On Monday Bob Novak, in a Townhall.com commentary “A Vice President for Abortion,” mentioned previously unknown information about Sebelius and Tiller:
Sebelius invited Tiller and his staff to a party at the governor’s mansion … in May 2007.
[Editor's note: While the overall content of Novak's piece was accurate, he should have worded some statements more carefully. For example, Tiller and his clinic's $120,000 contributions to the Democratic Governors Association were in 2002-2004 not 2006, but were not discovered until just prior to the 2006 elections. There were no direct ProKanDo connections to Paul Morrison, but ProKanDo acted indirectly through a non-profit with negative "Snoop Dog" mailings to harm Kline and help Morrison in 2006.]
Today Operation Rescue revealed a number of photographs showing Dr. George Tiller and his staff at a reception with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius at Cedar Crest, the governor’s mansion.
Oddly, earlier today the Associated Press couldn’t even identify Tiller in the Operation Rescue pictures. Later in a Lawrence Journal-World video Gov. Kathleen Sebelius reacted to the Operation Rescue pictures:
There was an item purchased at the [Greater Kansas City ] Women’s Political Caucus Torch Dinner a year and a half or so ago, and Dr. Tiller purchased the item, which included a reception at Cedar Crest … The Women’s Political Caucus paid for the event and Dr. Tiller and his staff attended.
[UPDATE June 2: Sebelius modifies story to say the event was one and half years after purchase in 2005.]
The Torch Dinner a year and a half ago would have been the Torch 2006 Dinner, which was plugged by the Kansas City Star’s Buzz Blog a few days before it was held. A later Buzz Blog entry after the event (see Torch tidbits) said this:
A late-arriving from Wichita Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius also was well received, particularly when she offered up as an unexpected auction item dinner for six with her and the First Dude at the Governor’s Mansion.
If the “unexpected auction item dinner” was for six, why did Tiller bring his whole staff? Was this a “reception” as Gov. Sebelius said today, or “dinner for six” (or 20) as shown in this picture:
Paul Morrison attended the 2005-2007 Torch Dinners. In 2006 as an Attorney General candidate, Morrison donated an item for their silent auction — Dinner for 6 at 40 Sardines in Overland Park with Paul and his wife. In 2007 Attorney General Morrison was given the group’s “Mel Carnahan ‘Good Guy’ Award”.
Kansas Treasurer candidate (and now 2nd Congressional District Candidate) Lynn Jenkins donated dinner for 4 as a silent auction item in 2006.
It’s not known whether George Tiller was at the 2006 event, but ProKanDo was a “Sponsor”. “Sponsors” were supposed to be contributors of at least $1250, but the contribution was never found on Kansas or Missouri Govermental Ethics Commission Reports.
Pictures of both Dr Tiller and Kathleen Sebelius attending the 2005 Torch Dinner are still online at the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus web site:
Jennifer Wright (above), who was one of the 2005 Torch co-chairs, worked for Dr. Tiller as the ProKanDo “Development” Director. Wright was also the Treasurer for the Kansans for a Moderate Government PAC, which spent a lot of political money in Kansas in 2004 to elect pro-abortion State Senators, which paid off in 2008 when the Kansas Senate failed to override Sebelius’ veto of the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act by two votes.
In the 2006 elections, the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus was one of three groups to know what was going on with the non-profit, Progress Kansas, which was used to knock our conservative State Reps.
At the 2007 Torch Dinner, Gov. Sebelius donated a “Photo op with the Govenor,” which reportedly sold for $550. From the program:
Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is offering a photo opportunity in the Governor’s office in the Kansas State Capitol Building along with a Kansas Flag once flown over the Capitol and an autographed Tile of the Great Seal of Kansas.
The winner of this photo op is not known.
In a press release, Kansans for Life Executive Director Mary Kay Culp said:
“It doesn’t matter if the Tiller party was an extension of the TORCH auction dinner for six, or another event altogether as the source of the pictures claims. What matters most is that late-term abortionist George Tiller and his entire staff got to party-hardy at our tax-funded Governor’s mansion while he was under criminal investigation by the attorney general! That ought to matter to every citizen, no matter what their abortion stance.”
[Corrected, 30 May 2008. Thanks to J.K. for error report.]
Related:
- Offering an event at the governor’s mansion to the highest bidder as a political fundraiser may not be a wise practice, Lawrence Journal-World Editorial, June 1, 2008.
- Does Sebelius really care about legality, Ross Balano, Midwest Voices, May 29, 2008.
Tags: George Tiller, Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus, Kathleen Sebelius, Lynn Jenkins, Paul Morrison
Operation Rescue Trademark Fight
Okay, I wasn’t planning on updating this page anymore but this story is too amusing to pass up. I knew the folks over at Operation Save America were upset about Troy stealing the name Operation Rescue for himself, but I didn’t know that Randall Terry had this issue in court since July, 2007. Nothing pleases me more than seeing the antis fight amongst themselves in their effort to see who can win the biggest ego contest (negatively correlated with penis size).
Originally on July 10th, 2007, Terry filed a complaint with the United States Trademark and Patent office. In the complaint Terry says he is the originator of the name and Troy stole it through fraud by falsely advertising himself as the originator. Truth is, Randall Terry did start Operation Rescue and labeled his organization such back in 1987. Troy is a ‘johnny come lately’ and simply took the name after he registered operationrescue.org and started calling his group Operation Rescue (originally Operation Rescue West previously known as Operation Rescue California).
Troy’s group, the soon to be not Operation Rescue put out a press release. Troy claims that his organization didn’t create it but it’s signed by Ken Reed who is one of the Operation Rescue staff here in Wichita. I guess their defense is that the lawsuit is unbiblical. I suppose they are right, there is no mention of trademarks and copyrights in the Bible.
In an interview with WIBW during an insult laden tirade Troy claims that the name of the organization is irrelevent and the mission is about “saving babies”. So the reporter asked him why doesn’t he just give up the fight, naturally Troy had a problem with his contradiction and said he earned it because apparently Randall Terry spent years being attacked in the courts, attacked in the streets, attacked by his fellow staff and spent time in jail just doesn’t compare to the time Troy spent reading a book in his truck and filing paperwork with the government to change the name of his group to Operation Rescue.
Looks like Troy might not only be the reason for the loss of his group’s tax-exempt status but their name as well.
Here is a list of Troy Newman’s property holdings:
2814 E. Shadybrook Lane, Wichita, KS 67278
This is the back of Troy’s car. He has set up residence in Wichita but has failed to register his vehicle with the DMV. That’s a violation, Troy! 1511 N. Terrace Dr., Wichita, KS 67208
1845 S. Greenwood, Wichita, KS 67211
1416 E. Easter St. Andover, KS 67002
A small lot behind the Central Clinic
His own residence is a house on a seven acre lot far from Wichita at: 10529 SW 30th St. Towanda, KS 67144
The total estimated property value of all the properties is $240,430. Troy has no real job so all this came from donations to Operation Rescue. Think Troy is stopping abortion by buying numerous houses? Think again, donations just line his pockets.
sasnak: Thank you for your comments, but why are you using a tax-payer funded .edu E-mail account from a state institution for such political postings?
I don’t know how Troy got the pictures, buy why is Troy’s money or wealth relevant to Sebelius selling access to her as Governor, and access to the Governor’s mansion to the highest bidder? In this case the highest bidder was a person under criminal investigation at the time.
I thought the job of the Maggot Punks was to keep track of Troy.