Jenkins Lied, didn't contact KPERS board

After it was revealed state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins didn't bother to attended any of the meetings of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System Board during the last quarter- a quarter that saw the fund loose $1 billion- she reassured the taxpayers that she might not have been physically present, but she was in constant contact with the board members & staff. Her actual quotes were:

"We exchanged e-mails on a weekly basis," she said. "We're engaged. We're on the job."

and

"I'm very comfortable with the feedback I'm giving them," she said.

But even in that article, Jenkins has her bubble popped by none other than the Executive Director of KPERS Glenn Deck:

He said he hadn't received any e-mails or phone calls from Jenkins recently and said he wasn't aware of others receiving contact either.

"I don't think so because I think I would be copied," Deck said.

He also said he wasn't aware of feedback Jenkins has provided to the board while she was away.

Regardless of being caught in that lie, Jenkins has continued to tell everyone who is still listening that she's been in constant contact and that everything is fine, really, just fine. Hey! Look over here! Boyda voted to increase taxes!

Ah, but today, we get a little more information about what Jenkins "exchanges" with the board really were.

The question of whether state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins corresponded with officials at the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System while absent from three meetings this fiscal year was partly answered Tuesday by the disclosure of 12 e-mails sent from the KPERS staff to Jenkins.

An open records request by the Kansas Democratic Party shows eight of the e-mails are from the group's executive director, Glen Deck, updating all KPERS board members, including Jenkins, on business before the panel or providing a news article relating to the KPERS fund.

Four other pieces of correspondence were sent from board members to Jenkins congratulating her for winning the August primary.

Jenkins responded to two of the congratulatory e-mails.

So, the constant contact between Jenkins & the KPERS Board was really 14 emails- 8 sent to every single member of the board by Deck, 4 sent to congratulate Jenkins for kicking Jim Ryun's butt in the primary, and two back from Jenkins thanking folk for those kind, kind words.

Oh, but here's the killer:

Records show she didn't write to fellow board members or Deck at any other time.

So absolutely no evidence of any "feedback" from Jenkins.

Is a one way exchange really an exchange?

This is just a sad place to be caught 6 days before an election and awfully hard to explain away- but, dang it, Lynn's staff is trying!

[Jenkins Campaign Manager Patrick Leopold] said the 12 e-mails over three months equates to about one note per week.

"It's completely consistent with what she said," Leopold said in an interview Tuesday.

Getting a digest email once a week from the Director- we're probably talking agenda or minutes here, folks, isn't evidence of being "engaged" or being "on the job." It's evidence she's failing at work, willing to lie to the public, and not the kind of public official we can trust to do her job.

Public office is a public trust. Lynn Jenkins refuses to honor that.