Veto of Abortion Clinic Bill Helped Key Donor

CNSNews.com ^ | February 28, 2005 | Kathleen Rhodes

[Sharkfish]

Veto of Abortion Clinic Bill Helped Key Donor

By Kathleen Rhodes

CNSNews.com Correspondent

February 28, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - Kansas Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who's under fire for her controversial veto of a bill critics say might have prevented the recent death of a woman in a botched abortion, accepted thousands of dollars in political donations from the owner of the clinic that performed the dead woman's abortion.

Information obtained by Cybercast News Service shows that George Tiller, who runs Women's Health Care Services P.A. in Wichita, made more than $20,000 in contributions to various Sebelius campaigns and her political action committee between 1994 and 2002.

Tiller's clinic is currently under investigation by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, following a Jan. 13 abortion that is believed to have caused the hemorrhaging that led to the death of the 19-year-old Texas woman.

According to documents from the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, Tiller personally contributed a total of $10,200 to Sebelius' political campaigns between 1994 and 2000, while Women's Health Care Services contributed another $2,000 to Sebelius' campaign in September 2000.

Receipt and expenditure reports at the Kansas Secretary of State's office reveal that in 2000, Tiller contributed $10,000 to Sebelius' political action committee, the Bluestem Fund.

Tiller's wife, Jeanne Tiller, also made personal donations of $2,250 to Sebelius' campaigns between 1998 and 2001, according to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.

Three members of Sebelius' administration have received donations from Tiller himself or Women's Health Care Services, according to the Governmental Ethics Commission website. They include Jim Garner, secretary of the Kansas Department of Labor, who got $5,000; Joan Wagnon, secretary of the Kansas Department of Revenue, who received $4,000 and Marge Petty, director of public affairs and consumer protection, who received $1,500.

Tiller's business is also one of two abortion clinics being directed by Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline to furnish medical records on dozens of young women and girls.

Kline, a Republican, hopes the subpoenaed records will tell him which females were the victims of child rape. Sexual intercourse with a child 14 years of age and younger is a crime in Kansas.

Pro-life activists have long protested Tiller's abortion practice, which specializes in late term or "partial birth" abortions, and Sebelius is facing criticism for her April 2003 veto of House Bill 2176, which would have imposed more restrictions on abortion clinics.

When she struck down the bill, Sebelius insisted that "the health care facilities addressed in this bill are already subject to those high standards."

"I have long fought to make sure that doctors and patients, not insurance companies and not the Kansas Legislature, make decisions regarding an individual's health care procedures," Sebelius added.

But the current regulations are insufficient, according to pro-life activists. "The clinic regulation act requires that if there's a complication in the procedure, that the authorities - the Kansas Board of Healing Arts - would be notified," Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue West, told the Cybercast News Service . "And presumably once they're notified, they would then put certain safeguards in place to prevent the same occurrence from happening again.

According to Newman, there were at least six other recent incidents, prior to the Texas woman's death, in which patients of Tiller had to be hospitalized after undergoing abortions. H.B. 2176, Newman asserted, would have required Tiller to report those incidents.

Attorney General Kline also said Sebelius could have done more to prevent the 19-year-old woman's death. "Women would be [safer] when receiving services at these clinics if the governor had not vetoed the clinic licensing bill," Kline reportedly told an Operation Rescue interviewer.

Sebelius on Feb. 2 reportedly asked the Kansas Board of Healing Arts to conduct "an immediate and thorough investigation" into whether the legislation she vetoed could have helped prevent the Texas woman's death.

But Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, a group that has looked into the Tiller-Sebelius financial connections, is fearful that the investigation into the death of the 19-year-old Texas woman is being stonewalled.

"Use of the Board of Healing Arts alone to investigate this death makes us question just how serious the governor is about getting to the bottom of the circumstances surrounding the death in Wichita," Culp stated last week.

Do donations constitute conflict?

Tiller's financial backing of Sebelius, both through personal donations to her campaign and her PAC, and those from his clinic, are sufficient to demonstrate a conflict of interest on the governor's part, Newman charged.

