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.

Letters to the Editor: Kansas Deserves Better than Lynn Jenkins

Two good letters in today's Topeka Capital-Journal from regular folk again saying we, as a state, simply can't afford Lynn Jenkins in Washington, DC as our representative.

We Deserve Better

I am writing in response to the article Oct. 8 about Lynn Jenkins' attendance — or should I say lack thereof — at KPERS board meetings.

I don't doubt for a moment that running a campaign for Congress can be distracting, but even so, Kansans expect their state treasurer to keep an eye on their investments.

Yet Lynn Jenkins missed every single KPERS board meeting last quarter as the pension fund suffered a billion-dollar loss.

These are very, very difficult economic times. We work hard for our pensions. And our hard-earned income from tax dollars should receive the same attention that we as state employees bring to our jobs.

We don't make much money, but we make Kansas work and pay taxes, too. KPERS board members are expected to be trustees of our retirement fund as well as keepers and advisers of important tax dollars paid by all Kansans. It's times like these when sound leadership and close oversight are most important.

Showing up for work is not only a part of the job description, it's a minimum expectation. Hardworking Kansans deserve better.

LISA OCHS, Topeka

Keeping Money at Home

After reading the Oct. 17 article, "Who's got the money?" I was curious to learn where candidates for the 2nd Congressional District seat were spending their campaign money, so I went to CJOnline to check it out. It seems that, despite her commercials saying how much she will do for the people of this district and how important her local roots are, Lynn Jenkins prefers to spend her campaign money out of state.

Some examples: Her campaign flyers came out of Lexington, Mass.; her campaign banners and yard signs came out of Houston; and a firm in Alexandria, Va., provided the following — commercial broadcast buys, media placement, commercial production, television ad artwork production — and even conducted a voter attitudes survey.

It would seem to me there must be some companies in the 2nd District capable of at least producing campaign yard signs.

On the other side of the ticket, Nancy Boyda has spent her campaign money here, with companies in Topeka and Lawrence supplying her signs, commercial ad production, advertising placement, media buys and graphic production. I like the fact that a candidate wanting to represent me in Washington, D.C., is spending her campaign money with local businesses, especially in this time of financial stress and difficulty for so many business people.

SUSAN D. CHAN, Topeka

Jenkins Refuses to Reveal KPERS E-mails until after Election

From the Kansas Democratic Party:

Jenkins’ Office Refusing to Reveal KPERS E-mails until after Election

As Extent of Contact with KPERS Board Remains in Question, Jenkins Won’t Reveal Why She Skipped Board Meetings

TOPEKA – State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins’ office has refused to immediately respond to an October 9 Kansas Open Records Act request for any e-mails she sent to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) board between July 1 and September 30, a period during which Jenkins skipped every single board meeting and the fund lost one billion dollars.

Under state law, records requested under the Kansas Open Records Act must generally be released within three business days. However, Jenkins’ office maintains they may not release the records until after the November election, writing:

“Please be advised that due to current heavy workloads for the agency’s management staff and multiple projects involving our information technology staff we anticipate completing the research required to fulfill your request October 31, 2008. As I’m sure you’re aware, once the pertinent emails have been located staff will have to review them to determine if any exceptions to the Kansas Open Records Act apply.”

The content of the e-mails are of significant public interest because Jenkins’ claims about her contact with the KPERS board directly contradict the statements of board members.

Jenkins has insisted that she remained in frequent touch with the KPERS board during her extended absence: “We exchanged e-mails on a weekly basis,” she told the Topeka Capital-Journal. “We’re engaged. We're on the job.”

But the board's executive director sharply disputed her account:

KPERS executive director Glenn Deck... 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. [Topeka Capital-Journal, 10/08/08]

“Lynn Jenkins skipped KPERS board meetings as Kansas workers lost a billion dollars,” said Mike Gaughan, Executive Director of the Kansas Democratic Party. “Now she is dodging straightforward questions about her absences until after Election Day. Voters deserve to know the answers before they cast their ballots on November 4.”

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What are you scared of, Lynn? Why on Earth would you refuse to tell the people of Kansas where you were during all those missed meetings if you were attending to different business of the State of Kansas? Could it be...because you weren't attending to the business of Kansas, and rather attending to the business of Lynn Jenkins?

