Documentation Fails to Verify Governor's Story About Tax-payer Funded Pay-back Event
Contact: Troy Newman, President, 316-841-1700; Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor, 316-516-3034; both with Operation Rescue, info@operationrescue.org
WICHITA, Kansas, May 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- Operation Rescue has researched Gov. Kathleen Sebelius's claims that the April 9, 2007, dinner with late-term abortionist George R. Tiller and his abortion clinic staff was an auction prize to which she had no control over who would be the winner. OR has concluded that her claims are not supported by documentation.
"There is not one shred of evidence to support Gov. Sebelius's claims. Therefore, we stand by our statements that this was a special invitation event meant to honor Tiller and his abortion clinic staff at a time when there were open criminal investigations and serious concerns posed by the Legislature that Tiller had committed crimes," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "We have no choice but to believe that Gov. Sebelius manufactured this story, just as her friends Planned Parenthood manufactured evidence in their criminal proceedings."
If Gov. Sebelius' story were to be true, the dinner prize that Tiller supposedly bid on would have been auctioned by the Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus in at the Torch Dinner in 2006, because their 2007 auction event was held in November, 2007, well after the Tiller party.
According to the Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus Political Action Committee expenditure reports on file with the Kansas Governmental Ethic Commission, auction receipts benefited the PAC, yet there is no evidence of any contribution from George Tiller, his wife, Jeanne, or his abortion clinic Women's Health Care Services in 2006 or 2007.
OR received a receipt that shows that the State of Kansas paid for the April 9, 2007, dinner with George Tiller.
Sebelius made statements in the media yesterday that because it was a political event, the costs were reimbursed by the GKC Women's Political Caucus.
However, there is no documented reimbursement from the GKC Women's Political Caucus to the State of Kansas for anything in either 2006 or 2007, according to their PAC reports, nor was any evidence of that reimbursement provided to Operation Rescue by the Governor's Office in response to their Open Records request for that information.
"There is absolutely no evidence beyond the word of Kathleen Sebelius that the Tiller party was the prize in an auctioned event, therefore, until such evidence is provided, we must conclude that Gov. Sebelius has lied about this event to cover up for her connections with Tiller," said Newman. "This is more that poor judgment. It is political corruption."
About Operation Rescue
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation. Operation Rescue recently made headlines when it bought and closed an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas and has become the voice of the pro-life activist movement in America. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to restore legal personhood to the pre-born and stop abortion in obedience to biblical mandates.
