Jenkins Out of Her Depth on Military Issues

In a really stunning comment in an AP story today, Lynn Jenkins actually made the claim the United States isn't vulnerable because our military resources have been stretched thin.

We don't know what planet she's living on, but she sure as heck hasn't got a clue when it comes to the very real readiness strain our armed services are facing.

Probably shouldn't be all that surprising, though because Lynn Jenkins herself has already told us she doesn't know the first thing about the military:

That's not a kind of naivete that we can have representing us in Congress.

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.

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.

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.

Breaking news...From Last July...That Wasn't Important Then

In politics, on either side, when faced with an opponent who has worked hard, has all the issues on their side, and is backed up by the mood of the nation, what do you do?

You find something, anything, to use to distract the voters from those things. Dredge up something that barely got a passing glance when it happened, toss it on TV with some scary, scary music, and you're in business.

What you do, of course, when you do that kind of thing is ignore the issues important to the people you're trying to represent, you just latch on to something that doesn't matter to anyone and their day-to-day lives. It can work and does, frequently, for folks on both sides, but it's cheap politics, and certainly not what any of our citizens deserve.

And that, my friends, brings us to the continuing Republican mudslinging about Congresswoman Nancy Boyda's "walk out" of an Armed Services Committee meeting. The National Republican Party and their mouthpiece candidate Lynn Jenkins are bound and determined to make 10 minutes of nothing news by overreacting to it and out-and-out lying about it.

Oh ho, but the very worst thing for Lynn Jenkins at this point is for facts to become involved in her disingenuous rhetoric. Thank goodness for the independent press:

The July 27, 2007, hearing was to examine a bill mandating that "dwell time," or the period between deployments, be equal to the length of deployment. The legislation also allowed the president to waive the requirement at his discretion.

"I thought it was common-sense legislation," Boyda said in a recent interview.

She was one of only a dozen of the 60 committee members who were attending that Friday.

Following opening remarks, Keane testified about his numerous visits to Iraq and said the surge had resulted in "significant change."

"Schools are open," he told the committee. "Markets are teeming with people. Most are operating at full capacity, some are returning to it. Cafes, pool halls, coffeehouses that I visited are full of people."

[...]

Sitting in the second row of the hearing room, Boyda said she was "not happy about what was going on."

The hearing was supposed to be about the multiple troop deployments beyond the Department of Defense's stated goal of 12 months. Instead, she said, it turned into a progress report. [From someone not privy to all of the information at hand- BB]

Frustrated, Boyda got out of her seat and walked to a side room where there was a coffee pot and a closed-circuit television of the ongoing hearing.

She said she returned 10 minutes later, and when she was called on later in the proceedings, she commented on her departure.

"There was only so much that you could take until we in fact had to leave the room for awhile," she said.

She added, "The description of Iraq as if some way or another that it's a place that I might take the family for a vacation, things are going so well, those kinds of comments will in fact show up in the media and further divide this country instead of saying 'Here's the reality of the problem and people, we have to come together and deal with the reality of this issue.' "

So, Boyda didn't leap up and make a scene, she didn't march out of the room when she heard news she disagreed with (which is exactly what Jenkins wants you to believe). No, when she heard someone start to go off on a subject that wasn't part of the hearing, someone who was trying hard to paint Iraq as stable and prospering (even though more than 300 Americans had died there in just the three months prior)- she excused herself. What she did showed no disrespect for anyone- in fact, the very fact she was in the hearing at all shows a level of dedication to her duty greater than the vast majority of the members of the Armed Services Committee.

Also, even on top of the apparent fact she did nothing wrong- she did nothing out of the ordinary:

Larry Korb, a senior fellow for the liberal Center for American Progress and a former assistant U.S. attorney general under President Reagan, sat next to Keane that day, ready to testify.

He said he didn't remember anything unusual about Boyda leaving. Of the few committee members present, he said, most came and went throughout the testimony.

"That's how things work up here," he said.