"When there's a botched abortion, she's got a conflict of interest. Either mess with her top donor or do the right thing. It looks to me that she has chosen to ignore the activity, possibly criminal activity, of [one of her top donors]," Newman said.

Newman is also wary of Sebelius' ties to the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, pointing out that the group's executive director, Larry Buening, is married to one of Sebelius' top staffers, Vicki Buening.

Newman said he would like Sebelius to order an independent investigation conducted by an "outside third party source that doesn't answer directly to her.

"She's hoping and begging that the entity that she controls, (the Board of Healing Arts), will come back and say 'Don't worry, it's not your fault. The blood of this woman is not on your hands," said Newman.

Calls to Sebelius' office, seeking comment for this report, were not returned. The person who answered the phone at George Tiller's Wichita clinic said Tiller would not comment, however, the abortionist does have his backers.

Joan Wagnon, the secretary of the Kansas Department of Revenue, expressed her admiration for Tiller in a July 1991 interview with the Wichita Eagle newspaper. Tiller, she said, possessed "a social conscience and a big heart.

"George Tiller is a family man. He's got kids, he takes them skiing, he's involved in the community. If you didn't know that George did abortions, you'd think he was the world's nicest guy," Wagnon added.

Julie Burkhart, a spokesperson for Tiller, was quoted by the Lawrence Journal-World on Feb. 22 in reference to the death last month of the 19-year-old Texas woman. "This is not uncommon, given the tragic circumstances which often surround a woman's decision to seek an abortion," Burkhart said.

She added that Kansans for Life and other pro-life groups "seek to invade the personal lives and medical records of women to further their own political agendas."

[Sharkfish]

Well at least Gov. Sebelius is standing on principle.

[Emmett McCarthy]

It's always "Follow the money" with these people. Any effort at oversight, accountability or even minimal regulation would disrupt their barbaric sacrament and members of the political gestapo, like Sebelius, will go to any length to prevent that. If some women die, it's really not important to them as long as they can continue their "blood sacrifice" of infants to their demons.

[cj2a]

Julie Burkhart, a spokesperson for Tiller, was quoted by the Lawrence Journal-World on Feb. 22 in reference to the death last month of the 19-year-old Texas woman. "This is not uncommon, given the tragic circumstances which often surround a woman's decision to seek an abortion," Burkhart said.

Not uncommon? Really? I thought Roe put an end to women dying during this proceedure. In fact, it was a major factor in the decision. If it's not uncommon, what in the **** is the justification now?

[RonSwan]

Tiller spent $153,000 of his own money to defeat A.G. Kline
Story below
http://www.ljworld.com/section/citynews/story/140574

This blog follows Kansas political money
http://www.kansasmeadowlark.com/

Is coving A.G. Kline's investigation
http://www.kansaspoliticalnews.com/

[Coleus]

Send the Governor a note

Contact the Governor

Office of the Governor
Capitol, 300 SW 10th Ave., Ste. 212S
Topeka, KS 66612-1590

Voice 1-877-KSWORKS (1-877-579-6757)

Email the governor

Governor's Office of Constituent Services
Toll-Free 1-877-KSWORKS (1-877-579-6757)
Fax 785-368-8788

Governor's Office of Government Affairs
Voice 785-368-8500  Fax 785-368-8788

Governor's Office of Communications
Voice 785-368-8500  Fax 785-368-8788
Governor's Federal Grants Program
Voice 785-291-3205
Fax 785-291-3204

Birth Date: May 15, 1948
Birth State: Ohio
Family: Married; two sons
Religion: Catholic
Spouse: Gary
Party: Democrat

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS served as a state representative for eight years and as the elected insurance commissioner of Kansas for eight years. In 2002, she was elected Kansas ’ 44th governor—the state’s first Democratic governor to win an open seat since 1936, and the nation’s first daughter of a governor to be elected to the same position. Sebelius has made education, affordable health care, changing the way Kansas does business, and growing the economy the focus of her administration.

When she took office, the state had only $12 million in the bank. During her first year, she balanced the budget and prevented cuts in education and social services without a tax increase. Sebelius also initiated the BEST process—Budget Efficiency Savings Teams—looking for waste and opportunities to improve the way the state does business. In the first year of the BEST process, the Sebelius administration recouped more than $84 million in savings and efficiencies. That process continues today. Under her leadership, Kansas ’ economy has continued to grow as regional economic prosperity summits held across the state provided insight into economic development in Kansas .