And, really, which is true- have you been in contact with the Board via email, or is the executive director telling the truth, and that you really actually haven't been?

Only time- and a freedom of information request- well tell since you so clearly refuse to.

Boyda Missed Meetings for Other Meetings, Jenkins Skipped Out to Campaign

As promised, more on the KS GOP and Christian Morgan's little stunt today- Part Uno, which we will call "Nancy Boyda missed a bunch of meetings, too...so stop talking about Lynn Jenkins missing KPERS meetings!!!!"

OK, first off- Christian, darling...when you're trying to distract voters, you can't be so damn obvious...

A Republican official is attacking Democratic Rep. Nancy Boyda for missing 11 meetings of the House Armed Services Committee.

The GOP attack is a [desperate...BB] effort to blunt Boyda's criticism of her Republican opponent, Lynn Jenkins, a two-term state treasurer who missed a dozen meetings as a state pension fund trustee.

"See!" shrieks Christian Morgan, "Boyda missed as many meetings as Jenkins did!"

No so fast, little one:

Boyda's staff on Monday confirmed that she missed 11 Armed Services Committee meetings and, in response to questions from The Associated Press, provided a list of scheduling conflicts.

Oh dear...the gambit starts to unravel. You mean...Boyda was...in other meetings? Like...the Agriculture Committee? Or she was back home dealing with constituent issues? You mean...gulp...she was still doing her job the whole time? Crap...

Where was Lynn when she wasn't at the KPERS meetings? Hmmm? Will anyone tell us? Ever?

No, of course they won't- because when Lynn Jenkins wasn't at the KPERS Board of Trustees meetings she was out campaigning for a new job- skipping out on Kansans to feed her own ambition.

Christian, who can't help himself, just keeps digging:

Christian Morgan, the Kansas GOP's executive director, questioned some of Boyda's reasons for missing the meetings but said the larger issue is Boyda's hypocrisy in raising such an issue about Jenkins.

"It wouldn't be an issue unless Nancy Boyda kind of understood that elected officials have a lot of going on," Morgan said. "She wants others to play by a certain set of rules, and she wants to play by another."

First off...what are you, a valley girl, with that condescending "kind of" tossed in there? You should have just said, "Like, totally, Boyda should so know state treasurers are like busy and stuff."

Gag me with a spoon.

Second- if Lynn missed KPERS meetings because she had intense and important treasurer business to attend to, that'd be one thing, and understandable. But if that had been the case, she would have already detailed exactly where she was and why it was important she was there- and she hasn't. Why hasn't she? Because that wasn't the case.

Regardless, each and every time Boyda missed one of the meetings of the Armed Services Committee she was still doing the business of the people of the 2nd District.

Boyda spokesman Thomas Seay said the congresswoman posts her schedule online, so that her constituents can see when she has conflicts. Also, when she misses committee meetings, he said, she sends staff. [Which Jenkins did not bother to do- BB].

"It's politically motivated nonsense," Seay said.

The AP story does go on to say Jenkins has dismissed the meeting attendance issue as "unimportant," and repeats her lie that she was in contact with the Board via email- something the Executive Director of KPERS says isn't the case.

Morgan and the Republicans are grasping at straws, and their desperation is showing. As Boyda's spokesman says, regardless of what Boyda does, they're going to critisize her.

Seay said if Boyda had attended the Armed Services meetings and, for example, skipped Agriculture meetings, Republicans would criticize her for not being diligent about agriculture issues.

"Her opponents are going to attack her no matter what she does," Seay said.

In the end, again, it's clear who wasn't doing their job for Kansans. Certainly, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda hasn't attended every meeting of the Armed Services Committee- but every time she missed it was because she was attending to different official business. Lynn Jenkins skipped out on her responsibilities to the people of Kansas because she was too busy trying to advance herself.

When Jenkins stopped working for Kansas and started working solely for herself is one of the saddest questions we all have to face this election cycle.

KS GOP Tries to Make Boyda Doing Her Job a Bad Thing

More on both of these stories tomorrow, but today the Kansas Republican Party tried really, really hard to make Congresswoman Nancy Boyda doing her job actually Congresswoman Nancy Boyda failing to do her job- and their arguments made exactly as much sense as this sentence does.

