Jenkins on Tax Mismanagement: Counties "should never have been notified"

The tangled web of state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins' mismanagement of state motor fuel tax dollars got even more tangled yesterday when Topeka-area government officials had what the Topeka Capital-Journal called a "terse" meeting with the embattled Jenkins, during which she made it clear she had no interest in accountability and even going so far as to say the counties have no right to know so much they're been shorted or overcompensated.

Oh, and she also left the door open for massive tax increases to fix her mistake.

That from a women who seeks a higher office that requires an even greater commitment to oversight and openness than the one she currently holds.

While that attitude from Jenkins is deeply troubling, her proposal as to how the legislature should fix her failing is much worse- at least in a pocketbook sense.

Kansas Treasurer Lynn Jenkins vowed Monday to urge the 2009 Legislature to compensate counties shorted millions of dollars in state fuel tax revenue and avoid the political agony of seeking reimbursement from overpaid counties.

Shawnee County Commissioner Vic Miller and Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten, who attended a periodically terse meeting in Topeka with Jenkins, said the state treasurer's proposal would allow some counties to cling to huge financial windfalls.

"Why should they be unjustly enriched?" Miller said. "We might get what we should have been paid, but they will have received more than they should have."

"Life's not fair," Jenkins replied. "What I'm worried about is moving forward, and that will be my recommendation."

Just so we're clear on what our petulant child of a state treasurer wants to do: The Jenkins Plain will compensate the counties who have been shorted, but will not require repayment from counties who got more than they were due.

Where will all of those millions come from? It will almost definitely require increased taxes or significant cuts in state spending.

How would Lynn like to pay for it? Mums the word. That Jenkins will push off the hard choices to the State Legislature, while it was her office's blunder, is telling as to her lack of leadership ability and a quite sad coming from home who harps about accountability and diligence on the campaign trail.

There's lots more in the article regarding Jenkins' basic lack of interest in open government and public accountability for the actions of her office. Read on:

Jenkins said she chose not to voluntarily distribute to county officials a detailed report on which jurisdictions were overpaid and underpaid in 2008. She said she withheld the information to avoid a "feeding frenzy" by counties that might engage in battles with other counties over the fuel tax money.

Read: Jenkins won't tell anyone what they're due because, gee, they might get upset and ask for it. Probably not a position the local government involved will be willing to take lying down, and, oh, look! Members of local government unwilling to take that lying down were in the room with her when she said it!

During the meeting in Wagnon's office in Topeka, Miller sought a full report on all 105 counties.

"What is your interest in every other county?" Jenkins said.

"I believe that is public information that would be vital to each and every Kansas county," Miller said.

Jenkins dismissed his concern, saying "some people are bright enough to understand that it's not something we should concern ourselves with."

WHAT ON EARTH? "Some people are bright enough to understand that it's not something we should concern ourselves with"?!?!!? Did she honestly say that local governments shouldn't be concerned with the fact they've been either underpaid or overpaid by her office for years? She can't have actually said that, because to deny something so obvious would be evidence of a total disconnect from reality.

It continues, though, and it's obvious that is actually what our dear state treasurer believes:

Miller said he remained unsatisfied with the flow of information to counties about the mix-up.

"You should never have been notified," Jenkins said.

"Why is that?" Miller said.

"My hope is that you're not shorted — that you're going to be made whole," Jenkins said. "We're hoping it's irrelevant to the discussion."

The amount you've been shorted, counties, is "irrelevant to the discussion." Can you believe that?

Can you believe she actually thinks no one should be concerned about the amount of money misappropriated?

Of course every single county government and every single member of the state legislature is deeply, deeply concerned with the actual amounts of money concerned in this disaster- because someone is going to have to pay to fix this mess.

Does Lynn Jenkins just not understand that?

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.

Another County Realizes Jenkins Screwed Them

Newspapers and county commissions all over the state are continuing to turn their attention to the multi-million dollar blunder that has been state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins' management of Kansas motor fuel taxes- today's article comes to us from Sumner County:

During the debate, Boyda said Jenkins should have sorted out the issue long before entering her sixth year as treasurer. And, Boyda said, recipients of revenue sharing had a right to forthright disclosure of the situation.

"Have you contacted the county commissioners to let them know?" Boyda asked Jenkins during a debate last Tuesday night at KSNT-TV.

