Kathleen Sebelius
Kathleen Sebelius is an American politician who served as the 21st United States secretary of health and human services from 2009 until 2014. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebelius was instrumental in overseeing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Before becoming secretary, she served as the 44th governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009, the second woman to hold that office. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Sebelius was the Democratic respondent to the 2008 State of the Union address and is chair-emerita of the Democratic Governors Association. She is CEO of Sebelius Resources LLC.
Early life and education
Sebelius was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Mary Kathryn and John J. Gilligan. Sebelius was the second oldest of four children in her family. Her family ran funeral homes and her father was a city councilor in Cincinnati. Jack Gilligan ran for Congress near the end of Sebelius's time in high school and served one term in Congress. Her father was elected governor of Ohio when Sebelius was 21 years old. Sebelius worked in her father's campaign traveling around the state. Her family was Catholic and has Irish ancestry.She attended the Summit Country Day School in Cincinnati and graduated from Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C., with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. She later earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Kansas. She moved to Kansas in 1974.
Early career
Sebelius served as executive director and chief lobbyist for the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association from 1977 to 1986.Kansas House of Representatives (1987–1995)
Sebelius was first elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1986. She won re-election in 1988, 1990, and 1992. She represented Topeka, Kansas.Tenure
In the 1988 presidential election, she endorsed Gary Hart.In 1991, she ran to become House Majority Leader but lost to State Representative Tom Sawyer of Wichita.
She is strongly pro-choice.
Committee assignments
- Federal and State Affairs Committee
Kansas Insurance Commissioner (1995–2003)
She refused to take campaign contributions from the insurance industry and blocked the proposed merger of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, the state's largest health insurer, with an Indiana-based company. Sebelius's decision marked the first time the corporation had been rebuffed in its acquisition attempts.
When Sebelius became commissioner in 1995, the Insurance Department had an annual budget of $11.7 million. By 2002, the budget had been cut to $10 million. Among the cuts was spending on contracted services after Sebelius fired two contracted lawyers after an audit discovered they had overbilled the state.
In 2001 Sebelius was named as one of Governing Magazines Public Officials of the Year while she was serving as Kansas Insurance Commissioner.
Governor of Kansas (2003–2009)
2002 election
In the general election, Sebelius's platform included promises to protect school budgets from budget cuts, not to raise taxes, and to completely review and overhaul the state government. Sebelius raised $4 million for the campaign, a Kansas state fundraising record. Sebelius defeated Republican Kansas State Treasurer Tim Shallenburger 53%–45%. Sebelius's election made her and her father the first father/daughter governor duo in the United States.First term (2003–2007)
Throughout her first term, Sebelius built upon her popularity and in January 2006 was tied for 20th most popular governor in the country.During the 2004 election, CNN speculated Sebelius could be a potential running mate for John Kerry.
In November 2005, Time named Sebelius as one of the five best governors in America, praising her for eliminating a $1.1 billion debt she inherited, ferreting out waste in state government, and strongly supporting public educationall without raising taxes, although she proposed raising sales, property, and income taxes. The article also praised her bipartisan approach to governing, a useful trait in a state where Republicans have usually controlled the Legislature.
In February 2006, the White House Project named Sebelius one of its "8 in '08", a group of eight female politicians who could possibly run and be elected president in 2008. She was also cited by The New York Times to be among the women most likely to become the first female President of the United States.
In October 2006, the Cato Institute gave Sebelius the grade of "D" on their biennial fiscal policy report card, which measures the fiscal performance of U.S. governors based on spending and taxes. Her grade was influenced by the combination of proposed tax increases and expanded spending growth beyond population plus inflation.
2006 re-election
On May 26, 2006, Sebelius formally announced her candidacy for re-election. Four days later, Mark Parkinson, former chair of the Kansas Republican Party, switched his party affiliation to Democrat; the following day Sebelius announced that Parkinson would be her running mate for lieutenant governor. Parkinson had previously served in the state House during 1991 and 1992 and the Senate from 1993 to 1997. Parkinson was viewed as a pro-business moderate who strongly supported public education. This was somewhat reminiscent of the fact that John Moore had also been a Republican, before switching just days before joining Sebelius as her running mate.She was challenged by Republican Kansas State Senator Jim Barnett. A September 1 Rasmussen poll showed Sebelius with an 11% lead over Barnett. Other polls gave Sebelius as much as a 20% lead., 50% of Kansas voters were registered Republicans, compared to 27% as registered Democrats. Sebelius nevertheless won re-election, defeating Barnett 57%–41%. Because of Kansas's term limits law, her second term as Governor was her last.
