Topeka ? Republicans didn’t enjoy the Tilt-A-Whirl in the Statehouse’s carnival midway this year, the ride in which governors get to spin and spin and spin everyone else.

Some GOP lawmakers left Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ latest State of the State address feeling a little woozy – and quite a bit annoyed. They accused her of stealing credit for their ideas and misrepresenting both her record and theirs.

Their complaints focused on the impressions they thought the speech left with the television viewers, namely that her administration brought safety, health and prosperity to what had been a wreck of a state, doing it with tightfisted management, overcoming a balky Legislature.

In most instances, Sebelius and her aides were careful enough in their text to preserve their ability to argue. But a few Republicans still were frustrated enough to come close to calling her a liar.

“There was no demonstrated commitment to historical accuracy in the governor’s remarks,” said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence. “Add fries and a Coke, and you’d have a Burger King value meal with the whoppers that were told.”

Sebelius staffers contend that Republican critics misread her address, or misinterpreted what they heard. In effect, they said, GOP critics themselves substituted “I” when she said “we.”

Full circle

Her fellow Democrats in the Legislature expressed a little knowing amusement – having been where GOP lawmakers are now when Republican Gov. Bill Graves enjoyed good political fortune in the late 1990s.

“We used to doubt it when Governor Graves said he’d cut taxes a billion dollars,” said House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg. “We used to laugh when we had ideas that we put on the table, and Governor Graves took credit for them a year later.”

The Kansas Senate meets in its remodeled chamber in the Statehouse in Topeka. Last Monday was the opening day of the 2006 Kansas Legislature, and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius gave her State of the State address that night. Some Republicans say they feel the governor took too much credit for the state's economic rebound.

But Republicans aren’t laughing.

For them, one big, bothersome claim by Sebelius is that the ship of state has been righted by her administration without a general tax increase.

If there has been no general tax increase, it has been thanks to Republican legislators, not the Democratic governor. In 2004, she proposed phasing in more than $300 million in tax increases to help schools, and before last year’s session, she proposed raising tobacco taxes $50 million to pay for health care initiatives. Neither proposal went far.

“Unbelievable,” said Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood.

But Sebelius left herself some room to talk, as she has in the past.

She said in her speech, “I’m proud to say we’ve changed the way government operates – returning our state to financial stability, and doing it without a tax increase.”

Spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said Sebelius can make the statement because the state closed budget shortfalls without resorting to raising taxes, while Sebelius’ proposals to increase taxes would have allowed the state to embark on new initiatives.

“There’s really no argument to this,” Corcoran said in an e-mail. “Sue her for putting forth ideas that could help improve the health and well-being of our state.”

‘D’ for accuracy

Some Republicans also were angry with Sebelius for admonishing them to double prison sentences for sex offenders who prey on children. She said she had made the request for three years.

“The attorney general joined me in this proposal, and yet the Legislature did nothing,” she said.

Schmidt said the statement is an example of how the speech was needlessly confrontational. And, he added, “It’s just not true.”

In 2003, Sebelius and Atty. Gen. Phill Kline, a Republican, proposed requiring a 40-years-to-life prison sentence for a second rape conviction, instead of a sentence of up to 16 years and eight months. Rape covers any intercourse with a child under 14.

It’s true the Legislature never approved that specific proposal.

However, in 2004, lawmakers did change the law so that an offender with a second rape conviction would be considered a habitual criminal – and have the maximum sentenced doubled to 33 years and four months.

Thus, Republicans consider Sebelius’ statement wrong. House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, gave the governor’s speech a “D” for accuracy.

“Whoever wrote it didn’t do their research very well on some things,” Mays said.

Misplaced credit

Sebelius also galled Republicans in talking about a law enacted last year to keep many cold, flu and allergy medicines behind pharmacy counters to thwart methamphetamine makers. The governor said she had called on legislators to pass such a law, and because their response, there are fewer meth labs.

Schmidt felt especially aggrieved, because he championed the idea just before Sebelius’ State of the State address last year, where she mentioned the idea.

Actually, a 2004 Oklahoma law inspired the Kansas law – and similar statutes across the nation. Oklahoma received national attention for its law throughout the summer and fall, and Kansas law enforcement officials were discussing it by early December 2004.

And Republicans believed Sebelius was giving herself credit.

“That’s just what governors do – they take credit for other people’s work,” Mays said. “Yes, it’s very annoying, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”