First, they're trying awfully hard to compare meetings Boyda has missed on Capitol Hill in DC because of other meetings on Capitol Hill something akin to the KPERS Board of Trustee meetings Lynn Jenkins missed for reasons her campaign refuses to state (*cough* campaigning *cough*). Stupid, desperate move there.

Second, right this very minute we hear the Kansas Republican Party is holding a protest outside of Nancy Boyda's campaign headquarters (actually, from what we understand, it's 5 people on the corner across the street from the HQ, but whatever). They're protesting because Boyda's office has spent about $200,000 of it's budget on "voter communication"- stuff like mailers and newspaper ads and the like- you know, doing that horrible, horrible thing Jim Ryun never did: COMMUNICATING WITH CONSTITUENTS. Oh, the horror!

Anyway, we're sure the Republican partisans who hate Nancy Boyda don't want her to talk about anything she's done ever, but, know what? Most voters do, which is why this second little stunt is even more desperate than the first.

Again, more on both tomorrow...particularly if the day is a slow news day in Topeka.

Jenkins Attends KPERS Meeting!

A la the Associated Press:

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - After missing three meetings, State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins made a meeting today of the state pension fund board of trustees.

Jenkins, a Republican, is running for the 2nd Congressional District seat.

And Democrats have criticized her for missing meetings of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System board.

Jenkins has missed 12 of the 47 meetings the KPERS board has had since she became treasurer in 2003.

She missed meetings in July, August and September. During that time, financial turmoil caused the value of KPERS assets to drop by nearly $1.1 billion.

Jenkins has said she kept up with KPERS business by e-mail.

Asked if Democrats had goaded her into attending, she said no.

Lie, of course, that she's in contact with the KPERS folk via email- at least that's what the Executive Director says:

KPERS executive director Glenn Deck said a member of the treasurer's office contacted him last week to find out the slumping market's effects on the pension fund. 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.

At least she's back at work...

Jenkins Sat on Fund Mess-up for Two Months

From not showing up to KPERS meetings while the fund was losing $1 billion to waving around a plan to cut funds for rural Kansas schools and student loans to mismanaging $15 million in taxes, Lynn Jenkins is proving more and more she's just really, really bad with money.

From today's Topeka Capital-Journal:

State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins made no effort to inform Kansas counties upon the initial discovery of a state computer blunder that led to misallocation of an undetermined portion of $22.5 million in fuel tax revenue and vehicle registration fees shared with county governments, officials said Wednesday.

The Topeka Republican said a software miscue introduced into the treasurer's computer system nearly a decade ago had gone undetected until April. For nine years, the glitch shortchanged or overpaid counties receiving shares of $2.5 million annually allocated to them, but a full accounting of mistaken payments doesn't exist.

If that's not unbelievable enough from a woman harping about on-the-job diligence when it comes to her opponent, read on:

Josh Hersh, spokesman for Jenkins' congressional campaign, said Jenkins "notified all relevant parties" about the computer malfunction by sending letters April 18 to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and leaders of the House and Senate. Another spokeswoman for Jenkins said a two-sentence statement, along with the letter to Sebelius, was simultaneously dropped in mail boxes of Statehouse reporters. It didn't result in any newspaper, radio or television coverage.

"Of course," Jenkins said, "none of the press found it worthy to report on."

It wasn't until June that the state treasurer's office systematically informed county officials about problems made in calculating distribution of payments, said Jeff Wagaman, assistant state treasurer. By that time, a private audit paid for by the treasurer's office had affirmed allocations to counties were wrong.

So, they knew in April the error existed and that for six years of the Jenkins administration they had been either shortchanging or underpaying counties across the state. She told the Governor (good girl, Lynn) and some legislative leaders, and then slide a two-line nothing into the drawers of the state government press pool. Story effectively made too small to notice- move on to the next step: Do nothing. Then, in June- months later- finally tell the counties you've been screwing up for years and years, all the while hoping it doesn't becoming public because lord knows you don't want to do anything to jeopardize you little run for higher office.

But, at least, in June we all know there's a mistake and it's been rectified, right? Oh, don't you betcha...

Wagaman said the 2008 annual payment to counties also was made in June. It was based on the old, faulty calculation scheme rather than a corrected formula.

