Part of article: Kathleeen Sebelius and Three Catholic Archbishops
Archbishop James Patrick Keleher
Archbishop James Patrick Keleher served the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas from 1993 till 2005, which roughly corresponds to the time Kathleen Sebelius was Insurance Commissioner.
Not much is known about how Kathleen Sebelius’ actions as Insurance Commissioner affected Culture of Life issues in Kansas. During that period there are no known comments about her public service by Archbishop Keleher.
However, not well reported at that time, late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller was a generous contributor to Kathleen Sebelius’s political action committee, the Bluestem Fund PAC, starting in 2000, possibly a reflection of his anticipation of her gubernatorial run.
Since political records were hard to find and were expensive to copy at that time, most Kansans were not aware of these early contributions from Tiller to Sebelius until years later. Sunshine came to many campaign finance records only in Jan 2006 in Kansas.
Shown below, Dr. Tiller gave Sebelius $10,000 in 2000, $8,000 in 2001, and $5,000 in 2002 as she prepared for her gubernatorial run. Possibly realizing $23,000 in contributions from Dr. Tiller may be more of a liability than an asset, additional contributions stopped in March 2002.
Later in 2002, Dr. Tiller formed his own ProKanDo PAC for his involvement in Kansas elections. While there is no known direct money to Kathleen Sebelius’ gubernatorial campaign, Dr. Tiller told many he was raising money to elect Sebelius governor.
See a Sept 2002 ProKanDo fundraising letter (below) signed by George Tiller:
Tiller's Fundraising Letter for Sebelius in 2002, p. 1
Tiller's Fundraising Letter for Sebelius in 2002, page 2
This letter never mentions Kathleen Sebelius by name but expresses Tiller’s desire to “have a pro-choice Governor for Kansas.”
Tiller’s fundraising appeal:
In my naivete, I thought my personal contribution of $200,000 to ProKanDo would be more than enough to alert voters to the anti-choice position of Mr. Shallenburger.
I have been advised that to effectively reach voters and alert them that Mr. Shallenburger does not trust women, we need to raise another $250,000 in just eight short weeks. …
If each one of you could contribute $35 or more, we could raise $100,000 toward our goal
In a political bait-and-switch, the money Tiller’s ProKanDo PAC raised with the above letter was not used to help Kathleen Sebelius. Instead, in a secretive transfer of funds from Tiller to ProKanDo to Kansans for Democratic Leadership PAC, the money was spent in an attempt to defeat Phill Kline.
The letter gives a clue about the huge $153,000 last minute contribution and secretive money transfer. The letter says they needed to raise $250,000 but only $100,000 would come from the fundraising effort. This leaves $150,000, which apparently Tiller had already decided to contribute.
In this Sept 9, 2002 letter, Tiller claims he has already made a personal contribution of $200,000 to ProKanDo. Public records only show $41,000 contribution by Tiller by that date.
Sebelius’s Letter to Catholics in Topeka Parishes
Apparently, there were many rumors that Dr. Tiller was supporting Kathleen Sebelius for Governor financially, which would be a logical conclusion from his fund raising letter. But gubernatorial candidate Sebelius wanted to mask her pro-abortion record from Catholics in Topeka, so she sent out this letter to some Topeka parishes:
Sebelius' Letter to Catholics in Topeka Parishes in 2002
[Click above on letter to see enlarged version]
Sebelius denied any connection to Tiller’s ProKanDo PAC in her letter and made some statements designed to gain support from Catholics.
“I am not pro-abortion…”
“I am a practicing Catholic…”
“I feel about abortion just like you do…”
Most pro-life Catholics in Kansas have a great deal of difficulty with her first statement (”I am not pro-abortion”) and with her last statement, “I feel about abortion just like you do…”. These statements were made to deceive Catholic voters.
Sebelius’ Bluestem Fund PAC
The last direct political money trail from Tiller to Sebelius was via her Bluestem Fund PAC
Gov. Sebelius Political Action Committee (PAC)
Political Money Info about Sebelius/BlueStem PAC from www.dr-tiller.com
While Tiller’s contributions to Sebelius’ Bluestem PAC were his last known direct support of Sebelius, Tiller and his Clinic gave $120,000 to the Democratic Governor’s Association in 2002-2004. Later in 2005-2006 money from the Democratic Governor’s Association filtered back to the Kansas Democratic Party in a complicated scheme. This scheme was a clue about how Kansas Democrats raised money from a variety of sources in 2006 using a similar scheme, including from the Bluestem Fund PAC, and the Democratic Governor’s Association.
Archbishop Keleher’s polite request to Gov.-elect Sebelius
Given Gov. Sebelius’ previous ties to Dr. Tiller politically, and Gov. Sebelius’ actions in the Kansas Legislature, Archbishop Keleher made a reasonable request of Gov.-elect Sebelius. He wanted her to move the interfaith service held before her inauguration outside of the Catholic church across the street from the Capitol.
AP: Archbishop Keleher wary of Sebelius service, Jan 2003
Archbishop Keleher about Gov.-elect Sebelius, Jan 2003:
“I must note that Gov.-elect Seblius is at odds with our Catholic faith on that most fundamental moral issue of respect for the right to life of the unborn.”
Kansas City Star article about Keleher’s resignation in 2005:
When Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic who supports abortion rights, took office in 2003, Keleher asked her to move an inauguration interfaith service from Topeka’s Assumption Catholic Church, which she attends in Topeka. She refused.
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Tags: Archbishop James Patrick Keleher, Bluestem Fund PAC, Culture of Life, Kathleen Sebelius, ProKanDo PAC