The story was a non-story when the national Republicans jumped on it last year- it's ridiculous we're still talking about it today- but more than that, it's sad Jenkins won't talk about what's important to the people of Kansas when it comes to the war & veterans issues. But, in the end, it's obvious why she doesn't want to- Boyda's done more to advance the causse of our men and women in uniform in her two years in office than Jenkins' Republican Party did in the 10 years prior.

So, in the end- will the people of Kansas care more that Boyda pushed through a tax cut for the families of our service members, or that she got frustrated about a rosier than reasonable assessment of the war in Iraq? Aren't...most...Kansans in the very same place when it comes to Iraq? Don't we all want to see our troops home soon and our veterans treated better? Of course we do- and it's sad Lynn Jenkins doesn't get that.

But, really, do we have any reason to expect any better of Jenkins? First, when it came to outside money in the race, it was "Let them eat cake," to her would-be constituents from our tone-deaf little State Treasurer- now it's, "Quick, look over there! It's Bigfoot!"

We're just so happy you're taking your responsibility to the people of Kansas seriously, Lynn!

Boyda Listens to the Military, Sees Amendment Approved

America has always relied on private companies during times a war to help arm and protect our fighting men and women. But many functions have always, always been performed by our highly trained federal employees.

Until changes made by the Bush Administration, that is, which has now resulted in an amendment penned by Congresswoman Nancy Boyda that would put in place a three-year ban on outsourcing Defense Department civilian jobs.

In Boyda's words:

Don’t get me wrong; contractors have their place within the defense environment and work as partners with the Department of Defense and with our bases.

However, in House Armed Services Committee briefings and hearings, I heard time and time again that the pendulum had swung too far to contracting out all types of functions, which is affecting readiness. The Boyda amendment allows the Department of Defense, not the White House, to determine when it is in the best interest of national security to contract out.

So, to rephrase: It is wholly appropriate to seek outside contractors to do some work in some areas- not only is it possible there are experts out there that could be useful, it also could save the taxpayers a few bucks. The problem is that the Administration leaned hard to leaders of the armed services to engage in this public-private competition process- even if they knew their internal work force was the best prepared and most able to do the job.

With two wars and BRAC, the last thing our armed forces need to be strong-armed into engaging in a resource-intensive process that redirects attention from supporting our men and women in the field, and Congress has already acted in an attempt to limit such bullying and refocus those priorities, but it hasn't produced the desired effect.

[Army] Officials told the inspector general that they feel "extreme pressure from the [Office of the Secretary of Defense] to conduct public-private competitions" and they asked for relief from competitive sourcing targets, but to no avail.

So, since 2005 the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy have been asking the Administration to back off and stop micromanaging the system- but they've been ignored, so Congress decided to act.

Boyda's amendment, unfortunately, isn't the first step along this road- it's just the latest action taken to correct the problems within the system.

The A-76 ban is the most aggressive move lawmakers have attempted so far to limit the controversial practice of job competitions. Last year, Congress passed many measures curbing the practice, including: barring public-private competitions at some agencies; granting protest rights to federal employees who lose competitions; and excluding federal health benefits costs from agencies’ calculation to determine the winner of a jobs competition.

All of this culminates in the reasons behind Congresswoman Boyda's amendment, and why it is so important today.

IFPTE President Gregory Junemann wrote to Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, urging inclusion of the amendment in the authorization bill. Junemann said Boyda's amendment was crucial, as Defense was failing to adhere to provisions of last year's authorization bill directing the department not to follow OMB contracting quota requirements. The union also insisted Defense continues to force federal employees who won A-76 competitions to recompete for their jobs every five years, despite legislation reversing that requirement.

"Unfortunately, the [department] has refused to conform to the law, and [Rep.] Boyda's amendment would put a stop to the A-76 process until the existing law is followed," wrote Junemann.

In addition to support from three branches of the armed forces and her fellow Democrats, Boyda's amendment also saw support from the Republicans on the committee. Actually, it passed unanimously.

With our forces spread thin, and our resources even thinner, the Boyda amendment will make sure those limited resources are directed to supporting our troops, and used to fund unnecessary and time-consuming distractions.