Fittingly enough, it was a woman who inspired U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., to her run through politics.
Speaking to a crowded room at the Wilkinson Alumni Center at Pittsburg State University Friday, Jenkins spoke about her mother, a dairy farm wife with a talent for clever sayings. Jenkins used several of those in her remarks as part of the Profiles of Women in Government Lecture Series, many to describe current plights in government.
“If you want strawberries, don’t plant broccoli,” Jenkins said. “The problem happens when people plant one thing and want to reap another.”
Jenkins was the ninth annual speaker for the series. Last year, the series featured Tierney Cahill, a sixth-grade teacher from Reno, Nev., who launched her own Congressional campaign to show her students the importance of civic duty. Though she lost in the general election to the incumbent congressman, a film was made to tell the story of her efforts. The year before that, the guest was famed Washington journalist Helen Thomas.
Jenkins, a Certified Public Accountant, spoke largely about the country’s financial crisis, from the struggling economy to the ever-growing debt.
“You cannot spend money you don’t have,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said she wasn’t out to cut all spending, just irresponsible spending.
After finishing her remarks, Jenkins fielded about 30 minutes of questions from audience members, spanning subjects like health care, immigration and a youth group that seems to care less and less about politics.
Jenkins said she was for health care reform, just not the program passed through the House last weekend. She said after the speech that there was still a while to “play with it,” because the Senate was planning on coming up with its own proposal. The two bills would then meet in conference committee, where representatives from both chambers would hash out the final bill.
Jenkins said she was for legal immigration, but against illegal immigration, a view that she said matched most people in the second district. She also said she was against amnesty, though she added that she felt that would be the direction immigration would be pushed.
“I believe we need to secure the border and give businesses the tools to address this issue,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins ended her remarks by stating that everyone should feel a responsibility to improve the world, and country they live in.
“I’m confident that if we can just plant the right seeds ... we can make this place better than we found it,” Jenkins said.
Kevin Flaherty can be reached at kevin.flaherty@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 Ext. 134
PITTSBURG —
