Kathleen Sebelius has been Governor of Kansas since 2002. While Governor, Sebelius saved over $1 billion from the state budget, championed targeted tax relief, focused on emerging business sectors, and crated a Post Secondary Technical Education Authority to create a comprehensive plan for new technical schools in the state of Kansas.
Sebelius has also been a leader in improving health care in Kansas. She has worked to have more children, elderly and families covered by health insurance, fought to make it legal to bring prescription drugs from Canada, consolidated the state’s seven major medical programs to control nearly all of the state’s spending on health care. Governor Sebelius also fought the takeover of Kansas Blue Cross/Blue Shield, a non-profit health insurer, by the for-profit Anthem of Indiana. She has worked to maximize bargaining power with health insurers to maximize care delivered while minimizing cost to consumers.
Sebelius is a proven leader in financial and business matters and has proven herself able to lead change in organizations. She has shown an ability to build bipartisan support for projects. Like Obama, she appointed Republicans to her cabinet – former Governor Mike Hayden serves as secretary of wildlife and parks.
Governor Sebelius has strong family ties in politics. She is married to Gary Sebelius, a Federal magistrate and son of veteran Republican Kansas Congressman Keith Sebelius. Her father, John Gilligan, was Governor of Ohio during the 1970’s.