Pat Roberts went public with a new political TV ad which claims he will fight to make sure the Air Force gets it right on the Boeing tanker.However, Roberts doesn't say in the ad that he has failed to fight for Boeing and the tanker contract - twice. In 2005, Roberts was a member of two committees that allowed a "Buy American" provision to be removed from the 2006 Defense Authorization Bill. The provision was specifically written to prevent EADS from winning the Air Force tanker contract over Boeing.Had Roberts done his job in 2005, Boeing would not be fighting for a fair bidding process along with 4,000 new Kansas jobs.

Then, last week, Roberts used taxpayer money to fly to Kansas from Washington, DC to film his political advertisement. In the process, Roberts missed two key votes in the Senate - both concerning home foreclosures.

Today, Julie Merz, campaign manager for Jim Slattery, called upon Pat Roberts to apologize to the people of Kansas for spending their tax dollars for political gain.

"I'm disappointed that Senator Roberts would use taxpayer dollars to fly to Wichita to film a campaign ad," Merz said. "Roberts' campaign should reimburse Kansans for the cost."