Oh, good. Just keeping doing it wrong. Jenkins has told all the counties how much the either owe to the state or are owed from the state at least, right?

No spreadsheet has been produced by the treasurer's office denoting shortfalls and overpayments since 1999, Wagaman said.

Oh, no! Again with the failing!

But, gosh, she'll at least take the credit for screwing it all up for SIX FRIGGIN' YEARS, right?

A fact sheet distributed Wednesday by the Jenkins' campaign assigned blame to her predecessor as treasurer, Tim Shallenburger, nongovernment auditors hired by the state and the Kansas Department of Revenue. Some statistics transferred to the treasurer from the revenue department were wrong, Jenkins said.

Mike Gaughan, executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party, said statements by Jenkins and her campaign staff pointed a finger at everyone but the GOP candidate.

"For an accountant," Gaughan said, "Lynn Jenkins seems to have zero interest in accountability."

To say the least, Mr. Gaughan, to say the least.

For six years Lynn Jenkins- who promises to go to Washington and "clean house," had a huge, huge ledger book error right under her nose.

Finally, after someone else found it she waited two months before she told the people who really needed to know- our county governments.

Now, because of her inattentiveness, counties might be expected to pay the state treasury back for overpayments Jenkins allowed to happen. What on Earth will Woodson County or Brown County or Linn County do if Lynn Jenkins sends them a letter today that says, "Oh, I'm so sorry, but because I overpayed you for years you owe the state $150,000"? Counties have already crafted their 2009 budgets at this point- if she had acted with due diligence and delivered to them the amount the are either owed from the state or owe back to the state in April, May, or even June of this year, it's possible they wouldn't be faced with the potentially disastrous choice of paying for Lynn's error or funding necessary county projects.

This kind of lax attention to her duties as treasurer are simply unacceptable, and she owes every county government and every single Kansas taxpayer an apology for dedicating her time and efforts to running for Congress rather than the job she has right now.

With this horrible mismanagement of state money, and the fact she couldn't be bothered to even show up to meetings of the KPERS Board of Trustees while a $1 billion loss was happening, it is just amazing Lynn Jenkins would dare to ask us to trust her with our federal tax dollars.

How could she be this bad at her job in Topeka and expect to get sent to Washington, DC?

Lynn Jenkins: Something about Balls?

Boyda vs. Jenkins Round Three

After three debates, it's pretty obvious there's not much love lost between our little candidates for Congress. Regardless of the all of the fireworks, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda again showed herself to be the more knowledgeable and the more professional of the two woman running in the Kansas 2nd.

We aren't going to do a point-by-point (we did that over on Twitter- ain't the interwebs fun?), but we do have a couple of highlights we'd like to return to:

• Earmarks: Boyda and Jenkins went round and round again on earmarks, and we all should, again, come away with the same basic points: Lynn Jenkins will make sure KU and K-State don't receive federal monies for research programs, she'll make sure places like Iola don't get help building new water treatment facilities designed to provide clean drinking water to her would-be constituents, and she will make sure our law enforcement officials don't have the new equipment they need to keep us safe. That's the commitment we all got again from Lynn tonight.

• Taxes: Jenkins continued to lie about Nancy Boyda's record in Congress reading taxes. The facts- Boyda hasn't voted to increase taxes on working class Americans even once, while Lynn Jenkins has, in fact, actually vote to raise sales taxes, gasoline taxes, and property taxes. Actually, Lynn's the only person in this race who has ever voted to increase taxes on the middle class. Oh, something else? Those tax increases all came after Jenkins promised she wouldn't raise taxes. So much for that whole pledge thing, huh, Lynn?

• Diligence: Lynn Jenkins promises us that, as a CPA, she's going to go to Washington and "clean things up" and find all kinds of money she can cut from the budget all over the place and use her CPA powers to balance the budget in 18 months...even though she'd be a freshmen member of the minority party who literally everyone will ignore.
  

Anyway, she's going to go to DC and make sweeping reforms and find huge savings for us as taxpayers. Oh...but, Lynn, it took you six years- six years- to discover a formula error in the way our state handles gasoline tax revenues. For six years you mismanaged millions and millions of dollars all because of an error you rightly say you didn't cause- but that you didn't catch either.

