WE Blog

Former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, whose law firm is helping represent the United Arab Emirates in the bungled U.S. ports deal, at least doesn’t seem to be as tone-deaf as the Bush administration on this political fiasco.
He announced Thursday that he would not lobby members of Congress after Democrats raised questions about the possible conflict of interest with his wife, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., who opposes the deal.
He said he would limit himself to efforts to “help the American people understand the real facts.” Still, this can’t be a lobbying job that Dole relishes. He’s too savvy not to see how bad this looks to most Americans. They must be paying him well.
Meanwhile, more damaging info emerged about the decision-making process: Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff joined the list of Cabinet members with direct oversight (Treasury, Defense) who didn’t know anything about this deal.
Do WE bloggers think the ports sale is simply delayed or dead? My guess is the latter.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

The Kansas Senate approved a bill last week creating a Legislative Compensation Commission to make recommendations about raising lawmakers’ salaries. The concern is that low pay is keeping many Kansans from serving in the Legislature. Lawmakers do put in long hours for relatively modest salaries — base pay for a rank-and-file legislator is $23,035. But it would take a major salary increase to make the job economically appealing to many professionals. And rather than attracting higher-caliber candidates to run for public office, would we just end up with higher paid ideologues?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans took some deserved heat for recently including the resurrection of Wichita State University football among his six visions for the community. But he also deserves credit for counting cultural funding among those priorities. To follow up on the current budget’s added $712,000 for arts organizations, Mayans told KSN, Channel 3, “I still believe we need to have 1 mill earmarked for this project, and I am willing to reach some kind of a consensus to do it, limited for five years, to see the impact it will have on arts and culture on our area.” As the cultural funding review panel prepares to take on its second round of grants, and submit to the scrutiny of the city’s budget cycle, it’s good to know that Mayans gets it — that arts and attractions help make a community unique and interesting, as they generate jobs and revenue.
Posted by Rhonda Holman