By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

On a day when the Republican Party is being accused of being an ideological fortress, along comes U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback with a welcome show of pragmatism.

Brownback, the very conservative Kansas Republican, issued this statement in advance of his vote in favor of confirming Kathleen Sebelius, the Democratic governor of Kansas, as Secretary of Health and Human Services:

From the beginning, I have said that I would support the nomination of my fellow Kansan to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. There is a long tradition of bipartisanship in the Senate of supporting nominations from the same state regardless of party; in the last 20 years, only twice have home state senators not supported someone from their home state.

I also think it’s important that we vote on this nomination today with the recent outbreak of swine flu across the country including two cases in Kansas. We need someone on the job making critical preparations that hopefully will not be necessary.

It’s well known that Governor Sebelius and I fundamentally disagree on several issues, and most notably on the issues of life. However, we can work together for the people of Kansas, especially on rural health care issues, graduate medical education in Wichita and a National Cancer Institute designation at KU.

Good for the senator. Brownback will catch a lot of flack from anti-abortion groups. But his honorable and collegial vote is good for Washington and Kansas.