So sorry, Lynn, but the Kansas state budget is nothing compared to the federal one, and $15 million is nothing compared to trillions- but, still, if you couldn't find a mistake right under your nose that had been there for six everloving years, how on Earth will you ever find anything buried deep in the federal budget? Even you aren't really that naive.

(Pair that evidence our little CPA is bad at her job with the fact she couldn't even be bothered to attend any of the meetings of the KPERS Board of Trustees for the last quarter- while the state retirement system was losing a $1 billion...she's not just a flawed candidate for Congress, she's a bad State Treasurer).

It's remarkably clear: Lynn Jenkins loses on the issues, she loses on rhetoric, and she even loses when you talk about the job she has right now today! Please, tell me- when you balance the two, how in the world can anyone justify a vote for Lynn Jenkins right now today?

UPDATE: Read more about the debate at the Kansas City Star, the Topeka Capital-Journal and WIBW Channel 13 Topeka. A choice pull from the Cap-J article:

Jenkins said local governments should pay for local projects and responded to Boyda's mention of no Kansas Republicans revealing their earmark requests.

"I'm not running against Todd Tiahrt, or Dennis Moore or Pat Roberts," Jenkins said. "I'm running against Nancy Boyda, and I'm saying you're flat wrong on this issue."

Boyda shot back that Jenkins' "cloak of righteousness" on earmarks would have negative effects locally.

"If you have your way, Kansas will absolutely be the loser in this whole thing," she said.

Yep, Kansas will be out millions of dollars for things like law enforcement equipment, water treatment plants, university research that creates jobs all over the state if Jenkins is our representative in Congress.

Lynn Jenkins is the one who is flat wrong on this issue, and if she got her way, she's hurt Kansas in order to get elected to Congress. That's just wrong.

KS GOP Blogs Stupid: "Nancy's a Poopy Head!"

See, we were going to wait until tomorrow to post something regarding Lynn Jenkins' miserable performance in tonight's debate (and that post is still scheduled to hit tomorrow morning, childrens), but we just couldn't let Christian Morgans inane word vomit over at The Kansas Trunkline (snicker) go without some kind of response.

Mr. Morgan said:

All through the debate, Nancy Boyda disrespected not only Lynn Jenkins, but the hosts and the rules of the debate. It is a small issue, but a clear indication that Nancy Boyda will break any rule and cut every corner to win an election.

Oh, you whiny, infantile little twit! You are the King of Melodramaland, and Prince of False Umbrage. The vanity plate on your car doesn't say "Oh my paws and whiskers," does it?

Are you seriously going to say, as the spokesman for a state-level political party, that the important thing we should all take from tonight's debate is that Nancy Boyda didn't follow the rules and that that means she's a liar and a cheat? Can you really be serious?

First of all, we don't agree with Morgan's very premise. The exact opposite was true- Jenkins interrupted the Congresswoman and tried to talk over her a number of times.

But to flesh this one out, in this race it's obvious only one of the candidates is really willing to "cut every corner to win" and that's Lynn Jenkins.

The fact Jenkins continues to rant, even though she knows it's not true, that Nancy Boyda voted for "the largest tax increase in history" shows she'll lie willfully in order to advance her own ambition. Jenkins rants about the fact Boyda has raised taxes- which isn't true at all- Lynn Jenkins is the only candidate in this race who has raised taxes. Jenkins moans about the fact Boyda left a meeting room for 10 mnutes, but skipped out on every meeting of the KPERS Board while $1 billion vanished AND managed to mismanaged 15 million tax dollars for six years.

It's all the classic bait and switch- Jenkins excells at misdirection...or lying...to the voters.

Lynn's "Saddest Day"

Someone wrote in early today to ask about what we're referring to when we talk about Lynn Jenkins' "saddest day," so we thought we'd explain this little bit of Jenkins melodrama.

