Wichitopekington » Kansas

What they’re saying about Sebelius

Marcia Werts — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:03:33 +0000

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is getting all kinds of mentions — not all flattering — as a possible nominee for Health and Human Services secretary. Numerous papers picked up an Associated Press story Saturday saying the Kansas governor “is very near the top of President Obama’s list of candidates.” The Fix, the political blog at Washingtonpost.com, called Sebelius “clearly a serious contender” but cautioned that “one White House official warns that the reporting is getting ahead of itself and that the process remains ‘wide open’.”

Meanwhile, the HillBuzz blog has its own take on the possibility, with this headline: “Politico claims The Cryptkeeper’s going to be Health and Human Services Secretary.”

And Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson told AP he’s ready to serve if Sebelius heads to Washington — but he still doesn’t plan to run for governor in 2010.

Kansas Republicans launch a new blog

Brent Wistrom — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:59:36 +0000

Kansas Republicans launched a new blog today called The Kansas Tunkline. And judging from the first few posts, Congressman Dennis Moore and Congresswoman Nancy Boyda aren’t going to like it. The most recent post after they announced the new blog ripped the Democratic superdelegates for not declaring who they’ll support in the presidential race. “Who will Boyda and Moore supportâ€”the most liberal Senator in the nation who claims half of their constituents are bitter? Or the woman who has voted to raise taxes 230 times?”

Of course, the Democrats have had their blog — Buffalo Blog — for about a year and a half. Their most recent post takes a shot at Congressman Todd Tiahrt for delaying debate on critical issues by asking for a re-vote on a resolution celebrating the role of mothers. “Tiahrt then joined 177 of his Republican friends and voted against their mothers, and ate up 28 minutes of their day in doing so.”

Nothing like more strong dialog in the Kansas political blogosphere.

Kansas among 22 states that don’t lower flags for fallen soldiers

Brent Wistrom — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:53:00 +0000

A story in USA Today this morning says that Kansas is among 22 states that don’t lower the flag every time one of the state’s soldiers is killed overseas. The other 28 states have different policies — sometimes lowering all flags, other times lowering flags only at request or in a soldier’s hometown. The Hall Monitor contacted the Governor’s office to see why Kansas decided to keep flags at full staff. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran wrote in an e-mail that Sebelius follows the President’s lead and the U.S. code (Title 4, Chapter 1) related to flag protocol.

“In conferring with our Stateâ€™s Adjutant General very early during the Governorâ€™s first term, it was determined that the best way to honor the memories of our soldiers is to fly our flags high with pride,” she wrote. “Our Adjutant General advised Governor Sebelius that some may see the lowering of the flag as defeat and that is not a message we would send to our troops fighting for freedom and the strength of our country. When we lower our flags on the morning of Memorial Day each year, and have a special ceremony with our Governor and families of fallen soldiers, that is our time to lower our flags and encourage all Kansans to do the same. (The President orders the US flag to be lowered at this same period.)”

For more on flag etiquette and efforts in Kansas, see Beccy Tanner’s piece in The Eagle.