Sebelius is directly addressing health care issues with the establishment of the Governor’s Office of Health Planning and Finance to help small employers afford health insurance and deliver preventive care to more Kansans. Following extensive work by an education policy team, she proposed an ambitious three-year education enhancement package, aimed at improving pre-school through higher learning and making Kansas schools the best in the country. She will continue working to make sure every child has access to good teachers and a strong education. Sebelius serves as policy chair of the Democratic Governors’ Association. She is the chair of the National Governors Association Committee on Education, Early Childhood, and Workforce.

Archbishop  Joseph F. Naumann,  Diocese of Kansas City  has prevented  the governor  from speaking at all catholic institutions in his diocese.  She is rumored to be going to an Episcopal Church, Grace Cathedral in Topeka.

[Coleus]

Veto of Abortion Clinic Bill Helped Key Donor
By Kathleen Rhodes
CNSNews.com Correspondent
February 28, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - Kansas Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who's under fire for her controversial veto of a bill critics say might have prevented the recent death of a woman in a botched abortion, accepted thousands of dollars in political donations from the owner of the clinic that performed the dead woman's abortion.

Information obtained by Cybercast News Service shows that George Tiller, who runs Women's Health Care Services P.A. in Wichita, made more than $20,000 in contributions to various Sebelius campaigns and her political action committee between 1994 and 2002.

Tiller's clinic is currently under investigation by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, following a Jan. 13 abortion that is believed to have caused the hemorrhaging that led to the death of the 19-year-old Texas woman.

According to documents from the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, Tiller personally contributed a total of $10,200 to Sebelius' political campaigns between 1994 and 2000, while Women's Health Care Services contributed another $2,000 to Sebelius' campaign in September 2000.

Receipt and expenditure reports at the Kansas Secretary of State's office reveal that in 2000, Tiller contributed $10,000 to Sebelius' political action committee, the Bluestem Fund.

Tiller's wife, Jeanne Tiller, also made personal donations of $2,250 to Sebelius' campaigns between 1998 and 2001, according to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.

Three members of Sebelius' administration have received donations from Tiller himself or Women's Health Care Services, according to the Governmental Ethics Commission website. They include Jim Garner, secretary of the Kansas Department of Labor, who got $5,000; Joan Wagnon, secretary of the Kansas Department of Revenue, who received $4,000 and Marge Petty, director of public affairs and consumer protection, who received $1,500.

Tiller's business is also one of two abortion clinics being directed by Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline to furnish medical records on dozens of young women and girls.

Kline, a Republican, hopes the subpoenaed records will tell him which females were the victims of child rape. Sexual intercourse with a child 14 years of age and younger is a crime in Kansas.

[Mr. Silverback]

ProLife Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[Cedar]

Are the people of Kansas ignoring this, or is there a recall ready to happen?

Hopefully, the majority of citizens there are upset with their governor and are letting her know this in a big way.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

PING!

[victim soul]

Why hasn't the mainstream media exposed this Kansas serial killer, George Tiller?

The BTK killer's case pales in comparison to the evil done by Tiller and his politically bought enablers and sycophants.

[MEGoody]

If doubt anyone is surprised that Sebelius took money from Tiller. She's a leftist from way back. Kansas deserves what they got for voting her in.

[Salvation]

Remember, everyone, that prayer closes down the death houses/abortion clinics.

Lawrence (KS) abortion clinic closes because of funding woes

Eugene abortion clinic closes; surprising many (Hooray !!!)

Prayer credited for closing of abortion clinic [Eugene, OR]

Planned Parenthood will shut down 3 clinics [Indiana]

Persevering Students Help Close Abortion Clinic [Santa Paula, CA--Thomas Aquinas College]

Abortion Clinic Managers Quit After Being Outed by Operation Rescue [Wichita, Kansas]

One Man's God Squad: Troy Newman's plan to stop abortions in Wichita, Kansas

Baby Saved From Abortion is Baptized [New Orleans]