FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                   Contact: Kenny Johnston (kjohnston@ksdp.org)

July 9, 2009

Kansas Democratic Party statement on RNC Chairman Michael Steele's attendance at KSGOP fundraiser in Mission Hills

An invitation for Steele to tour Johnson County

TOPEKA – The following is a statement from Kansas Democratic Party Executive Director Kenny Johnston on RNC Chairman Michael Steele's attendance at a fundraiser for the Kansas Republican Party in Mission Hills, Kansas :

“While Chairman Steele is here in Kansas to attend a high-dollar fundraiser in support of Sam Brownback, Kris Kobach and the rest of the KS GOP, I'd like to invite him to take a tour of Johnson County. A drive south through Overland Park on US-69 would allow him to see the more than $70 million dollars of federal recovery act spending being used to put Kansans back to work as the Kansas Department of Transportation widens the highway. Taking the exit at College Blvd, Chairman Steele could drive right past Kansans working to improve a wastewater treatment plant, one of the first projects in the nation to break ground using recovery act funds this May and Kansas' largest "green infrastructure" project. I'd suggest he then head west to either the KU Edwards Campus or JCCC and talk to students who are benefiting from expanded Hope Scholarships thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."

"If it were up to Chairman Steele, these and all the other projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act wouldn't exist. Further many Kansans would be without work. I can only hope Chairman Steele will take some time away from his fundraising trip to see how everyday Kansans are benefiting from federal recovery act funds."                                                                                                               

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