NEWS RELEASE

Dec. 6 , 2006

Contact: Ryan Entz, 268-1152

Red & Blue Came Together at Chamber Annual Meeting
and Community Event

James Carville developed an appetite for politics right here in Wichita, and he was glad to be back.

“I drove up from Louisiana to attend a political seminar in downtown Wichita, and it’s so great to be back where it all started. But I’m sure there are some Republicans who wish I had never gone.” Carville then added that he felt like a “fire plug at a dog show” by being a Democrat at a Chamber function in Kansas.

The Chamber’s Annual Meeting and Community Event featured  Washington's best-loved couple – James Carville and Mary Matalin – who gave the audience of 2,500 individuals and business leaders an enlightening and entertaining look at today's most important political issues as well as a behind-the-scenes look at Washington politics.

The couple also praised the efforts of the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce. “Few Chambers have a full-time presence in the state house like your Chamber does. Dozens of issues that affect your business are being influenced by the [Wichita Metro] Chamber,” said Matalin.

While Carville and Matalin enjoyed getting a jab in on the other, it was obvious that these “strange bedfellows” cared deeply for one another when they spoke of their 13 years of marriage and two daughters. Their candor and wit was interspersed with their politics, and Carville brought the biggest applause of the night when he mentioned WSU’s basketball success. “I’m still a little mad that your Wheatshockers beat my Tigers down at LSU.”

“Over the last twenty years, Carville and Matalin have been at the center of some of the most significant election campaigns in American history. They are exactly the type of prominent national speakers we were thinking of when we changed the format of our annual meeting to its current Community Celebration framework,” said Bryan Derreberry, president and CEO of the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce.

The event was also a chance for the Chamber to highlight and celebrate the year’s many accomplishments and welcomed in Les Deppershcmidt of AT&T as the 2007 Chamber Chair. Depperschmidt was ceremonially ushered in with the traditional passing of the gavel by Lyndon Wells, INTRUST Bank, N.A, the outgoing 2006 Chamber Chair.

Platinum Sponsors: AT&T, Artisan Surface Systems – a Division of Wilson Building Maintenance, Inc., Aquila, Bank of America, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, Cargill Meat Solutions, Foley Equipment Company, Grant Thornton LLP, Hyatt Regency Wichita, INTRUST Bank, N.A., Kansas Gas Service, NCRI – National Catastrophe Restoration Inc., Optima Bus Corporation, Raytheon Aircraft Company, Wesley Medical Center, Westar Energy