Yesterday the Kansas Democratic Party released the following statement:

While threatening to slash the salaries of state employees, Kansas Republicans line their own pockets from state coffers

TOPEKA – State party executive director Kenny Johnston released the following statement in response to the revelation that Kansas Republicans in the Legislature received thousands of dollars in special pay bonuses while pushing for furloughs and pay cuts for state employees:

“Apparently in these tough economic times Republican leadership in the Kansas legislature feels that it is fair to force hard-working state employees to shoulder the burden of balancing the state’s books. Maybe the first place Speaker O’Neal should look to cut state expenses is in his own offices.

“State employees are often underpaid and underappreciated as they do the hard work of making our state a better place. The revelation that staff members of Republican leadership have paid themselves thousands of dollars in bonuses while demanding that state workers go on furlough or take a pay cut is outrageous.

“This explains why these Republicans could stomach the idea of a five percent cut to their salaries – they knew they would end up with a generous bonus at the end of the year.”