Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., stands out both as one of only four Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee who backed its immigration bill, and as a social conservative who isn’t demagoguing this issue. Brownback has an op-ed piece in today’s opinion pages explaining his support for the bill and arguing that its combination of increased enforcement and a guest-worker program is "a conservative solution that the Republican Party should embrace."
He writes: "Economic conservatives should support the benefits from immigrant workers, as studies show that over time, immigrants and their children generate a net benefit to the American economy. Social conservatives should appreciate the values these immigrants bring to America and also recognize that we are called to help the widows, orphans and foreigners among us."
Brownback also argues that just focusing on enforcement, as the House plan does, won’t solve the problem and could make it worse. "The government will fail if it makes laws that ignore the law of supply and demand," he said.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Check out the pro/con debate on today’s opinion pages about whether Kansas needs an Academic Bill of Rights. Academic reform activist David Horowitz argues that professors shouldn’t be permitted "to fill their classrooms with uninformed opinions they may hold as ordinary citizens or to vent their biases on controversial issues of the day, or to impose such attitudes on impressionable students through the authority they have been granted as a result of their expertise." But Christopher Brooks, president of the Faculty Senate at Wichita State University, responds that Horowitz uses anecdotes and misinformation to greatly exaggerate problems, and that universities can and do police themselves without a bill of rights or intervention by the Legislature. "Universities deny tenure, they dismiss for cause, they punish chronic low performance, they provide grievance procedures, they offer a court of appeals, and they share governance by communicating with all constituent groups their concerns and needs," Brooks writes.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Some impressive candidates are already lining up to oppose four of the conservative Kansas State Board of Education members who are up for re-election. Thank goodness.
Jack Wempe of Little River, a former chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents and a former state lawmaker and school superintendent, and Donna Viola, president of the McPherson school board, are challenging incumbent Ken Willard of Hutchinson. In western Kansas, Sally Cauble, a former member of the Liberal school board, and Tim Cruz, a former Garden City mayor, are opposing Connie Morris of St. Francis. In southeast Kansas, Jana Shaver, an educator from Independence, and Charles Kent Runyan, an education professor at Pittsburg State University, were planning to oppose Iris Van Meter, but Van Meter decided not to seek re-election. Instead, her son-in-law, M. Brad Patzer, a middle school math teacher from Neodesha, is running. And in northeast Kansas, Harry McDonald, a biology teacher at Blue Valley High School, and Don Weiss of Olathe are opposing John Bacon of Olathe.
If two of these challengers win, and board member Janet Waugh wins re-election — she is currently unopposed — the moderates will once again control the state board, and Kansas may yet be able to salvage its education reputation.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
CITY COUNCIL APPROVES ‘LITTLE BOY PEEING’ STATUE FOR ROCK-KELLOGG OVERPASS; ‘We Can All Agree — This Is Art,’ Says Sue Schlapp
POLICE TASER WINSTON BROOKS FOR REQUESTING REVIEW OF STUN-GUN POLICY; School Leader ‘Spoke Out of Turn,’ Claims Officer
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ASKED TO HELP BUILD 700-MILE BORDER WALL; No Americans Apply for the Jobs
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Teens’ engagement in the political process is to be encouraged, but hundreds of Wichita students should not have cut school Friday to protest proposed federal immigration reform outside City Hall and elsewhere downtown. It didn’t help that some were uncertain what they were protesting. Nor did the Mexican flags serve their cause. Students’ consequences at school will depend on whether their parents excused their absences. But in the future, they’d be wise to do their rallying after school.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
How disappointing to readthe arguing about Old Cowtown Museum in Friday’s Eagle. Several museum board members, including president Tim Holt, said that Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Ben Sciortino, who is also a board member, assured them that the county would cover Cowtown’s $300,000 budget shortfall. "That’s a lie," Sciortino responded.
It’s a precarious time for most area museums, which are struggling with declining attendance and reduced private donations following Sept. 11. And major changes may be required. But if the museums are to survive and thrive, they need cooperation and good faith, not shoot-outs among supporters.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