In her televised debate against former Congressman Jim Ryun before her surprise win in the Republican primary, Lynn Jenkins said Congresswoman Nancy Boyda's 10 minutes in a lounge watching an Armed Service Committee hearing on a closed circuit TV was:

"One of the saddest days in my life." -Lynn Jenkins

Now, it's fine if she wants to make a great big political deal out of the above mentioned incident (well, even Jenkins probably thinks it's less fine now that we all know she didn't even bother attending any of the meetings of the KPERS Board of Trustees in the last quarter, but that's probably neither here nor there). But, really, the saddest day in your life, Lynn? Even just one of the saddest days in your life? Doesn't that strike anyone else as a smidgen bit disingenuous? A little over-the-top? A little flippant, particularly when paired with this response from Congresswoman Nancy Boyda:

“You said it was the saddest day of your life,” Boyda countered, citing an earlier quote from Jenkins about the incident. Boyda noted that she visits with families of fallen soldiers, and wounded soldiers in VA hospitals. “I sit at their bed sides… that is a sad day, Lynn.”

In the end, saddest day or not, Lynn's little off hand remark only says one thing to any of us: she doesn't have the temperment for Congress and she's not ready for the duties or responsibilities of the office she's running for if she thinks for one moment 10 minutes in an antechamber could ever be the saddest day in anyone's life.

NRCC Cancels $580K Ad Buy in Support of Jenkins

As just a little more evidence of Congresswoman Nancy Boyda's strong standing among her fellow Kansans (and her opponent's free fall), the National Republican Campaign Committee has canceled their television ad buy in support of State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins.

That's $580,000 Jenkins was relying on to drag her across the finish line- and now it's just gone.

With the week Jenkins has had- revelations she has missed all of the meetings of the KPERS Board of Trustees in them same quarter the retirement fund lost $1 billion paired with the fact she refuses to say where she was instead of in her chair listening during those meetings ( *cough* stroking her own ambition *cough*) AND the massive cash-on-hand lead Boyda had over her after the bloody Republican primary- news now that she's $580,000 in the hole....this might even manage to take over as the "saddest day" in little Lynn's life.

UPDATE: The KC Star is reporting the NRCC didn't totally cancel their planned by in support of Jenkins, or so says the Jenkins campaign. We'll all believe that when we actually see an ad on the TV.

Jenkins Campaign Won't Explain Unexcused Absenses

It just keeps getting richer and richer!

From the Lawrence Journal-World:

When asked why she missed meetings in July, August and September -- a period when KPERS lost more than $1 billion in investment income -- Jenkins said she had been busy, but didn’t elaborate.

When her campaign was asked what exactly she had been doing to have caused her to miss those meetings, her spokesman Josh Hersh said, “Lynn has been an important and engaged member of the KPERS board since 2003.”

Yes, Josh, so engaged she doesn't even bother to regularly contact the director of the system, as was reported yesterday in the Topeka Capital-Journal. Yes, obviously she's very engaged.

But why, Joshie, why did she miss all those dratted meetings?

Asked again why she missed those meetings, Hersh refused to answer.

Would anyone out there in Internetland like to levy a guess as to why Lynn Jenkins' chair sat empty during the July, August and September meetings of the KPERS Board of Trustees?

Anyone?

Bingo-bango: She was out campaigning for a new job- all the while ignoring the one she has already been elected to, focusing instead on her own personal ambitio-n rather than the good of the State of Kansas.

KPERS Director: Jenkins Lies, Hasn't Made Contact "Recently"

The explosive revelation Lynn Jenkins hasn't done her job while serving as our State Treasurer- missing nearly every meeting of the KPERS Board of Trustees in the last quarter while the retirement fund of every teacher & state employee in Kansas lost $1 billion- is only made that much sadder by her campaign's shockingly lame attempts to make this all just go away.

Jenkins herself said she didn't attend the meetings because, "I have a lot of balls in the air right now." Always a good one- I was just too busy to do my job. Drat!

Today in the Topeka Capital-Journal, though, the explanation was much more...layered.

Following Monday's debate, the treasurer said she was staying informed of the board's actions.

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

Ah, good. As long as you're "on the job." Give us some more, Lynn':

Asked if she had sent staff members in her place, she said no and that she was confident in how she was handling her board position.

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

But- and this is where pesky records and conversations with other people start to spoil the spin- it seems the Director of KPERS simply hasn't got any idea when the last time Lynn Jenkins even, oh, contacted his office or staff...for anything...though they did call last week to see if the market downturn was hurting investments. Ya think, Lynn?

