansas, the very best component part of her constituent service program is "Congress on Your Corner," which literally brings the constituent services folk out of her two district offices and brings them to cities up and down the district. They're always packed and they always run long, because Nancy insists on talking to each and every person that wants to talk to her.

Congresswoman Boyda's got a great map on her web site that shows all of her Congress on Your Corners- and every other public event she's had since being elected to Congress. Please, partake.

Honest to goodness, we haven't had a member of Congress like Nancy Boyda since Jim Slattery left office, and it's that kind of over-and-above effort that will give her her much-deserved 2nd term.

Boyda tours Ft. Leavenworth, Ft. Riley

As reported by the Leavenworth Times, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda brought the chairman of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee to Kansas this week for a tour our the military bases in the 2nd Congressional District, specifically to show of new construction at those bases.

“There’s just so much going on here,” Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, said while at the Lewis and Clark Center.

He (Edwards) credited Boyda for working with him to secure funding for a new chapel complex at Fort Leavenworth. But Boyda said Jack Walker, deputy to the Fort Leavenworth garrison commander, deserves a lot of credit for speaking to her about the issue.

The chapel project had been planned for the future, but the funding should start construction earlier than anticipated.

Chaplain Col. Glen L. Bloomstrom, command chaplain for the Combined Arms Center, thanked Boyda and Edwards for the chapel funding. At the moment, alternating Protestant and Catholic services are jammed into what he said is a 1960s building.

“Our hallways get pretty crowed,” he said before meeting the members of Congress.

Another great bit of news for the people of northeastern Kansas:

Boyda said increased Veterans Affairs funding should put to bed rumors of the Leavenworth VA hospital closing.

Jim Ryun: Not from Kansas anymore

In pouring over filing reports recently submitted to the Kansas Ethics Commission, a keen-eyed observer noted something tremendously interesting in the report filed by Kansans for Life.

It shows that former Congressman Jim Ryun gave the anti-abortion political organization $75 on February 7, 2007.

That, of course, isn't surprising, or even potentially interesting- everyone expects single issue politicians like Jim to support their out-of-the-mainstream political action committees.

No, what was interesting was that the former Kansas Congressman listed his address on that contribution as his infamous sweetheart-of-a-deal house on D Street in Washington, DC, not his "home" in Lawrence.

Innocent error? The congressman didn't actually mean to say he lived in Washington, DC rather than here in Kansas?

That would be believable if not for the fact this was just one of a half dozen instances where the then sitting US Congressman or his wife "forgot" they were from Kansas and listed their DC address along with donations- dating back to 2004. (Please click here, here or here We'd also encourage you to run your own search on OpenSecrets.org).

Each one of those "mistakes" tells you exactly where Jim and Anne consider themselves from now- even while Jim represented us- badly- in Congress, he thought of his house on D Street as home.

You know, honestly, that $75 to Kansans for Life in February 2007 would been the very least innocuous of all of these donations under normal circumstances, seeing as he was no longer supposed to be representing the 2nd Congressional District in the House and it was then fine for him to be from Washington, DC- but, oh, wait! He'd already told a gathering of Kansas Republicans he was planning on running for "his" seat again!

The people of Kansas knew Jim Ryun wasn't really one of them anymore...now we've got some evidence he doesn''t really, either.

Constituents stand up for Nancy Boyda

In response to a letter to the editor of the Topeka Capital-Journal encouraging the paper to stop covering the good work Congresswoman Nancy Boyda is doing, two folk wrote in to encourage the opposite:

Good news for Kansas

A letter complaining about Nancy Boyda's news coverage in The Capital-Journal ignores this fact: She works. After 10 years of old rubber-stamp Ryun, who did little, achieved less and accomplished nothing beyond being a bobble-headed yes man and self-enrichment through money changer in the temple house deals, Rep. Boyda serves the people of Kansas and thinks like an American.

She has sponsored legislation that benefits Kansas, cooperates with Republicans and supports our fighting men and women. That's news. The Capital-Journal's coverage of her efforts and achievements testifies that Kansans have elected an honest-to-goodness worker. Boyda for Kansans; Kansans for Boyda. That's good news. Very good news.

DAVID L. TANGEMAN, Topeka

Representative at work

In response to the letter by Jack Kirchhofer (Jan. 6) complaining of the number of articles in The Capital-Journal about Rep. Nancy Boyda, the number of news items is a reflection of her active role in representing the district. We haven't had a member of Congress this active on our behalf in decades.

Given the enormous amount of money blown off in Washington these days, I'm pleased to know that my tax dollars are well spent at least by my congressional representative. Keep reporting.

SARAH J. WOOD, Topeka

Couldn't have it it better ourselves.

Where's Jim? Gone to Disney World!

A couple weeks ago we told you about Jim Ryun's vacation to Hawaii in December to glad-hand marathon runners in Honolulu. All of us here hoped he'd gotten that kind of ego-stroking out of his system.