Josh Hersh, spokesman for Jenkins' congressional campaign, said Jenkins "notified all relevant parties"

Oh, really, Josh? That's not what the good folk of Sumner County would tell you:

According to the latest information from the state, $10,805.29 is owed to Sumner County in fuel-tax revenue, but officials in the County seemed to have no idea of it.

“Really? Oh, I didn’t know anything about that,” said an official in the treasurer’s office.

[...]

Officials in Sumner County aren’t sure when they will receive the money owed them, but assured the public, “We will be looking into this. We didn’t know anything about it.”

Fine, Josh, Jenkins might have told Governor Sebelius and the Republican Party leadership in Topeka about her failings, but she didn't let the people who really needed to know- the county commissioners and the taxpayers of Kansas- until months and months later.

“Basically for six years, (Jenkins) wrote checks to the wrong people. Then, once they finally found out, it took her then another two months to tell counties about it, and even after that, it took her another four months to tell counties how much they were owed or how much they might owe. Even then, when she finally got around to announcing it, she got her numbers wrong. And she told all the counties that had been overpaid that they were underpaid and vice versa,” said spokesperson Tom Seay, an aide for Boyda.

Shocking- particularly coming from a person running based on her qualifications as a CPA- and stunningly irresponsible.

Oh, also- there might be more of a bombshell yet to hit. Remember, this isn't a new mistake, and the amounts paid over and under what were owed only deal with the most recent fiscal year- just wait until we see the total damage for the whole of Jenkins' term.

We'll have to wait to see that, though, because Lynn's office doesn't know what the number is yet.

After the election, right, Lynn?

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.

BREAKING: George W. Bush to Campaign for Lynn Jenkins

Details all still a little soft (at least we haven't had outside confirmation), but it looks like President George W. Bush will be in Topeka fundraising for Lynn Jenkins and her perpetually stumbling campaign for Congress on September 16.

Wow...nothing like standing up for "new leadership," huh, Lynn?

Jenkins: Announcing from an Undisclosed Location

So, fine, it isn't the locations for the Lynn Jenkins "New Republican Leadership Announcement Tour" that are unknown- its the times.

Just more of the same, of course- Lynn's just trying to make sure no one she doesn't want at any of her events can find them. Par for the course from the only woman ever to run for Congress by only speaking to invited crowds of eight.

This tour does tell ya something about Lynn's experience campaigning on this scale- she's promised to visit every single county over the course of 4 days- starting with 9 cities yesterday, another 8 today, 2 on Sunday and 6 more on Monday.

First, as a Kansas taxpayer, this particular blogger doesn't appreciate my state treasurer skipping work on a Friday and a Monday to campaign for a different office (RESIGN if you aren't going to do the job you have, Lynn).

Second- Jim Ryun and Congresswoman Nancy Boyda didn't decide to spread out their tours through the district over the course of several weeks because they're lazy- they did it because both of them realize it approaches impossible to go from one end of the district to the other, hitting upwards of 10 towns in a single day- you don't get to actually talk to anyone about anything, you just blow in and blow out- exactly the opposite of the kind of interaction Kansans want with their representatives.

So, we'll enjoy reports from the field telling us about the tiny crowds around the district- but, well, that's the rub of not telling anyone when you'll be in town- no on knows you're coming.

Bounce Boyda: Rest in Peace

So, so sad...

FEC Analysis: Ryun spends like a drunken sailor

John McCain would say the drunken sailors of the world would resent the comparison, but Jim Ryun's campaign fundraising ship is absolutely sinking.

First, the man has raised a huge amount of money- nearly $1 million bucks ($960,127.85 to be exact). But now, shockingly, he only has $364,789.19 in the bank- a burn rate of nearly 75%!

Want in God's name is he spending it all on?

Well, in addition to caging voters, Ryun paid himself another $3,500 in mileage reimbursements (great to line your own pockets) and spent over $213 at a Kwik Shop in Lawrence.

That's a lot of Skittles, my friends.

Jim spent the vast majority of his money raising money, spendin' almost $35,000 on postage alone. It's sad he spent so much money on fundraising, of course, because only had a net increase to his cash on hand by $30,130.93.

So sorry. Not as horrible as Lynn's report, and we'll get to that one next.