Concerned Women for America - Dodgy Sebelius Unfit for HHS

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Saturday, March 20, 2010

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Dodgy Sebelius Unfit for HHS 4/21/2009
Deceptive answers to senators and political favors for campaign contributors make her too risky to entrust with the nation’s health care system

Washington, D.C. — “Kathleen Sebelius’ deceptive answers to senators’ questions and her political favors to campaign contributors while endangering patients makes her unfit to run the Department of Health and Human Services. How can Americans trust her to oversee the nation’s health care system when she put patients at risk to benefit her donors? We urge senators to reject Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services,” said Concerned Women for America (CWA) President Wendy Wright.

In response to senators’ questions Sebelius understated the contributions she received from notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller, changing it only after the Associated Press revealed it. Additionally, a fundraising letter from Tiller in 2002 recently surfaced stating that he contributed $200,000 to defeat Sebelius’ opponent in the governor’s race.

As governor, Sebelius consistently vetoed legislation to regulate the abortion industry, rejecting bills requiring minimum sanitary standards after filthy conditions were discovered in Kansas abortion clinics, and to protect women from coerced abortions and girls from statutory rapists. Sebelius obstructed investigations by law enforcement and the Board of Healing Arts when reports surfaced of women’s deaths in abortion clinics.

Sebelius hosted a taxpayer-funded party in 2007 at the governor’s mansion honoring George Tiller. She deceptively misrepresented this party in her response to Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), claiming it was won at an auction. No evidence backs up this story. Sebelius says the event was purchased at an auction at a 2006 dinner, yet there is no record of Tiller purchasing an auction item or of him being present at the dinner. Receipts show the state paid for the party and Sebelius has not produced a cancelled check or receipt showing that it was reimbursed. An eyewitness at the party said it was not an auction prize but an invitation-only dinner hosted by Sebelius to “thank” Tiller and his staff for their “work.”

While she spent taxpayers’ money on a party for a political contributor, she did not fully pay her own taxes until nominated to the Department of Health and Human Services. She paid $7,000 in back taxes and amended three years of tax returns because of improper deductions only after the vetting process revealed she did not pay all the taxes she owed.

She appointed political supporter and disgraced abortionist Howard Ellis to the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts after he had surrendered his medical license in Missouri rather than face disciplinary charges. He was later charged by the Kansas Board with attempting to persuade a physician to falsify records.

Sebelius appointed a militant supporter of ProKanDo, Tiller’s political action committee, to the Human Rights Commission. His name was withdrawn ten months later.

Sebelius coordinated a nearly million dollar campaign with Tiller to defeat political opponents.

In response to a senator’s question regarding the controversial morning-after pill, Sebelius condescendingly repeats political slogans and misleads senators on the fact that the drug’s effectiveness has been overstated and the FDA violated its standards when it allowed non-prescription access to Plan B. Giving women a false impression about a drug’s effectiveness forces the FDA to become snake oil salesmen.

Patients trust that the FDA will do its job. Yet in her answer about making Plan B available to minors, Sebelius unconscionably shifts the FDA’s responsibility to busy parents. Our kids, America’s parents, and women who rely on the FDA to do their job deserve better than Sebelius’ shoddy attitude.

Kathleen Sebelius has put her political advancement above the best interests of patients, parents and citizens. Senators will be putting Americans’ health at risk by confirming Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services, a person with a track record of putting politics above patients.