Well, hope in one hand...

This time, the former Olympian and poor excuse for a congressman will be participating in a seminar on Saturday in the lead up to a marathon at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.



At least he's staying on the continent this time.

Boyda secures $94,000 for Miami County Sheriff

Story in the Miami County Weekend details the $94,000 earmark Nancy Boyda secured for the Miami County Sheriff's Department in the recently approved budget bill.

The money will go toward tough laptops and mounting equipment for deputies’ cars, Kelly said. With the laptops and a new records system, deputies will be able to file reports using wireless Internet hotspots and not have to leave the field, he said. The office will start using the new software in the next two months.

The number of laptops the office will get will be determined by the total cost, which includes hard-covered laptops, equipment to mount them in the cars and networking, Kelly said.

“We were fortunate to get the money,” he said.

As a follow up to yesterday's post, a commenter provided this link for anyone who wanted look a little deeper at Congresswoman Boyda's record on illegal immigration: It gives bill and vote numbers for Boyda's votes against amnesty and to fund the border fence. Also, the site provide Representative Boyda a grade on her votes thus far on illegal immigration: she gets an "A."

Boyda continues to be right on illegal immigration, NAFTA

Watch your mailboxes (if you live in the 2nd District of Kansas)- Congresswoman Nancy Boyda's office has sent out a bulletin detailing her work to halt illegal immigration and on trade issue she confronted in her first year in Congress.

Just a couple of the items from the mailer: Boyda was one of the only Democrats to oppose efforts in the House and Senate to grant amnesty to illegal immigration, and Boyda successfully pushed a bill to near- unanimous approval to prevent a Bush Administration plan to allow unsafe Mexican trucks to drive deep into the United States.

Another issue Boyda mentions in her mailer has continued to garner her press mentions: her bill to require the renegotiation of NAFTA:

Boyda and Kaptur, the lead sponsors, aren’t waiting for the study. They want NAFTA renegotiated, now. If the negotiations do not produce 5 specific, concrete improvements, the bill says the U.S. must withdraw from NAFTA.

"NAFTA is dragging down our economy, weakening our borders, and devastating our manufacturers. After 14 years, it's time to either fix NAFTA or get the heck out of it,” Boyda, the lead sponsor, told a radio show in Wichita, announcing the bill. “Even supporters admit NAFTA is deeply flawed, but nobody had the guts to fix the problem.”

One thing is undeniable: Congresswoman Nancy Boyda is representing her district better than it has seen since the early 1990's, particularly on illegal immigration and on trade.

(Note: We still plan a year end round-up...sorry to keep putting it off!)

Boyda wraps up 2007 for Kansas editorial boards

Congresswoman Nancy Boyda sat down with the editorial boards of the Topeka Capital-Journal and the Lawrence Journal-World over the last couple of days, with both papers releasing stories today.

From the Lawrence Journal-World on illegal immigration:

U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., says Congress needs to find a way to help employers identify illegal immigrants through a “practical employer verification program.”

“Then you can move forward and talk about what else we’re going to do to make policies that are going to work for the long term, but without a way to enforce it, you can’t really have a meaningful policy,” she said.

During an interview Monday with the Journal-World, the first-term congresswoman from Topeka touted her co-sponsorship of the SAVE — Secure America with Verification and Enforcement — Act, which also includes provisions for border security.

Illegal immigration has been a major federal and state issue for several years. Boyda also has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s Mexican trucking pilot program, which gives Mexican drivers greater access to U.S. highways.

From the Topeka Capital-Journal on Iraq:

Boyda also addressed the war in Iraq, commending Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces.

"What he brings to it is some wisdom about what it takes to operate within Iraq," she said. "If they're too aggressive, they hurt the situation. If they're not aggressive enough, they're not moving anything forward. The line is extremely thin."

She said she talked with the Marine general in charge of Anbar province who said the United States might see troop withdrawals.

"I said, 'Are you telling me all the troops are going to be out of Anbar province?' and he said, 'Yes, ma'am, I think they are.' "

She wants to get the good news out there without doing anything "that looks like mission accomplished," she said referring to the "mission accomplished" banner that hung over Bush's 2003 statement that major combat missions in Iraq were over.

Unfortunately, the Cap-J decided to make the story's lead about Boyda's husband's chances of becoming the new Kansas Attorney General. It'd be nice if the paper would keep it's eyes on the ball- tell us about the quality job Congresswoman Boyda is doing, rather than random speculation about something totally un-related to her job representing us.

(Photo from the Topeka Capital-Journal)

Back!

Sorry for the long wait- we'll have something new up shortly. In them mean time, the Topeka Capital-Journal ran a story top of the fold on page one today about how well (or poorly- Sam Brownback) our delegation showed up and voted this year.

Congresswoman Nancy Boyda didn't have the best record- that prize goes to fellow Democrat Dennis Moore, her 98% attendance was pretty dang spiffy. Thanks for doing your job, Nancy!

Story here.