Second term (2007–2011)
In February 2008, during Sebelius's second term in office, there was a report in the Wichita Eagle that the State of Kansas was suspending tax refunds and that, because of a lack of tax revenue, might not be able to meet payroll for state employees. Sebelius called for issuing certificates of indebtedness, moving funds from various state agency accounts into the general fund to alleviate the crisis. However, Republican leaders in the legislature did not agree with her certificate of indebtedness plan, saying the state would be unable to repay the certificates unless Sebelius issued allotments or signed a budget rescission bill that had been passed by the legislature but had not yet been delivered to her desk. The standoff ended when the budget arrived, and Sebelius agreed to sign it, although she line-item vetoed several cuts she felt were too large. The rescission bill reduced the budget by about $300 million. $7 million of the cuts came in the form of reduced educational funding.File:Kathleen Sebelius 2008 DNC .jpg|thumb|right|Sebelius speaks during the second day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.
After Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination for President in June 2008, speculation that Sebelius would be a contender for the vice presidential slot on the Democratic ticket continued. The Washington Post listed her as the top prospect for the 2008 nomination. James Carville and Bob Novak also mentioned Sebelius's name, and Wesley Clark, also considered a potential running mate, publicly endorsed Sebelius, referring to her as "the next vice-president of the United States". Speculation that the vice presidential nomination lay in her future was heightened by the fact that she was chosen by the Democratic Party's congressional leaders to give their party's official response to Republican president George W. Bush's 2008 State of the Union Address. The next day, she endorsed Obama's campaign, one week before the Kansas caucus on Super Tuesday. Obama won the caucus easily, with 74% support.
Speculation on her vice presidential selection intensified when a report from political ad agency insider, Tribble Ad Agency, reported on its website that the Obama Campaign owned the domain name "ObamaSebelius.com" through the GoDaddy.com registration service. However, just after midnight on August 23, it was reported by the Associated Press that Obama ultimately selected Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, as his running mate.
Sebelius is a former chair of the Democratic Governors Association. She was the first female chair of the association.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (2009–2014)
Nomination
Sebelius was an early supporter of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, having endorsed him in January 2008. After he was elected the President of the United States, Sebelius' early support for Obama and her ability to govern as a Democrat in a heavily Republican state made Sebelius look like a likely nominee for Obama's Cabinet. Sebelius asked to be removed from consideration on December 6, 2008. Following Bill Richardson's withdrawal as Obama's nomination for Secretary of Commerce, there was media speculation that Sebelius would be chosen as the new nominee. Through a spokesperson, Sebelius reiterated her earlier statement that she would not consider accepting a nomination to the Cabinet position.On February 28, 2009, it was reported that Sebelius had accepted Obama's nomination for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services. On March 2, 2009, Obama officially announced Governor Sebelius as his nominee. At Obama's announcement, Sebelius was accompanied by two Kansas Republicans, former U.S. Senators Bob Dole and Pat Roberts.
Sebelius was Obama's second choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Obama's first pick, former Senator Tom Daschle, withdrew from consideration on February 3 after it was revealed he had over $140,000 in tax errors. In a March 2009 letter to the Senate Finance Committee, Sebelius admitted to "unintentional errors" in tax returns and paid nearly $8,000 in back taxes to rectify the errors. A letter to Sebelius from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and ranking member Chuck Grassley acknowledged their review of Sebelius found no other items needing to be addressed and Baucus, a Democrat, publicly expressed his continued support for Sebelius' nomination.
Pro life activists and senators were the primary opponents of Sebelius's nomination. In answer to questions from the Senate Finance Committee during her April 2009 confirmation hearing, Sebelius stated she received $12,450 between 1994 and 2001 from physician George Tiller, one of only three late term abortion providers nationwide, who was later assassinated. The Associated Press, however, reported that from 2000 to 2002 Tiller gave at least $23,000 more to a political action committee Sebelius established to raise money for Democrats while she was serving as state insurance commissioner.
The Senate Finance Committee approved Sebelius' nomination with a vote of 15 to 8. The full United States Senate voted to confirm Sebelius by a vote of 65 to 31. She was sworn in on April 28, 2009, amidst an outbreak of swine flu in the United States. Lieutenant Governor Parkinson was sworn in as Governor of Kansas and served the remainder of Sebelius's term. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebelius led an agency with 6,500 employees and a $700 billion annual budget.