Laughing Lynn Jenkins is safely back in Washington this month after a string of nationally embarrassing stories, headlines, and videos. Safe among her real friends, Jenkins is surely hoping to forget what some Kansans have dubbed her horrible no good very bad August recess.
True to form, she's also hoping the people of Kansas will forget all about it, too.
But we're not gonna let up.
To start, we're launching JenkinsFail.com, a new website from the Kansas Democratic Party with the sole intent of keeping track of Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins' repeated failures both past and present.
Before Jenkins became known for across the country for her "great white hope" gaffe and laughing at uninsured single mothers, she was well known for losing large sums of taxpayer dollars. The fine folks over at Media Matters have been keeping track of these Jenkins fails here:
REP. JENKINS' $15 MILLION MISTAKE
Misallocation Of $15 Million Went Undetected By Jenkins For Six Years: The Topeka Capital-Journal reported: "State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins made no effort to inform Kansas counties upon the initial discovery of a state computer blunder that led to misallocation of an undetermined portion of $22.5 million in fuel tax revenue and vehicle registration fees shared with county governments, officials said Wednesday...During Jenkins' years as treasurer, $15 million in county payments were authorized by her office with calculations derived from the imprecise software." [Topeka Capital-Journal, 10/16/08]Lynn Jenkins Misappropriated Millions In Taxpayer Funds. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that the Kansas legislature was forced to fix "an accounting error by then-state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins resulting in 19 counties being shorted $6.6 million in fuel tax revenue over the past three years." [Topeka Capital-Journal, 1/17/09]
After Discovering The Mistake, Jenkins Waited Two Months To Tell Legislators. According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, "Jenkins said her staff uncovered the problem in April 2008. She sent a letter to Sebelius and contacted some legislative leaders. She waited two months to send notice to county officials. Hensley said he confirmed a letter went to the governor and assumes Jenkins notified only Republican legislators. He never heard from her. 'There wasn't one sentence or one word in any subcommittee or committee report that made reference to this issue,' he said." [Topeka Capital-Journal, 1/17/09]
To repeat myself -- But that's just one mistake, right? It's not like it happened aga...oh wait:
UNDER REP. JENKINS, KANSAS RETIREMENT FUND LOST $1.1 BILLION
Jenkins Was A No-Show As Trustee Of Retirement Fund For State Workers, Said She Was "Busy." According to the Lawrence Journal-World, "Lynn Jenkins has declined to give a specific reason why she didn't attend the last three meetings of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System board of trustees... Jenkins is a member of the board that oversees the nearly $12 billion fund for government retirees. Jenkins has missed 12 of 46 meetings, or 26 percent, since she has been on the board." [Lawrence Journal-World, 10/8/08; emphasis added]While She Was "Busy," The Retirement Fund Lost $1.1 Billion Of Kansas Workers' Money. According to the Associated Press: "She missed meetings in July, August and September. During that time, financial turmoil caused the value of KPERS assets to drop by nearly $1.1 billion." [Associated Press, 10/16/08]
These are only a taste of some of the many failures brought to you by Lynn Jenkins, and these are only the ones we know about! She's been coasting throughout her career with no one ever making her own her failures.
Until now. We're changing that today. So can you help us spread JenkinsFail.com around today?
Also, you can help us fund these and other efforts with an ActBlue donation by clicking here. You're donations last month help make this effort possible. We appreciate your continued support.
If you're on twitter and would like to help you can tweet this:
RT @KansasDems: Just launched -- new website to keep track of Rep. Lynn Jenkins' many failures. Learn more: http://bit.ly/QjO7B #p2 #ksdp
Finally, as always, here is the email we just sent out to our list:
Friend --
Have you seen the news these past few weeks?
It seems like you can't pick up a newspaper lately without reading another nationally embarrassing story about Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins. She's faced criticism from every major newspaper in Kansas, been featured multiple times on cable news, and was even named by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann as one of the "worst persons in the world!"
Now, Jenkins has returned to the comfort of Washington and we're determined to make sure her failures aren't forgotten.
Let's demand something better from Lynn Jenkins - get involved at JenkinsFail.com today!
Quite frankly, it's embarrassing.
It started with an unfortunate choice of words that erupted into a national scandal when Rep. Jenkins admitted that she failed to read legislation she voted on. It got worse as we released video of Lynn Jenkins failing to show compassion when she laughed at an uninsured single mother and her young son. Lynn Jenkins' failed leadership needs to stop.
That's the reason we're launching this new website -- so there will be a central place to keep track of her repeated failures, both past and present.
Click here to take a look at JenkinsFail.com and take the fight to Rep. Lynn Jenkins!
We'd be remiss to leave out her old failures.
Remember when Lynn Jenkins was State Treasurer?
She failed to properly administer the gas tax funds, costing Kansas counties $22.5 million dollars, and failed to communicate her errors to counties throughout the state. That's not even the worst. How can we forget her failure to attend Kansas Public Employees Retirement System board meetings, even when the fund lost $1.1 billion dollars.
It's an all too consistent stream of failures for Jenkins and it's time we make her own them.
Hold Lynn Jenkins accountable for her failures - go to JenkinsFail.com and take action!
Thanks for all that you do,
Kenny JohnstonExecutive Director -- Kansas Democratic Party
P.S. Don't let her get away with more failures - head to JenkinsFail.com and get involved!