KPERS executive director Glenn Deck said a member of the treasurer's office contacted him last week to find out the slumping market's effects on the pension fund. 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.

After a fiscal quarter in which KPERS lost $1 billion- a quarter during which Lynn Jenkins spent hundreds of hours away from the job she already has trying to get a new one (those are the balls Lynn keeps talkin' about), so much time, in fact, she couldn't even manage to attend a monthly meeting to....listen...to presentations and reports on the health of KPERS- yes, after all of that, LAST WEEK Lynn thought to call to find out if the markets were hurting our state pension fund.

We'd laugh if it weren't dereliction of duty. And it's certainly the kind of "leadership" Kansas can't afford.

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Oh, one last thing from Lynn's intrepid campaign manager:

[Patrick Leopold] added: "It's not exactly doing day trading here. So it's not like there are major changes happening in the investment funds at every meeting."

So glad you don't think $1 billion gone "major," Patrick.

Jenkins Just "Too Busy" to do Her Job

Back- if only briefly- because we simply can't let Lynn Jenkins walk away from last night's debate in Lawrence without just a little more piling-on.

First, one very brief point: Does anyone else think it's shocking the only person in the race for this seat who has actually voted to increase taxes is the one making big deals about increasing taxes? Jenkins rants about "the largest tax increase in history" (which, just so we're clear, ISN'T REAL...Jenkins is either willfully lying or and idiot), but wants everyone to just ignore the fact she voted to increase taxes when she was a State Senator- even after promising she wouldn't.

In 2002, when Jenkins was a state senator, she said she would oppose a state sales tax increase but then voted for a $294 million tax increase, which included raising sales, inheritance, cigarette and liquor taxes.

Seriously, who is she trying to fool? Oh, right...Kansas voters.

Oh, also- we all know Congresswoman Nancy Boyda's "walkout" on Retired Gen. Jack Keane was the "saddest day" of little Lynn's life. Boyda, however, made a grand point last night when she pointed out her job as our Member of Congress does include actually sad days- like visiting army hospitals and attending the funerals of soldiers. How on Earth Lynn Jenkins' little psyche will handle those kinds of honestly sad days we can't fathom- if she's being honest with the whole "saddest day" thing. Oh, or, Boyda visiting a antechamber for 10 minutes- never missing a moment of testimony- wasn't really the saddest day in Jenkins' life, and she's just a soppy, melodramatic...well, you get the picture. Either way, sit down and shut up, Jenkins, because you're being offensive.

Finally, the meat and potatoes: Lynn Jenkins wanted to talk last night about her opinion Congresswoman Nancy Boyda simply couldn't have been doing her job representing all of us if she got up for 10 minutes and walked into a little room and watched a brief part of a hearing on a little TV instead of sitting on her duff almost alone in the big hearing room. Lynn can think that if she wants- every single reasonable voter in the Kansas 2nd knows that certainly doesn't raise to the level of "not doing your job."

Interesting, though, that Jenkins would make a big fuss about someone not doinig their job...

In her closing remarks, Boyda fired back that Jenkins had missed four consecutive meetings of the board of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System during a period when the pension system lost $1 billion in investment income.

“You need to look at yourself,” Boyda said to Jenkins, who as the state treasurer is a member of the KPERS board.

Yes, that's right, Lynn Jenkins skipped the June, July, August & September meetings of the KPERS board of trustees...didn't even bother to "phone it in" as Boyda put it- all the while as KPERS was losing $1 billion.

Why, you might ask, was our State Treasurer absent from her place at the table? She was...um...busy?

After the debate, when asked about missing the KPERS meetings, Jenkins said, “I’ve been a little busy. I have lots of balls in the air right now.” Jenkins said.

Busy. Busy? Honestly? So busy you can't do your job, Lynn? So busy advancing your own ambition you can't even manage to keep up with your state-level responsibilities? How on Earth can you ask us to trust you to manage national-level responsibilities? Lord knows you'll be busier as a Member of Congress than you are now as State Treasurer...

If we do send you to DC, Lynn, and things get busy- which meetings will you skip? Which votes will you not take because you have too many balls in the air?

Four missed meetings, $1 billion lost, a statewide official dropping all the balls she's got in the air, compared to 10 minutes and not a second of testimony missed. You tell us what actually matters, folks.