Praeger continues to distance herself from Brownback
with her fellow Republican, Gov. Sam Brownback, for years.
But Praeger, who also is a Republican, took her concerns up a notch Wednesday when she declared that she was a member of a new bipartisan group called “Reroute the Roadmap,” a name that’s a dig at Brownback’s “roadmap for Kansas.”
A statement from the group said Reroute the Roadmap is “dedicated to taking back Kansas from the failed policies of the current administration.”
The group includes Republicans Sheila Frahm, who for a short time was a U.S. senator from the state, and Rochelle Chronister, who once chaired the House Appropriations Committee. Also in the group is Joan Wagnon, the Kansas Democratic Party chairwoman, and Jill Docking, the party’s presumptive lieutenant governor nominee who’s the running mate to gubernatorial contender Paul Davis.
Davis is challenging Brownback in the November election.
The group “gathered last summer to strategize how to call attention to how the Governor’s actions and policies are jeopardizing the future of the state, especially Kansas schools, health care in our rural hospitals and the general economic and fiscal health of the state.
“The six of us judged his Roadmap to be a failure and believed it should be rerouted.”
In the statement, the group said its goal was to “build an informed electorate so that when the governor's race heats up and misinformation is circulated, readers will know the true facts.”
In an interview with The Buzz Wednesday, Praeger insisted her membership in the group was not tantamount to an endorsement of Davis.
“Any endorsement,” she said, “is down the road.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2014 at 3:00 AM with the headline "Praeger continues to distance herself from Brownback."