As we speculated earlier, state Education Commissioner Bob Corkins has resigned. The State Board of Education accepted his resignation today. Corkins, who was paid $140,000 a year, will receive a 30-day severance package estimated at about $11,000. Board chairman Steve Abrams said that he didn’t ask Corkins to resign. “I’ve liked what he’s done for education. I didn’t want to see him go,” Abrams told Associated Press. Most of the state’s citizens (and the majority of new State BOE members) think otherwise.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Attorney General-elect Paul Morrison has officially resigned as Johnson County’s district attorney, meaning that county’s Republican Party has about three weeks to convene precinct leaders and elect a successor. The task falls to the GOP, because Morrison was elected district attorney as a Republican. Will the party give the job to defeated incumbent Attorney General Phill Kline over the three assistant district attorneys and one Lenexa lawyer who want it? The local party chairman “would not rule him out” last month, but some say Kline lacks the requisite experience.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
It’s one thing to have your old man defend you from bullies when you’re in, say, the third grade. It’s another thing when you’re president of the United States.
Former President Bush was forced to stick up for his son at a leadership conference in Abu Dhabi, where the Arab audience had unkind words for the current president’s foreign policy.
“We do not respect your son,” one woman told the stunned ex-president as the audience cheered.
“This son is not going to back away,” the elder Bush replied, his voice quivering. “This is going to work out in Iraq.”
Well, we’ll see. But encountering such a tough crowd in what was once a friendly venue has to be sobering — both for the father Bush and his embattled son.
Posted by Dave Knadler
When Sen. Hillary Clinton was burning through $36 million in a Senate campaign she couldn’t lose, the reasoning was that the resulting landslide would build momentum and attract contributors for a 2008 presidential run.
Now, the New York Times reports, some Democrats are questioning whether that was such a shrewd move. Yes, Clinton won by more than 30 points — but she no longer has a financial advantage over potential rivals. Her cash on hand is now about the same as that of party luminaries such as Sens. John Kerry and Evan Bayh.
She’s also being criticized for how the money was spent: about $1 million each for her pollster and communications strategist. Then there’s the $13,000 for flowers and $27,000 for valet parking.
“The wasting of money — it drives everybody crazy,” one Clinton fundraiser said. “She’d better get a handle on this if she is going to run for president.”
Posted by Dave Knadler
The Democratic takeover of Congress means a welcome shift in environmental oversight.
“Our long national nightmare is close to being over,” said Philip Clapp, president of National Environmental Trust.
Take global warming. The former chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee was Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who dismissed global warming as a hoax and this week called a United Nations meeting on the subject a “brainwashing session.”
He’ll be replaced by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., a liberal who is one of her party’s top environmental advocates.
Likewise, the leadership of the House Resources Committee will go to Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., whose perspective is a complete turnaround from that of Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., a rancher who fought endangered-species protection and advocated opening public lands to oil and gas development.
Under Democrats, expect a repeal of oil industry subsidies, a renewed fight for higher fuel efficiency standards for autos, and some kind of legislation capping industrial carbon dioxide emissions. Maybe even an investigation into Dick Cheney’s secret energy task force.
President Bush might even be pressured into endorsing carbon caps. After all, he supported them as a candidate in 2000. That’s right — he was for them before he was against them.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
When Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., spoke to an Associated Press reporter Monday, he sure sounded as if he’s still planning to run for president in 2008, poor showing in early opinion polls and all. “I think there’s room for a full-scale Ronald Reagan conservative in the field,” he said. “I fully agree that other people have much higher name identification than I do. No question about that. But I think what you have to look at is the policy positions they get out once you have an effective campaign.” As for whether the GOP’s loss of Congress this month will affect his decision: “I really believe that the basic conservative ideas and ideals were not repudiated. Our execution was.” He promises a final decision next month. Maybe then he’ll say more about the source of his optimism.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
It’s smart that area officials aren’t resting after their success in avoiding the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission ax, but instead are planning now for how to help keep McConnell Air Force Base open for the future. There may be fights ahead over proposals to limit the area around the base to one- and two-story buildings and to new industrial development, or to require special standards for nearby home construction. But by giving the process a preliminary blessing last week, the Wichita City Council surely has signaled the Pentagon that the community highly values McConnell and its 3,900 jobs, and wants to accommodate the base long term.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
