EDINA, Minn. — Barely half a day after a woman from St. John, Kan. addressed the Republican National Convention on rural development, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius today announced the creation of a new Division of Rural Development in the Kansas Department of Commerce.
Was it a reaction to Carolyn Dunn’s short speech on the main stage in St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center? Or just some coincidental timing? Sebelius’ office says neither.
Commerce has been working on this for months. We released it today because we were ready to go and it also coincides nicely with the Farm Bureau Tour the Governor is on today. (We didn’t plan it that way but it worked out.) – Nicole Corcoran, Sebelius’ spokeswoman
Additionally, the media release from Sebelius’ office today says the new division stems from a 2007 report by Kansas, Inc. called “Leveraging our Foundations and Designing the Future: A Kansas Economic Renaissance.”